We’ve talked about “unlikable” ladies in this series a couple of times, but it doesn’t hurt to hammer it home another time. Today, Elizabeth Scott talks about writing girls who become unlikable to readers and about who is guilty of labeling girls as such.

Elizabeth Scott grew up in a town so small it didn’t even have a post office, thought it did boast an impressive cattle population. She’s sold hardware and pantyhose, and had a memorable three day stint in the dot.com industry where she learned she really didn’t want a career burning CDs. She’s the author of twelve YA novels, the latest of which is Heartbeat. You can find her at elizabethwrites.com or @escottwrites. 

I write stories about girls. And a lot of the time, some people get very upset with the way my heroines act­­or react­­ to what’s going on around them.

My girls have been called mean, uncaring, whiny, stupid­­ and that’s just a start.

Here’s the kicker. T­the people saying these things?  Other girls. Other women.

And yes, of course anyone who reads a book is entitled to their own opinion. If you think a main character in my books is someone you wished would get punched, or is a bitch, or stupid for being angry, then you have every right to think and say that.

I’m just wondering why.

Why is it so bad for a teenage girl to be angry?

In my latest novel, Heartbeat, Emma’s pregnant mother dies suddenly, and Emma’s stepfather, Dan, chooses to put his dead wife on life support because the baby she’s carrying is still alive.

The thing is, he didn’t ask Emma what she thought about his choice. And okay, he’s an adult, but he’s also her family. And it’s her mother.

Emma takes what Dan does as a betrayal. Not just of her, but of what she believes her mother was thinking about her at­risk pregnancy.

She doesn’t get depressed, at least not by conventional standards. Instead she lashes out. She gets angry. She looks at her stepfather, who has always been her ally since the moment he entered her life, and sees someone who didn’t think of her once when her mother died.

She isn’t kind to him. I think that’s okay, because she’s grieving.

But some readers think it isn’t, and that makes me wonder

Why do darker emotions like ­­grief or anger­­ provoke such visceral responses? To make reviewers label Emma as thoughtless, selfish, cruel. As a bitch.

If Emma had been male, would her anger make female readers so angry?

I want to think so, but I’m not sure it’s true.

I don’t want to think female readers of YA are uncomfortable with strong emotions like rage in stories about teenage girls. I don’t want to think that women are afraid of women with problems. I’d like to think that it’s because it’s easy to forget how hard it can be to be a teenage girl who’s suffering and who shows it.

I’d like to think that, but I’m not sure it’s true.

I know readers come to books with their own experiences and that not every girl can be liked.

But are girls who cheat on their boyfriend or detach from life after surviving a plane crash or who are in the stranglehold of a five­ year captivity or who lost their best friend with no explanation or who are angry that their mother is dead that bad? Is it so impossible to read stories about girls like this and think that they are something beyond selfish or stupid or cruel?

Is it possible to think they are simply human?

I hope so.

I’d like to think other female readers do too.