I spent this afternoon writing a few pages, most of it centered around a new female character that I have introduced. When I went out for a smoke something popped into my head that someone had mentioned to me about focusing on and maybe making stronger female characters or just more of them when they were reading my first book (yes, it was a female).
so i went through the females in my books and reviewed them in my head. I have a doctor/nurse who is charge of a whole hospital who knows how to fire a gun competently, and has survived five years past the end of the world.(Have to include the end of the world part for all the girls in the book actually.) Then you have a wife who happens to be one of the best friends of and confidant/adviser to the leader of a clan of over1000 people. You also have Eva who we only meet briefly but she went to find her sister during the end of the world to help keep her safe, pretty strong I’d say. You also have Mikey’s mom mentioned who we are told works at the hospital, which can’t be easy, as well as the wife of the team leader who slaps the hell out of Mack for getting her husband killed. Lastly you have Sam who is a girlfriend/soon to be wife and mother? who makes sure that her boyfriend stays in line.
Most of these characters also appear in the second book along with at least one new female character that is a clan chief and an ex lawyer. So running all this through my head I have to say that I believe that I have pretty strong well rounded female characters considering it’s a post apocalyptic, action adventure story told from the point of view of a militaristic clan chief who’s gearing up for war.
This got me thinking about the females in my life. The ones that I spent the most time with and have been the closest to have always been very strong women. Starting with my mom who was always very sickly and had a lung removed at a young age, still managed to raise me and keep my dad in line while never complaining about how sick she was. My best friends in school always ended up being girls and they all tended to have some of the same qualities. They were all stubborn, opinionated, and very smart. Also, my wife is a pediatric nurse who deals with children with cancer, as well as possessing all the other qualities I have mentioned. All of these lovely ladies in my life past and present probably explain why my female characters tend to be strong. I may not write enough about them in my books but they are most definitely not weak.
Anyway, back to it, enjoy the day!
Don
