Ask the Author: Why don’t readers like strong female leads?

Dear Mandy,

Why don’t readers like strong female leads? Why do they only want innocent and dumb female leads in their books?

Dear Reader,

To properly answer this question, we first need to clarify which readers we’re talking about—because I can assure you, not all readers want innocent or naïve female leads. In fact, I’d argue that many middle-aged women (myself included) gravitate toward books firmly planted in the strong women serving up justice to bad men genre. Those female leads are confident, capable, and unapologetically badass—and that’s exactly what this reader wants.

Since the question doesn’t specify an audience, I’m going to make an educated leap and assume it’s referring to young adult readers, particularly young women, and I’ll shape my answer from there.

Here’s the thing about young adult readers: they’re still figuring themselves out. They’re inexperienced—not because they’re unintelligent, but because they simply haven’t lived long enough to develop the kind of perspective and confidence that comes with time. Because of that, they aren’t necessarily seeking innocent or naïve female protagonists. What they’re really looking for are characters they can recognize themselves in.

Relatability matters. A lot.

If you’re writing for that audience and you want them to connect with your story, you may need to meet them where they are. That doesn’t mean your protagonist has to stay inexperienced, uncertain, or passive. In fact, an engaging story almost always demands the opposite. Growth is the point. A character can begin the story unsure of herself—and still end it as someone powerful.

That’s exactly what I did with Valley in Valley of the Bees. At the beginning of the novel, Valley has lived a relatively sheltered, uneventful life in the isolated river bottoms where her family makes their home. She asks for permission to do what she wants to do and waits for someone else to intervene when problems arise. She believes safety and solutions will come from outside herself. By the end of the story, that version of Valley is gone.

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She learns—sometimes painfully—that no one is coming to save her. She has to save herself. And when she does, she comes out the other side with confidence, self-trust, and the willingness to speak up and act on her own behalf. She doesn’t ask anymore. She chooses.

There’s research showing that when we become deeply engrossed in a novel, our brains respond as if the events are happening to us. What I believe young adult readers are actually craving—whether they can articulate it or not—are protagonists who start where they are and then end up where they hope to be.

In other words, your story can take that reader on a journey from uncertainty to confidence, from self-doubt to self-reliance. Put your protagonist through the wringer. Force her to rely on herself. Let her succeed. Then let her see that she’s stronger than she ever believed.

When readers experience that transformation through a character, it can be quietly empowering. And as readers grow, their tastes often grow with them. Today’s “innocent” protagonist may very well be tomorrow’s fearless, uncompromising heroine.

This column is part of an ongoing Ask the Author series, where I answer questions from writers and readers about reading, writing, storytelling, and the creative process. If you have a question you’d like me to tackle in a future post, you can submit it through my Contact page.

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Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.