[Child of the 7th Age]

It's strange how we seem to be focusing in on the narrow question of women as warriors rather than considering character as a whole in relation to gender and raising more basic questions.

There are lots of issues we could discuss, but I am especially interested in the question of what makes a female character "strong" (or for that matter a male character). How does a character grow and evolve so that the person you end up with at the end is different than the person you started out with? Is a particular character someone whom others can initially rely on or does she grow in that regard during the course of the story? I have to admit that I do favor characters who change rather than ones set in stone. And ability to wield a weapon is only one indication of a character's strength. There are a thousand different ways that a character can show her strength, and some of these may be even more criticial to the story: quick wits, specilized skills, emotional support, knowledge of the past, or just being a moral exemplar.

Whether or not a female character wields a weapon is at least partially determined by your chosen plot. If you are writing a novel with enormous numbers of battle scenes or continuous hand-to-hand combat with dragons and Orcs, and you want to utilize one or more women, you are likely to need to hand that character a sword. You could possibly place them in another role -- as a healer, for example, or a scout, or a handler of horses -- but you'd have to be creative about that. Nor does every warrior have to have the same degree of skill with weapons. In straight combat, Tolkien's Hobbits could not have been the equivalent of an Aragorn or a Boromir, yet they somehow managed to survive.

But there are many, many fantasy tales and epics where battle scenes and even fighting occupy only a relatively small piece of our attention. I tend to prefer that type of mixed storyline so whether or not my character can fight may be less important than many other things. In fact, of my female characters, I can only think of one who would qualify as a "warrior"(and that out of necessity). I had one older female character (my "Cami" alter ego) forced to defend several young children the best way she could who then "broke down" and was pretty shook up after she actually succeeded in killing someone.

Nurumaiel -- I do think it's possible to write interesting characters within the context of traditional ideas about gender: strong mothers, for example, or devoted daughters. I tend not to do this--I really do prefer women who rally against traditional roles and stereotypes, but that is an individual choice. Interestingly though, I'm not usually concerned about limitations that have to do with weapons or fighting. More likely, my character ends up going against what she is expected to do or be (expectations of marriage for example or even of physical appearance or of accepting the values her own people put forward.) Then I use the story as a vehicle so that she can learn more about herself and figure out exactly where her own path in life should lead.

We're all put here for different reasons and with different gifts. Finding out those reasons and exploring those gifts is part of the responsibility we bear. That's a personal belief that I do push onto my characters, at least the ones who 'feel' and act most lifelike.

Just one last question for anyone: are the attributes that make a female character strong the same ones that make a male character strong? Or are their inherent differences based on gender? My gut feeling is that there are gender differences, and those play into character and personality, even if you are writing a female warrior. Yet, I think we need to be careful about immediately assuming that a female character would do "X" or "Y" simply because of gender. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction! I once had a close friend who had spent several years in her life overseas as a tank commander. She was physically the tiniest and most gentle looking creature you could imagine. But based on her iron will, I can well believe that she commanded a squadron of tanks!