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I love “unlikable,” I write “unlikable,” and I am “unlikable”: Justina Ireland on “Unlikable” Girls

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Now that we’re clear on what an unlikable female character looks like in the wild, why don’t we dive into that a little bit further and talk about why we need unlikable characters? Today, Justina Ireland — who has had her own girl characters called unlikable — talks about this label, what it means, and she offers a reading list of unlikable girls you should be reading. 

Justina Ireland lives in a house made of books. At least that’s the excuse she gives when people trip over one. When she isn’t accidentally killing house guests with her TBR pile she writes books. She is the author of Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows, both available from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. When she isn’t reading she enjoys eating, sleeping, and watching Judge Judy on her DVR. You can usually find her on Twitter @tehawesomersace or at her website justinaireland.com. 



There’s been a lot of talk lately of what people are calling “unlikeable”* main characters. If you haven’t heard any of the great discussion around unlikeable characters let me go ahead and break it down  for you: unlikeable characters in YA (and beyond!) are female characters** that are flawed, usually unrepentantly. They have some seriously bad shortcomings, or sometimes just “unladylike” behaviors, and there is little motivation to change their conduct within the course of the novel. That isn’t to say that they don’t change by the end of the story, only that any sort of redemption and improvement of their character flaws is usually secondary to the overall plot.

Unlikeable characters aren’t perfect and they don’t try to be. They know they have faults and they’re okay with it because they have more important things to deal with.


And that is awesome.


I love “unlikeable” characters. I write “unlikeable” characters (or at least I try). And to be honest, I am an “unlikeable” character. I don’t sit quietly in a group. I won’t back down in an argument. I’m ambitious and arrogant and maybe a little bitchy just because I happen to feel like it. I will always suggest we do something I like and I will always have an opinion. I won’t stay quiet for the benefit of group harmony. If I get irritated I will tell you so and leave.

In other words, I am a real person with all of the complex emotions and feelings that being a humans have. And I’m not the only woman that happens to be that way.

The “unlikeable” character isn’t unlikeable because they aren’t funny or charismatic or, really, likeable. Let’s be honest, there has to be some degree of interest on the part of the reader to want to stick it out with a character for three hundred plus pages. The characters are unlikeable because they don’t conform to an established societal ideal of what it means to be female. Boys are allowed to be loud and disgusting and ambitious. They can disagree and forge ahead and be considered trailblazers and pioneers. They are allowed a full range of feelings and behaviors that women are not.

Women are supposed to be polite, smile, be harmonious. A woman that objects too loudly and too often is a bitch (there is even a verb form of the word meaning to complain). A woman who is ambitious is selfish, a woman that expresses fear is whiny and a woman that is too bold is irritating. A woman that doesn’t conform to some ephemeral ideal of femininity and doesn’t want to change her failings to conform to what is expected of her by society (and by extension, the reader) is a terrible character.

“Unlikeable.”

This double standard even extends to YA, where most rules of grown up books usually don’t apply. A girl that spends an entire book following around the boy she likes is psycho or pathetic. A boy that does the same thing is insightful. And that’s problematic. Is that really what we want to girls to learn, to teach them that their own impulses and thoughts are somehow less valid, less worthy, than a boy’s?

Female characters that are unlikeable are the best characters. They show us that our bad bits, as well as our good bits, are important to who we are. For too long women in literature have either been cardboard cutouts, scenery for the important doings of men, or non-existent. I want to read women who are angry, who are scared, who are ambitious and smug and all of the other things that make women real. Women who argue and speak up, or keep their thoughts to themselves and quietly fume while planning some nasty revenge. I want to read about women that aren’t simply put there as objects of attraction for the male main character or as smart sidekicks to help out the hero. I don’t want women who are there to be saved. I want women who save themselves with or without the help of others.

And I want to read these same characters in YA, where the leap from girlhood to womanhood is messy and fraught with danger and heartbreak and disappointment. I want to read about girls who are bitches and skanks and every other insult that can be hurled at a woman. I want the girls that survive, the ones that break in a million messy ways, the ones who turn their backs on everything they’ve known and forge their own paths, whether for better or worse. I want to read about bad decisions and worse decisions, about pride and arrogance and the drive for more. I want books that teach girls to be true to themselves, even if the person they are is more Disney villain and less Disney princess.

I want girls who are here to tell you their story, not be your friend or feature as a placeholder for reader romance. I want real girls.

“Unlikeable” girls.

So here are three of my favorite “unlikeable” main characters in YA, for your reading pleasure:

Parker Fadley, Cracked Up to Be: You knew I couldn’t make a list of unlikeable characters and not include a book by Courtney Summers. Her books are some of my favorites, and I picked Parker because she is the Summers character that I found to be the most unapologetic about her behavior. Parker knows that she’s being terrible, but she doesn’t care enough to stop. Sure, she has reasons for acting the way she does (but I won’t spoil the book for you) but instead of feeling bad and asking for help she feels bad and takes it out on everyone around her. And that is a completely valid response that many reviews took issue with. Why can’t Parker be nicer? Because she doesn’t have to be.



June Costa, The Summer Prince: June is ambitious and unapologetic. She knows she comes from a life of privilege and that she is spoiled, but it doesn’t stop her from using that privilege to get ahead. A number of reviews reacted negatively to this and a scene in which June is caught masturbating by her love interest, Enki. Rather than feel ashamed, June uses the moment as a sort of challenge to Enki, embracing her sexuality in a way rarely seen by girls in YA.

Micah, Liar: Micah is probably the first truly unlikeable main character that I read in YA. She’s a liar, and we know this because she tells the reader that. For the rest of the book she contradicts herself constantly and makes up facts that the reader will either believe or doubt. Either way, reviews absolutely hated Micah both as a person but also as an unreliable narrator.***

Feel like spending some time with a few more messy characters? Here are a bunch of other books with “unlikeable” main characters you should check out:

The S-Word
This is Not a Test
Some Girls Are
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks
Uses for Boys
Tithe
Ironside
Since You Asked
Starglass
The Duff
A Midsummer’s Nightmare
Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows (you knew I had to mention my books)

Happy reading!

*the definition of unlikeable is, as always, a matter of opinion. For me it refers to female characters that do not conform to prescribed social behaviors of decency for women and in turn draw a considerable amount of reader ire. I have yet to see anyone refer to characters like Bella Swan as unlikeable. Weak, yes, but never unlikeable. 

**The characters deemed “unlikeable” are always female. Always. I have never seen this term thrown about when men are the jerky main characters of the story, but I would love to be proven wrong.

***The fact that female characters of color in YA get slapped with the unlikeable label more often than their white counterparts could probably be its own discussion, but that is a post for another day.

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Justina Ireland is the author of Vengeance Bound, as well as Promise of Shadows, which published this week. 

Cheryl Rainfield, A Hero for Girls: Guest Post by Jennifer Brown

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One of the prompts I offered guest posters for this series was to talk about a female YA author who is admirable. Today, author Jennifer Brown is here talking about Cheryl Rainfield and why she admires and respects her and her work so much. This is a wonderful post, and if you aren’t familiar with Rainfield, this should get you started. 



























Jennifer Brown is the author of acclaimed young adult novels Hate List, Bitter End, Perfect Escape, and Thousand Words. Her debut novel, Hate List, received three starred reviews and was selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA “Perfect Ten,” and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Bitter End received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA and is listed on the YALSA 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults list.

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“Sometimes you have to be your own hero,” is the tagline on Cheryl Rainfield’s novel, STAINED, a story about a girl who is abducted and needs to look within herself for the courage to survive.

Every so often a reader who has gone through something traumatic asks me if I’d ever be interested in writing a version of her story. I always encourage the reader to consider writing the story herself. After all, she’s the one with the firsthand knowledge of the pain and confusion she has endured, and that knowledge brings power. Power to help herself through the writing of her journey; power to help others who might be going through something similar to what she’s experienced.

I know a little about this. I have made no secret of the fact that I was bullied in junior high and high school, and that the bullying I endured helped me write HATE LIST. I understood very well the emotions my characters were feeling and the thoughts they were thinking. My firsthand experience provided me with the passion to speak out against bullying, and to reach out to those who are being bullied, and tell my story in hopes that it might give a desperate teen something to hang onto (even if I only reach just one…it is a victory). Writing a version of my story has given me power over those long years of powerlessness.

But when it comes to using past experiences as power, there is no greater female voice in YA than that of Cheryl Rainfield. A survivor of incest and torture, Cheryl understands exactly what it means to have to be your own hero. She escaped her horrific situation. She saved herself. She became her own hero, many times over. But, more than that, Cheryl somehow kept her grip on that power, and has used her writing to share it with others who need to see that possibility exists for them, too.

Cheryl’s novels, SCARS, HUNTED, and STAINED, deal with subjects ranging from sexual abuse to self-harm to body image to abduction, and more, and feature strong female characters who must have the courage to fight and save themselves. Cheryl’s characters might find themselves in dark, seemingly- hopeless places, but they refuse to give up hope. They refuse to give up on themselves. They know that they are worth the fight.

Cheryl’s unwillingness to shy away from subjects that are serious, somber, and gritty is what makes her books so important in the world of YA, and her empathy and steady drumbeat of hope are what makes them so impactful. Girls might see reflections of themselves in the dire situations of Cheryl’s characters…but at the same time, they might begin to see themselves as strong enough to leave those dire situations behind. Cheryl’s books show girls that they are not alone in their hell, a reassurance that can make the difference between survival and loss.

I often say that my job, as a writer, is to create a character readers can see themselves in. To put that character into a familiar or imaginable situation. To give that character almost more than she can handle. And then—and this is the important part—to show that character a way out. To show her a reason to keep fighting. Or, to come back to Cheryl’s STAINED tagline, to show her that she can be quite heroic.

True, sometimes you have to be your own hero. Scratch that – often, you have to be your own hero. Sometimes, you are your only hope. Most of the time, you are the best hero for the job, anyway.

But sometimes there are other heroes out there, too. Heroes who are willing to talk about their pasts and share their experiences boldly. Heroes who are willing to lay their souls onto book pages and beg the frightened to come forward and see. Heroes, like Cheryl Rainfield, who are willing to show girls that they have that power within themselves. They are heroic.

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Jennifer Brown’s Bitter End, Hate List, Perfect Escape, and Thousand Words are all available now. Torn Away will be available May 6. 

Positive Girl Friendships in YA: Guest Post by Jessica Spotswood

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Is it rare to see girl friendships portrayed well in YA fiction? I tend to think that’s an area where there are fewer books than there should be and those that do tackle this subject stand out because it’s fairly rare. Today, Jessica Spotswood is here to talk about female friendship in YA, and I think she gets a little to the heart of why it might be a rare thing and why it’s something she fought for in her own work.



Jessica Spotswood is the author of the Cahill Witch Chronicles: BORN WICKED (2012), STAR CURSED (2013), and SISTERS’ FATE (August 2014). She grew up in a tiny, one-stoplight town in Pennsylvania, where she could be found swimming, playing clarinet, memorizing lines for the school play, or – most often – with her nose in a book. Now Jess lives in Washington, DC with her playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey. She can be found drinking tea, teaching writing workshops for teens, or – most often – with her nose in a book. Some things never change.










When Kelly listed a range of possible topics for my guest post, one leapt out at me right away: friendships in YA. It’s a subject that’s near and dear to my heart, because I would be lost without my girl friends, but strong, positive girl friendships feel like a rarity in YA.

To be honest, they were a rarity in my life as a teen, too. There were lots of toxic friendships, the kind marred by gossip and jealousy and competition, whether it was over parts in the school plays or over boys. These kind of mean-girl dynamics tend to be super popular in YA (see: PRETTY LITTLE LIARS and GOSSIP GIRL). Two of my favorite examples of some truly vicious girls are in Courtney Summers’ SOME GIRLS ARE and in Katherine Longshore’s GILT. For less fraught examples, check out the friendships gone wrong between Samantha and Nan in Huntley Fitzpatrick’s MY LIFE NEXT DOOR, or between Cricket and Jules in Leila Howland’s NANTUCKET BLUE. I think girl-on-girl bullying, frenemies, and friend breakups are all important to portray.

It strikes me, though, that the most common girl friendships in YA are sort of token friendships – the best girl friends who recede into the background once the heroine meets the right guy. This is one of my literary pet peeves, possibly because it rings so true to my own high school experience. I was the single girl amidst lots of couples, with girl friends who only made time for me when they needed relationship advice or consolation after breakups. It made me realize early on how often we idealize romantic relationships and focus on them to the exclusion of all else, and it gave me an early feminist horror for making a boy the be-all and end-all of one’s life. I know firsthand that that dynamic is super realistic – but I don’t think it’s emotionally healthy or ideal, and too often it seems to go unquestioned within the text. If most other girls are either rivals or placeholders until our heroines meet the boys of their dreams – what is that saying? 

My editor for the Cahill Witch Chronicles is brilliant, and I take the vast majority of her suggestions. But the issue of Cate’s friends Sachiko Ishida and Rory Elliott was one that I pushed back on. Sachi and Rory are popular, fashionable, gossipy girls and Cate – who’s preoccupied with the need to protect her sisters and keep their magic a secret from the patriarchal Brotherhood – originally dismisses them as nothing but cabbageheads. But – spoiler – she’s wrong. My editor suggested early on that one of them should be after Finn, that it could be more dramatic if they functioned as rivals with Cate in some way. But it was important to me that Cate be wrong in her original estimation, that she misjudges these pretty girls who love bright colors and dresses, who choose to hide their own secrets in plain sight instead of cloistering themselves away and disdaining feminine things. One of my favorite scenes in the entire trilogy is when Cate realizes how fierce and loyal and strong Rory is, and she’s ashamed of how she’s treated her. It was important to me that Cate find true girl friends – women who are generous and clever and talented and funny, who support her and won’t let her face her problems alone – and that she realize their worth. 

I wish more YA books featured strong girl friendships – the kind worth every bit as much to the heroine as a boy, the kind who aren’t shoved off stage or reduced only to giving relationship advice, who fight the monsters or evil government right alongside the heroine. Here are three girl friendships that I think are really, really awesome:

Rose and Lissa from the VAMPIRE ACADEMY series by Richelle Mead: This was the first example that came to mind, maybe because I just saw the movie! This friendship and the shadow-kissed bond between them are really at the heart of the series. Rose has to try to negotiate her romance around her loyalty to Lissa and her professional duty as Lissa’s Guardian. There are elements of jealousy, of negotiating boundaries (especially since she has a psychic bond with Lissa), of figuring out how to define herself away from the friendship. It’s an awesome, complex relationship that’s every bit as important to both girls as their romances.

Karou and Zuzana from the DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE series by Laini Taylor: I just read the novella “Night of Cake & Puppets” and it hit me again how special this friendship is. Karou and Zuzana are fiercely protective of one another. Zuzana knows that Karou is stronger than her in many ways, but she still threatens the jerk who broke her friend’s heart. Karou is off having mad, dangerous adventures, but she still makes time to text Zuzana advice about Mik. Zuzana is Karou’s link back to the everyday, human world; Karou provides the dash of magic Zuzana desperately wants. They balance each other in a really lovely, supportive way.

Kate and Parker from THINGS I CAN’T FORGET by Miranda Kenneally: Kate is a complex girl, which is why she’s one of my favorite protagonists. She has very firm religious convictions that guide her every move, and at the beginning of the book she’s incredibly judgey. She judges Parker, who’s abandoned some of her church’s teachings and whose mom is a lesbian. Parker calls Kate out when she’s being hurtful, but over the course of the book, she becomes someone Kate can go to with frank questions about boys and sex and morality. Friends don’t always agree on the big stuff, but I love how mutually respectful Kate and Parker are.

What about you? I’d love to read about some of your favorite girl friendships in the comments.
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Jessica Spotswood is the author of the Cahill Witch Chronicles series, including Born Wicked, Star Cursed, and the upcoming conclusion, Sisters’ Fate, available in August. 

The Unlikable Female Protagonist: A Field Guide to Identification in the Wild — Guest Post by Sarah McCarry

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Let’s kick off our series with what will be a very helpful post for those needing a little guidance to work through what many will be talking about over the next couple of weeks. Sarah McCarry is here to offer insight into the unlikable female protagonist.







Sarah McCarry (www.therejectionist.com & @therejectionist) is the author of the novels All Our Pretty Songs and Dirty Wings (summer 2014), and the editor and publisher of Guillotine, a chapbook series dedicated to revolutionary nonfiction.









THE UNLIKABLE FEMALE PROTAGONIST: A FIELD GUIDE TO IDENTIFICATION IN THE WILD

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Considerable debate has been devoted to the subject of the Unlikable Female Protagonist, a common pest of the natural world. While it is not our intent here to contribute to the extensive literature on her value as an object of study, we hope that by clarifying and outlining her identifying characteristics we may make a valuable and practical addition to the current research being conducted in the field.

HABITAT

The Unlikable Female Protagonist (UFP) is indigenous to a highly diverse spectra of ecosystems, climates, and geographical zones.

RANGE

Global; she may also be found in a variety of uniquely fictive environments, including but not limited to magical kingdoms, future dystopias, re-imagined historical settings, re-told fairytales, Forks, Washington, and a a web of filth, sexual perversions, alcohol, and smoking.

DESCRIPTION

ADULT and JUVENILE specimens of the UFP share a number of common characteristics and behaviors, and it is difficult to distinguish them in their natural habitats. Likewise, isolating the UFP in a group of Likable Female Protagonists may prove an insurmountable task for the casual observer; even researchers with extensive background in the field are frequently stymied when asked to assess physiological and behavioral differences between Likable and Unlikable Female Protagonists. 

Complicating identification further, a Previously Likable Female Protagonist may transition suddenly into a UFP via the application of a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, parental abandonment, death of family member or friend, discovery of previously unknown supernatural power, crushing out on werewolves, puberty, etc. Notably, rather than process her response via culturally acceptable techniques such as quietly journaling alone, attending therapy, dressing nicely, and remaining chipper but not overly perky, the UFP expresses her distress via characteristic behaviors including but not limited to promiscuous sexual activity, drinking alcohol and attending rock concerts, disrespecting her parents, being a bitch, being a whiny, annoying, total bitch, being a conceited bitch, being a heartless bitch, being a shallow, narcissistic bitch, being a hypocritical, coldhearted beeyotch with a stick up her ass, being dirty, attending a diverse high school, being Muslim, living with a disability, being cleverer than Harry Potter, finding a man who is stupid enough to love her, masturbating, being afraid of her emotions, detaching herself from her emotions, and swearing. Yeah she had a bad past, with her absent dad, butthole boyfriend, and an unexpected pregnancy/subsequent abortion, but she is a whiny brat. 

These, of course, are not the sole identifiers of the UFP, and merely existing may serve as trauma enough to effect a transition from Likable to Unlikable. The UFP is also feminist, not feminist enough, is too cheerful, overachieves, has pink hair, and does not criticize her love interest for putting up posters of attractive women on motorcycles. Additionally, the UFP may be precocious, a moron, irresponsible, too glamorous, too fat, too anorexic, too fixated on older men, gay, passive, arrogant, and not feminine enough. She has male friends, is obsessed with sex, is too rich, is too poor, talks too much about racism, and is generally detestable, selfish, and possessed of solely first-world problems. Having cancer is no excuse for her whining, unless she is written by a man. She is overly forgiving, pathetic, a HUGE wussy/complainer, unremarkable, vapid, the kind of girl who feels the need to expose herself to a guy she doesn’t know, overly forceful, and self-righteous. She would give IT up wayyyy too easily. She is, quite simply, an idiot.

While inexperienced researchers may express confusion about the apparently contradictory nature of the UFP’s behaviors, the obvious unifying factor among them is the fact that the UFP is always, as her name suggests, female.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Female Protagonists may only ever be subdivided into “Likable” and “Unlikable”; for Fully-Developed Human Beings, refer to “Men.”

DISCUSSION AND OBSERVATION TIPS

As noted above, isolating and identifying the UFP in natural environments is a challenging task for the researcher. While she may elect to self-identify by donning goth clothing or applying black eyeliner, it is as likely that she will be visually indistinguishable from her likable counterparts. The UFP is so common, in fact, that naturalists might be better served by devoting their energies to searching out the Likable Female Protagonist instead, a creature so rare and elusive that some researchers suggest she is extinct, or in fact a figment imagined by overly enthusiastic graduate students in the humanities. At any rate, delineating the behaviors of the Likable Female Protagonist, should they be definable, is outside the scope of the present paper.

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Sarah McCarry’s All Our Pretty Songs is available now and Dirty Wings will be available in July. 

About the Girls: Series Kickoff

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I mentioned this week kicking off a two-week series in yesterday’s links of note post, but in the event you missed that, here’s an official post!

Tomorrow kicks off a two-week series here at Stacked all about girls in YA. I reached out to ten female YA authors, and all of them signed on to writing about either female YA authors, female YA characters, or broader topics about girls in YA. You will get to read about female authors who are putting themselves out there in a big way through their work. You will get to read about books featuring female characters that made a huge impact. And you will read a lot about “unlikeable” female characters.

The prompt I provided the guests was very open, and the responses reflect that in a really neat way. I hope that through this series, you’ll walk away thinking about girls and girls reading and you’ll walk away with a massive to-read list, both from the posts and from those who wrote the posts.

Although I didn’t put a formal request out widely, I would be so interested in reading other posts throughout the next couple of weeks from other bloggers and readers interested in talking about their favorite female YA authors, favorite female YA characters, or any topic relating to girls and YA. If you write something, whether in a blog post, on tumblr, whatever your platform of choice, please share it with me. You can drop those posts right here in the comments. I’ll do a roundup at the end of this series of posts you’ve written and share them even wider.