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Female leads

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RokofAges75:
Another topic sparked by one of the debate threads...

Who are your favorite original female characters in fanfics, and why do you like them or want to root for them in the story?  What makes them more than a Mary Sue or her alter ego, Anti Sue?

Character writing is something I struggle with, and whenever the Mary Sue topic comes up, those of us who write romance get paranoid about whether or not our female characters could really be Mary Sues.  I thought it would be interesting to see if there are any common links between the female characters we really like in fics.

Teri:
OOH! Good topic Julie! I have several:

1. Claire from Broken/BMS: she's not a MS or an AS cuz she's smart, yet flawed and has struggled but is stronger than she thinks.
2. Katrina Parker/Carter from HDL Series: Cuz it's Trina I adore her and she's funny and flawed yet not perfect and annoying!
3. Autumn from Proving Them Wrong: Cuz it's Autumn and I love her!

starbeamz:
I think the last character I'd ever call a Mary Sue is Claire from Broken/BMS. Honestly, she's my fave female character in BSB fanfiction because Julie's let us watch her grow up. As weird as that sounds, it's true. We've seen her ups and downs and in betweens. We've cheered for her, screamed at her, and cried with her. We've all wanted to beat Jamie up at some point, and yell at Nick to get his butt moving and do things right with her. I totally get emotionally involved whenever I read that series, especially BMS. It's going to be so weird having it be over.

Otherwise, the only other female character that I've really loved is Aliesa Montaine from "A Tale of Two Popstars". I don't know what it is about this story that keeps pulling me in but Aliesa's definitely a big part of the pull. She's indecisive, angry at Nick because they got married when they were drunk, and in a constant state of *screams*...That's really the only way I can describe it LOL She's a puddle of indecision, regrets, affection, and is just in an emotional rollercoaster as she tries to figure out what she really wants (which is the part that made me relate to her because I'm totally like that, too).  This story was the inspiration for Proving Them Wrong, and, though Autumn's only 5% like Aliesa, Aliesa is always in the back of my mind when I write PTW.

So, yeah, that's me. It's not that there aren't a whole bunch out there that are fabulous, but those two really stick out to me.

MellzBellz:
Good topic Julie! But I don't think you have anything to worry about in this dept. I LOVE Claire to death and think she's a GREAT female lead. One of my absolute favorites and I can be VERY judgemental when it comes to female leads in fics, so consider that a compliment!

But I too would like to work on my character development of my female lead. I've gotten some great feedback about my Alyssa from UMS, but I feel like in my last few chapters I kind of lost her into the Mary Sue zone. I'm hoping to turn her around by the sequel, but yea I need to do a lot of character development excercises. Maybe someone could post some new ideas?

RokofAges75:
Wow, thanks, guys!  I'm iffy about Claire, especially in BMS... I think probably because some readers turned on her, which led me to wonder if it was because she was spiraling out of control into MS/AS territory. LOL  As the writer, I have no idea - not something I can really judge.  I've tried to make her NOT a Mary Sue without inadvertantly going the Anti Sue route, but like I said, I don't think character writing is really a huge strength of mine, so that has been a challenge for me.  I appreciate the compliments and reassurance! :)

Two characters came to mind when I was starting this thread... and then I just thought of a couple more.

One is Ciara from "Cover Me With Dreams," which I could read over and over again and never really get sick of.  That story is nicely balanced between Ciara and Nick, but I find Ciara just as interesting to read about as I do Nick - which is usually not the case when I read Bsb fics.  She's based on a real person, a friend of the author, so I guess that helped bring her to life - she really comes off seeming like a real person with a personality, flaws, and charm.  I also love the way Nick is written in that story, and the two of them together are an amazing combination.  One of my favorite relationships in any fanfic I've ever read. http://www.covermewithdreams.com/cmwd.html

Another one is Lizz from The Nick and Lizz Series.  Lizz is so stubborn and flawed that she's infuriating at times, but I can't deny that I've always really liked her character and rooted for her throughout that saga.  She's another one who I believe is based on a real person, and that helped bring her to life too.  I haven't read any of those stories in awhile (partly because some of them are still MIA :( ), but I still remember that Lizz loves parmesan on her popcorn, and other little quirks like that.  She's a very realistic and endearing character, one I could relate to, and again, I love her relationship with Nick.  http://www.angelfire.com/boybands/mystories/yougo.html

A third is Kara from "The Market," which is such a sweet, unique novella.  Kara is very real, flawed, quirky, and totally likeable, which is a testament to the author of the story, who is much the same.  Kara's not based on her, but she has a way of writing all her characters to be that interesting, quirky, and believable. http://www.angelfire.com/band2/nix_fan_fix/TheMarket.html

The last of my favorites is Tara from "Signal to Noise."  I think this is partly just due to the plot of the story and how it was developed, but I found her parts interesting from the very beginning, well before she comes face to face with any Backstreet Boy.  She's another one with a distinct personality and interests that make her unique, and I think she's a really cool female lead.  http://www.geocities.com/bsbtreasury/stn.html

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