She’s not a character in my books, but this is the WonderWoman in my life! My wife can carry her own weight on any adventure. She’s sweet and strong, with the endurance to run a hundred miles or get an 'A' in Bio-physics!
Strong Female Characters in the Dream Messiah
I’ve just had a thoughtful interchange with one of my beta readers, Lizzie, about how the women are portrayed in my Dream Messiah Series. We discussed their strengths and how three dimensional, flat or stereotypical I’d written them.
This conversation was sparked by a Sarah Werner podcast that I’d just listened to, speaking about powerful vs flatly written women characters in novels. You can listen to the podcast, Write Now with Sarah Rhea Werner Episode #107, and/or read her complete transcript here:
https://www.sarahwerner.com/strong-female-characters-wnp-107/
Lizzie and I listed the women of the Dream Messiah Series, and what we feel are their strengths and influence on the story. I’d love to hear feedback from you. Do you agree with the skills and assets we listed for my female characters? Are these women written well and believable, can you visualize them? Would you want any of them as your friends or relatives?
The next two paragraphs are the quotes taken from Sarah’s transcript that inspired our conversation. My list of Dream Messiah women follows these quotes. Give me/us your own feelings about these women in the ‘reply’ box at the end.
“First of all, the biggest point I want to make is that there is not one correct way to write a strong female character. By that I mean there is not a strong female character archetype that you need to adhere to, or there’s not a checklist of traits that a “strong female character” must have. This is because when we’re talking about strength, we’re not talking about just one thing. This is the crux of the episode today. Strength does not equal giant bulging muscles. Strength does not equal massive biceps. Strength does not equal the size of the gun that your character is holding, because strength is not just one thing. Human beings are beautifully and wonderfully varied in how they represent strength.”
For instance, there could be a big, beautiful lamp, and that lamp could provide light for the heroes to see, and that lamp is an important part of the story because the characters need to see, but the lamp is not a character. The lamp does not have hopes and dreams. The lamp, as far as we know, does not have a motivation. The lamp does not have its own story arc. The lamp does not fall down and get back up and learn and grow and feel. So the question I want to ask, and the question that I want to have you ask is, is this character a person or a thing? Does this character have their own motivations, their own story arc, their own dreams? Or is this character an object that only serves someone else’s story?”
These are most of the female characters (and one crossover) that are in the Dream Messiah Series. I’ve listed what Lizzie and I discussed as their strengths according to Sarah Werner’s list:
Physical Strength
Confidence
Strong Skill Set
Mental Strength
Book 1, Freedom
Kat- She is one of our principle characters of the entire story. Kat is very strong in all the categories. She knows what she wants and means to get her way. She also knows what she doesn’t want. Kat is not afraid to confront Jake and threaten him if he doesn’t conform. She follows through on her threats.
Physically she takes aerobics classes, skis and hikes. Intellectually, she is in college, taking pre-med course. When their son, Luke, is born, Kat becomes protective of her child like a mother lion. She is also defensive of her mother, Nora, despite our understanding that Nora was abusive in Kat’s own upbringing.
Kat is offstage in the second and third novels of the series. We, the readers, don’t see or hear her, only about her. Although Jake has no direct interaction with her in those two novels, she is still a force to be reckoned with and a driving impact in Jake’s life.
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Ann - Another main character throughout the story. Ann is a strong Alaskan homesteading woman - she can shoot and butcher a bear, bake a pie, and love her man all in the same day.
Ann’s spirit is the strongest of all the women in the Dream Messiah Series. She is sweet, sensitive, understanding and yet a powerful mentor to both Jake and Sean – as opposed to her husband, Dave, who is often brusque and a trickster.
Jake likens Ann to a favorite aunt who he’d love to go on a Sunday drive with. She enlightens Jake about the difference between his true character and who he thinks he is. Ann motivates Jake to make the ‘right’ choices when he is uncertain of himself. She presents a women’s point of view to Jake when he conflicts with Kat. Ann speaks with the authority of experience and education, she was a nurse in a psychiatric hospital. She has a witty and quirky sense of humor.
Ann also has a special relationship with Jake’s nephew, Sean. The depth of this connection isn’t revealed until the final chapters of the last book in the series.
At the very end of the story, we find out who Ann really is. When the truth is revealed, Jake understands what his own purpose has been and will be, because of her!
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Bev is a strong, complex character who plays a role in helping Jake, but has been judged (by a few readers) as an agent of Jake’s downfall. Jake’s relationship with Bev is a key factor in his journey to his destiny.
Bev is very independent and capable of taking care of herself. Physically, she was one of Jake’s ski buddies in Greenwood. Bev tells us she’s been working out at the gym, which helped her get job on a commercial fishing boat – and that’s some hard-ass work. She also says she’d kick the captain’s ass if he tried anything (sexually).
Bev is manipulating Jake (who isn’t in this story?), but it’s apparent that she really cares for him, and makes no bones that she doesn’t like Kat. Most of my readers are rooting for Bev as the story progresses.
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Nora - Kat’s mother – one of the story’s antagonists. Most readers do not care for this woman at all! She is strongest in her dislike and distrust of Jake. Every mention or interaction with Nora is an exercise in conflict and frustration. She is not afraid to stand up to, or degrade and threaten Jake – she actually takes pleasure in these confrontations.
It is implied that Nora was abusive during Kat’s upbringing and despite Jake’s objections, Nora pushes and bullies her way into Jake’s, Kat’s and Luke’s lives.
Nora calls the police on Jake when he threatens to remove her from his cabin. In one of the last scenes from Freedom, Jake is on his knees asking Nora's forgiveness when she punches him in the nose. She tells the police to “Shoot the bastard (Jake).” She prays aloud that he gets the Electric Chair and she hopes he burns in hell.
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There are a few other mentions of women who are strictly stand-ins, or rather flat characters in the first book.
These quick mentions are: Kat’s boss/work partner, Kat’s ski girlfriends and a hippy waitress wearing an Indian print skirt and Birkenstocks. There is a brief description/generalization of the women who commercially fished (crewed) in Alaska during the time this novel takes place. Times have changed!
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Book 2, Into the Fire
Kat is offstage during this entire novel, but we know she is still a strong character – angry, unforgiving, vengeful, and pressing charges against Jake. She is concerned/fearful for her’s and Luke’s safety. She feels no mercy for Jake, but tolerates Sean.
—
Nora is barely mentioned, but it is implied that she is in lockstep with her daughter, Kat.
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Bev remains strong and loyal. She takes an enormous risk helping Jake during one of his darkest hours. She is gambling her own life and freedom when responding to Jake’s plea for help.
Bev pilots a fishing boat across the dangerous waters of Katchemak Bay during a nighttime blizzard. She is one of the few people who knows what’s happened to Jake and where he is heading. She will keep that secret when the police come calling. Bev will hold on to the hope of meeting up with Jake again.
—
Ann continues her role as the person who understands Jake more than anyone. As another accomplice in Jake’s flight, she guides and leaves him with instructions and words of wisdom the last time they see each other.
Jake doesn’t see Ann again after the middle of the second book, but her influence is always there.
Because of Ann’s background as a nurse, she is conscripted into a search party for the crew of a crashed helicopter. The bonus ‘Missing Chapters,’ (available for free, only here in my website when you sign up for my mailing list) fills in the blanks, telling us what happened to Ann and Phillip Kevins soon after the last time she and Jake see each other.
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In a very short appearance, Dr. Kleiss is Jake’s doctor. We know little about her, but she takes charge of the situation and the men in the room. She is not afraid of the police.
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Mrs. Mei Stevenson - although Mei doesn’t speak much, we learn what she endured growing up in Hong Kong, her relationship to this novel’s main villain, and how she came to the USA. Mei’s object of desire is the completion of the mission that is offered to Jake by her husband. If Jake can accomplish this task (for her and her husband, Fred), Jake will be (more) free and know the power (ruthlessness) that he’s capable of.
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Carol - takes a chance on Jake, a stranger in town. Carol is a single mother working as a waitress while returning to college to become a photographer and journalism major.
Confronted with the possibility that Jake may be less than honest, trustworthy or safe to be around, she chooses the alternate possibility that there’s more to him than what shows on the surface. She does not believe everything she hears or reads. This will become her motivation and object of desire in her pending career in journalism.
Carol trusts Jake enough to introduce him to her son. She’s attracted to him sexually, but knows there’s more to her feelings for him. She will not betray or give up on Jake.
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Johanna - the sailboat, named after Johanna, the Christian saint who led the faithful to the resurrection of the messiah. The symbolism is apparent when Jake is introduced to this sailboat. The boat’s owner is a fan of Bob Dylan, and feels the song, Visions of Johanna, to be the best that Dylan ever produced. (Personally, I like the cover version by Chris Smither much better. It’s on his album Leave the Light On. Check it out here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnK4mxTvECA and make sure to read the lyrics)
Johanna also appears as herself, the saint, in one of Jake’s dreams to baptize him in fire and water. This is the ultimate act of symbolism when Jake leaves his old life behind to be born again with the blessings of Johanna.
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Chailai - a kathoey (pronounced; Caught-too-iee, or Kaat-toyee) is a ‘3rd sex’ person in Thailand. These people are typically males who are going under, or who have completed gender change.
Chailai is a guide and helper to Jake on his ‘mission’. They form a brief partnership (not sexual) to exact retribution on Eugene, one of the story’s villains. Chailai was a sex slave to Eugene. As a Buddhist, Chailai couldn’t kill the villain, but his state of equanimity make’s Jake’s mission possible.
Chailai shows strength in planning, patience and perseverance. He has his own dreams and ambitions, which will now be realized because he aided Jake.
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Book 3, Awaken
There are few women characters in this last part of the story. The women who are major influencers of this tale; Ann, Kat and Carol remain offstage, but they continue as prime influences on Jake’s destiny.
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There are the brief appearances of important women in Bali and Borneo. Two young girls give Jake and Sean massages on the beach while sending them off on a psychedelic mushroom experience. During this mushroom trip, a mysterious dancing woman lures Jake off the beach to meet the Buddha and send him off to find the Punans.
We, the readers, learn little about these women. They could have easily been men characters, but I choose to write them as women.
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The river maidens of Borneo make the syncopated water music that Jake has heard in his dreams. This music draws him to their village. We never learn much about them and their lives.
Ukun Kusin - the Punan tribe’s ‘crazy woman’ (sometimes referred to as a witch) and reigning tattoo engraver who will put the ink on Sean. She is a partner with the shaman, Turikan, and she’s the one who will tend to Jake’s injuries.
Lejeng- the old matriarch of the village who tells Jake he smells like snake shit and gives him a remedy (which tastes like old socks steeped in rancid swamp water) for his hangover. She is the one who will tattoo Jake with the face of Aping.
Bulan- a young Punan maiden that Jake has taken a liking too. Jake is distracted seeing her bare breasts, which leads to him twisting an ankle and forcing him to stay with the Punans.
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By the end of this Dream Messiah Series, the women in Jake Barne’s life have been every bit as much an influence as the men. They have been powerful allies and worthy opponents, each with their own pasts that help explain their actions and motivations. Their dreams and desires are outright obvious, or easily implied. We, the readers, also have our own desires for their outcomes. I wrote them so you will feel respect, admiration, joy, astonishment, anger and frustration with them. I hope I accomplished that goal.
What do you think? I would love to hear your opinion of these women and the job I did in describing them and giving them life.
Any suggestions for my next novel? It’s a psychological thriller. Big emphasis on the psycho aspect in this one. There are four women as principle characters and three male main characters. All of these women are strong, strong, strong. The lead male character may eventually be physically and mentally strong, but he is an emotionally slow-witted.
Stay tuned!