A Question for the Fantasy Dudes and Dudettes

[Brent]

Hey Guys here is an interesting question. I have seen female athletes that are stronger and faster than most men. There have been mythical warriors such as Hyppolyte and fictional characters such as Wonder Woman and Sheerah. There have been historical female warriors such as Boudicca, Freydis, Khutulun, and others. My question is have there been any stories with thse kind of characters as the lead character in a Christian Fantasy Book? If not Why?

[Merry]

Not that I know of. I'm kind of ruined for the idea though...I read this article once about 'Zena: Warrior Princess' where the lead actress said how proud she was that Zena was a lesbian icon. It just took the fun out of it for me. Sorry about that.

[Brent]

Im not talking about lesbianism here. Some of the people that I have mentioned did mary or have a love interest. Boudicca was married with three daughters, Wonder Woman/ Dianna Prince had Steve, and Sheerah had Hawkeye. Granted Xena had lesbian overtones but this is Moder Day Christian Literature.

[Merry]

Well, I'm not saying you couldn't come up with a good Christian Warrior woman character, I guess I'm not a good one to have answered this. If you can make one up, hey go for it.

[AngelAzariah]

--deleted--
--read my next post--

[Brent]

Forgive me for saying this but WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM?!!!!! All throughout high school I was one of the top Taekwondo fighters in my weight class. I was on argueably the best Taekwondo teams in the country. Out of the twelve of us that were on the blackbelt team there were two people who didn't win first at nationals. One of them was me. There were four girls on our team, every single one of them were national champions. Three fought in international competition. We were all about the same age. In sparring practice I had to fight these girls. Granted I was bigger and stronger, still if I didn't keep my guard up and if I let up on them THEY COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY HURT ME.I was well prepared. I fought dudes at nationals who would have gotten their butts handed to them (to put it politely) by these girls. Personally I fought guys who would give Bruce Lee a run for the money.
I am a competitive weightlifter nearing a 300 lb clean and jerk. Not exactly national class but strong enough to turn heads. At this years world championships there were 114 lb women hitting my lifts. Granted these ladies are the creme dela creme. These women are not normal women. They are but their physical capabilities are not that of a normal woman. To say that it is not possible or unrealistic for certain women to hold their own against men is shear IGNORANCE. To say that the average woman can isnt that far fetched

[AngelAzariah]

_____I've deleted what I posted here and above. The reasion being is that I don't want to ingage in name calling or insinuations. This is a subject that can be covered on many levels, and I myself have spent a good portion of my life being insulted based on my gender. I could argue plenty here, but after speaking with my wife, I don't want to cover this subject untill and exact topic is given.

[Gumpngreen]

Well...it's not a book but one of the leading characters in EW: Nightmares is a female-looking angel that is the "heavy class" standing at eight feet in bulky armor. She'll be in episode 2.

As for Christian fantasy books...I have no idea.

[AngelAzariah]

______No chance of seeing a snap shot is there Gump?

[kevbayer]

One of my story ideas is kind of fantasy with a female lead. She won't be a warrior or muscular and extremely strong - but she will be powerful and comes from a people whose women are warriors. And she'll be a Christian - eventually.

[Phy]

Hey Guys here is an interesting question. I have seen female athletes that are stronger and faster than most men. There have been mythical warriors such as Hyppolyte and fictional characters such as Wonder Woman and Sheerah. There have been historical female warriors such as Boudicca, Freydis, Khutulun, and others. My question is have there been any stories with thse kind of characters as the lead character in a Christian Fantasy Book? If not Why?

A) Not that I know of.

B) If you have a burden to see these sorts of characters in fiction and you don't see them elsewhere already, I suggest that maybe this is an opportunity to do something about that. it is a venerable tradition. Tolkien and Lewis did that, we're doing that at Double-edged Publishing, and I'm doing that with my own stories. I have an unabashed love of pulpy space opera. I wrote a 55k word novel a year ago called The Sky Pirate (http://phywriter.com/files/docs/the_sky_pirate.doc) that contains many of the elements that I like because nobody else seems to be writing what I like.

[dbrianshafer]

Brent--
Sounds interesting. I just created a warrior-girl character in a novel I'm doing--part of a sort of freedom fighter group. Her specialty is archery more than hand-to-hand--although I wouldnt want to tangle with her. I think you should go for it. Remember, if the story is a good one that will take it a long way.

[drewmc2001]

I'm new here, and this is only my second post, and I'm not published, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Firstly, I'd say write what interests you - If a fantasy heroine is what you want to write about, then don't let anyone get in your way.

As to why they're not in Christian fantasy, I'd say examine the market. Within the secular fantasy market women readers are a minority of the market share - and while a few heroine based books do well (author Mercedes Lackey comes to mind) it is a sub-niche of the fantasy market. As a reader of fantasy, "wonder woman/xena" heroine novels are a real turn off to me, largely becuase I'm not into what I would define as gender bending roles (and yes, I agree with you, there are plenty of women who could hand me my "blessed assurance" on a silver platter - but my male ego doesn't want to read about them, either)... I don't know how typical my views are of the average guy who reads fantasy, or of guys who read Christian fantasy, but without doing a lot of googling, I'm going to make the assumption that a significant percentage of the guys who read Christian fantasy are not interested in the type of story it appears that you have described - which leads back to the issue of finding a publisher of Christian fantasy who may like the story but is afraid to risk a book that may not find a receptive audience. But then again - what do I know - I could be off the target by 180 degrees.

[Phy]

I hate (/hate/) having to make concessions so soon. I'd really like to see people write their hearts out, craft a story so good that people who normally wouldn't like it are compelled to not only allow it, but become raving fanboys (Firefly is a great recent example, taking the tired space opera / western in space genre and giving it a well-needed shot of adrenalin and spunk).

Granted, that takes into account the flip side argument which says "the race is not always to the swift nor the fight to the strong, but that's the way to bet". My personal preference is for someone to write something so good that it transcendes conventional wisdom with its brilliance.

[edmmom]

Brent,
I hesitated about sharing my input, because I'm not a fan of fantasy books. However, as I read your initial post, I could not help but be instantly reminded of one of the judges. You probably guessed by now that I'm referring to Deborah in Judges 4. I could definitely see how a heroine based on her qualities could definitely be a hit. I was wondering if this is the type of fantasy heroine you were proposing? If so, I would love to read the book when you're done.

[Inspiredwriter]

Brent,

I am raising children in this lost and fallen world and would love (really love) to see strong Christian female characters in dynamic, engaging stories written for the 7-up years. Have fun with the gift you have been given and find the right market for it, the need is there.

Blessings,

[sphinxsphere]

I think that it's not as important that the protaginist be a super-amped warrior, but have strength of spirit and charactor. too often, female charactors in christian writings are stereotyped as either meek, needing a man counterpart to complete her, or so sparkily innocent that she is totally unrealistic as a believable charactor. My opinion is that there needs to be a happy middle: a woman who has lived life, seen it all, yet still remains steadfast in her belief and Faith, or a woman who no matter what the horror or evil can still, when the day is done, still has a smile on her face.
Of course, super-chics are awesome too.
River vs. Reavers. No comparison.

[Phy]

See Reese Witherspoon as June Carter in "Walk the Line".

[sphinxsphere]

Haven't seen it yet, but i'll be looking for it when i do.