We welcome Judy K Walker, author of the Sydney Brennan Mysteries, to the Story Works Round Table this week to discuss strong female protagonists. What is a strong female protagonist? What traits define her? Can she be feminine and strong? Does the genre shape the protagonist? How do readers react to Sydney Brennan, a woman in a man’s world?
VIDEO
AUDIO
SHOW NOTES
If you haven’t heard our first episode with Judy on PI novels, check it out here!
If you haven’t heard the first part of this conversation, check it out here!
How is writing a female protagonist different from writing any protagonist? Are there genre pressures to what your female protagonist should be like, act like, or look like? How has television affected character driven fiction? And how does that effect the female protagonist? Finally, we give tips on how to address the female protagonist writing for today’s reader, no matter the genre.
You can find Judy at judykwalker.com
What we talked about:
Robert talks about his female protagonists. (0:53)
Write a strong protagonist who is also female. (5:12)
What is the role of relationships in having a strong female protagonist? (7:35)
Are there genre pressures to shaping your female protagonists? (11:07)
How has episodic television affected character driven fiction? (16:20)
Does Judy feel pressure about making Sydney an attractive woman? (18:27)
How much of this is pushing the current cultural norms? (23:54)
How do you handle this with historical fiction? (25:48)
What tips would Judy give us? (30:12)
LINKS
Things we mentioned:
The Expanse Series by James S. A. Corey
Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Series
Robert B. Parker’s Spenser Series
Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe series
Picture of the Astronauts working
Want more about these topics? Check out:
SWRT 038 The Bechdel-Wallace Test
