What do books like Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Once Upon a Broken Heart (UOABH) by Stephanie Garber, and The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides all have in common? They all portray complex female characters that women in the real world can see themselves in. Now, what exactly does this mean?
According to Texas State University’s Vice President of Bookish Cats Isabelle Maldonado, “The author actually cares about treating this character like a person when writing them. Did this author actually think about what this character liked, what this character disliked, what this character’s goals and motivations were, what their role in the story is?” Maldonado said.
What makes a complex female character?
From my own experience reading books by various authors across genres, I have noticed that a complex female character is a woman who has her own ambitions and struggles, similar to a woman you would meet in real life.
“I think how I typically determine it [a complex female character] is the author actually cared about treating this character like a person when writing them. Like, did this author actually think about what this character liked, what this character disliked, what this character’s goals and motivations were, what their role in the story is?,” Maldonado said.
There are certainly female characters in fantasy books that have no agency of their own, relying on male characters for protection and guidance. The character Aelin Galathynius from Throne of Glass, does not fall into this category. Throughout the eight book series, the female heroine struggles with complex feelings like survivors guilt, grief, and PTSD. Her traumas do not define her, instead they make her more realistic. In a fantasy world filled with magic and fae, the female protagonist is a woman grounded in reality.
“I really like when the author takes out that damsel in distress for the female lead. It really bothers me when it’s like, the male lead is gonna come save you. And it’s like, no, she already saved herself,” President Alanze Leon said.
Leon’s favorite book is Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber, which is a fantasy romance. Oftentimes, romance books can make the female lead into a cliche, one dimensional character. Leon believes that UOABH is the perfect example of a complex romance.
“She’s [Evangeline] really good at not letting herself be captivated towards just finding a guy. She really wants to find her actual person,” Leon said.
How can a man write a woman?
Male authors will never be able to experience womanhood; however, there are some examples of well executed female stories written by men.
“I think what I like about The Virgin Suicides is the fact that the author never oversteps his bounds. Jeffrey Eugenides never tries to act like he understands. He’s aware. He’s commenting more on how men will act like they understand and how men romanticize women’s suffering, rather than stepping in and being like ‘here’s what women’s suffering is actually like,’” Maldonado said.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides is a phycological fiction told through the lens of boys next door who witness the spiral of five sisters that eventually commit suicide.
“I think that’s why I like the book so much, because you can tell he cares but he understands that he will never be able to offer a true perspective,” Maldonado said.
The Young Adult (YA) genre has a wide array of readers; however, YA authors would do well to remember the impressionable young readers their books are marketed towards.
John Green, an author who peaked in popularity during the early 2010’s with his novel, The Fault in Our Stars, is famous for perfecting the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ trope.
Greens’ book Looking for Alaska, is told through the lens of a teenage boy (Miles). The main character, Alaska, is struggling with difficult subjects such as grief, depression, and suicidal thoughts. The reader can never understand Alaska’s motivations because the author fails to develop her character past that of the main character’s love interest. When Alaska loses her battle with depression, the main character (Miles) takes her death personally because he believed his love should have saved her.
Green writes female characters as disposable, which is a common theme throughout the majority of his books. The female characters only exist to teach the male protagonist a lesson.
Leon also believes that Greens’ book, Turtles All The Way Down, is deeply problematic due to the way Green deals with triggering subject matters.
“The way he wrote about her mental health and then everything else that happened with her trauma, I feel like he dismissed it in the way that he wrote it. He does a really awful job of touching on the female’s lead’s feelings,” Leon said.
It’s not just Green- the majority of male authors are unable to capture the female experience into words, and how could they?
“Honestly I think the thing with men when it comes to writing women is that it’s almost in a voyeuristic way. Even when the women are supposed to be the primary characters, you are seeing that there’s almost this voyeuristic feeling as they feel like they’re written more for you to look at them as how attractive they are than to relate to them and understand them as people,” Maldonado said.
Women are intelligent, humorous, physically and emotionally strong; there are a multitude of ways to express femininity. Women do not exist in the realm of fiction to further a man’s storyline and the idea of a ‘manic pixie dream girl’ is an outdated, misogynistic concept. This is the reason many female readers gravitate towards female authors. Women’s stories can only be accurately portrayed by someone with lived experience.