Here’s a taste of what we’ll be discussing at the workshop! Hope to see you there!
Mostly Books, Tucson
Signing and Writer’s Workshop presentation alongside Tara Majuta
October 15th 2pm-4pm
Strong:
- Kate Daniels (Ilona Andrews Magic Series)
- Independent Mercenary hired to assist magical cases
- Not seeking a relationship
- Ability and role as a fighter and investigator respected by male counterparts (to a point)
- Let’s actions speak for themselves, nothing to prove
- Still has feminine emotions, not a robot
- Flaw: Rashness when responding to situations. More reactive than proactive
- Note: she changes midway through series when finds a “mate”
- Karrin Murphey (Jim Butcher Dresden Files Series)
- Director of Special Investigations at the Chicago PD
- On a mission to defend the city at any cost to her own detriment, but is smart
- Her unit is mocked by others, but she is competent in her job
- Goes up against monsters with her human abilities and is successful
- Doesn’t lust after any man, although has love interests as well as attraction to main character
- Has feminine emotions of vulnerability, but hides it behind rough exteriors
- She’s competent, a great shot, always accepts responsibility
- Takes on a supernatural “guardian”-type responsibility even though doesn’t want to
- Flaws: Sometimes rash in her “human” logic and longs for companionship of some kind, is described as attractive
- Note: she also changes midway through series when she loses her self-confidence
- Other Examples (recommended, but not necessarily read)
- October Daye from self-titled series by Seanan McGuire
- Harlin Quinn from Suicide Squad comic only
- Jane Yellowrock from self-titled series by Faith Hunter
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Weak:
- Common Character Traits
- Lust after male characters, or not complete without them
- Need to be saved somehow (from incompetence)
- Respond to what happens, never attempt to take control
- Sexualized in skimpy/suggestive clothing
- Are “fighters,” but not much to their characters…they’re flat
- Lena Duchannes (from Kami Garcia’s Beautiful Creatures)
- 15 year old new student in Gatlin, South Carolina who chooses to isolate herself from society with uncle
- Shares dreams with main character Ethan Wate before she arrives.
- On her 16th birthday, she will be “chosen” as a light or dark witch, has no control over which.
- Responds to situations
- Never bucks-the-system like expected from teen-drama
- Undertone that somehow Ethan Wate (weak on his own) can save her
- Ethan has more complexities: popularity through sports but likes the outsider, has goals and ambitions outside of school
- She can’t plan anything past being “chosen” because she doesn’t know who she’ll become
- Note: she is not sexualized since it’s YA, but follows Gothic dressed outsider
- Other Examples (recommended, but not necessarily read)
- Any early Disney Princess
- Lucinda from Lauren Kate’s Fallen series
- Rene Russo from The Thomas Crowne affair
- Harlin Quinn from Suicide Squad movie
