Female Characters Are the Best
by Kfir Luzzatto
In 2012 I reviewed Carole Lanham’s
excellent short story collection “The Whisper Jar” and ended my
review with these words: “… the way in which the author tells her stories
simply highlights what we, the readers of the male persuasion, already know:
girls are smarter, stronger and more wicked than we can ever dream to be.”
Now,
seven years and several books later, I stand by that conclusion. Every story
and every book I wrote showed me that the female character always takes the
lead. No matter how intent I was at making my male character the leading one,
his female counterpart always managed to hijack the role and to come out as the
important character of the story. I never planned it to be that way (I am now,
in a book I am writing, but that’s another story) and it always happened at
some point without my intervention—at least, not a conscious one.
There
is a reason for this: when women lead, they are exceptional at leading. When a
woman acts levelheaded, she is more credible than when a man does. Above all,
we enjoy seeing a woman take over. We (men in particular) stereotype women as
being weak—the gentler sex—and when the going gets rough we expect them to look
up to us, the “strong males”, waiting to be saved. When the opposite happens
and the female character takes control of a difficult or even dangerous
situation, we are surprised and intrigued. We shouldn’t be, because it’s about
time we realized that women can do many things better than us men, but we still
are.
I
can’t wrap my head around this gender abolishment business. The equality squad,
who wants to abolish the use of “he” and “she” in favor of a wishy-washy
“they,” is doing no favor to either sex. As I wrote elsewhere,
at the cost of getting myself in trouble with the language police I’ll voice my
discontent with what is, in my opinion, a misguided attempt to fight sexism the
wrong way. I declare that I will continue to use the feminine with women, the
masculine with men, and the neutral with all the rest. And I’m not doing it
just to be annoying. I strongly believe that good writing is, first and
foremost, clear writing. A sentence that leaves the reader scratching his head
as to the gender of the character in the scene, is bad writing.
What
makes my stories work is the strict adherence to true life, with a female
character who can be strong, resourceful and even mischievous at times, and yet
preserves her feminine character, including some weaknesses, and perhaps a tad
of capriciousness that we seldom encounter in men. If I had to replace her with
a male character or, as the gender police would have it, with a sterile,
genderless character, it would make writing no longer worthwhile.
Accidental Lazarus
Dead & Busy Episode 1
by Kfir Luzzatto
Genre: Humorous Noir, Supernatural Mystery
It is sort of annoying having dead people dropping by at all hours...
A paranormal detective like Dave Callaghan has already seen everything, but he never expected to find a presumed dead mobster drinking scotch in his armchair. He is definitely unhappy when he (it?) engages him to find out who shot him. But the worse is yet to come; Dave’s girlfriend gets involved and the real trouble begins.
Episode 1 of the DEAD & BUSY series will keep you laughing to the (bitter) end.
"Dave Callaghan is not here to bring you profound, life-changing thoughts; only quick, unadulterated fun."
Phantom Lover
Dead & Busy Episode 2
A SEXY ECTOPLASMIC HOOKER
Why Do All These Deadies Keep Flocking Around Dave?
"It was bad enough, I can assure you, finding a half-naked ectoplasm sitting at my desk, but she had to talk nonsense too . . ."
Dave Callaghan is used to having ghosts drop by uninvited at all hours. But this time he is in for a new experience, and you must get ready for a good laugh!
Episode 2 of the DEAD & BUSY series - the one with the hooker.
Mice
Dead & Busy Episode 3
TALKING MICE ON YOUR BED
A Mouse That Keeps Reciting Poetry to You, Is a Pest
When white mice plague a short-tempered mobster, he hires Dave Callaghan to find out where they are coming from. The mobster wants to know why the mice wake him up in the middle of the night to recite "Mary had a little lamb" to him.
Dave is used to dealing with ghosts of every description, but this time he is facing a complex conspiracy that involves the government and a lascivious ghost.
Episode 3 of the DEAD & BUSY series - the one with the Aussie ghost sailor.
The Accountant
Dead & Busy Book 4
HOW TO ELOPE WITH A GHOST
In Which the Accountant Disappears With the Bank Codes
What can be more maddening for a businessman, than to have his trusted accountant disappear with all the bank access codes? Well, discovering that he has eloped with the ghost of a prostitute surely makes it worse.
The need to walk into a ghostly brothel doesn't put Dave off. He even befriends one of the girls there and fun is had by all.
Episode 4 of the DEAD & BUSY series - the one with the little ghostly whorehouse.
Kfir Luzzatto is the author of eight novels, several short stories and six non-fiction books. Kfir was born and raised in Italy, and moved to Israel as a teenager. He acquired the love for the English language from his father, a former U.S. soldier, a voracious reader, and a prolific writer. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering and works as a patent attorney. In pursuit of his interest in the mind-body connection, Kfir was certified as a Clinical Hypnotherapist by the Anglo European College of Therapeutic Hypnosis.
Kfir is an HWA (Horror Writers Association) and ITW (International Thriller Writers) member.
Amazon gift cards
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
No comments:
Post a Comment