Dystopian Entertainment

Posted on June 16, 2022 by knlistman

The plethora of dystopian novels that involve putting teens into deadly trials has begun to disturb me. Starting with Hunger Games, which was similar to a YA version of the Running Man, the stories read like athletic competitions run amok. The teens are grouped into categories for what turns out to be a string of deadly competitions, often staged for the populace’s viewing pleasure. Dystopian literature is by no means new, and it has always been a bit disturbing but for different reasons. There are ancient texts that describe a future in which society is deeply flawed, and yet citizens continue to serve the powers that be, unaware of their enslavement. These works from past century works were warnings and not entertainment that resembled gladiator sports. 

The Russian author Yevgenv Zamyatin created a future world of complete human conformity in his novel We. He often receives credit as the modern inventor of this type of literature; however, Jack London published Iron Heel over a decade earlier. London’s book is a combination of a science fiction and political novel that fits the idea of a dystopia perfectly, even if it is not as futuristic as Zamyatin’s work. In London’s novel the rise of popular support for a socialist government is squelched by a dictatorship backed by political conservatives. It describes the effect of unscrupulous big business that results in an economic dystopia.

Many dystopian novels are based on ideas that reflect Zamyatin’s novel. They almost always take place in a future society. People often follow skewed ideals, which masquerade as the path to utopia. Enforced conformity is often the result of humans reacting to a perceived threat. The environment is frequently artificial as well, especially so in Zamyatin’s novel. People live in an urban setting constructed basically of glass making surveillance easy. This fear of being observed is a pervasive theme as the main character, D-503, begins to break with the uniformity required by the One State.

For the protagonist there is no going back. Once enlightened, the only options are to escape the society or die. The dystopian societies do not easily crumble as they do in the modern teen versions of governments gone awry. The dystopian society in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is not brought down by those who wish to preserve books rather than destroying them. Instead these people flee the city that wishes to hunt them down before it goes up in the flames of war.

There are some dystopian novels aimed at YA which are not designed around war games. The desire to erase the memory of an unpleasant past is what leads to the twisting of a society into a dystopia that masquerades as a utopia in The Giver by Lois Lowry. There numerous incidents of planned euthanasia for the comfort of the society which refuses to allow pain. The Giver, a wise mentor and a young protagonist named Jonas, attempt to release the memories of pain back into society. This is foiled because Jonas has learned to love, so he must escape.

There is still hope for dystopias written with the courage to reveal what is wrong with our society by taking it to an extreme that still seems plausible. There are ones that are serious and not just combatant based. Of course anyone fond of getting adolescents together to fight only to have them turn against a corrupt regime should remember—none of these trials are as deadly as sending out eighteen-year-olds en masse to fight a war. We are still doing this in real life somewhere in the world within each generation.

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Fairy Tale or Dystopia?

Posted on June 9, 2022 by knlistman

The desire to be considered superior and above the crowd exists in most people. We try to ignore the fact that the majority of us are commoners. From time immemorial stories arise with the promise of reaching status by marrying into a royal family (or the case of Greek legends, marrying a god). The goal is to become the next ruler. This is the draw of mythology and fairy tales that made them so popular with ancient audiences. It is still reflected in innumerable fantasy stories from the twenty-first century.

However acceptance by the royal family (or pantheon) is not easy. The conflict occurs when some vicious person (often related to the royal family) gives the commoner an impossible task. The only way to accomplish this is by magic. So, it helps to make friends with wizards. Similar devices are used in the proliferation of dystopian stories with a happy ending. 

What is the difference between fairy tales and dystopian literature? The most recognizable one is fairy tales are set in the past and dystopias are set in the future. However, the government in both cases are ruled by a select few possessing far more power than any humans should have. There are basically no more absolute monarchs in the world, but we have a number of politicians with hopes to become absolute dictators. Dystopian writers draw on past and present dictatorships for their inspiration.

Fairy tales were traditionally read to children. However, the versions that most people know today have been sanitized. They are now lacking the gore and are more appropriate for a young audience. If you are familiar with the original stories collected by the Grimm brothers, you know they were quite grotesque. Perhaps fairy-tales were created for adults, the same audience for which most dystopian novels used to be written. 

If you’ve read both of these genres widely enough, you will find the number of vicious despots ruling over kingdoms is similar to the insidious people ruling over dystopian lands. Sometimes, the dystopian rulers mistakenly believe they are providing some benefit to humanity. So, their intentions are not as corrupt as Snow White’s stepmother.

In the modern dystopia aimed at adolescents, we know the commoners will be successful at overthrowing the oppressive government in the end. Often it is a modern technology that resembles sorcery that provides the upper hand in this battle. Sometimes the protagonist simply possesses multiple forms of giftedness. The hero in a dystopian novel almost never marries the heir to the throne, because the future country is ruled by a dictator and not by a wicked king or queen. But, the young hero often ends up in a similar position once the evil power is defeated–being groomed for leadership in the new order.

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Emotionally intelligent characters?

Posted on June 2, 2022 by knlistman

Readers may seek out stories with a hero with greater than average athletic ability and high intelligence because they are drawn to the larger than life character who is strong or ingenious. However, when a reader asks for a character that exhibits more emotions are they asking for higher emotional intelligence or less of this ability. 

What exactly is emotional intelligence? Imagine that you are sitting down to a holiday dinner at which a number of friends and family have gathered. The host, Micaela is young, a bit nervous, rushing about trying to please the guests. Timidly she offers a plate of  finely ground patties, in a plate of brown broth. When asked “What is it?” she responds smiling, “Pate foie gras… goose liver paste.” Sandy, sitting across the table momentarily curls up the side of her mouth in a sign of contempt.

Thoughts go rushing through your head. Did Micaela not see Sandy’s expression? Is she insulted by that look of disgust? Perhaps you should comment about what delicacy pate foie gras is to show your empathy for Micaela. But then, maybe Sandy finds force feeding geese a type of animal cruelty and the expression of disgust was an automatic gut response. Perhaps, you should encourage Sandy to speak up by reminding your host that some people may have ethical reasons not to eat this dish.

Part of emotional intelligence is the ability to read other’s feelings. This skill of quickly detecting emotions can provide helpful insights into other characters, a useful trait for a protagonist. Emotional intelligence can be welded as a weapon to point out rivals’ doubts that they thought they were concealing. It can be used to find the secret to persuading others to join one’s side, when there isn’t a real reason to do so. 

However, what most people refer to as an emotionally expressive character is one that shows emotions so blatantly no intelligence is required to read them. They clench their fist in a ball whenever anger strikes. One the other hand, a glowing grin spreads across their face to announce their happiness to the world.

Research on emotion recognition has shown that people who are skilled in reading feelings have often gained that ability to serve themselves, rather than others. People who exhibit the personality trait, exploitativeness, (part of the scale to measure narcissism) are as good at reading expressions or emotion as empathetic people are. Two studies at the University of Michigan resulted in this same conclusion. The major difference between subjects that scored higher in dispositional empathy and those that had narcissistic tendencies of a similar magnitude, is that the exploitative people could recognize negative emotions better. Researchers theorize that this enables them to detect vulnerability in others.[1]

People tend not to hide “positive” expressions of happiness and contentment as much as they conceal negative emotions involving anger, fear, disgust, etc. In the practical everyday realm the narcissists are better at reading hidden emotions. However, do readers really want narcissistic protagonists? Probably not. It seems like emotionally expressive characters are more naive and possess less emotional intelligence than the antagonists who are able to wield this trait to serve themselves. 

Back to the dinner table example… have you decided to empathize with the nervous host or disgusted guest? Perhaps considering the kind of person who can read negative emotions the best, you should just be quiet and not say anything at all.

[1] Konrath, S., Corneille, O., Bushman, B.J., and Luminet, O. The Relationship Between Narcissistic Exploitativeness, Dispositional Empathy, and Emotion Recognition Abilities Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, March 2014, Volume 38, Issue 1, pp 129-143

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Longing for someplace unfamiliar

Posted on May 27, 2022 by knlistman

In grade school I would skim the readers for something intriguing, passing over  everyday stories of American life that were supposed to draw in readers with their familiarity. I yearned for tales of distant lands, places with unique landscapes, animals and customs. This was also my favorite fare when it came to fiction. 

As a junior high student I soaked up Jules Verne adventures in distant places such as the famed  Around the World in Eighty Days, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and the lesser known Michael Strogoff: Courier of the Czar.  As an adult I discovered that my favorite junior high author chafed under the formulaic requirements imposed on him for writing his adventure novels. But, they were the right stories to get me hooked on reading at that time. Even today, Jules Verne’s most famous works are frequently remade as series and movies. 

Many American authors started their career by describing their travels. These works were often  largely autobiographical. However, seeing the rest of the world through new eyes resulted in more complex themes in their later novels. Three of the most famous American authors started off writing on long passages across the sea:

  • Herman Melville of Moby Dick fame, first wrote largely autobiographical works such as Redburn and White-Jacket to describe his adventures as a sailor.
  • Mark Twain wrote Innocents Abroad, a humorous view of the naiveté of Americans on a cruise to the Middle East and Life on the Mississippi to describe his own days as a river man. Both of these came before his most famous novel chronicling the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
  • Jack London wrote the purely adventurous John Barleycorn before completing The Call of the Wild and Sea-Wolf on which his fame rests.

Travelogs are also the works of a mature writers. John Steinbeck, widely known for his stories of the Great Depression, chronicled his 1960 trip across the country in Travels with Charley: In Search of America. Steinbeck didn’t simply describe the new scenery, he reflected on his own life, and the flood of changes that had washed over the country since he was a much younger man. 

Well known authors also record the journeys of other people. John Krakauer traced the path of a self-disenfranchised wealthy young college grad, Chris McCandles, as he attempted to reinvent himself in a quest to live a life off of the grid in Into the Wild. Despite this young man’s initial success, he followed the lure to go farther into the wild. His trek into Alaska ended up being deadly. 

I have found books about distant lands not just for entertaining. Stories using world building techniques in the world that actually exists are some of my favorites. Therefore, I have never outgrown my taste for both fiction and nonfiction books that take me to a part of the world where I have never been, and everything seems a bit strange.

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Critiquing myself

Posted on May 19, 2022 by knlistman

I grew up as a bookworm, constantly reading. My parents sometimes claimed that I spent my entire childhood with my nose in a book. But I didn’t learn how to read until I was five, so books had to have pictures in them before that time so I could make up the stories in my head. Essentially, I was withdrawing from the world and not learning how to deal with it. My parents did not mind if I read, just not all of my waking hours.

For me reading was entertaining and so was learning obscure facts from books. I recall hours spent reading our set of World Book encyclopedias. I checked out library books as often as I could. However, the real reading adventure occurred when we moved to another state. We leased the house of an education professor, and I found his personal library on an enclosed porch. The limerick book was amusing for a while. Gulliver’s Travels was a bit of a challenge. I thought that I understood most of that book, but did not discern the politics it portrayed.  

The time spent reading books was only as good as the books. My idea of a quality book changed over time. My choices morphed to more realism. I turned from the exciting, yet predictable adventures that I read as a young adolescent. I expected to learn more from reading and enjoyed a well written biography, or factual book as much as fiction. There are only so many fiction plots, and I have become more demanding of excellence in writing in the fictional realm.

The short stories I wrote in college were based on fables. However, the best one turned out to be very similar to my brief infatuation with a student who had promising ability as a great musician but would never become one. In my late twenties I started writing a novel based on my own experience in art school, and faltered for lack of a cohesive plot. My life simply did not have the exciting people and events that interesting books required. When my children were young I started writing short stories. I soon discovered that plots ripped straight from my own life were best and won contests.

Now I find myself at a crossroads. I hear people extol the popularity of mysteries, suspense and thrillers, or whatever one calls an action packed book where the hero tracks down a murderous villain, while dodging dangers. These are types of books I rarely read now, since I found myself repeating the same stories. I wish to take another direction in reading and also in writing. 

So, thirty years after I started writing, I realized the wonderful, imaginary things I wanted to put in the stories didn’t work as well as real life situations that took on my own perspective of the world. Character driven stories are time consuming and not easy to write, or easy to end. The only villain to conquer is the character’s drive to reach a worthy goal, one for which they are willing to sacrifice. Writing itself becomes a sacrifice, but still provides enough joy for me not to give up on it.

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Uncontrollable Characters

Posted on May 12, 2022 by knlistman

Some authors claim that characters live in their head, sometimes ignore their directives, and even argue with what the author has planned for them. These authors long for characters that seem as real to their audience as they feel to themselves. However, this is not always apparent in their writing. The difficulty with capturing real characters is the finite number of words in a book.

Readers have a short period of time to become acquainted with the character before the action starts. There is an easy way to capture the essence of the main character. Describe the protagonist as a tall, muscular, fearless, an impatient man who speaks four different languages, has a preference for blonds and BMWs, and a severe allergy to peanuts. Then, there is a better way–write the narrative in a manner so the reader can observe the character, follow what he does, see how he reacts, hear what others say about him, and even listen to what he thinks about other characters. That requires to reader to actual concentrate to comprehend the nature of the protagonist.

The second challenge is embellishing the less important secondary characters. This is necessary unless you plan to write a new version of Robinson Caruso. Even this book introduces a secondary character called “Friday,” and a group of cannibals to enliven the story. You cannot use the same detailed development reserved for the main characters, unless you want to drive your readers up a wall. Simply naming and describing each character is also confusing. Readers only want to spend their mental energy keeping track of the names for a few major characters and their sidekicks. However, any minor character who is seen repeatedly should still show individuality, like a quirk in behavior or a physical trait to make them distinguishable from the others.

Here are some usable shortcuts to creating side characters:

Archetype: This is the embodiment of a collective set of characteristics for universal human types . Archetypes include the mentor, a wise old man or woman willing to share their wisdom, and the trickster, a lively character whose loyalty is always suspect. Archetypes still must be fleshed out with details to make them different from other characters you have encountered in books that are the same archetype. Otherwise they are simply a stereotype.

Doppelganger: This character looks almost identical to a main character. The doppelganger can be an empathetic companion or an evil twin. Technically the doppelganger is an archetype, but their traits may be the same or opposite of their spitting image. They also don’t have the boundaries of other archetypes.

Foil: This character is pretty much the opposite of another one, often the protagonist. For example, a clumsy, shy foil would make your protagonist seem athletic and suave.

Semi-round character are partially developed character that has a contradictory trait or two to keep them from being flat and boring, such as an actor with stage fright. They serve well as less important secondary characters.

Creating complex characters for the protagonist, the antagonist and their cohorts is usually both more difficult and more satisfying for the writer and the reader. Of course, some readers would rather simply be told what each character is like. They actually enjoy major characters who are stereotypes. Semi-round main characters are predictable and do not require any close observation or deep thought while reading. As a writer you have to decide who you are writing for, and if you can live with your decisions.

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Twisted Wit

Posted on May 5, 2022 by knlistman

During my lifetime I have noticed a shift in the focus of humor–laughs are no longer based on situations but humorous conversations. Wise-cracking retorts are funnier than amusing events. In fact, often the events would be minimal. 

The sitcom Seinfeld became a standard in comedy TV programs. The creator admitted this program was based on the life of characters in which nothing much happened. Sometimes, the entire plot revolved around the character’s illusions, and was delivered with humor through clever conversations. At times the events actually struck a painful nerve. But, the audiences continued to laugh as the actors cut each other down a notch with witty retorts.

This is not the first time that ‘witty’ words have been prized over plot. Oscar Wilde, a 19th century Irish writer and poet wrote many poems, essays, short stories and plays. He achieved fame largely through his short novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his hit play, The Importance of Being Ernest. Oscar Wilde was known for his lectures on aesthetics and his epigrams, wry observations about life. An example of his wit is found in his article in the New York Tribune.

And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

Epigrams are short, clever statements that have been recorded ever since Ancient Greece. Each culture has its own kind of humor but there are some basic devices:

Paradox, like Wilde’s quip about fashion,  states an apparent contradiction or incongruity that on second glance may actually be true. Wilde is also quoted as saying the following concerning one of his critics in The New-York Herald:

If it took Labouchere three columns to prove that I was forgotten, then there is no difference between fame and obscurity.

A litote is a rhetorical device that uses a negative to discreetly mention something that is not particularly pleasant without being too critical. As Oscar Wilde write one in The Birthday of the Infanta.

He is really not so ugly after all, provided, of course, that one shuts one’s eyes, and does not look at him.

Euphemisms are softened ways of describing what we fear, such as death, or discussing inappropriate matters, like sex and violence, in public. Similar to a litote, a euphemism underplays the impact and true meaning of words. Oscar Wilde created his own euphemism in The Nihilist.

Experience, the name men give to their mistakes.

Satire is a type of parody which ridicules the follies of society by seeming to imitate real things, but not quite. Satire can also be leveled against work of art and fiction and especially other writers. Familiarity with Shakespeare’s monologue from As You Like It makes the satirical restatement by Oscar Wilde more cutting.

 The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

In each case there is a play on words where ordinary wisdom is twisted into a new meaning in a way that seems humorous, at least on the surface. But, the underlying meaning may end up being as bitter as Oscar Wilde’s own end.

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A Classic Error

Posted on April 28, 2022 by knlistman

What do we have to lose when we consume only recent novels that bring wealth and prestige to the authors? As authors, we may think that is the one way to learn the path to success as a writer. The works of prior centuries do not seem applicable to current audiences.  Also, they are a lot harder to read, as the majority of current best sellers are written around a six-grade reading level. So what do we lose by not reading older works that have withstood the test of time?

Perhaps we are robbing ourselves of the chance to increase understanding other people. Being able to grasp the mental state of others is valuable for functioning in society. Researchers and scientists are eager to learn more about what contributes to this skill. Surprisingly, two recent studies show that reading literary fiction increases these abilities.

Kidd and Castano, researchers from the New School for Social Research (2013) discovered that reading literary fiction increase people’s ability to understand that others have differing beliefs, values, goals and desires. Individuals who choose to read this kind of fiction were often more able to understand the world from other’s perspectives. These researchers conducted experiments to test participant’s accuracy in identifying the emotions of others after they had been reading popular fiction, nonfiction, literary texts or nothing at all. They found those that had read literary texts were able to more accurately identify the emotions than those who had been reading popular fiction or nonfiction.

So what exactly is the difference between popular fiction and literature?

According to the literary theory put forward by Roland Barthe, fictional text is divided into two types. He describes “readerly” text as that in which the reader is mostly passive, and does not have to make much effort to understand the text. This type of text is largely entertaining and the author tells you what you are experiencing. On the other hand “writerly” text requires the reader to engage with the writer. This text means are greater effort is necessary to read and comprehend the meaning.

You open a book of what we call popular fiction and you know from the get-go who is going to be the good guy and the bad guy.

Emanuele Castano

We tend to see ‘readerly’ more in genre fiction like adventure, romance and thrillers, where the author dictates your experience as a reader. Literary [writerly] fiction lets you go into a new environment and you have to find your own way.

David Comer Kidd

Of course, there is not a rigid line between popular fiction and literature. However, literature is usually marked by an in depth focus on characters’ inner feelings and thoughts. Also, characters tend not to remain static so the reader has to make an effort, and construct their own frame of reference to understand them. This is work that we may not want to do all of the time, but we should be willing to make this effort more often if we also want to produce writing that helps people understand the feelings of others and share their own deepest desire for humanity.

 
[1] Kidd, D.C. and Emanuele C., “Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind” Science 18 October 2013 Vol. 342 no. 6156 pp. 377-380, Published Online October 3 2013
[2] Barthe, R. The Pleasure of the Text. Straus and Giroux, Inc. Originally published in French as Le Plaisir du texte 1973 by Editions du Seuil, Paris
[3] Greenfieldboyce, N. “Want To Read Others’ Thoughts? Try Reading Literary Fiction” NPR. October 04, 2013 4:24 PM ET
[4] Bury, L.  “Reading literary fiction improves empathy, study finds”  The Guardian. Tuesday 8 October 2013 03.00 EDT
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Breaking the speed limit

Posted on April 21, 2022 by knlistman

A thrilling fast-paced first chapter that pulls the reader into the story does not have the power to create tension for the entire story. A dramatic, edge-of-the-seat beginning might even decrease the tension. After the first thrill is over, the following chapter drags as it introduces the reader to the necessary details about the protagonist’s life. Exciting events carry more tension if the reader cares about this character. Then, any hints at a rising problem increases a perceived threat. First, get readers invested in the main character before full-blown action starts.

The next skill to master is plotting the increasing waves of problems. They need to hit like waves hitting the shore as the tide rises. Each successive wave comes in further, but there’s a lull between each. Tension should build in a similar manner. Variation also helps to build dramatic excitement. The destination of a trap door or the conclusion to a car chase may be in question the first time this device is used. A similar situation may even carry the story forward a second time. But, after that readers start yawning if they see it again.

The way we string together words and the type of words we use contribute to the “pace” of writing. Longer sentences full of subordinate clauses make the reader work harder to understand the story. Short sentences with direct verbs are the antidote. However, few readers can stomach an entire work of short choppy bursts. Pace-changing requires knowing when the writing can be improved by putting on the brakes–to let the reader savor the experience–or by speeding up the dramatic pace. A good exercise to show how this works is to take a paragraph out of academic writing and rewrite it. Eliminate all unnecessary words and change verbs to their simplest form. For good measure, reduce all the lengthy vocabulary to the easily understood words that mean basically the same thing. The passage will move faster because the reader can actually read it at a higher speed.

Changing pace in writing can alter the level of perceived politeness. For example, use of passive verbs (regarded with disdain by many professional writers) can slow down the pace. But, this is often because it creates a style that is gentler and less accusatory than its active counterpart. “The door was left open, again,” takes no more words than “You left the door open, again.” But, it sounds less demanding. And, the more demands that are placed on the protagonist, the faster the pace.

Repetition creates poetry but doesn’t have to be confined to poems. Using the same sentence structure makes reading easier and picks up the pace. Overusing this technique marks writing as the work of an amateur. So, repetition can either move the story along or bring it to a screeching halt. If you want to add a striking cadence to prose, incorporate both repetition and changes to sentence lengths to break the monotony.

When you drive a car, alternating rapidly between the gas and brake jerks the car uncomfortably. However, a sudden change in the pace of writing does not have the same effect as a lead-foot driver. Inserting a five word sentence in the middle two long ones creates an interesting contrast. So, the best advice on the speed of writing is to not keep it the same.

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Writing Dislikeable Characters

Posted on April 14, 2022 by knlistman

Recently I was following a thread of writers discussing how to find names that make characters memorable. Honestly, I believe that writers should be looking at the reverse situation. Names like Scarlet, Sherlock, and Romeo invoke images of their fictional counterparts. Authors should not pick a name which might remind the reader of person, real or fictional, that they already know. Authors must rely on their own creation of a character with strengths and weaknesses that strike a chord of truth in the reader.

People seek out empathetic protagonists when they read. These characters are constructed so that people can relate to them and even feel an emotional connection with them. One critical thing to remember is not everybody will identify with the same kind of character, which is fortunate because I would hate to be reading about the same person over and over again. It’s fairly clear that the ideal fictional character is a mix of strengths and weaknesses—neither perfect or perfectly rotten—but it’s not as clear how to create a mix that enables people to empathize with a character.

If your characters care about no one else, readers probably will not care about them. In a recent study done at Princeton University loyalty and dependability were high on the positive characteristics that both men and women should exhibit. But, not surprisingly most of the desirable traits for males and females differed. When I compared the lists I found the following items high in both studies done with the general population and college students:

Desirable male traits

  • high self-esteem
  • strong personality
  • athletic
  • self-reliant
  • ambitious

Desirable female traits                                                                                                  

  • friendly
  • cheerful 
  • attention to appearance/attractive
  • warm/kind 
  • sensitive                                                                    

Most people in the study were fairly tolerant of people showing a trait associated with the opposite gender as long as it was positive. But, the male traits that were less acceptable were seen as downright objectionable in a female, and vice versa. So, be careful with the faults that round out your hero and/or heroine to make them more real. Readers are more likely to reject a male character that has negative traits considered feminine and more likely to condemn a female exhibiting typically male faults. So what did the researchers find as the most undesirable traits?

Most undesirable male traits  

  • shy
  • moody
  • naïve
  • melodramatic                                                                 
  • weak 
  • gullible

                                                                                                                                                                       Most undesirable female traits   

  • stubborn                                                      
  • controlling                                                          
  • cynical
  • promiscuous  
  • self-righteous
  • arrogant

Now, flip these around and apply them to the other gender. When we read about a shy, naïve, melodramatic, gullible or weak female we often don’t even think of these as faults, just minor weaknesses. You will find many male protagonists in the annals of literature that are stubborn, controlling, cynical and arrogant. Sometimes this is falsely attributed as evidence of strength. There are also a large number of men romantic leads with a checkered background of promiscuity, but only a sprinkling of female protagonists with that trait.

The challenge remains in making characters with these faults appeal to a wider audience. The key is to have the protagonist become aware of the fault and willing change, unless you want a tragic ending (like that of the moody Heathcliff) or intend to show satire (as with the naïve Candide). So, be very careful when assigning the faults listed above, because you are inviting your readers to judge your characters harshly.

Prentice, D.A, and Carranza, E. (2002) What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn’t Be, Are Allowed to Be and Don’t Have to Be: The Contents of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 269-281. Blackwell Publishing, USA

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