November is here, and you know what that means: preparing for finals, Thanksgiving break and NaNoWriMo.
Also known as National Novel Writing Month, November is a time when frustrated novelists and aspiring writers-to-be scurry to pump out tens of thousands of words, all while experiencing a sense of community with other participants.
As an English major and a hopeful playwright, NaNoWriMo is a great way for me to get creatively inspired. It also gives me a chance to address my other passion: creating strong female protagonists in contemporary literature and drama.
There is a notable absence of feminine characters in the popular literary scope. Even independent, smart characters like Hermione are secondary to the Boy Who Lived.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Harry Potter and believe that J.K. Rowling wrote a fantastic series, but I think it is high time for women to start writing about women.
And I don’t mean Gossip Girl-style novels. I think we are perfectly capable of writing stories about women who do more than make mistakes for their male counterparts to clean up or chase down vampires and beg to be bitten in the name of true love.
Do we really want Bella Swan to be the most remembered female protagonist of our generation? I want to read a story about a young woman who is a fully developed character on her own and does not totally rely on other characters – especially men – to develop. So, start brainstorming, set your word-count goal, and happy NaNoWriMo!
For more information on NaNoWriMo, you can visit http://www.nanowrimo.org/.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Texas chapter.