30 Day Fandom Meme Day 6

[leethet]

Day 06 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
I prefer writing the main characters in most fanfic – they’re all men. That says something about our culture and the difficulty in finding heroines (outside of romance novels, and don't get me started on those). I looked for them growing up – I was a bookworm – but the girls were always timidly saying “We should tell mom and dad about this” while the boys were shouting “Let’s go have adventures!” Is it any wonder I identified with the guys? I have to assume that that’s changed a little in kids’ books – at least, I hope it has. But I notice Hermione’s still a bit of a wienie sometimes.

Comments

[elmey.livejournal.com]

My favorite heroine growing up was Joan of Arc. Because she got to wear armour and fight. The religious stuff never registered :) I find it difficult to write women though--partly because I'm uncomfortable giving them as much angst as I'd give a man--and I love angst. I have no trouble reading it for women, but find it hard to write.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Well, I spent my entire childhood prowling streets and woods, climbing trees and roofs, fighting with boys sometimes older than me, which I managed to lead, more or less, because I was the stories-teller and the one who was able to imagine for them the spies / detectives / corsairs / cossaks / musketeers / templars adventures we used to play together in our very free free-time. There were one or two other girls of the same ilk but I am now aware that for us the female part of mankind was just...inexistent. My readings was made only of boys books (with a lot of classic literature, though) and I don't think I ever indentified myself with a female character (or only with very boyish ones). When I started to write fiction (it wasn't a success; I'm decidedly not a writer), for the first time, I tried to insert myself in a female body and mind; it was awkward and un-natural to me but I realised that the feeling was the same with men characters. Seems now I'm not more male than female. Not very helpful to create fiction characters!