makoeyes
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I AM LUCIFER GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD AND I WANT YOUR SOUL!
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Post by makoeyes on Oct 11, 2012 21:41:20 GMT -8
Anyone have any pointers on writing female characters? I've started to worry about this whenever I see some people say "X sucks at writing female characters."
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Post by Admin on Oct 12, 2012 12:23:06 GMT -8
Anyone have any pointers on writing female characters? I've started to worry about this whenever I see some people say "X sucks at writing female characters." Write them like you would any other character. It is really that simple.
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makoeyes
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I AM LUCIFER GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD AND I WANT YOUR SOUL!
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Post by makoeyes on Oct 12, 2012 17:47:51 GMT -8
^That's what I always planned to do, but then I see people say things like "His female characters are basically just men with boobs."
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Post by Admin on Oct 13, 2012 6:23:11 GMT -8
^That's what I always planned to do, but then I see people say things like "His female characters are basically just men with boobs." Are people saying that about your writing, or someone else's? People saying that may mean that you (or that other person, if its another person) may simply have a tendency of writing female characters with what are considered more masculine traits.
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makoeyes
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I AM LUCIFER GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD AND I WANT YOUR SOUL!
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Post by makoeyes on Oct 15, 2012 19:17:49 GMT -8
^People were saying that about Joss Whedon's characters, and they were meaning it as criticism. Certain of mine have typical girly traits like clothes but at the same time have boyish interests, so she's like a girly girl and tomboy at the same time.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Oct 15, 2012 21:19:49 GMT -8
^ Most girls aren't clear cut tomboys or girly girls. For example, I'll be playing violent video games one second, and then I'll be watching the newest episode of Project Runway. It's okay for your characters to have traits of both tomboys and girly girls.
Really I agree with Meghan. Just write them how you would anyone else. Your characters should be people ( or whatever they are) first, and females second.
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Post by Admin on Oct 16, 2012 19:17:53 GMT -8
^People were saying that about Joss Whedon's characters, and they were meaning it as criticism. Certain of mine have typical girly traits like clothes but at the same time have boyish interests, so she's like a girly girl and tomboy at the same time. Like firefly said, most girls are clear cut girly girls or tomboys. I have a niece that insists on muttun bustin in a tutu. And plenty of people also praise Whedon's female characters for being more realistic. Actually his female characters in Firefly have a mix of feminine and masculine traits. Dont let what other people say about one person's characters discourage you from writing your characters the way you want to.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Oct 24, 2012 17:05:50 GMT -8
Thanks guys. I know most girls are a mix between the two, which is part of why I decided to make them boyish and girlish at the same time. I won't let it bother me again.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Oct 24, 2012 17:14:33 GMT -8
Funny thing is I actually think the exact opposite ( a girl writing male characters) is hard. Mostly because male gender roles are a lot more strict about what's acceptable for a man to do. I always feel like I make my male characters sissies. XD
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Oct 24, 2012 19:32:43 GMT -8
^Agreed. Boys have it hard. I guess my advice would be that boys usually try to hide the "girly" emotions. But really, you have a broad range here. Some guys really are manly and tough, but some guys are more sensitive and into clothes and stuff (and not just gay guys). Then you have guys who are both. I think JK Rowling is a good example of a woman who writes really realistic and believable male characters.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Oct 24, 2012 20:13:12 GMT -8
^ But at the same time male characters do not have the kind of scrutiny that female ones do. i do agree about Rowling. Harry has a personality I could see in any teenaged boy.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Oct 24, 2012 22:41:20 GMT -8
^Agreed! You have a weak woman and you'll have someoen accuse you of being anti-feminist... Even though you have other strong female characters alongside them. This isn't something I've had a problem with, but I've seen someoen say Alien is anti-feminist because Lambert is weak and pitiful. Yeah they accused freaking Alien of being anti-feminist, the same movie series that gave us the ultimate Mama Bear badass by the name of Ellen Ripley, one of the strongest women in cinema history.
The thing that most people don't talk about is that even though he's skinny, has glasses and is played by a "pretty boy," Harry's actually a pretty manly guy. Jo's able to pull of a guy that's manly without being hypermasculine and macho.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Oct 24, 2012 22:51:31 GMT -8
^ IN my opinion there s really nothing wrong with having weak female characters as long as a) there are some strong ones to balance it out. And b) the character is weak for an actual reason and it's treated as a realistic flaw.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Oct 25, 2012 0:46:19 GMT -8
^Agreed. That's something Twilight seriously fails in. The closest thing to a strong female heroine (who is portrayed in a positive light) Twilight has is Alice, who is not a good role model. The only good thing I can say about her is that she's able to make Edward dance to her tune on occasion, and the only reason she goes along with what he says is because it suits her, not because she's intimidated by him. Joss Whedon on the other hand has always portrayed strong women. Even the blonde valley girl bimbo, Harmony, even gains self-respect and kicks Spike's abusive ass to the curb. I can't think of one woman who could truly be considered weak in his works. Sure there's evil and villanous women aplenty, but they're not weak and pathetic.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Mar 7, 2013 17:29:00 GMT -8
I feel really bad about the double posting but here goes.
I've been worried that people will think that my writing is kind of sexist because I have a few female big bads.
The first one of the first book is the queen of the normal vampires (the ones that are most like the ones in the Vampire Chronicles and Dracula). However it turns out she's not the true progenitor of the vampires. The true one is male and he's based on Dracula. However I'm considering of reversing their places.
The big bad of the second book is Empress of the Super Effed Up Vampires. However, this is a very good reason for this one. The Super Effed Up Vampires (that's just what I'm calling them right now. I have a name for them but it's a secret) are organized somewhat similar to bees, with Queens ruling at the top. Queens are not former humans, and are born as SEUV. They are the only fertile members of the species, and they only give birth to Queens. Whenever the Queens mature enough, they kill off their sisters so that there's only one of them left. Queens have the ability to command (through verbal, spoken commands) any SEUV descended from them, including Queens they give birth to and all the people that those Queens turn. The Empress is the Mother of all Queens. All SEUV are descended from her.
It worries me because both big bads of the first two books are women.
Also, there's the Big Bad for the entire series. Even in her weakened state, she's been manipulating every lesser big bad throughout the entire series, and to a lesser extent has even manipulated the heroes. She's pretty much a Dark Lord, and while she may not be the number one most evil villain in the series (there are some pretty horrible complete monsters in my planned series), she's still pure evil.
Do you think people will get offended at this?
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 7, 2013 19:25:09 GMT -8
Honestly? Its not like being evil in an exclusively male thing, there have been evil women since the dawn of time. The main villian of the first arc of my story is female, and I'm a girl (of course girls can still write sexist things, I mean look at Smeyer) and I adore characters like Bellatrix Lestrange and Princess Azula. It really all depends on context and execution. Ways things could potentially be offensive is if their motives involve their beauty and being jealous of other women, or if they're sexy and promicious and they're compared to the virginal female hero, and its a negative comparison. Stuff like that could be potentially sexist.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Mar 7, 2013 20:53:19 GMT -8
Oh no, nothing like that. I hate slut shaming, so it won't be doing any of that. They're also not motivated by jealousy or any "girly" motive. They're just bad people who have a desire to have all the power in the world.
The main heroes aren't exactly "virginal" either. They're not promiscuous, but they do have sex often with their significant others.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 7, 2013 21:35:33 GMT -8
Exactly... I mean there's a bit of jealousy between my female villain and my female lead, but its caused by the villian being envious of the lead's powers, and constantly trying to recruit her to the cause. It'd be the exact same if they were both men. Ambition IMO, is a good drive for villians of both genders
Also thats a good balance, with your female character's sexuality. Thats how the majority of women are.
Okay I need some advice on a very...delicate subject. One of my characters has had events happen to her that would definitly trigger PTSD but... I'm not sure how to write the disorder in an inoffensive and tasteful way...
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Mar 7, 2013 23:14:15 GMT -8
Exactly... I mean there's a bit of jealousy between my female villain and my female lead, but its caused by the villian being envious of the lead's powers, and constantly trying to recruit her to the cause. It'd be the exact same if they were both men. Ambition IMO, is a good drive for villians of both genders Also thats a good balance, with your female character's sexuality. Thats how the majority of women are. Okay I need some advice on a very...delicate subject. One of my characters has had events happen to her that would definitly trigger PTSD but... I'm not sure how to write the disorder in an inoffensive and tasteful way... Do you think it would be a bad idea for the villains to be promiscuous? I know it would offend some people if they were, but at the same time I can't see it in their character to have any sort of morals. I could make it so that they don't care about sex at all (like Voldemort), but then that'd be another issue regarding asexuals.
Do you need advice on what's like, or just how to make it unoffensive? If the latter, I would just make it so that she's not a complete wimp like Bella. Also, don't make her ridiculously angry or violent either. Whenever I was at my worst, I could literally see red with anger but I never got or almost got violent with anybody.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 7, 2013 23:24:24 GMT -8
I'd say to do what feels right for the character.
Hmm... alright. I didn't plan on making her a wimp, thats for sure. She has powers, and I was gonna have them be a bit unstable, but if its bad for her to be violent, then I won't do it.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Mar 7, 2013 23:51:08 GMT -8
Well, it depends on what you mean by "violent". If the violence is directed at someone innocent, then it'd be a bad idea. But if it's directed at bad guys, it's better. If she's an anti-hero she can be even more violent than that, so long as you clearly portray her as being in the wrong. Also, make sure you make it clear that not all sufferers become violent, and the violence will be fine.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 8, 2013 0:29:49 GMT -8
Alright I'll keep all of that in mind. Its such a conundrum, because I feel like I'm not ready as a writer to tackle ideas like that, but at the same time I know with what she went through she'd have some trauma, and it'd be unrealistic to not portray that. I'm sorry if I come across as ignorant or offensive.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on Mar 16, 2013 10:27:17 GMT -8
Sorry it took so long to reply. I've not been on here for days now. No you're fine. Not offensive at all.
Also, it's good to keep in mind that there are varying degrees of being traumatized. Like one of my main characters for example. He used to have PTSD symptoms (including nightmares) from being in the military, but that's pretty much gone now. It's not until he's under the effects of a god that's similar to Mars that his PTSD symptoms resurface.
I have this problem where my mind doesn't want to focus on what I should be focusing on, as far as writing goes.
I'm trying to write my first book. I'm trying to do something easy right off the bat. The story is based on my fanfiction with several things altered. It's set in a sci-fi universe, that, even though it's 2007, the world is a bit more futuristic than ours and most importantly has a bunch of superhuman psions living in secret. What my brain is focusing on however is a fantasy series that I've been working on since late '11.
I really, really should be focusing on the easier one. Does anyone have any advice on this?
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on May 28, 2013 18:51:24 GMT -8
Recently I came across information that made me see the Magical Girl genre in a new light. It treats typical "feminine" and girly stuff as being a source of power rather than a weakness. All the bright colors, jewelry, frills, and whatnot are just as effective and powerful as the manly weapons and armor. I actually really like this idea, and to some extent was one I was already using in my planned stories*. I really want to include this, but at the same time, I have a really strong distaste for the "girly", cute, Kawaii stuff you find as power sources in MG animamangas, though I don't think anyone has bad taste for liking it. Anyone have any advice on still use this theme while getting around my distaste for frills, lace and stuff?
*One of the major mages in my universe is a "kitchen mage", meaning she has a specialty in food magic and things like that. But she's also quite a powerful mage and is a badass like any other hero in the story. Her cooking is explicitly treated as a source of power.
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Post by Alastor on May 28, 2013 19:00:58 GMT -8
Recently I came across information that made me see the Magical Girl genre in a new light. It treats typical "feminine" and girly stuff as being a source of power rather than a weakness. All the bright colors, jewelry, frills, and whatnot are just as effective and powerful as the manly weapons and armor. I actually really like this idea, and to some extent was one I was already using in my planned stories*. I really want to include this, but at the same time, I have a really strong distaste for the "girly", cute, Kawaii stuff you find as power sources in MG animamangas, though I don't think anyone has bad taste for liking it. Anyone have any advice on still use this theme while getting around my distaste for frills, lace and stuff? *One of the major mages in my universe is a "kitchen mage", meaning she has a specialty in food magic and things like that. But she's also quite a powerful mage and is a badass like any other hero in the story. Her cooking is explicitly treated as a source of power. Just replace the frilly elements of the genre with what's suitable for the character and the setting- it doesn't exactly have to be girly in that way. Apologies if I misinterpreted this, though.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on May 28, 2013 19:04:13 GMT -8
No problem. The thing is though, there ARE readers out there who like both action and violence and frills and Kawaii-ness. I want to appeal to them and the send the message that being "feminine" aren't mutually exclusive.
In fact, another thing is that certain feminine qualities are treated as being inherently tough and impressive. Like going through pregnancy and putting up with labor pains.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on May 28, 2013 19:12:13 GMT -8
Well there is also more elegant grown up looking jewelry, which is equally as feminine. In general you could have the same effect by going for an older elegant "feminine" instead of a cute girly "feminine". However if you want to do this for a cute girly character and the "kawaii desu" cutesy stuff fits her personality, maybe you should just go for it, even if you personally dislike it?
Also it never hurts to research and look at all kinds of styles of jewelry and other such girly things.
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Post by Alastor on May 28, 2013 19:18:44 GMT -8
In that case, maybe have those traits be a secondary focus of their character? Have the fact they're kicking ass be more of a focus, rather than the fact they think frilly things are to die for- meaning, ultimately, you might have to grin and bare it a tad.
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makoeyes
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Post by makoeyes on May 28, 2013 19:28:09 GMT -8
Well there is also more elegant grown up looking jewelry, which is equally as feminine. In general you could have the same effect by going for an older elegant "feminine" instead of a cute girly "feminine". However if you want to do this for a cute girly character and the "kawaii desu" cutesy stuff fits her personality, maybe you should just go for it, even if you personally dislike it? Also it never hurts to research and look at all kinds of styles of jewelry and other such girly things. That's a good point. I'll definitely use that idea in the future. There is one character who has a bright and happy personality, I can just tone it down in comparison to most MG stuff. And I'll research stuff. I've been doing LOTS of research for. And thanks for replying! In that case, maybe have those traits be a secondary focus of their character? Have the fact they're kicking ass be more of a focus, rather than the fact they think frilly things are to die for- meaning, ultimately, you might have to grin and bare it a tad. Good point. I was definitely going to focus more on the ass-kicker than the "girly" stuff. And thanks for replying.
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