on writing female characters

[splinteredstar]

Okay, so. This is mostly me trying to sort my own brain out. Sometimes writing things down helps me figure out what they are.

Short version: sometimes I get wigged out over female characters.

Context: I have an old, old idea. Involves rebels against an oppressive government, only the leader of the rebellion falls under the influence of the superweapon (I can ramble about how that works later) and goes bug fuck insane. Still not certain if the crazy is terminal.

Originally, the rebel leader was a man named Joshua, but Joshua ended up being a very different character (a Royalist, for one). So I split him into two, Joshua and Julian, Julian being the rebel leader who eventually goes insane and becomes the villain. And it sat for a year.

Well this week I was struck with the idea. What if Julian was instead Jillian?

But that sort of opened a mess of questions in my head. A good rebel leader (and good villain) requires passion and drive and cunning and charisma. Would making the villain a woman ‘make a statement’ about women with those traits? I always despaired as a child that all the powerful women in fiction were evil. But if I /don’t/ make the character a woman, is that making a different, equally bad statement? Does equal representation count for the antagonists?

Worrying about all this is a bit daft, I know. A character shouldn’t be swayed by the pressures in my society. But I do worry. What if I’m being swayed and not aware of it? There's a mess of social implications with female characters which of course also exist for male characters, but I don't feel them as strongly. Thinking about it is better than, well, not thinking about it, but how do I find an /answer/?

Arg. Any opinions would be wonderful.

 

Comments

[splinteredstar]

Yeah. I'm just aware enough of all the gender politics to notice that people can interpret things as statements, and that representation matters - but the solution as to what I'm supposed to /do/ about all that is a little murkier. The traits /should/ be separate, but that doesn't mean they'll be taken that way.

Yeah, I try to. But I don't want, well. Like I said, when I was younger I figured I had to be bad, because all the strong women were bad. I don't want to fall into that trap, that strength and cunning and independence means evil. So yeah, put an opposite number, one who disproves that. *nod nod* Not quite sure who, yet, but I'm starting to get ideas.

I don't usually. I'm just aware enough to realize that representation matters, and I worry about the effect I might have on readers. It's like, I know that gender doesn't matter to me personally, but I know that it matters to the world.

If I wasn't actually in a minority group I would try and find someone who /was/ who didn't mind me pestering them with questions. I'm not completely new at this. *wink*