Comments on: Women Vs Thrillers

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 02 May 2014 15:24:45 +0000

I’ve always loved thrillers and mysteries. Who got me into them? My mum, who is an A1 class certified Hitchcock fan. And, at least until I was born, my parents always had a movie date when a new James Bond film came out. My mum complained that the first Bond she took me to — A View to a Kill — “didn’t have enough cool gadgets”.

So while I’ve encountered the attitudes described in the article, they’ve always bewildered me. Who are these people hanging out with that they don’t know women were and are Resistance fighters, spies, police officers? Perhaps they wouldn’t be so uncomfortable with women writing thrillers if they just, you know, got out more.

By: Laila

Laila — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 18:42:49 +0000

I am not a thriller person, not even a mystery person but it’s incredible how vast this is. I keep hearing from women in sci-fi who go through really horrifying experiences like being told by established male writers at conventions that they are “scum” and “ruining their genre”. And then there is that whole “women’s fiction” thing which makes me want to tear my hair out. Why?
I mean we all know that very few things are as degrading to a man in our society as to be seen liking “women” things so… why do we do this to ourselves? Why are put in these corners where we are only supposed to write for half the population?

By: K. A. Laity

K. A. Laity — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 22:18:42 +0000

My third thriller in the Chastity Flame series comes out next month from Tirgearr Publishing. Gee, I guess I should quit writing them since I’m a girl 9_9 ha!

By: Alison Morton

Alison Morton — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 20:23:53 +0000

Well-reasoned and strong post, Susi.

I write action thrillers; my heroine, who becomes an undercover cop then a special forces officer, leads the stories and interacts with other women and men. The stories *are* set in an alternative society, though, as we are waiting for this type of equality to develop in our present one.

Do you know the simple Bechdel test, which asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man? Many contemporary works fail this test of gender bias. The website bechdeltest.com is a user-edited database of some 3,300 films classified by whether or not they pass the test, with the added requirement that the women must be named characters.

A pretty basic threshold, but many films and books do not pass it.

Action adventure/thrillers are exciting to write – let’s admit and glory in it. And who doesn’t secretly yearn to be Wonder Woman?

By: Amy Good

Amy Good — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 20:47:19 +0000

I love thrillers, and I love seeing women in the action roles, instead of being relegated to love interests. That’s one reason I like the self-publishing/DIY movement; when traditional publishers won’t take on a woman who writes thrillers, now there is another option. I’ve found a lot of great reads through indie authors!

By: Linda Adams

Linda Adams — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 21:32:18 +0000

I personally want to see more women characters in action novels. Not victims to be rescued, but participating in the action — and not just one woman character in a sea of men. Instead, I’ve seen a lot of women protagonists who seem to be there to check the box, rather than because the writer wanted to write about a woman character. One time a well-published male writer sneered openly at me saying I was writing an action book with women characters, as if I were going to give him cooties.