Why are my protagonists usually female? – Graeme Ing, Author

Why are my protagonists usually female?

People often ask me “Are you gay?”, “Do you secretly want to be a woman?” In case you’re wondering, the answers to those questions are No and No. Before I answer the real question, how common is it for authors to write protagonists of the opposite sex?

Since my current genre is YA fantasy, let’s skip over the classic examples, such as Tolstoy’s incredible portrayal of Anna Karenina, and D H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley. History is full of such magnificent examples (and I’m sure many failed ones too).

  • Harry Potter is the first series to come to mind. J K Rowling has a cast of both sexes, but I think it’s fair to say she predominantly had male protagonists in the form of Harry, of course, and Ron. Did she portray these boys better than Hermione? I would argue equally as well.
  • Lyra, in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, is an excellent and highly believable character. She has much of the spunk, wits and sense of adventure that I have in my current heroine, Lissa.
  • Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series is a classic and a must for every fantasy-lover’s bookshelf. Ged was a superb character to root for, a strong character that advanced the plot nicely, but I could always tell that he had been written by a woman.
  • C S Lewis’ Narnia chronicles had a multi-sex set of heroes. He did a reasonable job with the girls but they came out less rounded than the boys, obviously written by a male author. I think it’s fair to put this down to the social values at the time he wrote.
  • In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins captured Katniss perfectly, as one would expect. She is a surprisingly deep and aware character for one so young. Peeta was a great sidekick, but lacked strength of personality somehow, a little weak.
  •  In my opinion, one of the best opposite-gender protagonist in YA fantasy has to be Branwen in Frewin Jones’ Destiny’s Path series. I wouldn’t have guessed that the author was male.

In summary, it is possible to write an opposite sex protagonist but it’s very hard to pull off well. I want to believe that male authors write female characters better than vice versa, but women are assuredly laughing at me right now, telling me that I have it backwards! I’ve read many poor attempts by women writing men, giving them flowery dialog, a lack of machismo, being overly romantic, or showing too much feminine emotion. Men, especially boys, are usually more direct and hate small talk.

So, is it easy for me to write a female heroine? Definitely not. Often, my teenage Lissa comes across as a tomboy, when I desire her to be more feminine. The women at my writing group (bless them!) often remind me that Lissa’s fight scenes are too masculine. “No, not punches! Slapping. Hair pulling.” I have faith in how she has turned out in this final draft, however, and hope that my readers find her as endearing as I now do. I learned much from reading about well-realized heroines in The Golden Compass, Warrior Princess, The Hunger Games, etc.

That only leaves the why of it. No, it’s not because I believe the world needs stronger, independent female characters; that movement was victorious a long time ago. There is a germ of that in my writing though; having grown up reading nothing but boy’s fiction.

Primarily, it’s because writing is my escape, my journey into worlds and plots of the imagination, my chance to embrace new experiences. No, I don’t want to be a woman, but I do enjoy empathizing how they would deal with my imaginary adventures, and trying to capture the essence of their outlook on the world around them. Will I always write about women? No, but for now I’m having a whale of a time, and that’s all that matters, right?

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2 comments
Meg McNulty (@charitygirlblog) says February 27, 2012

YES! This is so challenging. I write romance and have had to consciously alter my description when in male POV. No admiring tip-tilted noses and eyes like silvery moons, more er… graphic! Shorter sentences, more action orientated. Involved interviewing my husband (much to his embarassment).

Another great opposite gender protagonist – Will Stanton in Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising trilogy (love those books).

Reply
    Graeme says February 27, 2012

    ha ha, yeah. Luckily the women at my writer’s group set me straight about the female POV. My worst offenses were fight scenes between two girls. They told me “less punching, more hair-pulling”. That really helped. It’s an interesting challenge to write the opposite sex POV though.

    Reply
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