Monday, September 26, 2011

Female Shifters: The Rarest of Beasts

I say rare, but not totally absent, mind. There have been some very good, popular books featuring women who turn into various werecreatures. However, it is my impression this is relatively uncommon.

Why would this be? Why do the dudes get all the shifting fun?

It has occurred to me that the practicality of this is that books are seldom written from the shifter's POV. We writers like to place the book through the eyes of the "normal" character, thereby allowing the reader to experience the story though relate-able eyes. Like the reader, the normal character is thrown into a situation that is outside his or her everyday life, and this makes it easier to reveal the details of the book's world. It also allows for an element of surprise, fear and occasional frailty, which wouldn't be as easy to achieve through the eyes of a powerful shifter.

Similarly, most romance, paranormal-romance or erotic-romances are largely told through the female character's POV. Hence, the predominant use of male shifters, from a practical angle, I think.

However, there is a cultural reason, as well. First, that very frailty authors like to explore are simply more acceptable in a female character. As a society, we are more comfortable with the male being the powerful being, for right or wrong. Often, we are intolerant of fictional males weaker than the females they love, and are less jarred by the reverse, regardless of how well this mirrors reality. Further, there is a psycho-sexual dimension to this - female readers (the target audience) are believed to be drawn to strong males, and not to weaker males. The description of a dark, mysterious male shifter with the power to both love and kill them is meant to tap into the ultimate in alphamale desire.

Hence, the relative scarcity of female shifters, I think.

In writing my new WIP, I have been struggling with these things, and how to balance the needs of the story with the expectations of the audience.

However, I do believe there is room for more female shifters. I am a female, who loves to read romance, and I find the presence of an extremely strong female character quite alluring, especially if there are other factors that balance out the power dynamics between the male and female leads. I will just have to hope there are enough people out there that feel likewise!

So, that is something I've been thinking about lately as I write and read.

***
Please, feel free to comment and suggest female shifter romances below!

4 comments:

Jasmine Aherne said...

I've just had a book published with a female shifter in - Outfoxed. I did it for similar reasons - I've not read hardly any books with female shifters in, and I thought it would be interesting to have a chunk of the book in her POV :)

Anne Holly said...

Great! I'll have to check that one out. Thanks. :)

Ruth Madison said...

Fascinating! I never thought about that. Makes me want to take on the challenge of writing it.

Anne Holly said...

It is a bit of a challenge, but I think it's turning out okay - or at least it would if I had more time to actually write. I'm hoping to finish the draft this weekend. *fingers crossed*

Questions? Comments?

Questions? Comments?
Request a Review PDF!
The Romance Reviews

Labels

:p (2) #samplesunday (25) 12 Flavours (15) 1K a Day (3) 1NS (1) 1Place for Romance (1) 2010 in Review (2) A Christmas Carol (1) A Funny Thing Happened... (7) About Me (3) Academics (1) Ads (1) Advice (2) After Life (2) All I Want (13) All Romance Ebooks (2) Alphamales (1) Amanda Wood (3) Amazon (6) American History (1) Andre Jute (1) Andy Rane (1) Angst (1) Anniversaries (3) Announcements (50) Anthologies (9) Aretha Smith (1) Artists (1) Ashley Rae (1) Ashlynn Monroe (9) Author Blogs (2) Author Portrait (1) Authors (5) Authors Behaving Well (1) Autumn (1) Awards (2) b4e (1) Bats (2) Behind the Books (2) Betareaders (3) BethAnn Buehler (5) Birthdays (1) BL Morticia (2) Blair McDowell (1) Blog Hop (14) Blog Novel (1) blog stuff (45) Blog Tours (3) BlogTalkRadio (2) Blurbs (4) Bob Mayer (1) Book Recommendation (7) Book Reviews (11) Book Spotlights (1) Bookmarks (2) Books (5) Britain (1) Bubbly (15) Business (21) Busy (2) call for submissions (1) Canada (6) Canadian Writers (4) Carl J Franklin (1) Carla Caruso (1) Categories (1) Cerise DeLand (1) Change (1) Changeling Press (1) Character Interviews (2) Characters (1) Charity (11) Chats (6) Childhood (1) Children (1) Christmas (13) Christopher Craven (2) Clare Dargin (2) Classics (2) Coffee (1) Coffee Breaks (33) Coffee Corner Forum (1) Coffee Time Romance (4) Cold War (1) Comments Please (3) Computers (2) Contact Me (11) Contemporary (8) Contests (31) Conventions (1) CoolMain Press (3) Copyright (2) Coral Moore (2) Cormack's Luck (5) Cover Artists (2) Cover Contests (2) Covers (18) Craft (1) Creepy Tales (1) CTR (1) Current Affairs (1) Current Work (18) Dakota Franklin (1) Dana Michelle Burnett (1) Dana Taylor (1) Dark (1) Dark Fantasy Romance (1) Dark Romance (1) Dating (1) Deanna Wadsworth (2) Death (1) Debbie Macomber (2) Debra Webb (1) Decadent Publishing (21) Declan Conner (1) Desi Moon (1) Ebooks (6) Editing (13) editors (2) Education (3) End of an Era (1) Epic Fantasy (1) epublishers (11) ereaders (2) Erotic (29) Erotic Romance (3) erotica (3) Events (12) Excerpt Sundays (43) Excerpts (56) Experiment (2) FaceBook (6) Fade to Black (1) Fall 2010 Project (26) Family (2) Fan Sites (1) fanfiction (2) Fantasy (6) Features (7) Feedback Needed (5) Fill the Shelves (1) First Dates (1) Folklore and Mythology (2) Food (2) Forums (3) Free Fridays (38) Free Reads (2) Free Stuff (5) Freebies (1) Freelancing (1) friends (5) Fruitcake (1) Fun Facts (1) FYI (2) Gary Vanucci (1) Geek Hero (1) Gemma Coole (1) Genre (9) George Berger (1) Giveaways (12) Global (1) Goals (7) Good causes (4) Good for the Goose (29) Good Ideas (2) Good Times (3) GoodReads (10) Gracen Miller (1) Grammar (1) Great Ideas (1) Greetings (1) GTKY (8) Guest Blog (2) Guest Blogging (1) Guest Blogs (5) Guest Excerpts (6) Guest Posts (22) Guest Recipes (1) Guest Spots (6) Halloween (10) Harry Potter (1) HEA (2) Hiatus (8) Historical Romance (2) History (5) Holiday (26) holiday romance (22) Holiday Shorts (52) Holiday Showcase (1) Holidays (22) Hope (1) How Tos (4) HQ (2) Humour (3) In Flanders Fields (1) In the News (1) Indie (4) Ingrid Weaver (1) Innovation (1) inspirational romance (2) Internet (4) Interviews (61) Invitations (8) Invites (6) Ireland (2) Issues (1) Jackie M Smith (3) Jasmine Aherne (4) Jean Brashear (2) Jennifer Wilck (1) JERR (1) Jessica Coulter Smith (3) Jessica Subject (1) JL Oiler (4) Joanne Troppello (7) John Howard Griffin (1) John McCrae (1) Joyfully Reviewed (3) Just for Fun (1) Juvenile Fiction (2) Kathleen Ann Gallagher (2) KB Authors (1) Keep in Touch (2) Kidding Around (1) Kids (1) Kiki Howell (1) Kindle (3) Kindlegraph (1) Krista Ball (2) Labour Day (2) Laments (1) Lanie Barnes (1) LaVerne Thompson (1) Leanne Dyck (3) Leanore Elliott (3) Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy (3) Legal Issues (1) Legos (1) Lending (1) Leslie Soule (1) LGTBQI (4) Life (5) Like Magic (18) Lila Munro (5) Lindsay Marene Ordone (1) Links (20) Liquid Heat (2) Lisa Day (1) Lisa de Nikolits (1) Lists (1) Literacy (1) litfic (1) Love (1) m/m (1) magazine work (1) Mahalia Levey (1) Marketing (16) Marriage of Convenience (1) Maureen Betita (1) Meatless Mondays (18) Megaposts (1) Melissa Keir (2) Memberships (1) Memes (2) Memoir (1) Memories (3) Mentions (2) Merfolk (1) Michel Prince (2) Milestones (3) mission statement (2) Monetizing (1) Motherhood (7) Motivation (12) Movie Reviews (2) Movies (4) Muses (1) Music (1) Musings (1) Must Love Books (3) Mysteries (1) Nancy LaPonzina (1) NaNo 2011 (1) NaNo2011 (6) NaNo2012 (2) NaNoWriMo (30) NASCAR (1) Nathalie LeBlanc (1) Nathan Morissey (1) Nature (3) Nerd Power (1) New Releases (6) New to Me Authors (1) New Years (3) News (2) Newsletter (6) Nominations (1) Non Fiction (1) Non-Fiction (3) Non-Romance (10) Nova Scotia (1) Observations (7) Off Topic (2) Open Thursdays (12) Opinion (7) Paperback (10) Paranormal (22) Parenting (10) Patrica Yager Delagrange (1) Personal Saturdays (11) Pet Peeves (1) Pictures (5) Pink Petal Books (5) Piracy (2) Pirates (1) PK Morris (1) Plagiarism (1) PNR (3) Poetry (2) Politics (1) POV (1) PR (14) Press Releases (1) Print (1) Process (1) Profession (1) Progress (14) promo ops (1) Promos (31) Promotions (35) PSAs (1) publishers (2) Publishing (2) Questionable Decisions (1) Questions (11) Quotes (1) Random Thoughts (7) Rants (6) Rawiya (2) Reading (2) Real Life (30) Realm of Ashenclaw (1) Rebel Ink (43) Recipes (18) Recommended Blogs (1) Reflections (2) Release Celebration (34) Remembrance Day (2) Reminder (1) Reminders (3) Research (4) Resolutions (1) Retrospectives (1) Reviews (10) Rhiannon Ellis (1) RIP (1) Romance (8) Romance Fiction (2) Romantic Comedy (2) Romantic Literature (1) Romantic Suspense (1) RomFan Reviews (1) Ruth Madison (3) RWA (1) Sales (8) Samples (1) Sara York (1) Savings (1) Sci-fi (3) Seasonal (1) Secret Project (2) Self-Publishing (4) Series (3) Shadonna Richards (1) Sherlock Holmes (1) Shifters (2) Short Pieces (23) Show Cases (1) Show Me The Money (1) Sickness (2) Siobhan Kinkade (2) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1) Six Sentence Sunday (6) Sizzling Hot Book Reviews (1) Sizzling PR (15) Social Justice (2) Social Media (1) Social Science (1) Speculative Fiction (1) SQUEE (3) Stacey Thompson Geer (4) Star Trek (2) Stephanie Draven (1) Stephanie Queen (1) storytelling (1) Strings Attached (32) Stuart Aken (1) Submissions (5) Summer 2011 Project (1) SuperRomance (1) Suzzana C Ryan (2) Swag (2) Taglines (1) TBR (1) Teachers (5) Teaching (4) Television (1) Textbook Romance (21) Thanksgiving (4) The Onion (1) The Romance Reviews (1) Thinking Out Loud (2) Thrillers (1) Thursday 13 (6) Titles (2) Topaz (1) Topical Tuesdays (20) Tot (1) Toys (1) Traditionals (1) Trailer (11) Translation (1) Tributes (1) TRR (3) TRS (2) Twitter (1) Twitter Pals (1) Tyhada's Bookshelf (1) University (2) Unwrapping Scrooge (40) Upcoming (28) Updates (10) Urgent (1) V-Day (18) Valentines Day (8) Vampires (2) Vera Jane Cook (1) Victorian Piece (2) Victoriana (2) Video (1) Vincent Price (1) Votes request (1) Waiting (1) Waking Kara (14) War (1) WB Yeats (1) Weather (2) Websites (3) welcome (1) Wellness (2) Wendy Smith (4) Western Romance (1) WHP (21) Wicked Nights (14) Winners (2) Winter 2011 Project (2) WIP (27) Women's Fiction (1) Wordless Wednesday (6) Words (1) Worthy Cause (1) Wounded Hero (1) Writing (19) Writing Tips (18) Writing Wednesdays (23) WWI (1) YA Paranormal (1) You Gotta Read (2) You Never Know (1) YouTube (3) Yule Be Mine (6) Zombies (1)