2008 NanoPrep: Female protagonist, male writer

Awesome books to read on female Pov's are Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey which has a gypsy culture in the novel and the FMC's best friend is gypsy so- might get those creative juices flowing. Story starts when she is three and spans to when she is 20, you get a bit of everything. Not to mention this is my favorite book so it's an enjoyable read all around. Another good one is Daughter of the forest by Juliet Marillier. The FMC here is separated from her family and has to live on her own while trying to save her brothers. This book starts when she is 15- i think, it might be 14 and spans until she is about 18. I love this book because since the FMC cannot talk for most of it it realies heavily on her thoughts which Marillier write expertly so I think both these books are good specimens for getting into the female mind and relate to your story enough that you can draw parallels and some meaning.

Diane Duane's Deep Wizardry is a good read with a young female protaganist. There are others in the series that I havent read so I dont know which other ones feature Nita and which feature a male lead. And the first part of Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye is from a teenager's POV. <- not really fantasy though.

Tamora Pierce's Tortall books all have strong, young female protagonists. She's written three quartets that begin with the characters at the age group you're writing about; The Immortals Quartet, the Protector of the Small Quartet, and the Song of the Lioness Quartet. The three main characters are very different, Daine is sometimes shy and can speak to animals, Keladry is resiliant and doesn't often show her emotions, and Alanna is very much the spitfire.

Hope this helps!

i was also going to suggest Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy, all three books are extremely well written and because they're all written in first person, you get alot of pretty great characterization. perfect for ideas on writting from a girl's perspective. also look at the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. it's also in first person, but from five diferent perspectives, all women/girls. the ages range from 4 through adulthood and you follow the teenage girls in the family as they grow into adulthood, so you get a pretty broad scope of their lives. mostly you hear from them when they're teenagers though.

those are two of the best that come immediately to my mind. if you aso want to read a book that will give you a really good feel on general womanness, try the Red Tent by Anita Diamante as well.

Or you know, you could just ask me. I'm fourteen. xD

Same here. I doubt we could give you the *angst-ishness* you're looking for, but, hey.

Tamora Pierce was the first one that came to my mind. Mercedes Lackey also has some young female heroines -- "Bardic Voices" might be helpful for you, since there are Gypsies in that.

It really depends on what kind of character she is? Is she the weak, angsty kind? Or is she a strong, never-faltering sort of person?

I guess the best advise I can give is that you get to know know this character. Dwell deep into your mind and "talk" to her. Learn about her strong and weak sides, what she likes and doesn't, and what she thinks about being a refugee. Has she given up on life, or is she determened to keep living. Maybe even learn trivial things, like what food she likes, what kind of cloths she likes to wear, what's her interests (or rather, what would normally be her interests); stuff like that.

Another advise I'd like to give is to not generalise her personality because of her gender. I've seen too many stories where the female protagonist is always the first to cry, or the male one first to be the first one to pick a fight. Know your characters for what they are, not what gender they belong to. If they still happen to follow some of the clichés, that's fine, as long as it fits into the character in question.

As for reading material, I don't really have much to offer. If you're going for the out-going type of girl, I guess the Slayers novels are a good bet. The story is told from a 15-year-old girl, but is written by a guy.

Try reading some Tamora Pierce- she has some really strong heroines. Most of her characters are teenage girls, which should be useful. Soul Music, Hogfather, and Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett have a female protagonist named Susan, who's about as independent as they come, though she's somewhere between 17-20 in the books.

Check out Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy- the protagonist is 12 year old Garland Maddigan. It's a post-apocalyptic story but it has a fantasy setting centred on a family circus troupe, which is kinda like gypsies. It's written in third person with diary entries from the FMC, if that helps. Good luck :)

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

I don't know why I didn't think of Tamora Pierce right off - I've already read some of her stuff, it's just been a while. I'll be looking up several of the other suggestions shortly as well.

I'll be back with more specific questions as they arise. Thanks a bunch!

It might not be gypsy-ish, but Tamora Pierce's The Immortals quartet would be a good read for this. Has similarities, but differences at the same time.

Song of the Lioness series, Protector of teh Small Series, and The Immortals series. All have FMC's, they all start when the girls are pre-teens and go to late teens/early adulthood. All written by Tamora Pierce. You could also use Daugther of the Lioness, but that's more midteens
good luck!

This may be a bit late, but while Tamora Pierce is also one of the first authors tha came to mind, may I also reccommend Gerald Morris's The Princess, The Crone, and the Dung Cart Knight? It's Arthurian fiction, and Sarah falls into the right age group (only female protagonist of his that does, I'm afraid, although Lynet and Luneta are sixteen) and is definitely a memorable character.

Good luck.

Cheers!

I'm not sure when it comes out, or if it's out now, but try Holly Lisle's "The Ruby Key."

It's a young adult book with a young female protagonist / narrator.

Holly's a fantastic writer, and she writes amazing characters.

Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching is only thirteen as of the latest book. She's a good example of a very strong, straight-forward young female protagonist.

have you read dragons in our midst by bryan davis? there are some pretty good female protagonists in it, written by a guy!

I'm a guy, but I actually feel more comfortable writing from the female perspective. In fact, the casts of most of my novels are almost completely female!0.o I choose the opposite sex's perspective because female characters have more emotional vulnerabilities, making them easier to write about. They are more likely to cry, fall in love, throw a fit (which can be a BLAST to write about :) and do many other things that make for interesting writing. Personally, I think it's an applaudable choice, both daring and deep. ^.^ Good luck!

i saw above that someone suggested Diane Duane's Young Wizard series... the first one being So you want to be a wizard.

there are 8 i think books in the series... and each are written from the same POV... it's 3rd omnicient, but focused on Nita, with a bit of Kit and Darine. Darine would also be a good POV to read as well... since both Darine and Nita are women... and kit is a guy, but mostly hes the only male

also, i saw other Tamora Pierce suggestions.. and i second all of them

aside from those, there aren't very many young female protagonists out there that i've read. If you want female in general i could give you a lot of 20somthing yr olds to read... but otherwise, that's all i got

good luck... and kudos for having the courage to try and understand the female sex ;)

Hope I'm not too late. :D

I'd recommend anything by Robin McKinley, and you could check out the Golden Compass too. How old is this girl? There's also the Anne of Green Gables books, and I always thought L Frank Baum wrote girls/women pretty well. Or C S Lewis's The Horse and His Boy (The Silver Chair is written entirely from a girl's POV, too, and The Magician's Nephew is partially from a girl's perspective). Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride has several female protagonists who take turns telling the story.

Mostly, I'll reiterate what was said upthread, though--don't over-think your character's femaleness! She's still a character--I think if you try too hard to focus on ____ group she's in, it's easy to lose sight of the whole.

The best advice I can think to give it to write short pieces - a page or two - from her point of view between now and November. Try to get inside her head and see what makes her tick. They don't have to be current to the timeline you'll be planning to write in November. You could set them when her family was still alive or after the story is over. Then, let other people read the short pieces you've written. Ask them how old they think she is and whether they think you're getting her "voice" right.

If you want me to read anything of that sort, just let me know. I'll be happy to help. ^_^

I find it interesting that you are a guy who feels more comfortable writing from the female perspective and I'm the exact opposite. I love writing male characters because, as the opposite sex from myself, it makes the writing interesting for me. Men have emotions the same as women, but in our society they're taught that displaying them openly is a sign of weakness. It adds a level of conflict that I don't normally find in my female characters.

Good luck to both of you. ^_^
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NaNo 2006: Steel Bars - 59,233 words
Screnzy 2007: The Enchanted Forest - won
NaNo 2007: Turning Beetles into Buttons - 51,949 words
Screnzy 2007: Simple Gifts - 43 pages total & Butterfly - 6 episodes

Brilliant idea! Now I know how to spend my summer!

Recommended Reading:
The His Dark Materials trilogy. - The Golden Compass, the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass. Lyra was very believable, incorrect grammar and all.

Lirael by Garth Nix. - The girl in this book grows up within the span of the novel, but younger!Lirael was a good example.

Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. - Meggie Folchart is probably one of my favorite young girl protagonists.

A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin - It isn't really about the girls, but if you read the Arya and Sansa chapters, he handled them both well. They serve as foils to one another and there's a variety of actions and reactions between them depending on what you're going for.

If you're up for watching movies, you might also look into The Labyrinth and/or Mirrormask. Both were very well done.

The big challenge is really balancing cleverness with naivity. Sounds good, though; I think you'll do very well.