Writing Wednesday: The Female Protagonist

I started reading ‘Pride and Prejudice’ again for my book club and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy Jane Austen. I think it’s because the main character is so witty and intelligent. She works with her strengths and makes no excuse for her flaws. This got me thinking about the ‘Female Protagonist.’

*insert twilight zone music*

The female protagonist is sometimes the most difficult character to write because women are inherently complex people. It’s a scientific fact. Our brainwaves work differently then our counterpart male species. Therefore, when a writer works with a female protagonist, things shouldn’t always be black and white.

A couple years ago, Tami Cowden posted an article about the eight romance heroine archetypes. It’s a great article and very informative. She explains the term archetype and the different archetype roles. However, the idea of the ‘archetype’ comes from Carl Jung’s archetype theories on human personality. His theory is a bit more broad based and includes categories that are all encompassing such as “Mother” or “Leader.” Both Cowden and Jung’s work are worth reading.

But my point is, you shouldn’t stop at the archetype (which lay people sometimes refer to as ‘stereotype’ even though I don’t think both words are synonymous). Take Cowden’s ‘Waif’ archetype and add characteristics of ‘the Librarian’ or ‘the Boss’. Yes, it complicates things, but that’s the point. Women are complicated and your protagonist should have layers.

This doesn’t mean that her personality should change so drastically in every scene to the point that we don’t recognize her. But it does mean that you should take a look at your female protagonist and consider whether she is shallow or has enough facets for your reader to believe in her.

The scene where Angel gets his soul back and then Buffy has to kill him anyway is a great example of how you take one archetype and layer in different facets of personality traits to make a complicated yet complete character. Buffy is hard ass, yet she loves Angel, wants to be with him, but she puts the good of the world over her own wants and needs, and she’s heartbroken by the action.

Voila! She’s a Boss, a Crusader, and a Survivor. That’s why Buffy is amazing.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on about the female protagonist for a while now, but if anyone has something to add, feel free to chime in. And that’s it for today’s Writing Wednesday post!

Cheers,

Nisha