Bah.

[lyssie]

You know, if I didn't have to work, I could get so much writing done. Sigh. Anyway. This thought was brought on by me being bored at work, and starting to make a list of all of the female characters I like and/or can write (whether well or not is another matter entirely), and... As always, with these things, the list is never short.

For one thing, there are five Elizabeths alone. I think it could be more that Liz is a popular name. Hrm.

This list? Is off the top of my head.

A
Aeryn Sun
Ace
Abby Sciuto
Aeon Flux
AndrAIa
Anya
Angela Montenegro
Alex Eames
Anastasia Dualla
Alice

B
Buffy Summers
Bianca
Barbara Wright
Barbara Havers

C
Cally of Auron
Cally Henderson-Tyrol
Caprica Six
Catherine Tully
Camille Saroyan
Carolyn Barek
Connie Murphy
Chiana
Cordelia Chase

D
Domino
Donna
D'Anna Biers
Doris Lethbridge-Stewart
Dot Matrix
Dana Scully

E
Elizabeth Weir
Elizabeth Rodgers
Elizabeth Swann
Elizabeth Shaw
Elizabeth Braddock
(I told you there were five)
Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell
Ellen Tigh
Ellen Ripley

F
Freya

G
Gwen Cooper

H
Hexadecimal
Harriet Frost

I
Inara
Inari

J
Jen Shepard
Jenna Stannis
Jool
Jean Grey
Jean Barolay
Jo Grant-Jones
Jo McDonagh
Jaime Sommers
Janet Fraiser

K
Kara Thrace
Kate Lockley
Kate Todd
Kate Heightmeyer
Kitty Pryde
Kris Kochanski
Kaylee Frye

L
Louanne 'Kat' Katraine
Laura Cadman
Laura Roslin
Leela of the Sevateem
Larrin
Leia Organa

M
Mele-on Grayza
Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmonson
Meggan
Megan Wheeler
Mouse
Melanie Bush
Martha Jones
Madelyne Pryor

N
Nyssa of Trakken
Neve
Nola Falacci
Noranti

O
Ororo Munroe

P
Paula Cassidy
Peri Brown

Q
R
Romanadvoratrelundar
Rachel Summers
Rachel Dawes
Rose Tyler
Rain

S
Sithandra
Soolin
Sam Carter
Samantha Stuart
Sue-Shaun
Sikozu
Servalan
Sharon Valerii
Sharon Agathon
Six
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Corvis
Sally Sparrow
Susan Foreman
Susan Taylor
Saskia Roper

T
Teyla Emmagan
Tegan Jovanka
Tory Foster
Tara Maclay
Three
Toshiko Sato
Temperance Brennan
Tia Dalma

U
V
Vala Mal Doran
Victoria Waterfield

W
Willow Rosenberg
Winifred Bambera

X
Y
Z
Ziva David
Zotah Zhaan
Zoe Washburne
Zoe Heriot
Zoe Carter

So. Um. Yeah. The next time I hear someone say there aren't any interesting female characters to write, I may smack them. A lot.

Seriously, guys. Off the top of my head. (with spellings and last names spelled properly now I've access to that information) Er, also, this was personal preference. There are some who didn't make the list, purely because I've either never written them, or they annoy me. However, if I ever need a reason to maim someone, I'll add all of them (plus any others I can think of, I mean, the Avengers and extended X-Men alone...) on, print it out in 100-point font, and hit them with the resulting boog.

Comments

[antiwesley.livejournal.com]

Lorna Dane?
Dr. Moira MacTaggart?

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Dude, I said it was off the top of my head. We might be here all week if I listed every female character I could think of, ever.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Great list, and much love for the Elizabeths! The only woman in my family who *isn't* named Elizabeth is my maternal grandmother - my mother, paternal aunt and paternal grandmother are Liz, Elizabeth and Betty, and my middle name is Elizabeth, too!

(...but Peri? Really? I hear she was awesome in the novels, though...)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I was giggling madly when I realized Rodgers' first name really was Lizzie. I'd thought so, but I couldn't remember completely.

[havocthecat]

So. Um. Yeah. The next time I hear someone say there aren't any interesting female characters to write, I may smack them. A lot.

Call me so I can watch? Possibly help?

My list of interesting female characters is...oh, as long as yours, definitely.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Yes! ow, if someone would actually say it, now I've gotten all crankily militant (actually, people've been quiet about it, lately.)

This would not surprise me.

[havocthecat]

I think fandom's been focusing on the racism wank rather than the feminism wank for a while now. I'm sure the pendulum will swing back around again soon enough. Sadly.

*starts listing off female characters* This could take a while.

[havocthecat]

Elizabeth Braddock is Psylocke from the X-Men comic book series. And she's awesome.

[kkglinka.livejournal.com]

You think that's bad? I have this long-ass fic which features Psylocke as a major supporting character and I couldn't figure out who the hell Elisabeth Braddock was. Possibly because I've always spelled it with an "s".

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall fandom having an argument with itself once on the spelling of Betsy's name. (I went with the 'z' for amusing aesthetic purposes, but should probably do the 's', since I think that might be more recent canon)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Shaw is from Doctor Who, she was a companion to the third Doc, and a physicist.

Rodgers is the awesome awesome ME from all the Law and Order shows.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

When I first read "Janet Fraiser," I parsed it as "Janet Fraser," Jamie Fraser's sister from Diana Gabaldon's romance novels. I did a spittake!

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Hahahah. No. From Stargate: SG-1. Short, scary redhead who has needles and knows how to use them.

PS

[kali921.livejournal.com]

PS - what about Zealot and She-Hulk? Don't they rate, being strong female characters? :-)

Re: PS

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

It was off the top of my head. I missed out my B5 girls, too.

Re: PS

[kali921.livejournal.com]

Ah know, ah know. I'm just ribbing you, honey. ;-)

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

v. cool. It should be a meme, like that one with the movies where you bold the ones you've written, italicize the ones you know, and add new ones you've written, or something like that.

I assume the Alice is the Resident Evil Alice?
"Donna"? *perplexed*

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

If I make this a meme, I have to add people to it. *ponders* Which would not be a bad thing. Like the B5 girls and CSI women and more comics ladies, since, as Kali and AW pointed out, I did miss a few...

eta: And, yes, Alice from RE. And Donna from DoctorWho (I don't remember her last name and forgot to get it last night)

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

if you do it as a meme more seriously then you should limit it to characters you've written, IMO. Then other people can add characters they've written. Otherwise it's just going to become a list of all female characters ever, and while that might be interesting at first, it's going to get very long and boring as hell very quickly.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

*giggles madly* If I limit it to the ones I've written, I'll be adding more to the list.

Oh, man. I'm kind of sad. Maybe I should limit it to "main character in fic" to count. Also, limiting it to finished/published fic would be good, too.

[scarfman]

When you wrote, "five Elizabeths," perceptions clouded by my own prejudices of course, initially I thought you meant five different concepts and/or 'ships of Elizabeth Wier from your fiction.

[kkglinka.livejournal.com]

I just assumed she had written some sort of AU femmeslash orgy. *shrugs*

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I... *ponders how that would work* Oh, lord. Some of them would.

[kkglinka.livejournal.com]

Between the stargates, magic, shadow world travel trick and more magic, I'm sure it would.

Think of it this way: I just put Fiona and Puss'n'boots in my giant fic, in a completely serious way. I used Xanth. So I'm sure if there's a will there's a fictive way.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Hah! Sadly, no.