This is going to be a continuation of the discussion I’ve been having with Nikki over at her blog. Its a conversation that I personally really enjoy having. The horrid way women have been written for in pop culture is something thats always kinda bugged me. I always thought they weren’t even trying to write them well. But the rise of webcomics show that they could have been much worse.
c’mon really guys? I mean I understand that we as nerds tend not to have much experience talking to women, but still, how could you think that was an acceptable potrayal of women? Here’s a hint if you can have a suprise twist in the plot by making your character not hate the thing everyone else in the comic is into, then you have a sucky character. thats just regardless of gender. people in real life are friends because they get along. That seems to be a step people forget when creating characters… Giving the characters any reason to hang around each other, other then there is some mysterious force outside the bounds of there universe compelling them to do so.
Which is why I’ve more and more been grudgingly accepting that I am in fact a “writer” as much as I already consider myself an artist. I’m a pretty terrible writer, but being terrible never stopped me from calling myself artistic. so I’m a writer in the sense that I aspire to be a better writter. Some guys gotta prove that writting a mixed gender cast isn’t some impossible dream right? One time someone had told me that my character of Navi was a believable lady, and that really stuck with me and bugged me. I love navi but “she” is an insane robot, who was completely smitten with a 2-3 year old girl. Navi’s percieved love for things were merely mirroring Missa’s intrests. I can do better then that, and thus I should.
I’ve been reading a series of books by Tamora peirce I’ve got through the first one and enjoyed it quite a bit. well except one teeny bit where Alanna got her first period, which weirded me out a bit. a fact that nikki enjoyed immensly. But any small insights into the other sex is useful to help me write more realistic characters. I mean I already know that the first big secret is that men and women aren’t as different as people make out. A lot of the differences are just very minor and subtle and thats what makes figuring them out fun. 
I have a lot more to say about this topic, but I gotta figure out how to get it organized better in my head. I’m posting this bit now ’cause otherwise nikki would win our contest and I suspect that would be the end of both our blogs. at the very least it would be the end of mine XD
