Back again today is author Hazel Butler to talk about strong female characters and what makes hers different. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
One of my favourite writers (and directors), Joss Whedon, famously recounted an incident with a journalist during an Equality Now speech in 2006. It went something like this: the journalist asked, ‘So, why do you write these strong female characters?’, and in the style we have come to love and adore from the man who brought us Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, and The Avengers (amongst other things), Whedon simply responded, ‘Because you’re still asking me that question’.
I’m fairly certain that everyone who has ever written a tale involving strong female characters—in particular a lead character—has been asked some variation of, ‘Why did you make your women so strong?’, and/or, ‘Why did you make your hero a woman?’
I find it mildly ridiculous, but sadly not surprising, that this still happens. But it was a comment from a friend of mine after she read my first novel, Chasing Azrael, that really got me thinking about this. The friend in question is no chauvinist. She’s no stranger to strong female characters, in fact she’s all for them. What surprised me was her assertion that it was the first time she’d read anything wherein there was a strong female protagonist whose strength depended, not on her physical power or supernatural abilities, but due to her strength of character.
Andee Tilbrook is not a strong character because…
When I first put pen to paper to scratch out an outline for Bleizgeist, I had no idea it was going to be a Dark Fantasy tale. In fact, I was intending to write something a little more mainstream, a little more literary, something after the fashion of Rita Mae Brown or Sarah Waters.
I am 33 and live in a suburb of Des Moines with my husband and two cats. I met my husband three months into our freshman year of college and we have been together for fifteen years this year! I work a day job and am currently pursuing my Masters degree from Drake University.
Bound by Prophecy is book three in the Bound series. This first trilogy in the series is a complete story arc, but I’ve left doors open to continue to world. In this book you will learn the true origin of the Immortals and see the culmination of my characters’ growth. I put a lot into my secondary characters and they are just as crucial to the storylines as Amelia and Aidan.
I am, of course, a poet. None the less I am not biased and recognise that there are other fields of artistic endeavour which might even be considered legitimate. That being said I have always had my doubts about novelists.
In Darkhaven, peace doesn’t last long.
Amelia Bradbury is finally free from Queen Julia and Cresthaven, but she isn’t safe yet. The Keeper power runs rampant inside her and it will take an ultimate act of selflessness to contain the darkness that threatens Amelia’s sanity and the future of the Immortal race.
According to Facebook, I’ve been working on The Lokana Chronicles for a decade now. That’s simultaneously scary, impressive, and depressing. When I started writing it, I had a different husband, a different name, and three less kids. So much about my life has changed since I started writing this book, including the book itself. What started off as one book has now become two books, and what started life as a sequel has now become the third book in a trilogy. I never dreamed that, after ten years of work, I’d still be polishing the first book (hence the depressing aspect), but I’m not giving up. I’m gonna finish this book and then the next and then the next, and then when I’m done, I’m gonna move on to something new (that will hopefully take a lot less time to finish).
Suddenly they all died. The end. 