Please welcome Faith McKay to Books for Company. Faith is a debut author of Prophecy Girl.
Faith has written a great guest post for us, one which had me thinking about a subject I haven't thought that deep into but this post has made me explore my opinions.
Becoming a Strong Female Character by Faith Mckay
What does it mean to be strong? What does it mean to be weak? This is a big theme in my novel, Prophecy Girl.I read a lot of book reviews that debate the strength of female characters in particular. A lot of people are sick of weak female characters. I get stuck on this when reading because I can relate to the characters who gets walked on, but I would also like to see more examples of strength. The thing is, though, while I admire them and wish I was them, I'm not as cool as those kick butt heroines who seem to just be strong and confident. I mean, Hermione Granger? Oh my god, she kicks so much butt! I really related to her with her big hair and love of books, and constantly wished I was as cool and strong as her. When in doubt, ask yourself, What Would Hermione Do? The answer is always: something smart and strong and awesome. She gave me something to strive to be, and that is so valuable.
In Prophecy Girl, Sam is a little bit different. Sam starts out in Prophecy Girl a victim. She's a victim of child abuse, she's a victim of bullying, and she definitely feels it's all her fault.
I worry a lot that people will read her thoughts on what's happening to her, and think that I am saying it's her fault. What is happening to her is not her fault. Of course it's not her fault! If someone is bullying you, if someone is abusing you, that's on them—not you.
But Sam doesn't do anything about her situation. The lesson she has learned, from years of abuse, is that she needs to just survive. If people are spitting on you? You make yourself small and wait for it to end.
Slowly, throughout Prophecy Girl, we watch Sam learn to stand up.
While writing Prophecy Girl, and watching the things Sam did, it gave me a lot to think about in terms of how we learn to become strong people, strong characters. Sam can't stand up for herself with her mother—but whenever her mother makes any kind of move toward her little sister, Sam stands up. It's easier to be strong defending other people than ourselves—and I think this is because Sam doesn't feel like she's worth much, but she knows her little sister is worth stepping in for.
We see Sam stand up for her sister, and we also see Sam stand up in anger. And while these things are examples of strength in the moment, it made me wonder what ends up driving us to be stronger characters overall? What drives us to stand up and be amazing kick butt heroines?
I think the answer is in feeling like we're worth doing that for. In knowing that we don't deserve to be spit on, in knowing that we deserve respect, that we are worth the strength it takes to stand up for ourselves.
When you grow up in an environment that doesn't breed that into you, you have to somehow find that in yourself. And that is what Sam's story arc is all about in Prophecy Girl. What will it take for her to stand up? What will it take for her to be strong? What will it take for her to make the leap from victim to survivor?
There isn't a simple answer to this, of course. If there was, we'd all be kick butt heroines like Hermione Granger. There are over 90,000 words exploring the idea in Prophecy Girl, and I still have more thoughts on the subject. For example now, being strong versus just feeling strong? That's a subject for another book. Or two. :)
I worry a lot that people will read her thoughts on what's happening to her, and think that I am saying it's her fault. What is happening to her is not her fault. Of course it's not her fault! If someone is bullying you, if someone is abusing you, that's on them—not you.
But Sam doesn't do anything about her situation. The lesson she has learned, from years of abuse, is that she needs to just survive. If people are spitting on you? You make yourself small and wait for it to end.
Slowly, throughout Prophecy Girl, we watch Sam learn to stand up.
While writing Prophecy Girl, and watching the things Sam did, it gave me a lot to think about in terms of how we learn to become strong people, strong characters. Sam can't stand up for herself with her mother—but whenever her mother makes any kind of move toward her little sister, Sam stands up. It's easier to be strong defending other people than ourselves—and I think this is because Sam doesn't feel like she's worth much, but she knows her little sister is worth stepping in for.
We see Sam stand up for her sister, and we also see Sam stand up in anger. And while these things are examples of strength in the moment, it made me wonder what ends up driving us to be stronger characters overall? What drives us to stand up and be amazing kick butt heroines?
I think the answer is in feeling like we're worth doing that for. In knowing that we don't deserve to be spit on, in knowing that we deserve respect, that we are worth the strength it takes to stand up for ourselves.
When you grow up in an environment that doesn't breed that into you, you have to somehow find that in yourself. And that is what Sam's story arc is all about in Prophecy Girl. What will it take for her to stand up? What will it take for her to be strong? What will it take for her to make the leap from victim to survivor?
There isn't a simple answer to this, of course. If there was, we'd all be kick butt heroines like Hermione Granger. There are over 90,000 words exploring the idea in Prophecy Girl, and I still have more thoughts on the subject. For example now, being strong versus just feeling strong? That's a subject for another book. Or two. :)
Buy Prophecy Girl
Thanks again for having me on Books for Company :) I had a lot of fun writing this post.
ReplyDelete