Moonlight, you're just a heartache in disguise

[rolanni]

So, I have a cold.  I'm not happy about this.  I also have work to do, so best to get at it.

But!  Before I quite get there, I'd like to share some articles about "strong female protagonists," and the notion of "likable (female) characters."

A Plague of Strong Female Characters

Not Here to Make Friends

These articles are interesting to me, as a writer -- and as a writer of characters often described as "likable."  Which is somewhat baffling, considering the histories of many of our characters, at least on the Liaden side of things.  Among my/our other characters. . .Well. . .

Poor Becca Beauvelley gets all kinds of abuse for allowing herself to fall into the hands of an ancient and powerful magic-wielding villain from whom she has no hope of freeing herself.  She should, one gathers, have Done Something.

Jenn Pierce, a middle-class woman of the last century, who doesn't know judo, or sword-fighting, or anything at all about guns -- as most of us, I will argue, do not -- has her lack of martial skill scorned, and is advised to get some basic training in weapons.  Her lack of skill in these matters is called "unbelievable."

Kate Archer is described by one reader as "repulsive" and by another as "uncaring."

And Val Con yos'Phelium, who really will kill you, if necessary. . .is seen as kind of a nice guy, a little shy. . .While the Uncle, whose probable sins I suggest that we dwell not long upon, is "fascinating."

Anyhow, these are things that concern me nearly, as matters of craft and art, and it's interesting to see how other people have thought about them.

Speaking of likable characters and reality. . .There's an article in this week's New Yorker about the defense lawyer who specializes in defending our most notorious criminals, most lately, she has been the lead defense attorney for Dzbokhar Tsarnaev.  Her idea, as far as I understand it, which may not be very far at all, is that -- while Society has an obligation to rid itself of Monsters; it has the corresponding duty not to dispose of those who are. . .less than. . .Monsters merely because it would be convenient to do so.  To this end, she undertakes to show juries the humanity of her clients.  Here's the link to that article.

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Week Five of the Do It Like a Delm Challenge is well underway.  You view this week's challengers here.

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In other news, I received a package today from Amazon, and Sprite has found a use for the box.

Let no box be discarded. Sprite asserting her royal dominion. Photo by Sharon Lee

Today's blog title is brought to you by Juice Newton, "Queen of Hearts."  Here's your link.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

As far as likable characters go, Alice kills people and Kate (my Kate) enjoys pounding the shit out of bad guys . . .

[cgbookcat1.livejournal.com]

Interesting articles. From a reader's perspective, characters are people I choose to spend my free time with. If I actively dislike them, I won't hang out with them no matter how interesting they may be. It's very unusual for me to keep reading a book if I haven't found at least one likable character by the time I'm 1/4 of the way in, no matter how great the world building or idea may be.

[elbales]

If it fits, Sprite sits.

[otterb.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about this off and on since I read your post earlier. I have thoughts, which don't come together in any particularly coherent way.

Val Con might kill you, if necessary, but he wouldn't be RUDE to you. Unless, of course, you had earned it.

To keep the gender expectations out of the mix, you might compare Becca, Jen, and Kate to Miri rather than Val Con. But Miri, of course, would also kill you if necessary. But not out of malice, or for entertainment.

I didn't care for the Duainfey duology. It's not that I didn't like Becca as an individual. I didn't like being in her head, because her situation was so undesirable. It's not that you wrote a bad book. You wrote a dark fantasy that takes readers the sorts of places dark fantasy takes them, and it turns out I don't much like dark fantasy. I have a similar reaction to horror: the people who write it well succeed in making me feel ways I don't want to feel. Doesn't make them wrong, just makes us ill-suited to each other.

Now, Kate Archer - I love Kate Archer. There are some fictional characters where I can say, Okay, I understand why you feel that way about them even though I disagree. (For instance, I like Roarke in the J.D. Robb books and cannot stand Amelia Peabody in Elizabeth Peters's series, but reasonable people can disagree.) But I have trouble understanding why someone would find Kate repulsive. She's not uncaring, she's laconic and practical. I admire that in a woman (or a man). She's doing her best by the Carousel and by the Land, as she comes to understand it.

There are fictional characters other people like that I don't. I have a low tolerance for trickster types, or for either self-centeredness or total lack of self-awareness; even if the character learns better, I probably won't be around to see it. I'll put up with and even enjoy a little angst when called for as long as it's proportional to the injury and isn't wallowed in non-stop. I have a very low tolerance for smug and self-righteous. I'll forgive a fair amount for wit, but I have my limits. I'm fine with brusque, even abrasive, as long as it doesn't descend into asshole.

But really, those are my personal preferences. Like we don't all enjoy the same types of friends or parties or, for that matter, books, we don't all want the same fictional encounters. I recognize that my preferences are going to keep me from reading some things that lots of people like. But my TBR list is so long that I don't care very much.

[nanette furman (from livejournal.com)]

Thank you for expressing all my thoughts precisely, so I don't have to flog my very tired brain to try to explain how I feel about all this. Also the 2 articles linked were too much for said brain and didn't seem to be very lucid.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Becca did do something. She survived. And, eventually, was instrumental in destroying the VERY nasty and powerful villain who had tricked and enslaved her.

I'm sure Jen would have gotten some training in such, iIF she'd ever had an idea she'd need it!

Kate's neither repulsive nor uncaring. She's a survivor of massacre and torture suffering from some pretty severe PTSD, and dealing quite well with that, I think

On the other hand, Val Con and the Uncle are *exactly* as described. They are both *also* EXTREMELY dangerous individuals.

Of course Sprite's in the box. It's a very comfy box!

[thewol.livejournal.com]

I think of Aelliana Caylon as a strong character. She's a survivor. She had the deck stacked against her in the person of her delm and of her abusive brother, and yet she was able to realize her very real talents in mathematics and make a name for herself on her own merits. Despite her toxic home situation, she was still able to engage with people in a reasonably healthy way. She doesn't reject the rules, but tries to function within them despite the way the rules hedge her in and restrict her choices. She doesn't just blindly react. She plans. She has coping strategies that help her make the best of her situation. She has resilience and strength of character. She has the sense to recognize that the ship is her way out, and the wit and courage to seize the opportunity. Daav is not the hero of Scout's Progress; Aelliana is. She is not languishing or waiting to be rescued. She is not bitter, histrionic or melodramatic. She is not a helpless victim, nor does she think of herself as such. She was in the process of rescuing herself and would have done so but for a bad bit of timing. I think Val Con gets a lot of his strength and resilience from his mother. Aelliana had a really integrated and cohesive personality -- it survived death and disembodiment. She was all of a piece. That she emerged as whole as she did from her circumstances speaks to how strong she was.

Miri is another character who does the best she can with what she has, which is a talent for survival and for landing on her feet, good traits for a mercenary. Becoming a mercenary was one of the very few ways out for her, a way to take control of her life. She is not gratuitously violent, or hostile. She's not sadistic or cruel. Yeah, she's tough and she can kill you, but only if you make her. She can also be a friend and ally if you let her. One of the things I like about her is that despite her childhood, and the violence of her chosen profession, she has retained the ability to form friendships and to relate to people on a human level. She can form strong relationships, such as her relationship with Liz Lizardi, and the mercenaries in her troop. She's honest and up-front, but doesn't push people away deliberately or act in an antagonistic way. People are willing to risk their lives for her, like her fellow mercenary (Forgive me, I don't recall his name offhand) that rescued her after she took out that gun emplacement, even though the standing order was not to stop or try to help a comrade. She has a moral code -- albeit one she worked out for herself -- but she lives by it. She's a realist, like Aelliana, and takes life as she finds it.

These are strong women. They have agency. They engage with life and meet it on their own terms. I think they're likeable characters, and that it is partly their strengths that make them likeable.

As for cats and boxes, I've had cats that were irresistibly drawn to them, and one that ignores them. This is consistent with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Cats are quantum creatures, as is well known, and boxes are strange attractors.

[gerald heaton (from livejournal.com)]

Miri ...... is Miri. A mercenary of her time, she WILL kill you if you are stupid enough to force you to do so. Yet despite her exasperation with Val Con, she gave him back his (known) weapon and left him to his own devices.

Aelliana is a survivor and stronger than even she knows. I Really look forward to having her re-incorporated (not reincarnated as she really didn't die, just lost her body). To me these women are mirrors of each other, strong enough for their mates, yet able to stand on their own if needed.

Cats and boxes, OTOH, are a given, as are cats and sacks. The box is much more important that the cat bed that came in it.

Sprite's new box

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Nice box!