Tevun-Krus #9 - Spunky Heroine SF

A Man's Letter to Men about Spunk

A Man's Letter to Men about Spunk

By: @sigrist

It's not easy to craft a believable protagonist. You need to mix the right amount of, "I wanna be you!" perfection with a healthy amount of, "You're a pathetic loser" flaws. To do this, you really need to understand the nature of the character you're creating. You need to understand the sort of life your character is living to make them seem believable and whole. For a sub-genre like Spunky Heroine, one which is more character driven than some other sci-fi genres, it is even more important to invest a lot of time into creating a three dimensional protagonist. I mean, the genre is named for her isn't it? So she's clearly the most important part of your story. This is why I tend to think that, unfortunately, male writers can have some difficulty fully grasping this particular sub-genre. 

It's easy for a man to sit back and say, "Well, I wanna create a badass, beautiful, witty female lead!" It's not quite so easy for that man to understand what that character represents. Believe it or not, males live a privileged life and despite the strides society has taken towards gender equity, ladies have struggles we men-folk just don't understand. We live in a patriarchal society, one which values our maleness; the pay gap is widening again, women still need to push harder to prove themselves in nearly every aspect of our culture, hell even just walking on the street is easier for you if you have a Y chromosome! Let's face it guys, when was the last time someone yelled degrading things to you on the street, or you feared for your safety when the street lights came on? I'm sure it's happened before for some of us, it's happened to me on several occasions, but I guarantee that if you ask some of your female friends they'll have a lot more stories to tell you. From strangers yelling sexually explicit things, to being followed home in the dark, to something as simple as being told by a stranger "You look prettier when you smile." These are all things women experience on a level that men almost never do, and they are acts that – sometimes subtly or unintentionally – can strip a woman of her power.

So. You're a man who wants to create a spunky heroine. I'm not saying you'll never be able to do it, but you're going to have to ask yourself "Why?" Why do you want to create this character? Do you want to make your dream girl? Maybe you should reevaluate your motivations.

Do you want to provide a strong role model for both males and females, or maybe you wanna tell a story that only a female could experience believably? Excellent! You may move forward in your chosen genre!

But wait! There are more questions you need to ask! For example, why is your heroine so spunky? The answers for this question are endless but I can tell you now that if your motivation is, again, to create the stuff of wet dreams, then maybe you should reconsider and think about going in a different direction.

Spunky heroines aren't meant to be fodder for erotic fantasies, they are meant to stake a female claim on a genre that is almost always male oriented. To stake that claim as a male it takes a lot of empathy and a lot of hard work. You can write a story with a scantily clad, super strong, sexy female lead, but that doesn't mean you're doing the genre justice. With very few exceptions, males don't understand the lived experience of females and with no understanding there can be no believability. Other men might read your story and think "DAMN! This is great!" But without attempting to understand the female experience, your female readers may not buy what you're selling.

So, maybe you're a positively intentioned male who genuinely wants to write a story that strives to establish some sort of semblance of gender equity, but now I've scared you away from it entirely. You might be thinking that without living the experience of a woman, you'll never be able to write about it convincingly. Unfortunately, there is a possibility that might be true but there are things you can do to help yourself! Look up art projects that deal with women's issues, get the women in your life to tell you about their own experiences, better yet ask them to read your work and provide feedback. 

Essentially, do your research.

A sci-fi sub-genre like Spunky Heroine is more than just a fun branch of a major literary genre. Putting another air-headed, sexy all-star into our world is doing nothing but perpetuating the male domination of the genre. But if you do your research, and have a little empathy, you could be well on your way to creating a bad ass hero who is three dimensional, interesting, and thought provoking… and just happens to be female.