I know. I know. I keep saying I’ll get my own novel written and I’m not taking on new blog tours, but I think that I can be forgiven for participating in this one for How Not To Write Female Characters by Lucy V Hay because it will help me with my so-called writing and it was friend and blog tour organiser Rachel of Rachel’s Random Resources who asked me to participate.

I have previously reviewed another of Lucy’s books, Do No Harm, a psychological thriller, here on Linda’s Book Bag.

How Not To Write Female Characters is available in e-book free here, or by signing up to Lucy’s newsletter here.

How Not To Write Female Characters

How Not To Write Female Characters

Female characters. When fifty per cent of your potential target audience is female, if you’re not writing them in your screenplay or novel? You’re making a BIG mistake!

But how should you approach your female characters? That’s the million-dollar question … After all, women in real life are complex, varied and flawed. Knowing where to start in creating three dimensional female characters for your story is extremely difficult.

So … perhaps it’s easier to figure out how NOT to write female characters?

Script editor, novelist and owner of the UK’s top screenwriting blog www.bang2write.com, Lucy V Hay has spent the last fifteen years reading the slush pile. She has learned to spot the patterns, pitfalls and general mistakes writers make when writing female characters – and why.

In How Not To Write Female Characters, Lucy outlines:

•WHO your character is & how to avoid “classic” traps and pitfalls
•WHAT mistakes writers typically make with female characters
•WHERE you can find great female characters in produced and published content
•WHEN to let go of gender politics and agendas
•WHY female characters are more important than ever

Lucy is on a mission to improve your writing, as well as enable diverse voices and characters to rise to the top of the spec pile.

My Review of How Not To Write Female Characters

For what is, in effect, the length of an essay about female characters, Lucy V. Hay packs a real punch in How Not To Write Female Characters.

Unafraid to tackle flaws, stereotypes and misconceptions head on How Not To Write Female Characters is an invaluable check list for both new and established writers to help them improve their writing in general and not just the presentation if their female characters.

I liked the structure of How Not To Write Female Characters because Lucy V. Hay gives a clear rationale linked to several creative forms including books, television and film so that there is plenty to think about. She poses a series of problems and then proceeds to unpick them and provide solutions in an a accessible way. The IN A NUTSHELL passages are particularly useful, as is the final checklist in the book.

In How Not To Write Female Characters Lucy V. Hay talks an awful lot of sense and established as well as aspiring writers can gain a considerable amount of advice from her in order to improve their writing. Great stuff!

About Lucy V. Hay

Lucy V. Hay is an author, script editor and blogger who helps writers via her Bang2write consultancy. Lucy is the producer of two Brit Thrillers, Deviation (2012) and Assassin (2015), as well as the script editor and advisor on numerous other features and shorts. Lucy’s also the author of  Writing And Selling Thriller Screenplays for Kamera Books’ “Creative Essentials” range, as well as its follow ups on Drama Screenplays and Diverse Characters.

You can find out more about Bang2Write on Instagram, Twitter @Bang2write and Facebook.