In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—talk about writing better female characters. This is the first part of a two-part episode on the topic. Here’s what we talked about: That, in the US, women are estimated to buy 70–80% of fiction booksThere are way more male than female leads in children’s booksThat novels, on average and across the board, only have one female character to four male charactersBut that many readers FEEL like there are way more female protagonists these days than there are male protagonists That women writers also have a tendency to write male characters, and that women are not exempt from perpetuating problematic female representationsWhat kind of roles women tend to have in fictionA selection of tropes to avoid or seriously consider when writing female charactersSome of the most persistent narrative structures that disempower and/or harm womenWhy it is important to write female characters better, even if books with badly written women are selling well And here are the (re)sources we mentioned on the show: “How many books per year do Americans read?” by Jamie Ballard: https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2018/08/14/reading-books-men-women“Gender in twentieth-century children’s books” by Janice McCabe: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241647875_Gender_in_Twentieth-Century_Children%27s_Books“It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World, Even in a Pandemic Year: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top U.S. Films of 2021” by Dr. Martha M. Lauzen: https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2021-Its-a-Mans-Celluloid-World-Report.pdf “Women Buy Fiction in Bulk and Publishers Take Notice” by Trip Gabriel: https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/17/business/women-buy-fiction-in-bulk-and-publishers-take-notice.html“AI study finds that males are represented four times more than females in literature” by Maya Abu-Zahra: https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2022/04/ai-study-finds-that-males-are-represented-four-times-more-than-females-in-literature/“Male leads in fiction sell 10 million more books on average than female leads” by Kelly Jensen: https://bookriot.com/male-leads-in-fiction/“A new study shows that girls write fewer female characters as they get older” by Walker Caplan: https://lithub.com/a-new-study-shows-that-girls-write-fewer-female-characters-as-they-get-older/RWBY TV Series: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3066242/“The Problem with Female Protagonists” by Jo Eberhardt: https://writerunboxed.com/2016/08/06/the-problem-with-female-protagonists/“Discussion Time: Why are there More Female Protagonists than Male?” by Beth: https://readingeverynight.wordpress.com/2017/11/04/discussion-time-why-are-there-more-female-protagonists-than-male/7 Figure Fiction by T. Taylor: https://7figurefiction.com/“It is time to kill the cool girl trope” by Raha Murtuza: https://thermtide.com/14279/popular/it-is-time-to-kill-the-cool-girl-trope/Gone Girl – Cool Girl: https://youtu.be/0o4heKCLeTs“Name That Trope: She’s hot! She’s cool! She’s one of the guys!” by Kelsey Wallace: https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/name-that-trope-the-super-hot-bro-girlHow to Write About Sexual Assault: An Incomplete Guide by Salt and Sage Books: https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-About-Sexual-Assault-ebook/dp/B08DHHN82D Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41104077-invisible-women How NOT to Write Female Characters by Lucy V. Hay: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41739262-how-not-to-write-female-characters“10 MORE SEXIST Tropes in Science Fiction and Fantasy” by DZA: https://youtu.be/oiooafKkVMI“I Don’t Want to Be the Strong Female Lead” by Brit Marling: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/sunday/brit-marling-women-movies.html“10 Best Tips for Writing Strong Female Characters” by Writing with Jenna Moreci: https://youtu.be/nz88MxBtuqc“How Not To Write Female Characters” by Kitty: http://impishidea.com/writing/how-not-to-write-female-characters“How to Avoid Creating Female Character Stereotypes in Your Writing” by wikiHow and Lucy V. Hay: https://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Creating-Female-Character-Stereotypes-in-Your-Writing“Men Writing Women Characters – Never Make These Mistakes!” by Richie Billing: https://richiebilling.com/writing-tips/men-writing-women-5-mistakes-to-watch-out-for“Men, Don’t Make these 6 Mistakes When You Write Female Characters” by Denisa Feathers: https://medium.com/the-brave-writer/men-dont-make-these-6-mistakes-when-you-write-female-characters-c3f98a5b5e54 Mariëlle’s 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner: https://mswordsmith.nl/journal This week’s episode page can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2022/05/31/s3e2 Subscribe to our newsletter here and get out Doing Diversity in Writing Toolkit, including our Calm the F...
