By Strong Female Characters in The Andromeda Effect
While I still like the old science fiction space opera series of the 20th century, I always felt that the female characters were a little too one-dimensional for it to be completely believable, so I make sure all my female characters are well-rounded and have various, albeit a bit macho, backstories.
My main issue though is needing to forego some of the story I want to tell, just to introduce some populist notions to make it more appealing. For years my female friends have told me I must always include some kind of romance, some sort of emotional attachment, some little flirtatious interaction, to make it more interesting. I avoided this idea, believing that the style that writers like Isaac Asimov employed, namely epic scientific ideas with far reaching consequences, pushed along by two dimensional characters, was a lot more appealing than creating a story focused on emotional interactions that may or may not lead to romance, leaving the discoveries in the background.
Several years ago, I finally decided to employ this idea of including a romance in my young adult book Gabriel and the Resurrection of Maldek, after seeing the phenomenal interest in the TV series Doctor Who after the main character started having a romance with his companion (1000 year old alien that looked 35, and a 25 year old human. Hmm!) As soon that Doctor Who romance was over (she got trapped in a parallel universe, and he changed into an even younger but different persona) ratings began a decline that haven’t risen again. TV shows want romance! Romance sells. Most people watching are between 13 and 25 so it’s the main focus of their existence.
But, I finally came to my senses, and realized that writing romance has never been my market, never been my tribe, and even though Alien Frequency has a suggestion of a possible romantic connection between Captain Jonathan Hogart (approx 46yo) and Admiral Victoria Heartness (Approx 55yo) there is no intention to continue this with these important characters. After speaking with a female friend of mine who pointed out that I probably weaken my strong female characters by giving them a romance, I’ve completely thrown this trope out the window. It may mean less interest from readers, publishers and less sales, but at the end of the day we should write what we enjoy writing, and including a romance in something I write feels like selling out. (The same feeling I had when the Doctor fell in love with his assistant. Like WTF?)
So, my latest novella The Andromeda Effect, is going through another rewrite. Probably my 20th so far. I realize that is nothing. Some writers go through 200 rewrites as a normal process of ‘getting it close to right’ but my main rewrite is to add a new character to the Stellar Flash series. A fun, friendly, and hard working individual who is in charge of the State of North Australia’s Space Port, and will be called upon whenever both Admiral Victoria Heartness and Doctor John Patel are taken away from their duties on Space Station X-1a. Welcome Admiral Wei Zhou to the Stellar Flash Universe. I hope you surprise me, and everyone else.
(Yes, Wei Zhou is a popular English transliteration, which I why I chose it. Apologies to the millions of Chinese writers who might already have an Admiral Wei Zhou in their stories. On the plus side, as far as I know, this will be the first female Admiral Wei Zhou in fiction. Chinese written characters of the name would likely to mean either ‘small’ or ‘fern’ and, using the plant theme, I’m thinking of the ferns of Australia that grow 1 meter every 40 years, and there are some that are hundreds of years old. Small, but tough!)
