Link to Article: Overcoming Object Love: How to Write Female Leads Who Are People by Robbie Blair

Quote:

And my favorite has to be Joss Whedon‘s response, as re-told at an Equality Now address:

Interviewer: So, why do you write these strong female characters?

Whedon: Because you’re still asking me that question.

This Article on Writing Female Leads That Are People is a great read for those trying to get away from the stereotype surrounding female characters–lead or not.

I’m not going to write a huge article about the article, just me thoughts after reading it and a personal experience regarding the topic.

In a nutshell, it’s about taking away the object from the character (male or female), and putting a real person in the writing. I think it’s a worth-while read, because it is important to get away from generalizing people based on gender, ethnic background, faith or what-not. People are people, first and foremost. 

The reason this really strikes out at me is of something that happened just yesterday. My fiancee (a strong believer in female rights and supporter of feminism) told me about one of my three main characters, who happens to be female–is: “I like how you write women.”

I’m not sure of everyone would agree with that, because I never thought of it. I never thought my characters as being written as women or men. I write people, and I guess that attitude alone makes a difference. In my view, I create a character that does things because other things happened–with goals, likes and dislikes, desire and fear. And then I let them react with that framework to whatever I throw in their way. Surely, some things will always be more fitting to gender roles, and I can’t claim to be completely immune to it. But I’m aware of it. Maybe that’s why my girl likes how I use female characters in my stories.

Again, here is the link: Overcoming Object Love: How to Write Female Leads Who Are People