I write my female characters as reflections of their era. No one is more so than Chrissie, which is probably why she frustrates the hell out of people. It's important to remember a couple of things about coming of age in the 80s. It was a weird freaking time to be a woman. We were sandwiched between our mother's generations(the June Cleavers of this earth) and our daughters (I won't put an example here. Insert your own) in a convoluted place pretty much summed up by the four signature phrases I used to hear endlessly and still hear from women my age:
1. I don't know.[translation, I do know, but I'm not confident to speak my mind even though those magazines say I should]
2. Who knew?[ translation, how the heck am I supposed to know the answer to that one and even if I did why should I care.]
3. I don't get it. [translation, I do get it, but I don't want to and it's lame.]
AND MY FAVORITE
3. Whatever[translation, it is what it is, it sucks, but I don't care. Just doesn't matter to me] I used to wear a black baseball cap with this phrase, especially when I took my daughter to her 40 horse shows a year. Judging so subjective in the horse world.
All roads in every direction for young women were open in the 80s-motherhood-professional success- marriage-sexual freedom. Unfortunately, we were the generation expected to take all roads simultaneously for the first time. Like the STAR SHIP ENTERPRISE going where no girl has gone before. Hence the term "super mom""Super woman" "Ball breaker"...oops wrong, we'll talk about that one later.... If you worked and didn't have marriage and kids, half the population of women hated you. If you had kids and didn't work, half the population of women thought you were a failure. And if you did both, well...there was no way you were doing your part to keep the marriage happy. All roles had a sizable no win zone. Committing to any identity with certainty and pride took freaking courage. The girl who said, I know who I am, love me or leave me well, I knew a girl like that, I really admired her, but everyone left her. Getting the picture here.
Readers may not always sympathize with my female characters, but my heroines always ring true for their era. I love it when a reader looks beyond the expected formula character, and see's who these women were. It's why I write them. And heck, I think it makes the stories more interesting when you open a book and get something you don't expect.
Kaley Stanton is my contemporary heroine from this decade, my prototype modern girl, and a sharp contrast to her mother Chrissie Parker in The Girl on the Half Shell. What would be the fun if women were exactly same in every generation. We'd make it too easy for men.
As ever I wish you Peace.
OH, and I have another Reader Thank you Promo: Rewind is Free on Amazon Today.
1. I don't know.[translation, I do know, but I'm not confident to speak my mind even though those magazines say I should]
2. Who knew?[ translation, how the heck am I supposed to know the answer to that one and even if I did why should I care.]
3. I don't get it. [translation, I do get it, but I don't want to and it's lame.]
AND MY FAVORITE
3. Whatever[translation, it is what it is, it sucks, but I don't care. Just doesn't matter to me] I used to wear a black baseball cap with this phrase, especially when I took my daughter to her 40 horse shows a year. Judging so subjective in the horse world.
All roads in every direction for young women were open in the 80s-motherhood-professional success- marriage-sexual freedom. Unfortunately, we were the generation expected to take all roads simultaneously for the first time. Like the STAR SHIP ENTERPRISE going where no girl has gone before. Hence the term "super mom""Super woman" "Ball breaker"...oops wrong, we'll talk about that one later.... If you worked and didn't have marriage and kids, half the population of women hated you. If you had kids and didn't work, half the population of women thought you were a failure. And if you did both, well...there was no way you were doing your part to keep the marriage happy. All roles had a sizable no win zone. Committing to any identity with certainty and pride took freaking courage. The girl who said, I know who I am, love me or leave me well, I knew a girl like that, I really admired her, but everyone left her. Getting the picture here.
Readers may not always sympathize with my female characters, but my heroines always ring true for their era. I love it when a reader looks beyond the expected formula character, and see's who these women were. It's why I write them. And heck, I think it makes the stories more interesting when you open a book and get something you don't expect.
Kaley Stanton is my contemporary heroine from this decade, my prototype modern girl, and a sharp contrast to her mother Chrissie Parker in The Girl on the Half Shell. What would be the fun if women were exactly same in every generation. We'd make it too easy for men.
As ever I wish you Peace.
OH, and I have another Reader Thank you Promo: Rewind is Free on Amazon Today.
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