Prickly Women Characters

And why we love (to hate) them

I have a pretty sweet pre-order incentive for you at the end of this newsletter, so be sure to make it all the way to the bottom!

I got a bee in my bonnet this week about the way people generally feel about prickly women characters in romance novels. I, personally, love cranky girls (maybe I identify with them?), but it seems a lot of readers don’t. More on that in a bit, but first…

It’s that time of year when I’m subsisting almost solely on caffeine and Christmas cookies. If you’ve been around here for a minute, you know that I’m also a teacher, and the end of the semester is wild. Pair that with the holiday season and a book release in a month and… well, you can probably guess how I’m faring right now. So, coffee and Christmas cookies, it is! (It’s actually a great pairing.)

I don’t have a cute transition today (see above), so let’s just move right along to the inner workings of my brain, shall we?

Prickly female characters. I say “prickly,” but others have other, more colorful words for them. But I really love a good FMC (female main character) who is the other half of the grumpy/sunshine trope.

Maybe this is because it mirrors my own life? My husband isn’t sunshine personified, but he’s definitely more optimistic than I am. But why? I have some theories about this—first and foremost being that I have anxiety, and my anxiety predisposes me to see the worst possible outcome of every situation. Because of this, I dread the unknown. It makes it really hard to see anything in a positive light. But how does that translate to my writing?

Well, in The Write Place, I wrote Mac as a ray of sunshine. She had to be naturally optimistic to fit her character, and that was fun. Jenny from The Write Time was a little more of a grouch, but her dark humor and perseverance carried her through. (Though I have seen Jenny and Ben described as grumpy/sunshine a few times.)

In The Write Choice, however, Katie is certifiably grumpy. Sunshine-y Brandon is trying his hardest to do his best, but it’s almost too little too late. Katie has been the primary parent for so long. She has anxiety and gets overstimulated often. Which, as you can imagine, is difficult to deal with when you’ve got two young, loud kids. And on top of that, she’s struggling with her substance use disorder, which, until now, has been relatively straightforward for her to deal with.

Katie and I have a lot in common. I, too, have small kids. They get loud, and I get overwhelmed easily because I, too, have anxiety. It makes me grouchy sometimes, and sometimes stops me from doing stuff with the kids if I’m not confident of the outcome. I’m not saying I wrote her in my image, but I wanted to make her a realistic character. Why did she want Brandon home more often? (She was overwhelmed and didn’t know how to settle her nervous system.) Why couldn’t she see he was trying his hardest? (She could, but she was barely treading water with her own issues.)

But, I said this post was going to be about prickly FMCs in general, and I promise I’m getting there. While I haven’t seen any specific feedback yet about disliking Katie, I’m sure it’s coming. Why? Because, by and large, people take issue with prickly female characters.

I haven’t done any official research on this, so you’ll have to take my word for it, but I have seen people disparage grumpy female characters time and time again for being too grumpy, too prickly, too self-centered, too… much.

The way these FMCs act is often realistic, but it’s not generally received well. One can only guess why, but since you’re here for my ideas, I’ll tell you my guess. We don’t want reality. In fact, it’s a pretty well-known idea that a lot of very successful writers create their FMCs to be as bland as possible (though, thanks to Kelsey Painter for pointing it out to me! She also writes an amazing grumpy FMC, so check out We’ll Meet Again if that’s your thing) so the reader can kind of insert themselves into the narrative which better allows them to swoon over the love interest. Don’t believe me? Google “bland female characters” and go down a Reddit rabbit hole.

But, as is the case with real people, one thing about them is rarely the only thing about them that matters. We like to boil our characters down to tropes, and grumpy/sunshine is no different. But, sunshine-y, Brandon still gets frustrated. He still broods over his issues. He’s still wildly impulsive, and not always in the best way. And he takes about 300 pages to figure out how to get home on time consistently. We love him anyway, because he’s the sunshine.

Katie is a closet softie. She’s a great mom. She loves her kids beyond reason. She sings them lullabies and feels a sense of peace when she reads them bedtime stories. She loves Brandon, too. She likes to tease him and snuggle with him. She likes watching him with the kids, and she wants Brandon and herself to find their way back to each other. We’re not sure about here, though, because she’s the grump.

I’m over-simplifying this, but I only have so much space here. Suffice it to say, I would love it if every reader could explore their own biases about grumpy women and maybe give them a chance. And this is NOT (only) because I’ve written a couple of grumpy female characters. It’s because I think the world will be a better place if we give women the benefit if the doubt that, often, the system is stacked against them, and they have no choice but to grump their way through.

I’m sure there are a few people out there who can relate to Katie, and I hope she helps them feel seen.

I promised a pre-order incentive if you made it this far, and I will deliver! If you pre-order The Write Choice and fill out this form, I’ll send you an exclusive 4x6 print of the Leade Park Six featuring artwork by the amazingly talented Lorissa Padilla plus some other extra bookish surprise goodies just for being awesome.

You only need to fill out the form if you pre-order a Kindle copy. If you pre-order from my website, I’ll include it in your order.

This offer will be available through January 15. Right now, Kindle copies are at a special pre-order price of only $1.99, and signed copies are on sale, too, so you’re getting this offer AND an amazing deal on a book that you’re sure to love while supporting this indie author. What’s better than that?

I am in the middle of Can I Tell You Something by Holly June Smith and, I gotta tell you, it’s checking a lot of boxes for me. Holiday romance? Check. Forced proximity? Check. Brother’s best friend? Check. Spice? Check, check, and check. This is a great, steamy holiday read you won’t want to miss this season, and it’s available on Kindle Unlimited!

That’s it for now! For those of you in the end-of-semester rush, hang in there. For those of you in the holiday rush, I hope you find a little magic (or coffee) to keep you going.

Happy reading!