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[Teri]

*sends julie inspiration vibes* heheh I'm evil!

[mare]

The quote thingie isn't working for me tonight for some reason so i'm just answering your question Julie.

I'm not sure why I enjoy reading from the male perspective. I think maybe because i'm not a male? lol I just think girls are written so sterotypical. Most are weak and need to be taken care of. So many are the younger sibling that needs to be looked after. I can't stand reading things like that. When it's written as a guy it's just refreshsing to me.

I did lie though earlier now thining about it, because some of my all time favorite books are female leads like She's Come Undone and Little Women but She's Come Undone was written by a male in first POV as a woman and he did a great job and Little Women is just an incredible book all around.

And i'm bizarre I guess lol

I guess my least favorite thing to read is a girl who is a weak little victim because that bugs me.

[starbeamz]

I know what you mean about the whole weak victim thing, Mare. I have a hard time reading those fanfics where the girl was abused when she was younger and the Boy helps her get past it (lol pet peeve). But I think there are plenty of female leads out there that aren't weak at all. Maybe they have flaws that make them seem weak, but who out of us writers isn't the same at some point, ya know? It IS refreshing reading a male's perspective, and I really like writing it, too (even if it's in third person). But there are lots of stories that would be lacking depth if they didn't have an equal female lead, too.

[mare]

^ I agree, I think some fics do need female leads to help even out the balance of the story but I think it depends on the kind of story you're writing. I really believe if you are writing just a straight ahead action or drama or suspense you really don't need that girl but of course if you aren't writing all five guys and just centering on one guy it would be completely boring if you don't add another element in there. Although you could always pull a Castaway and have the Nick converse with a ping pong ball or something. Sadly that would probably hold my attention more than a female lead lmao I am SO including that in my challenge story! No one is allowed to steal the ping pong ball!!

[Teri]

I know what you mean about the whole weak victim thing, Mare. I have a hard time reading those fanfics where the girl was abused when she was younger and the Boy helps her get past it (lol pet peeve). But I think there are plenty of female leads out there that aren't weak at all. Maybe they have flaws that make them seem weak, but who out of us writers isn't the same at some point, ya know? It IS refreshing reading a male's perspective, and I really like writing it, too (even if it's in third person). But there are lots of stories that would be lacking depth if they didn't have an equal female lead, too.

I agree! In Underneath it all my lead girl Evan was raped as a teen but she got passed it BEFORE she met Nick and is a pretty strong woman inspite of it.

[RokofAges75]

I hate the weak damsal in distress crap too.  But at the same time, I think the uber-strong, kick ass female lead who never loses her cool gets old too.  That's the start of an Anti-Sue to me.  It's all about finding the balance between the two.  I don't know anyone who can be a rock all the time - we all have emotions; we all have needs; we all break down sometimes.

[starbeamz]

I hate the weak damsal in distress crap too.  But at the same time, I think the uber-strong, kick ass female lead who never loses her cool gets old too.  That's the start of an Anti-Sue to me.  It's all about finding the balance between the two.  I don't know anyone who can be a rock all the time - we all have emotions; we all have needs; we all break down sometimes.

Yes, yes, YES! That's exactly what I was trying to say before, but my writing skills are seriously lacking at the moment LOL If the female lead is a human being and not SuperWoman or a scared shell who must rely on a man, then yay! If she has a perfect life, then I won't like her. Sorry. I want a human female LOL Not future Stepford wife material either.

Did that make sense?

[julilly]

^ I agree, I think some fics do need female leads to help even out the balance of the story but I think it depends on the kind of story you're writing. I really believe if you are writing just a straight ahead action or drama or suspense you really don't need that girl but of course if you aren't writing all five guys and just centering on one guy it would be completely boring if you don't add another element in there. Although you could always pull a Castaway and have the Nick converse with a ping pong ball or something. Sadly that would probably hold my attention more than a female lead lmao I am SO including that in my challenge story! No one is allowed to steal the ping pong ball!!

You like Valerie! And she's a girl!... as far as I know.

[honey]

I hate the weak damsal in distress crap too.  But at the same time, I think the uber-strong, kick ass female lead who never loses her cool gets old too.  That's the start of an Anti-Sue to me.  It's all about finding the balance between the two.  I don't know anyone who can be a rock all the time - we all have emotions; we all have needs; we all break down sometimes.

lol.  I completely agree!!!  thats actually the plot of NYACS.

[RokofAges75]

Yes, yes, YES! That's exactly what I was trying to say before, but my writing skills are seriously lacking at the moment LOL If the female lead is a human being and not SuperWoman or a scared shell who must rely on a man, then yay! If she has a perfect life, then I won't like her. Sorry. I want a human female LOL Not future Stepford wife material either.

Did that make sense?

Exactly!  Totally makes sense!

[RokofAges75]

lol.  I completely agree!!!  thats actually the plot of NYACS.

Yep!  That's what makes Cindy a great character!  She seems like she could go the Anti Sue route at first, but when you really read the story, she's not at all.  She's very real and believable, and different than most Bsb female leads in a good way!

[Rose]

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?

By the way, I meant to post these earlier lol, but randomly I remembered your post as I saw your latest update...(I need to catch up again!  )

I put these up awhile back...maybe they can help?

http://absolutechaos.net/fictalk/index.php?topic=618.0

http://absolutechaos.net/fictalk/index.php?topic=619.0

[mare]

I hate the weak damsal in distress crap too.  But at the same time, I think the uber-strong, kick ass female lead who never loses her cool gets old too.  That's the start of an Anti-Sue to me.  It's all about finding the balance between the two.  I don't know anyone who can be a rock all the time - we all have emotions; we all have needs; we all break down sometimes.

I totally agree with this as well.

[mare]

You like Valerie! And she's a girl!... as far as I know.

I do but I also have to confess that if she was there in chapter one I probably wouldn't have liked her as much. The females who come in later and kind of trick you into liking them are the ones that work best for me. If you put that one Valerie chapter you had in there with very little Nick or anyone but her and some random police guy, if that happened towards the beginning, I most likely would have skipped the chapter *hangs head in shame* lol that's just how I roll. I have no patience.

[Purpura Lipstick]

I like "baddies" or people with issues, so the only girl "lead" that I've read that sticks out in my mind that I enjoyed reading was Renee from Pandora's Box... even though I thought she was a bit crazy and weird she was fun. :-D