Female Characters: It’s About Good Writing
Female characters are important, but probably not for the reason you first assume. If you get on Google, you’ll discover surveys consistently find that women read more than men, especially fiction; they also note women stream more movies and TV than men; plus they’re far more likely watch television (especially box sets). Women even use social media and the internet more than men! What’s more, far from that mythical 15-25 year old male demographic that’s bandied about by (out-of-date) producers, the MPAA have revealed the majority of cinema audiences in the USA are actually FEMALE!
Women are a whopping fifty per cent of your potential audience, whether you’re writing movies, short films, TV pilots, novels, or transmedia projects. Tides are turning. In this day and age, the outdated notion of the ‘male’ and ‘female’ story is gone. Women now watch genres and types of story traditionally associated with “male” tastes such as Horror, Blockbusters, gross-out comedies and stories full of extreme violence (even torture!). In other words, whatever Women personally find entertaining! Women, just like men, want a ‘great story, well told’.
Working with writers, I like to stay up-to-date with what they’re reading and watching. This means I poll them quite frequently about the female characters they enjoy in books, TV shows and movies. Here’s some recent results from the ‘Bang2writers’:
Novels
1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
2. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
6. Emma by Jane Austen
7. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
8. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson
9. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
10. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
11. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
12. Matilda by Roald Dahl
13. Carrie by Stephen King
14. The Harry Potter Books by JK Rowling
15. Misery by Stephen King
TV
1. The Handmaid’s Tale
2. Homeland
3. Empire
4. The 100
5. Happy Valley
6. Brooklyn 99
7. Wentworth Prison
8. Broadchurch
9. Game of Thrones
10. Scott & Bailey
11. The Fall
12. Orange Is The New Black
13. Big Little Lies
14. House of Cards
15. Line of Duty
Movies
1. Beauty and the Beast (both versions)
2. Frozen
3. Moana
4. Legally Blonde
5. Aliens
6. Panic Room
7. Mad Max Fury Road
8. Gravity
9. Edge of Tomorrow
10. The Hunger Games
11. The Heat
12. Pacific Rim
13. Juno
14. Wild
15. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
In real terms there is nothing particularly ‘out there’ about these lists because most people prioritise potential entertainment value above all else when picking something to read or watch. At grass roots level, entertainment means, ‘Can this make money??’ If the answer is yes, then more will be made. Readers and audiences have started to vote with their wallets: they want female characters and plenty of them!
Writers often have a social conscience, but good female characterisation should never about ticking boxes, or educating anyone. Regardless of gender politics or general philanthropy, ignoring the women in your audience is quite simply bad business sense. Ignoring your female characters is literally leaving money on the table.
We are currently seeing a breadth of female characterisation that is unprecedented in its diversity. More marginalised voices and worldviews are being recognised and championed than ever before: advances in technology like the Kindle, VoD and TV on Demand means there’s literally thousands of hours to FILL with stories. These stories can be yours!
IN A NUTSHELL: It’s not about politics, it’s about good writing! Most readers and audiences want more female nuanced and diverse female characters. Forget about the ones that don’t. Plus there are ways to deal with the ones that take female characterisation too far, that’s their problem. Don’t be afraid!
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Lucy is an author and script editor based in Devon, UK. Her blog, Bang2write, was voted no.1
in the Write Life’s Top 100 Blogs for Writers list in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Lucy’s third novel, The Other
Twin, is available to buy in paperback, and as an ebook and audiobook: http://www.lucyvhayauthor.