by Camela Thompson

This week I'm in chilly (but sunny) Colorado visiting the nieces for the US holiday. They are neat little ladies and the eldest went on quite a tirade about the lack of super hero options for women. She also expressed that Super Girl's moxie impressed her on multiple occasions. (Did I mention she's seven?) In my nieces' make believe world, they are ninja-princess-super-hero-scientists because girls should be able to be all the things. At once. And when they have time, they rescue the boys.

​My nieces are awesome.

The only solution to deal with the withdrawal was to start the series over again.

When I watch a movie or television, I can't help but notice what works for me and what doesn't. Maybe a small part of this behavior is my need to feel like I'm accomplishing something, even when I'm supposed to be relaxing. Which is counterproductive to the implied purpose, which would be: RELAX. I also realize that we can always learn things that apply to writing. What makes a character resonate with us on screen isn't all that different than what we relate to in a book. With that in mind, here are some things I've learned from Miss Fisher.

A Strong Woman Can Be Interested in Men

In Miss Fisher's case, the more men the better. The character challenged the double standard: A sexually liberated woman is considered a slut where a man is considered accomplished. She loved freely and she did it without giving up her freedom.

A Little Romance is a Good Thing

The sexual tension between Jack and Phryne was wonderful. I'm not a romantic, but I loved how the two played to one another. Even more so because they were opposites. The straight edge, traditional man challenged by a stubborn, intelligent woman who showed no interest in settling down. The two worked well together, but Phryne's untraditional approach to life created realistic issues. Jack had to decide whether his love for her was strong enough for him to reconsider his position on a lot of topics. The two extremes pulled one another closer to moderation.

Character Development is Key

A strong main character is a must. Developing peripheral characters that the audience grows to love makes the show even better. Initially, Aunt Prudence seemed like a little much, but as the seasons went on, I grew to love her good intentions and big heart. Variation and contrast force the character to grow, and people are a great way to push the issue in a manner that feels organic. This requires a peripheral character to have a back story and grow as well.

Many Mistakes are Forgivable

Pushing people away, acting out, and making critical judgment errors aren't necessarily the end of a character in the viewer's eyes. If the person means well or earnestly attempts to make amends, it can go a long way. The key is to give the character redeeming qualities. Perhaps the woman who lied to the police and had an affair only did those things to protect the person she loved fiercely from blackmail exposure.

Some Mistakes Cannot Be Forgiven

A misstep in an episode can be overlooked, but it's important to correct quickly. If the audience begins to despise a character, especially the main character, your series may never recover. Major missteps around social issues or other problems may be avoided with feedback.

These lessons can be applied in writing, especially applied to a series. Now I need to get back to petitioning Netflix to pick up the series and retain the original writers.

Random question: Can you believe Essie Davis (Phryne Fisher) was also the mother in the The Babadook??

by Camela Thompson

Early in October I had the pleasure of participating on a panel on Women's Issues in Publishing. As we got ready for the presentation and looked at Patricia's deck (which can be downloaded here and has some excellent resources), we were both excited and depressed. The numbers are clear. There is still a disparity in publishing between men and women whether you're looking at who gets published, who gets reviewed, or who gets better pay (and a management position) in a publishing house. We've found stories posted by women who've spoken out about how their books are labeled (titles and covers) and the greater success they've experienced querying under a gender neutral name. Even after all of these statistics, we still have articles like this where people express their worry over an emerging publishing workforce dominated by women.

It's daunting. And spouting those statistics and first hand stories to women writers in the audience had the potential to be discouraging. It isn't too surprising we were asked the question: "What can we do to encourage women writers?"

Expressing a perspective that is different than our own is frightening. What if we do it wrong? What if we say something ignorant? In addition to fear of missteps, stepping into someone else's shoes requires digging into your own pain and applying it to a different scenario. It could hurt. We could be criticized. We could be mocked.

From where I stand, it's worse not to try. If I don't try to say something meaningful, I never will. Is staying safe really worth missing out on expressing something amazing?

I have no problem writing from the male perspective. I don't have a problem imagining what my characters are motivated by and what they want to accomplish. But I've been sticking primarily to white, middle-class characters. Now I can see I've done a poor job with the diversity that I have introduced. And I want to do better. 

It's time to dig into my own pain and take some risks.

I'd rather look like a jerk to the people I know than the world at large. Don't think for one minute I won't be asking for help. I worry about portraying a character respectfully and accurately. I will be willing to ask if I'm doing a decent job. 

Have you written outside of your comfort zone? What helped you?