What Do Girls Like To See In A Story?

Being a boy, I don't have a clue as to what most girls want to see in a story. Which is a ironic since 95% of my lead characters are females. It's also odd cause whenever I try to write something with a male lead my mind simply blanks but that's another matter altogether. So while I'm fairly happy with my characters as it is, I'm still curious as to what girls would like to see in a story. It could be any genre, really, but I'm more interested in the Science Fiction / Urban Fantasy genres.

edited 19th Jan '11 3:46:41 PM by SandJosieph

Loads and loads of different things.

*is shot*

edited 19th Jan '11 4:19:11 PM by Edmania

>:(

**shoots Edmania**

Words.

Ideally words in a language your target girl understands, though. Don't fall into the trap of writing a book in Russian only to find out that your readers are primarily English.

Questions like this always make me think of politicians trying to appeal to women. Just women, no specific demographic or similar. When dealing with men they might try to appeal to white men between the age of 21 to 30, but women are just one big demographic that all are the same.

So I guess my point is, women, like men, are just too individualistic to say what they like and don't like.

I find that girls seems to enjoy it when emotions and feelings are injected into the story. This comes out best through relationships — particularly romance. Girls like to see strong and well-defined guys, if they're a little vulnerable at heart. Handsomeness is a plus. MANLINESS is overrated, except for the camp value. (Like Tony Montana)

As well, girls enjoy it if they can see a female (lead) character — who instead of being party flavour with fan service and looking pretty, actually is a person and who they can find themselves in.

edited 19th Jan '11 4:07:08 PM by QQQQQ

Also, always provide an opportunity for shipping.

Always.

Kinda agreeing with Sidewind here.

Take Reth for example. He is positively despised by anyone under 20 who writes a review (with the exception of yours truly) while both older men and women enjoy him as a character. I would also believe that anyone who like The Fair Folk (beautiful powerful psychos) would appreciate him better. The book is aimed for the teenage girls who like urban fantasy and the character in question is the author's favourite.

It's difficult to get what everyone likes even within the same demographic. I'm a girl and even I don't know what they like half the time... the general consensus is that I'm nuts for not hating Reth as much as Edward if not more. READ UP ON FAIR FOLK!

But as I was saying before I went crazy, I can only speak for myself but while I do enjoy romance in a book I believe it should be secondary to the plot (except in Pride And Prejudice). I need villains who can entertain me and tend to like Evilly Affable and Affably Evil. I'd like to think that many of us grow tired of Love at First Sight as well. I like girls in dresses. I like them even better when they kick ass as well. I like the love interest to be a gentleman. I like people who do the research. I hate The Ditz unless they're a Genius Ditz.

Try to treat me as a statistical anomoly if it doesn't agree with your other findings. I can only give my opinion.

edited 19th Jan '11 6:22:19 PM by StolenByFaeries

We like to see a lack of sexism (minus the in-universe examples). We will love you for that.

@QQQQQ I thought story writing's always been about expressing emotions and feelings through them anyway. Whatever drama, action, romance are really just a means for it.

edited 19th Jan '11 7:09:06 PM by PsychoFreaX

Yes — I mean is that girls like finer nuances of feeling that can be found within a story, such as anguished jealousy, or brooding attraction, or moments where two people can enjoy silence between themselves in comfort. Of course, you can count blowing shit up, shooting shit down, screaming awesome shit out the lungs.. the kind of things best left for testosterone enthusiasts.

edited 19th Jan '11 7:16:15 PM by QQQQQ

SHIRTLESS DUDES

Good stories? Great characters? Clever dialogue?

...Ryan Reynolds?

edited 20th Jan '11 5:32:48 PM by juancarlos11

You're talking about over fifty per cent of the human population here. There's such a thing as overgeneralising.

Still, a good exercise is to mentally strip out everything in your story that is devoted to pleasin' the penis (Fanservice, Author Appeal, Fetish Fuel, et cetera), and then ask yourself whether the plot, the characters, and so on are interesting and engaging enough to warrant picking it up on its own merits.

In fact, it's a good idea to remember regarding fanservice that there are both male and female-oriented types, and excessive focus on one at the expense of the other will mean that you're devoting significant chunks of the book to something half your readership can't relate to and don't find that interesting.

Above all, though, there's one simple maxim. People of both genders are attracted to good stories.

edited 20th Jan '11 6:36:08 PM by Iaculus

People like good stories.

It's not about Gender, Age or what have you. Just tell a good story and run with it.

edited 20th Jan '11 6:39:47 PM by juancarlos11

That's pretty much what I just said.

A few weeks ago when I was reading up on sexual fantasies of men and women but more so of women (meaning what women sexually fantasize about), I came across a passage that said women like it when the female character emotionally saves the male character at the same time that the male character physically saves the female character. I think this is because, otherwise, the damsel in distress is a worthless nincompoop with no redeeming quality(ies). Anyways, this may partly answer your question.

Also, I find women aren't nearly as fond of boobies as men. Crazy, huh?

Girls like good stories.

The kind that are smart and well-written (both spelling/grammar and style-wise). Also, cursing should be avoided most of the time—I have a soft spot for Cluster F Bombs in real life, but when I'm reading I prefer the Precision F-Strike.

I'm just going to agree with what most Tropers are saying because, well, they're right. There isn't all that much of a difference when writing for one sex or the other. Right something interesting and well thought out, and you'll find people who'll like it and dislike it from both genders.

Perhaps you shouldn't focus so much on "what girls would like to read?", but "what would I like to read?"

I know what I'd like to see in a story: People I can look up to, admire, and respect. What kind of people do girls look up to? Who do they respect and admire?

edited 20th Jan '11 9:33:08 PM by SandJosieph

I used to like the sensitive (angst optional) men, but lately I've been turned off by romance and all that stuff. I like ubermenschen, characters with odd moralities, frontier-like environments.

Well uh... ninja'd?

edited 20th Jan '11 9:37:23 PM by melloncollie

Like anybody else, it depends on the individual, the character in question. There backgrounds, experiences and goals are going to define who they look up to, just as much as guys are affected by the same things.

Everyone's already mentioned the bit where women aren't a monolithic group, so the question isn't really easy to answer (though it's possible that there's some sort of story that would appeal to the majority of women).

From my extraordinarily unscientific experience, I believe that women tend to prioritize characterization higher and setting lower than men do. This is from a sample size of about 5, and may not have anything to do with gender at all, so take it with a shaker of salt. I know that I've had male friends and relatives recommend books that left me cold, because although the setting was very creative, the characters were universally flat, uninteresting or unpleasant. If the creative setting was all there was to recommend the book (ie. the plot was weak, formulaic, or boring) I wouldn't finish it. I will also be very forgiving of plot holes if the writer has made me love the characters. So if you want to write for me or my female friends, perhaps a premise that is based on an interesting setting isn't the best bet. A premise based on characters (e.g. interpersonal interactions and dilemmas) or plot (the dark lord has stolen the chalice of Toowoomba) is more likely to catch my interest. That's not to say the setting can't be interesting (for instance, I really enjoyed Otherland, which had wonderful characters, an interesting setting, and a bizarre and ill-paced plot), but it shouldn't steal the focus from the characters/plot.

It might be worthwhile to read some science fiction or fantasy by female authors and see what they do differently to you. While they aren't necessarily writing for a female audience, they are women, and they will be writing what personally appeals to them.

The sort of characters I like to read about to are the ones that I can relate to emotionally, I guess (though I hate to bring out the women=emotional stereotype). I want to know what they're thinking and feeling, and for them to do what they believe to be right despite being conflicted, scared, tired, angry, or whatever. Bonus points if they are funny. They can mess up, for sure, but preferably not in a way that will make the audience cringe, where you can see the consequences coming long before they can. There are a few books which I enjoyed but which I simply cannot reread (like Middlemarch), because of the complacently stupid way in which the characters brought about their own unhappiness.

Anyway, it's late, and I'm rambling. Hopefully there's something in here that you'll find useful.

What kind of women are you trying to appeal to?

Not all of them are going to like the same thing.