You know... female leads? What did you think I was going to talk about? Drugs? For shame!
All jokes aside, however, I find that as a female reader, I tend to have difficulty finding heroines I can relate to. Heroines I can admire, or empathize with. Ones whose actions and mental processes don't make me want to roll my eyes. This post is nothing but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to female lead faux-pas constantly made by many a YA writer. However, because I don't want to bore you all, I'm limiting myself to four characteristics that could, with a bit of pronoun changes, apply to both male and female leads.
Numero uno.
There is such a thing as "too perfect". This one certainly applies to both genders, but it comes in different shades.
This leading lady is lovely. Absolutely perfect. To quote Rudy Francisco; "When God made [her], He cussed for the very first time. He turned to an angel [...] and said 'Goddamn, I'm good'."1 She is everything anyone could ever want. She's beautiful, even if she doesn't believe it, and men everywhere kiss the ground she walks on.
The problem with this is that it forces us, as the audience, to believe her self-worth is dependent on her physical attributes. Now, there's nothing wrong with appreciating someone's beauty, but it shouldn't be the only thing. You can make your heroine pretty, but only so long as that's not all she is.2
Numero dos.
She's got a tragic backstory.
Whatever happened to a loving family? A father who was there for his little girl? A mother who isn't willing to sell her daughter for meth? Where did family values go?
I'm all for tragic happenings if it means that your character will learn from it. When it seems like she won the Bad Luck Lottery, though, I tend to cringe.
A divorced set of parents? Sure. A sibling dying of cancer? Sure. An uncle who may or may not have been a less than savoury individual? Sure. Everything and more? Maybe not.
Show your characters some sympathy!
Numero three.
She hasn't got a backstory.
Contrary to popular belief, characters don't just pop up randomly, ready to run around and fight dragons. Well, technically they do. A good, "human" character, however, is just as, well... human as you or I. They've been through trials and tribulations. Something has happened. You don't need to spend twenty chapters telling us about the ins and outs of every little moment in her life, but keep in mind that even Bella Swan had a backstory. Was it a good one? No. At least she had one, though.
Flesh out your characters!3
Numero quatro.
She's got a brain, but oh, wait, nope... Maybe not? She claims to be intelligent but she never actually shows it. Bella from Twilight, for example, is apparently a fantastic student.4. Despite her tastes and apparent mental capacities, she's eager to jump off a cliff for attention. Seems like a pretty stupid idea for someone said to be so smart, don'tchathink?
Hermione Granger, however, is brilliant. "The brightest witch of [our] age!"5, in fact. Does she show it? Constantly. Is she any lesser of a person for it? Not at all.
Don't pretend your heroine is smart if you don't show it. Put your money where your mouth is and make heroines for those of us who prefer books over Barbies.6
So, let's resume, shall we?
This is the part where, if it's TL;DR, I'll sum it up and stick a bow on it.
Make your hero(ines) flawed. Give them just enough backstory to make them interesting. When you give them a characteristic, you'd best make sure you show it, too.
Don't forget we're all looking for someone we can admire. Make them realistic. They can be flawed, affable, loveable, lovely, imperfect, irritating, interesting, intelligent, naive, brave, cowardly, trusting, skeptical... It doesn't matter! Just give them some substance and make sure you build them out of more than transparent ideals and second-rate writing. Once you've got that covered, you might be en route to making a decent story.
1 This is quoted from his "Love Poem Medley". Feel free to check it out on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpVURliPtB0
↩All jokes aside, however, I find that as a female reader, I tend to have difficulty finding heroines I can relate to. Heroines I can admire, or empathize with. Ones whose actions and mental processes don't make me want to roll my eyes. This post is nothing but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to female lead faux-pas constantly made by many a YA writer. However, because I don't want to bore you all, I'm limiting myself to four characteristics that could, with a bit of pronoun changes, apply to both male and female leads.
Numero uno.
There is such a thing as "too perfect". This one certainly applies to both genders, but it comes in different shades.
This leading lady is lovely. Absolutely perfect. To quote Rudy Francisco; "When God made [her], He cussed for the very first time. He turned to an angel [...] and said 'Goddamn, I'm good'."1 She is everything anyone could ever want. She's beautiful, even if she doesn't believe it, and men everywhere kiss the ground she walks on.
The problem with this is that it forces us, as the audience, to believe her self-worth is dependent on her physical attributes. Now, there's nothing wrong with appreciating someone's beauty, but it shouldn't be the only thing. You can make your heroine pretty, but only so long as that's not all she is.2
Numero dos.
She's got a tragic backstory.
Whatever happened to a loving family? A father who was there for his little girl? A mother who isn't willing to sell her daughter for meth? Where did family values go?I'm all for tragic happenings if it means that your character will learn from it. When it seems like she won the Bad Luck Lottery, though, I tend to cringe.
A divorced set of parents? Sure. A sibling dying of cancer? Sure. An uncle who may or may not have been a less than savoury individual? Sure. Everything and more? Maybe not.
Show your characters some sympathy!
Numero three.
She hasn't got a backstory.
Contrary to popular belief, characters don't just pop up randomly, ready to run around and fight dragons. Well, technically they do. A good, "human" character, however, is just as, well... human as you or I. They've been through trials and tribulations. Something has happened. You don't need to spend twenty chapters telling us about the ins and outs of every little moment in her life, but keep in mind that even Bella Swan had a backstory. Was it a good one? No. At least she had one, though.
Flesh out your characters!3
Numero quatro.
She's got a brain, but oh, wait, nope... Maybe not? She claims to be intelligent but she never actually shows it. Bella from Twilight, for example, is apparently a fantastic student.4. Despite her tastes and apparent mental capacities, she's eager to jump off a cliff for attention. Seems like a pretty stupid idea for someone said to be so smart, don'tchathink?
Hermione Granger, however, is brilliant. "The brightest witch of [our] age!"5, in fact. Does she show it? Constantly. Is she any lesser of a person for it? Not at all.
Don't pretend your heroine is smart if you don't show it. Put your money where your mouth is and make heroines for those of us who prefer books over Barbies.6
So, let's resume, shall we?
This is the part where, if it's TL;DR, I'll sum it up and stick a bow on it.
Make your hero(ines) flawed. Give them just enough backstory to make them interesting. When you give them a characteristic, you'd best make sure you show it, too.
Don't forget we're all looking for someone we can admire. Make them realistic. They can be flawed, affable, loveable, lovely, imperfect, irritating, interesting, intelligent, naive, brave, cowardly, trusting, skeptical... It doesn't matter! Just give them some substance and make sure you build them out of more than transparent ideals and second-rate writing. Once you've got that covered, you might be en route to making a decent story.
1 This is quoted from his "Love Poem Medley". Feel free to check it out on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpVURliPtB0
2 By that same token, don't make your male leads handsome and nothing else. He can be pretty, but make sure he's more than that. Does he have to be a member of MENSA? Not necessarily, but if he's only a pretty face, I might as well read a tabloid, right? ↩
3 On the topic of backstories, I find it useful to quote the fantastic Stephen King; "The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.” Give them something to make them relatable and go from there.↩
4 As much as I'd like to spend a full blog explaining the flaws of Twilight, I feel as if that might become dull and preachy. Instead, I'll just say that Bella Swan isn't someone you want your daughters, younger siblings, cousins or friends to emulate. Show them that there are some strong heroines out there, and some properly intelligent ones. ↩
5 This is from book 3 of the Harry Potter series "The Prisoner of Azkaban". The page number depends entirely on which edition you're reading. ↩
6 For male leads, the same thing applies, but with more masculine pronouns, of course.↩
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