forum As a woman, what stories do you wish you saw more of?

Started April 18, 2018 by @Twitchy

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Referring to stories, character arcs, characters, anything. What do you wish you saw more of?

I guess you're asking for gender-specific (specifically female) things I'd like to see?

Yeah, I noticed that on sites like Pinterest and tumblr, there's a bunch of posts about what specific types of people want, and I thought it would be nice for writers to find here so they can help give these topics some light, or help people get the representation you know?

Hm… well I think I'd like for people to acknowledge the differences between men and women without shaming them. And then on the other side of the spectrum, I don't like it when people get offended by those inherent differences. Whenever there's a "strong," badass woman in a story, it feels like people believe that the only way someone can be cool, strong, or worth writing a story about is if they act more like a man. So those "strong" women often feel like cardboard cutouts of that famous badass man character that we all know of and are tried of, but people think, "it's totally different because it's a woman!" Well I don't think so. I'd like to see women's strengths being highlighted, strengths that only women have, showing that men and women NEED each other for the different strengths that they bring to the table. It would be nice to see a woman using her own strengths and saving the day, not stories that say you can only be a success if you have masculine strengths. There's nothing wrong with being a more masculine female, because hey, we're all different! I'm one of those people, too. I see nothing wrong with having a woman who can kick butt. But I'm not really talking about the physical here. There are certain things that most women are better at than men: compassion, mercy, seeing and understanding details, caring, emotional strength and support, and even, sometimes, being able to get through to anyone because of their ability to speak in a convincing way (and the way you're convincing is by being understanding of others' feelings).

Does that kind of make sense…? I feel like lots of people believe that those strengths are somehow LESSER than being able to do 100 push-ups and take on ten men at once. When really, POWER does not equal VALUE.

Well that was awesome haha, I'll keep that in mind when writing.

I wish I saw more women in stories, period. I know, I know, there are more than they're used to be. But it's still quite prevalent for there to be way fewer girls than guys in a story. I also hate that when there is a woman in a story, in order for her to be taken seriously she needs to be "not like other girls" or "masculine". A wide variety of girls –tall, short, fat, skinny, badass, girly, etc– would be ideal. And the portrayal of all girls being overly competitive/cattish towards one another? I'd like for that to stop as well. A good example of well-done female representation is Black Panther. We have warriors, we have scientists, we have gentle and loving mothers, and none of these things are mutually exclusive –the spy is genius, the scientist isn't afraid to stand up in a battle. It has both enough women and enough variety to be good. More stuff like that is what I'd like to see in novels, as well.

^^^ That thing about Black Panther is so great.

But just to clarify, if a book accomplishes great female representation, that's not a free ticket to me loving that story. :P It helps of course, but sometimes I feel like books try too hard to have great "representation" and then think that's all they need for a hit.

I haven't watched Black Panther yet. I really want to but I can't afford to rn haha.
I agree with that last message though. Well to a point. A friend once told me, "You can watch movies with a full POC or male cast and not care about representation, because you've got it elsewhere." Which makes me feel like I should make an active effort to create characters that aren't stereotypical or boring. If I did finish this bloody story, and many others, then I want to be known as an author that succeeded in making great characters.
I can't remember who said it, but it was along the lines of:
You can put great characters in a bad story, but you can't make a good story great with boring characters.

I want to see more older women in stories. I like how the avatar tv series made Iroh.
Lots of movies and books make the elder really wise but weak and feable, while Iroh was really wise but strong as hell.
I don't want the whole, ah their strong minded so their racist or stubborn and stuck in their ways, cause thats not always true.
Old, white or grey haired women who have no clue what's going on, just like all the other characters, but know that freaking out wont help anyone. They don't feel weak and sit down, but they stay up and they are the ones who yell "run!". They don't sacrifice themselves because the young will live longer, they keep that in mind and know the young need time to stay young despite the situation. They respect their thoughts and opinions, but they make their own known too. Realistic characters. The old lady who jogs every morning before doing the garden is gonna have more muscles than the 20 odd year old office worker who works 11-8 every day.

I really like flawed characters. I want more characters who curse up a storm and kick things when their stories aren't going their way. I love female characters that can hold their own in a battle (of wits or otherwise) against any character, male or female, without sacrificing their femininity. But above all, I just really want multifaceted characters that grow and change, whose preferences change from day to day just like real human beings. Just like some days I want to wear short dresses and stilettos and flirt with every guy in the bar, there are also a lot of days where I would much rather be in sweatpants and a hoodie, marathoning Star Wars. I want to see characters, fail, falter, have their very beliefs challenged, and then get back up.

But there is nothing that bothers me more than than typical gender roles. Like the idea that males and females can't just be friends. Not everything has to be a love triangle. Sometimes you just think that the guy next to you is cool without having the desire to jump his bones. But on the flip side, women are allowed to be attracted to people on a purely physical basis, just as men do. This leads to another stereotype that the women tend to be clingy and need validation when sometimes it is the opposite. Bottom line, sometimes steriotypes are accurate, and sometimes they aren't.

^^ More tropes, fewer cliches. Completely agree.

More books that explore the way women love each other without the lens of the male gaze hovering over it. And by love, I don't just mean romantic, although I do want more of that because women loving women is rarely explored, but also female friendships and familial relationships without a man getting in the way, or coloring the relationship in too meaningful a way. For example, the movie Bend It Like Beckham, which explored the friendship (and possible romantic tension) between two female friends, but it was so bogged down by them fighting over a guy that it nearly killed the movie for me.

There is an LGBTQA+ version of this if you wanna add anything there too :P
I agree. I can't really name a movie with female friendships like that, but I can think of some where a guy doesn't get in the way. Surely there are more barriers to overcome than a guy.

I would love LOVE to read about female characters who are strong in character and I would love for there to be a variety of them. (Ha!) Not strong just physically, or emotionally, or spiritually, or magically or what have you. I just want characters with strong…personal attributes? And on that note, just let them be as flawed and as fucked up as possible. Where are the woman who are ornery, indelicate cusses that are saving the world one lost puppy at a time? Or the programmers with horrible sleeping habits and a dark past? (I'm not just talking about Girls who have dragon tattoos-or kick hornets nests, or get caught in spider webs.) What about the over worked congressional librarian who rock climbs on her spare time? Or a woman who is just stone cold jaded, smokes a pack a day, working as a stripper, because the money is good and why not? Where are the assassin women who suck at being thieves? Basically a regular person with out super emphasis on delicate/feminine characteristics. Not every woman does or can even reasonably do make up. Not every woman can do their hair to look like something off of pinterest. A lot of young women have scars from cutting, depression. A lot of woman grew up perfectly loved in normal households and have never suffered a day in their lives. Where are the women who decide 'fuck it' after losing her husband/SO and children to a tragic, horrible traffic accident and just take to the open road on a motorcycle to find themselves? Emphasis on finding themselves not a lover. (Ever tried looking pinterest pretty after 8 hours on a motorcycle? It doesn't happen.) Basically, more varied representation. Same for women-or people-with disabilities. Don't just stick a person who's 'smart' and 'tech savy' into a wheelchair and pretend that works as disabled. Where are autistic people? What about the OCD crowd? Or people with down syndrome? Where are people with high anxiety or bi-polar disorder? (In any place other than a horror/suspense novel?) I've read some, and I hope to read more, but I haven't quiet found the genre hits every nail on the head yet. :)

Fucking. Same. Sorry for my language.

I personally would like to see things like periods and women's health being normalized and openly discussed in books. I've read dozens of novels about young women and those sorts of things are never mentioned. It's just a wee bit frustrating.

I agree, and sadly I don't think it's mentioned because it disgusts or makes some people put the book down, but it's just a natural, and in some cases useful, thing. Now I'm only saying useful, cause my friend and I had a really good idea when watching the walking dead.
They must have a sense of smell or ability to go to fresh bodies for food, cause if somebody starts bleeding in the show, then they are dead. Well, they could use period blood on spikes or traps to lessen the amount of them which hygiene wise, yeah eww, but it's smart.
Anyway, I agree is what I'm saying. It is a very natural process, and it should be mentioned, jeez it happens once a month for around 3-7 days, it is most likely a thing that your female protagonist is having thoughts of some form about.

Yes to all of this. It'd be interesting to see the typical gender ratio of Boys to Girls flipped too.

ok, in books, I've seen lots of the heros or main characters are male, and when a lot of male characters are doing the "important" stuff it is annoying. DO NOT have any male characters make a joke about "that time of month" it's embarrasing and anoying. And yes, girl power is important, but so is equallity. so don't make it all about the women. make it all about men and women working together.

I want to add on to that last comment. Do the joke, if you want the person saying it to be hated. The more we do this, the more we show that it's a deuchy thing and hopefully it will stop. Besides that, hell yeah.

yeet

I really wish I saw less stories that involve romance. Seems like every time I read a book with a female protagonist, she always ends up falling for some guy and you know what? I'm sick of it. I've said before and I'll say it again, but if I wanted to read about romance, then I'd read a book from the romance section of the local bookstore not a fantasy or a sci fi. You can still write a good story with a good plot, and good subplots without it being related to a love interest.

Also the idea that girls and guys can't be just friends without one of them falling in love with the other. I'm sure it does happen, but it's not something that's guaranteed to happen 100% of the time. One of my best friends in high school is a guy and he's never made any indication that he's wanted anything more than a friendship with me, and I'm fine with that because I don't want anything more than friendship with this guy either. I want more books where the girl and guy are just friends and stay that way.

And a final thing strong female characters, but like, good ones. I read a book recently where the author, I'm pretty sure the author was trying to write a strong female character but it just really fell flat on me. The character in question was a really good fighter, never lost a match but that was all she was and she was so not into "girly girl" things that it was just really ridiculous.
A strong female character doesn't have to be a butch man-hater. A strong female character is just a girl who can hold her own in tough situations, and not be constantly relying on a guy to help her through everything. You can have a character that's into wearing frilly pink dresses and has a boyfriend that's still a strong character.
So I want to see a more strong female characters that aren't so two dimensional. Who are more fleshed out, realistic and relatable.

Amen to that.

I want to see less gender roles in general. I want to see men as healers or supportive secondary characters with a great sense of style and can still handle a sword like no one's business, just as much as I want a femme lesbian hero armed to the teeth with cute-but-deadly lipstick guns, throwing knives, and sleeping gas disguised as perfume. If we're going the straight romance route, the girl shouldn't have to constantly rely on the guy to help her and eventually fall in love, but they should both be strong characters on their own who can hold their own while still trusting each other with their lives. Lesbians who aren't confined to sexual objectification (speaking of, what if we just killed objectification of women altogether?) nor the "kill the gays" trope or a rough, nonsensical breakup for the sake of the homophobes. A soft-spoken Hispanic genderqueer character that becomes the valedictorian through hard work and asks out their nerdy best friend. A female fantasy warrior with actually fucking practical armor instead of a metal bikini. A king of all gods that, though the most powerful thing in the universe, still keeps up with his godly children and wife. Single fathers who don't get laughed at by his friends for picking up his daughter from ballet, and not reported for playing with his son! I could go on and on forever, but you get the picture; just general defiance of stereotypical and demeaning cliches and tropes for everyone, no matter the gender or sexuality or race.