Strong Female Characters Are Not Enough

Chuck Wendig, over at terribleminds, had a blog post today titled "WE ARE NOT THINGS: MAD MAX VERSUS GAME OF THRONES"

It's an amazing bit of writing, and I want everyone to go read it right now.

I'd like to comment and add my impressions, but at this point I just don't have the words, and I would unwittingly degrade it rather than enhance it.

I followed this link in the body of the piece, and it took me to another of his posts titled "HOW “STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS” STILL END UP WEAK AND POWERLESS (OR, “DO THEY PASS THE ACTION FIGURE TEST?”)"

I DO want to comment on this, because it's crunchy and concrete and I can get my hands around it and do something about it in my own writing.

Chuck writes that "The idea of writing a “strong female character” isn't enough." Lots of writers can create female characters that kick large amounts of ass. Unfortunately, some writers simply stop there. And that turns the 'strong female characters' into nothing more than plot devices. They have no choice, they have no agency. Instead, female characters are there as objects of rape, as motivations for the male characters, as a convenient and vulnerable treasure that needs to be protected or retrieved.

The word "agency" has been kicked around a lot in my social circles, as I'm an avid RPG'er. It took awhile for me to get my head around the idea, but

Chuck summed it up nicely;
"Character agency is… a demonstration of the character’s ability to make decisions and affect the story. This character has motivations all her own. She is active more than she is reactive. She pushes on the plot more than the plot pushes on her. Even better, the plot exists as a direct result of the character’s actions."

And this brings us to me and my writing. I've never written a female character. Not that I remember anyway. So I can't say that I've been guilty of the sins that Chuck has laid out. But I'm sure I would be if I had more experience. And THAT thought caused me to want to change.

I'm saying that this post of Chuck's opened my eyes a bit, and forced me to learn a bit about how characters should be written. I want to make sure that my characters have agency, and my stories are able to pass the Bechdel Test, and the Sexy Lamp test.


Who are some female characters in fiction that you think have agency? What are your favorite stories that pass the Bechdel Test? Let me know in the comments.

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing? Gross!

I've just done the '5 minute stream of consciousness' exercise to get my creative juices flowing, and it occurred to me what a weird phrase that is; "get my creative juices flowing..."

Where the heck did that come from? It sounds like something a serial killer would say; "Hello my love. I'm here with my axe to get your juices flowing. Now hush, no screaming..." Creepy.

The web isn't real helpful on the origin of the phrase, except for some nasty variant examples on Urban Dictionary. Seriously, that website is written by 12 year-olds.

So, other than the particular juice that Urban Dictionary suggests, what are we talking about here? I know the juices are metaphorical, but that's only after they're suggested to us by the speaker. Who thought of it first? I mean, I can see getting your oil hot and flowing, like in a car. I can see getting the bloody juices in your meat flowing, like when you cook a steak. Those are normal examples of juices flowing.

Unfortunately, when I hear "get your juices flowing", the only image that comes to mind is that of Beast Rabban of House Harkonnen when he squishes that little creature in the clear plastic Juicebox Of Doom. Maybe that's it. Is there some specific kind of brain juice?

And Juicebox of Doom it is. My first blog category.