- This topic has 127 replies, 21 voices, and was last updated 2 days, 3 hours ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I’m fine with women going into battle, as long as they dress, act, and fight like women (and the author doesn’t try to make some weird point out of it). It’s when girls start saying things like “I’m just as good as a guy” or “I’m better than any guy.” Because, while I believe that all people are in fact equal, what the author sounds like they’re saying is “girls have to act like guys to be as good as them” or even “guys are actually wimps”. That’s a gross lie.
Men and women have different strengths and weaknesses. When your female character starts having to take on more of your male character’s responsibilities, she’s going to do things like a woman. She has a different perspective and different abilities. Now some things like chopping wood, starting a fire, basic survival stuff, doesn’t change much. But things like protecting herself, reactions to attacks, thought processes while on the run, are going to be different. She’s going to tackle problems like herself not him.
Don’t pit her physical strength against a man’s. It will not be enough, should not be equal. If she has to fight a stronger foe, find other strengths to rely on. Agility? Reflexes? Higher pain tolerance? Creative if sometimes illogical problem solving? Simple tenacity?
How do your characters feel over this situation? Your male is probably not happy with the arrangement, not happy that she has to pick up his slack (or at least, he’d better not be. Otherwise he’s lazy). He may be okay with her doing it, just not okay with the fact that she has to. There is a difference.
Now, I wouldn’t make too big of a deal out of this. You know your character’s temperaments, backgrounds, personalities. Those will dictate how they react to situations as much if not far more than whether they are male or female. Let them do what you feel they would as a character. Keep a good balance in mind, but don’t worry so much over it that it hinders your writing. You know these characters. Don’t fret over things you probably already handle without thinking.
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the GorkNow, I wouldn’t make too big of a deal out of this. You know your character’s temperaments, backgrounds, personalities. Those will dictate how they react to situations as much if not far more than whether they are male or female. Let them do what you feel they would as a character. Keep a good balance in mind, but don’t worry so much over it that it hinders your writing. You know these characters. Don’t fret over things you probably already handle without thinking.
I agree with Koshka. Yes, a character is male or female, but I know females who are drastically different from each other without pretending they could easily identify as a male or or are more valuable than a male. Characters are going to be vastly different from each other in tempers and skills, so that is the best place to start when deciding what your character will do in a scene.
Some people will disagree on whether women should be allowed to fight or not. I personally think it’s okay for a woman to fight, even on the offensive rather than defensive (I know a very gentle Christian girl who joined the military and is extremely professional), but that depends on your point of view. I think the better question to ask yourself is, is your female character meant to be acting in positive character growth, or not? If so, portray her growing responsibilities in a way that shows her strength, fortitude, and willingness to do things for a loved one. If you want these responsibilities to affect her negatively, portray that instead.
You can have a female character who has top-notch physical skills in her world. That’s just what she’s good at. Yes, she can choose to use those skills for good or evil. The idea is to responsibly embrace the role you fall into, and do it for good, even if you are a girl who has become a leader.
#ProtectAdolinKholin
I still think about this topic to this day. XD
#ProtectAdolinKholin
TBH, Whaley, Ellette and Koshka are all basically saying riffs on the same thing from what I can tell. It’s ok to have a girl fighting if she needs to (or if she thinks she needs to, which could be an important character arc), but don’t make her into what’s basically a guy with long hair and wide hips. (I mean, like the judge Deborah in the Bible helped lead an army, but I’d say that was an exception rather than the rule)
I see no problem with having characters who are like that as long as they’re done properly. The main character in my latest WIP (a fan fiction with characters of my own added into the original storyline) DEFINITELY fits into the “girls who fight and are decently good at it” category, so…..yeah.
If there is a woman in the fight, the man’s attention will be on the girl and keeping her safe, not on what needs to be done.
Bruhhh, this is literally what happened to Sniper and Huntress a couple times. He kept getting killed and having to respawn (yeah, like in a videogame, I’ll explain later) cause he was too focused on watching her back and protecting her from the worst dangers whenever she was near him (she kept insisting she was fine and could defend herself, but he wasn’t having it). The thing is, I didn’t even plan this with “oh it’s cause he’s a guy and she’s a girl and that’d be his natural reaction.” I just went for it cause I thought it’d be kinda funny and made sense to me, even though I couldn’t think of an actual reason why.
"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers
and that was probably not helpful at all, so.
"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers
Heyyyy I missed this topic’s beginning while I was gone, but I’m glad I found out about it now! It was quite interesting reading through everything, and now I have so many thoughts I don’t know what to do with them lol!
I do have one thought for you, though. I’m not gonna repeat everything the others were saying, but my one suggestion is perhaps you could have your female character show some frustration at having to take on some of the things the guy should be doing. Don’t get hung up on this or it might throw your story off, especially depending on the specific personalities of your characters. And I don’t know the male character’s backstory, so that might affect it too, but there might be inward frustration in both of them- the guy frustrated with himself that he isn’t stepping up (unless he hasn’t had someone model for him what those roles are, then perhaps he doesn’t know he’s supposed to be stepping into that place), and the girl frustrated with him.
Often what I’ve observed is that guys who grow up without a father figure tend to take on more of the qualities of a woman because that’s all they know. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it can mean that they don’t always know how to step into the role of man the way God intended. Putting an older male mentor into the life of a character like this can help him learn and grow throughout the storyline.
But again- I don’t know the specifics of your story, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
Often what I’ve observed is that guys who grow up without a father figure tend to take on more of the qualities of a woman because that’s all they know. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it can mean that they don’t always know how to step into the role of man the way God intended.
THIS.
Like I said, I’m doing a sort of redemption arc with this character, so I had some fun creating a lovely, traumatic backstory.
That means he hasn’t had the best male role models in his life. He did have a mother, but she wasn’t very good at “moming” so he wouldn’t have absorbed the nurturing qualities. I’ve tried to make it believable that he would mess up in the ways he messes up.
Putting an older male mentor into the life of a character like this can help him learn and grow throughout the storyline.
That’s a something I didn’t actually think of! *raises hand to give you a high five* I have now been gifted with an idea I am VERY excited to write about, so–
Stephie out.
*waves energetically and sprints away*
"Io non ho bisogno di denaro.
Ho bisogno di sentimenti."That’s a something I didn’t actually think of! *raises hand to give you a high five* I have now been gifted with an idea I am VERY excited to write about, so–
Lol glad I could be of service! Merry Christmas!
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
I had some fun creating a lovely, traumatic backstory.
Good times. XD
Tempus adest gratiae
Hoc quod optabamus,
Carmina laetitiae
Devote reddamus!(I mean, like the judge Deborah in the Bible helped lead an army, but I’d say that was an exception rather than the rule)
I KNEW someone was gonna bring this up! Okay, the Bible says that God CURSED Israel when he had Deborah fight. It was a curse on them and Barrak that a WOMAN had to lead the army. God says because of Barrak’s cowardice the victory would be handed to a woman, which was a curse on him. If you read prophesy, it’s always “because a woman leads your city” “because women fight in your ranks” “because you are led by a woman” and then the curse. Sometimes this woman is symbolic, sometimes she’s real, but it’s always a curse.
So yes, God used a woman, but he used her to make a point. To show Isreal that it was cursed and yet he was still saving them. And yes, God could use a woman to do whatever He wanted her to do, but it wasn’t a good thing for Israel that he used her. He was saving them despite themselves and he used a woman.
Yeah. There’s my rant.
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
@ellette-giselle I mean, I DID say that was the exception as opposed to the rule, so if you’re trying to counter my argument, we’re actually kinda saying the same thing.
but honestly I think something like that actually exactly what @stephie was going for. The guy either doesn’t know any better or is something of a coward, and the girl is forced to lead because of it.
"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers
honestly I think something like that actually exactly what @stephie was going for. The guy either doesn’t know any better or is something of a coward, and the girl is forced to lead because of it.
Off topic: I wonder if I’ll get an email if I tag myself. @stephie
Anyways, yes, that was what I was going for. There are a few situations my main character has been put in where either the guy hasn’t done his job, or can’t do something through no fault of his own, etc.
I do agree with you. *Twelve year old me reaches up through time to strangle me*
The design of God for women is that we be the givers of life. We have a sort of “feminine genius.” A capacity to love in a special way. You could say that it’s a human gift, and that women are the privileged representatives. After all, we represent the church, and men represent Christ. I’ll have to reread TOB if I want to go into more detail, but yeah.
*Twelve year old me gets a hold on my neck*
This – used – to – *coughs* bother me – but now I find it – beautiful
"Io non ho bisogno di denaro.
Ho bisogno di sentimenti."Well, I’m glad to find someone who does agree. It’s a lonely stance.
Hopefully anything I said was helpful!
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
*tosses twelve year old me back into the past*
It did send me an email! Maybe I’ll just start doing that for fun so I hear the cool notification sound!
Am I okay?"Io non ho bisogno di denaro.
Ho bisogno di sentimenti."
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.