Gender balance/strong women

[Schlobin at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 15061

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., pbnesbit at m... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Kimberly" <moongirlk at y...> wrote:
> > This thread has been interesting to me, as I tend to take 
> characters 
> > as they are.  I can't imagine, for example, Flitwick being a 
woman 
> or 
> > Trelawny being a man.  They're who they are.  By extension I 
can't 
> > imagine that, having created a Flitwick or a Trelawny (or any of 
> the 
> > other characters), an author would decide to scrap them in order 
to 
> > make room for a character of a different gender.  I guess it 
could 
> be 
> > argued that she should have created more of the characters as 
women 
> to 
> > begin with, but, well, do imaginations work that way?  If you 
want 
> to 
> > create a good, solid character, can you start with something 
> like "I 
> > need a woman, because I already have 3 men.", or for that 
matter "I 
> > need a person of X race, religion, orientation, physical trait, 
> etc. 
> > to balance it out."?  It seems like an artificial way to create a 
> > character.  
> > 
> >
> I can't write by formula.  The characters tend to spring, full-
blown, 
> into my subconscious, where they scream at me to let them out by 
> writing about them.  
> 
> IIRC, JKR has said in chats that Harry came to her much the same 
> way.  I don't think she would then say, OK, I need so many women, 
so 
> many men, etc.  
> 
> I find, too, that my characters won't let me have them do something 
> out of character (that sounds funny) either.
> 
> Peace & Plenty, 
> 
> Parker


Oh, well, we women will just have to understand therefore that we 
can only be 13% of the book..after all, it's the creative 
imagination....

Funny that it's never the other way around