Strong Female Characters (Busy Writer's Guides, #1) by Marcy Kennedy

Strong Female Characters (Busy Writer's Guides, #1) Reviews

• 
  Naiá Lusvarghi

  Bem pequeno, mas direto e com informações relevantes.
• 
  Newton Nitro

  Gênero e sexualidade, apesar de suas bases biológicas, pelo modo como se refletem na sociedade, pelo modo como se conformam os papéis e os padrões de comportamento acabam se tornando convenções sociais. Diferenças entre homens e mulheres são, em último caso, generalizações baseadas mais na cultura corrente, mais em esteriótipos, tropos e clichês do que em qualquer outra coisa mais séria, mas quando se cria um protagonista, esse personagem tem que ser bem peculiar.
  
  Strong Female Characters é um mini-livro com dicas para escritores criarem personagens femininas fortes mais completas.
  
  Gostei do livro por ajudar a refletir e repensar a questão da protagonista feminina, existe ainda muita coisa a ser explorada nessa área, principalmente quando se lida com a homosexualidade, a bixesualidade, trans e cis gênero, otherkin (pessoas que se identificam com outros padrões de identidade), assexualidade; questões que explodem qualquer generalização de características masculinas e femininas. Cada pessoa é um universo, e cada protagonista deve ser um universo único também.
  
  Gostei desse mini-livro por sua mensagem a favor da absoluta diversidade na criação, crie o seu personagem para ser único, com características próprias, sem se preocupar se são feminina, masculina, homosexuais heterosexuais, transexuais, otherkin, assexuais, etc. etc. etc.
  
  O problema das generalizações é que existem mulheres que são muito mais masculinas (de acordo com as generalizações) do que muitos homens e homens que são mais femininos (de acordo com as generalizações) que muitas mulheres, sem tocar na questão da homosexualidade e na da bisexualidade, e no problema de como definir satisfatóriamente essas características.
  
  Crueldade e brutalidade são exclusividade masculinas? Ternura e sensibilidade são exclusividades femininas? Existem muitas mulheres que não se identificam com a identidade feminina tradicional, e muitos homens não se identificanm com a identidade masculina tradicional, isso sem entrar nas questões de identificação em outras identidades sexuais, biológicas, psíquicas, etc.
  
  O que o livro aborda e reflete é o fato de que personagens masculinos na ficção especulativa sempre tiveram mais liberdade de representação do que personagens femininos. Vemos personagens masculinos das mais variadas formas, guerreiros, covardes, afeminados, machões, etc, já personagens femininos (na literatura até os anos 90 pelo menos) caíam em tropos mais tradicionais, ou era a mulher frágil que chora a qualquer hora, ou a amazona durona que não tinha sexualidade alguma etc.
  
  O livro dá algumas dicas de como deixar o personagem feminino mais completo, dicas que servem para qualquer tipo de personagem, como "mostre como ele se tornou daquele jeito", "mostre com o que ele se importa, quem se importa com ele", etc.
  
  A idéia final é "criar um personagem completo, esse é o foco". Quando mais completo, com passado, fraquezas, virtudes, dúvidas, amores, arrependimentos, gostos, ódios, etc. mais real ele se parece (seja com característics femininas, masculinas, neutras, alienígenas, etc.etc.).
  
  Recomendo livro!
• 
  Tristan

  This is a well written but very short “how to”. It’s straight to the point and its advice seems bleeding obvious, but being stated this clearly it also becomes obvious how many authors (including female authors) fail to create believable strong female characters. There are a few simple points to remember.
  
  Toughness is not a “male” or “female” characteristic (and hence the advice is universally applicable to all characters regardless of gender). Toughness is a permanent state of mind which *occasionally* prompts strong actions. Strong actions occurring without the mindset are not believable, and tend to be stereotypical, usually taking maleness as a default position. Strong actions do not create toughness by themselves.
  
  Unusual or exceptional toughness also causes other characters and society at large to react, often unfavourably when norms are challenged. So there’s a context. Toughness also has causes, and hence it has a backstory. It requires a rounded character, who can have moments of gentility, whether male or female, and weakness too, but the toughness has been slowly built up to be permanent and it underlies all actions and reactions.
  
  Generally, strength equates to agency, determination, self-reliance, independence, however full of fears and self doubt, rather than a mere ability to scowl or punch.
• 
  Jasmin Quinn

  I write a lot, I read a lot, and also, am formerly an English teacher. Strong Female Characters by Marcy Kennedy was well-written, thoughtful and valuable. I am constantly reading books on writing - it improves my craft and refreshes my approach to my writing. I appreciated Kennedy's reminder of what does and does not constitute strong female characters. It made me reflect on my past female characters and how I'd written them. In regards to its length - yes, short - the way I like it. It was to the point, offered concrete examples and pointed to other articles through links embedded within. I particularly enjoyed the link to Rob Preece's article on Women are from Venus, Men are Annoying (or something like that). It's worth a read as well.
• 
  Toi Thomas

  Actual rating 4.75.
  
  I knew this book would be short when I picked it up. That's why I picked it up, I wanted something short. Still, the end of the book came unexpectedly fast. I think a few more examples could have given it a little more length and depth.
  
  Other than that, this is just what I expected, and have no major complaints. I like the way this author tackles her subjects and organizes her words. Perhaps this author could release a practice guide as a companion for this because practice is really what's needed to break down some of the societal barriers that limit and or restrict characters based on sex and gender.
  
  Highly recommended to anyone wanting to hone their skills as a writer, but especially for those who want to write better female characters.
• 
  Colin

  Excellent thoughts about Strong Female Characters
  
  What constitutes a "strong female character"? It is a topic of debate among authors and readers. As I write this, it is being debated on one of my favorite Facebook groups for authors. There are many possible interpretations, and this book tries to clarify some of them, as well as giving helpful advice about how to create and write for such characters.
• 
  K.D Peters

  I devoured this little gem of a book. Learned a lot about creating strong female characters. Thanks for writing this. It's the third book that I'm reading int he Busy Writer's Guide series and I'm in love with this series so far. Guess I'm off to the next one on the list.
• 
  Subject BGD

  Quick read
  
  It was ok for its length and subject matter, but I like the others in this series better. I think Deep POV is my favorite so far
• 
  Maria

  Puolentoista euron hankinta, lyhyt e-kirja. Sinänsä henkilönrakennuksessa ei tullut juuri uutta, mutta linkkivalikoima näytti mielenkiintoiselta.
  
  

  If you’re creating a strong female character with few traditionally female qualities, make sure you show what made her this way, what she loves, and who loves her.

  
  
  Eh, for really? Because a woman isn't a woman if she has "few traditionally female qualities"? And that *needs* to be explained? Maybe it would be great if women were just humans.
• 
  Jeanette

  March Kennedy's Strong Female Characters has some great tips. Strong does not mean stripping off feminine traits but relates to strength of character, action and decisiveness. While not heavy with theory (at all), this mini-book does give some good tips. I liked Kennedy's listing of female pirates such as Ching Shih in 1880s, Grace O'Mallery in 16th Ireland, Sayyida al-Hurra in 1500s, Lady Mary & Lady Elizabeth Killigrew in 1500s & Anne Dieu-Le-Vent in 1600s as well as 3 or 4 references to other articles worth following up. It's a good introductory start on this issue - my main disappointment was that this e-book was so short (about three chapters).
• 
  Addicted to Books

  2.5 Stars
  
  This book was really short and it was packed with some good info for beginners.
  
  For me, you can pick a strong or weak character and how you make every other element in the book to work is up to you. For example, the following are done really well with quirky or highly flawed characters or pedophiles
  
  The Stranger Albert Camus
  Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett
  Lolita by Nabokov
  
  This book is for the beginner who has not read widely and is looking to jump right in and write (which is a good thing in my opinion). Strongly recommedded for a quick read
• 
  Hunter

  More like a pamphlet than a book, but thoughtful reading nonetheless. Some excellent additional reading is provided by resource links out to website articles. The short book gives some keys to how to write female characters who might come across as overly male otherwise, but I am still struggling with knowledge of what traits are particularly categorised as male or female. Useful reading.
• 
  Michael Prenez-isbell

  download this because of title, 99 cents, essentially chapter of a book. i'm learning things and it's well written.
• 
  Alicia McCalla

  Good start but I would have loved more depth.
• 
  Sarah

  A good introduction to the topic and has left me wanting to learn more.
• 
  Leticia

  Very interesting book for aspiring writers. It could be a bit longer, therefore, not five stars, but a good read nonetheless.
• 
  Angelina Werner

  A bit short, but covers the most important points.
• 
  Joanie

  The book includes good ideas and examples, but it's very short, even for 99¢. I've read other books in this series, and they are much better.
• 
  L.J. Baker

  Not bad.
  
  This was a decent quick read. I would have liked to see more. Even for a short guide, more info could have been included.