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Okay, so this is a kinda dumb problem for a GIRL to be having, but I really struggle sometimes to give my female protagonists distinct personalities without either making them too weak and helpless or too strong and overbearing.
I mean, I’ve been doing a LOT better with it lately (don’t ask me why, it’s just one of those things) but I’d still appreciate any pointers.It’s not because they’re girls and I don’t understand how girls think (believe me— I do understand that, quite well! 😛 ) it’s because I can’t seem to… I don’t know, get a grip on their personalities like I can with my male characters. I’m having a hard time seeing them as individual and unique and different and diverse.
One thing that’s really helped me was this article and this article, but I’d still like any other thoughts you guys have.I guess it’s not so much a question now of ‘how do I not go to extremes’ as it is ‘how do I see them as different personalities and not just ‘girls’?”
Help? Please? Like I said, I think I’m getting it, but I would still appreciate anything anyone has to say to help me in the process. 🙂
w/o any good knowledge on this, I will proceed to ramble – not because I have stuff to say, but because I am wondering what I’ll say. I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll learn something from myself and then I’ll know it betterer.
I am going to recommend something I half stole – like all my bestistest ideas. Try a split test. Write the best character description of the girl you can. You should probably include a couple scenes from your story with her in it. Then send it off to a list of ten guys and a list of ten girls? Give them 10-20 imaginary scenarios for her to be in and then ask them what they think she would do. Analyze the data. Accept new good ideas, trash new bad ideas. See if one group is significantly more helpful than the other. If so, only refer to that group thereafter for greater simplicity.
Other good idea: (actually, I don’t have one, I’m just forcing myself to create one so I can see what it is) Maybe you can have them be too weak and helpless or strong and overbearing strategically??? Perhaps your character could be too far one of those ways and be struggling with how to find good middle ground. You should be able to relate to that since that is the problem you are trying to solve anyways. It might make the characters more real if you could be like “Hey, I’m wondering that myself. What are you going to do about this Miss. Character? I’m going to have to go off into a corner and muse over this for a while until I come up with some super diabolical plot strategy to help you find your happy medium.”
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Oh, hehe, tag thingy forgotten @kate-florunoy
And btw, what’s her name was pretty well done I thought.
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Oh yeah, and I just wrote my first ever (I think) scene from a female’s pov. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! Actually, I think it was ok, (probably because it was really short) but any tips are goody goody gumdrops.
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I am officially dominating this section with a bunch of posts that should have all been one. Here is the tag thingy *dramatic pause* spelled correctly. @kate-flournoy
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One little nifty trick that helps me when I think my characters personalities are becoming vague and watered down from what I originally wanted them to be, is to interview them.
Take them out of the story, set them down and figure out their likes, wants, goals, fears, etc. It’s kinda fun to ask your character about their life problems, (especially since you’re the one who created them 😉
It’s helped me to dive a bit deeper into my character’s personality.Daeus’s second rambling was something I was thinking too. Sometimes you just gotta keep writing and let the character help you figure it out. They might surprise you by doing something unexpected later on that will show distinct personality traits. 🙂
https://rolenahatfield.com/
w/o any good knowledge on this, I will proceed to ramble – not because I have stuff to say, but because I am wondering what I’ll say. I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll learn something from myself and then I’ll know it betterer.
I cannot tell you how many times I have done that. 😛
That test thing idea is a very good one— I may have to try that. Hm… now to find ten different people I know, let alone ten guys and ten girls. Okay, slight exaggeration… 😉
Oh yes, I’ve definitely used the strategy you proposed quite liberally, actually. That’s always good. It’s usually referred to as a character arc… yes, I know, you knew that. 😉
And since I have several ‘what’s her names’ but have only acquainted you with one I will assume you were referring to Lindel. Lindel… eh… Lindel needs some work. 😛
Oh boy, I don’t know if I can help you but I can certainly try. I may end up speaking more for myself since I’m the only girl I let inside my mind, but I’ll do my best to generalize. 😛
Girls generally focus more on what they feel when something happens rather than what actually happened. Now this will vary drastically depending on the situation (like if the house just blew up, she’ll probably be more concerned about the house) but if someone paid her a compliment she’ll focus more on the warm, happy feeling it gave her than the actual fact. And most girls will remember little incidents like that for a long time— like sometimes I forget big important things like making dinner or something, or what we had for breakfast, or what month we went on vacation, but I can still remember a single incident about five years ago when a Walmart employee smiled and said good morning to me before I did. (They do that so seldom, you know, I wonder why that is? Walmart must be a terrible place 😉 😛 ). And the warm, happy feeling girls get with little incidents of kindness like that makes them (at least me) feel like waltzing quietly just because they’re so happy.Also, girls like to talk. It’s easier for them to form a relationship with someone just talking to them, as opposed to doing a project with them, or playing a game with them.
Was that… in some sort… helpful? *pitiful whimper* I hate being unhelpful. 😉
And I think I have officially overloaded this post with annoying emojis. I’m sorry they annoyed you…
… @Daeus
Oh hey @Rolena-Hatfield, we were posting at the same time! And oh yes, definitely interview your characters, I can’t tell you enough how helpful and ridiculously fun it is. 😀
@kate-flournoy That’s fine.
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This was the best part:
I forget big important things like … what we had for breakfast
I totally sympathise.
Yes, you did help me. I don’t think I did anything wrong, but I also don’t think I did enough right. I went back and added a little rememberance snippet, and now I believe it’s better.
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I’d say sticking them with a strong personality (not strong as in “butch-chick” strong. More just consistent) is a starting point. It took me a while to get Jean working because I did a bit of a self insert at first and it took me a while to stumble my way out of that. But I worked out my second female MC’s personality first the next time and I saw a marked difference.
Not to say it’s easy. I have an easier time writing boys. Girls are really hard to understand sometimes… actually a lot of the times. Boys are more upfront about stuff.
Oh, and also have a boy character for her to play off of. At least for some practice scene-writing. Having the contrast of the two gives a good grounding.@kate-flournoy. I find I ask myself (when I’m writing about girls) “what would I do in this situation?” Anna (Anna’s Savanna) and Tess (Princess Tess and the Perfect Story) are based on my views and opinions, and yet I still don’t feel like they are me. I don’t make them me, I just give them a few good ideas and then let them handle the rest. 🙂
Also reading lots of books with girls in them are very helpful. Have you read “Little Women”? Great book. (I felt the movie was better though 😉 ) But each girl has a completely different personality. Beautiful Meg, Spirited Jo, Fragile Beth, Romantic Amy, and yet none of them are too weak or too strong.
I have no idea if this is helpful at all. I just followed @daeus and rambled. 😛I take a quiet delight in setting the example. (I want an upside down emoji right about now: one with the tongue sticking out.)
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I have a hard time creating distinct characters, especially MCs. But one thing which is fun to do, even if I don’t do it as much as I should (and this can go with both male and female characters) is to mix up traits that no one would ever think of together. Kind of like on the boiled potatoes from blue sky thread; have a bad guy who’s afraid of the dark (not in a childish way, of course, but in an adult, I-won’t-admit-it manner) or a grandmother who bakes cookies and is also a bit of a math geek. It makes a character distinct and gives them something that belongs just to themselves, as opposed to things like loyalty and courage which many other characters might have.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
There you go @daeus. That is the best I can do for an upside-down-tongue-out-emoji
(Let me know when you’ve seen it so I can change back or everyone here will think I’m nuts!) ((And I’m not really crazy 😛 ))
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