Shawn Speakman, fellow author and a good friend of mine, asked me in the comments of an earlier post whether I was still enjoying writing from the perspective of a female. This is actually a pretty interesting subject and something I think is integral to my novel and my growth of a writer.

Shawn’s making reference to Rowan Hayes, the protagonist of my novel, someone who he (and a few of my other close friends) have had the chance to meet. Now, I don’t know what Shawn thought of Rowan as a character, but I sure know what I think, and, ultimately, I <em>am</em> still enjoying the practice of writing from the perspective of humanity’s better half, despite the obvious difficulties thrust upon me by being male.

This decision hasn’t necessarily been easy for me (it’s hard enough to write effective first-person narrative, doubly so when you’re trying to interpret the alien thoughts of the opposite sex), but it has been a challenge that I’ve met head on and have been enjoying.

To be honest, Rowan is hardly the first female through who’s eyes and thoughts I’ve told a story. In fact, I find most of the time that when I sit down to tell someone’s story it often turns out to be a female. I’d have a hard time describing why this is the case;, though I suppose, in general, it simply comes down to the fact that I find women and the way their minds work to be much more dynamic and interesting than my own sex. Hell, if I put half the energy into writing my novel as I do interpreting the thoughts and actions of my mother and girlfriend, I’d surely have a bestseller on my hands!

Beyond my interested in the challenge of writing with an opposite-gendered protagonist, my story also calls for a female lead for many plot related reasons. The foremost of these is that the basic plot revolves around Rowan’s search for her lost son; a bastard son, begotten during an early life tryst between Rowan and a Faerie. I think the decision was rather obvious that, to tell this story effectively, Rowan had to be a female. It’s my estimation that you can’t find a human bond stronger than that between a single mother and her child. That maternal bond is much of what drives Rowan through the vicissitudes of the novel and  gives her the strength to put up with all the weird shit she encounters along her path to saving her son.

One aspect of Rowan’s personality that surprised me the most, when it finally came time to sit down and actually <em>write</em>, was the deeply conflicted and self-deprecating humour that gave Rowan so much of her ability to put things into perspective. In fact, that ability to meet life with a defiant streak of black humour is the main force behind Rowan’s ability to deal with events that most people would simply run from. Almost as soon as I started typing out the actual story, Rowan came to life and took control of the story. Despite death, magic, and myriad Faeries, Rowan always seems able to find a refreshing way of looking at the situation that not even I, as the author of Rowan’s story, would necessarily be able to accomplish.

I think this is one of the most compelling things about being an author, to be honest. Rowan isn’t me. At all. Perhaps she is parts of me. Perhaps she exemplifies who I <em>want</em> to be. But she is not me. In many ways, I’m writing my story in an attempt to find out who she really is and why she’s worth knowing. I’m looking to discover, along with my readers, just what it is that makes Rowan who she is and who she will become.

She is, I think, ultimately a very likable and relatable protagonist, a person whom I think everyone, male and female alike, will enjoy reading about. If Rowan is who I think she is, I imagine women will find a protagonist they can be proud of: a young flawed woman fighting against fate, sacrificing all for her small family. On the flip side, I think men will find a protagonist that they will have no choice but to respect: a young, fiery woman with a mind and personality of her own and not afraid to get her hands dirty – the type of woman every man secretly lusts after.

Will Rowan really be as interesting as I think she is? I’m sure banking on it. I can only hope that my readers will be as attracted to her as I am, that they’ll fall in love with her as deeply as I have. I want my readers to feel Rowan’s pain; to laugh with her laughter; to feel her tears trickle down their own cheeks; to be filled with the same sense of wonder and discover as they see the Fey world and its inhabitants through her eyes.

My novel – as proud as I am of the plot, the world and the secondary characters I’ve created – hinges completely on Rowan Hayes. And you know what? I think she’s up to the task. In fact, there’s no one I’d rather have lead my novel. Hers is a story of love, perseverance, wonder and magic, each an attribute that I hope my readers will attach to Rowan when things are said and done.