Introducing FINALLY (v0)
A simple way to assess if your fictional female character is a whole person, or you've accidentally made her into plot furniture
We love stories here at Words She Keeps.
Always have, always will.
But some stories stand out to us more than others.
Stories with women in them that meet a common sense rubric - we’re calling it FINALLY. Stories that treat women as people, not as social or plot furniture.
While there can and will be stories that subvert these criteria, the rubric below can be used to give you a sense of the complexity & fullness of female characters in fiction.
F — Forceful
Does she matter? A character is forceful when something changes in the story as a consequence of her presence or actions.
I — Integrated
Is she actually in the plot? A character is integrated when other characters register her. They see her, they hear her, they respond to her.
N — Nuanced
Does she worry, fight, laugh, sing, read, cook, bite? A character is nuanced when she is not reducible to a single trait or function, when she has contradictions, internal conflict, and competing motivations.
A — Autonomous
Does she start things? A character is autonomous when she makes active choices; and is not only reacting to others.
L — Located in Her Reality
Does she face incentives, consequences, tradeoffs? A character is located in her reality when she’s part of the world that the rest of the story inhabits - with the associated incentives and consequences.
L — Located beyond her Gendered Social Function
Is she a full person who happens to be a mother, wife, daughter? Or is that role all she is? A character is located beyond her Gendered Social Function when her gendered roles are part of her, not all of her. Even in (especially in?) stories that are specifically or prominently about her gendered roles or functions. All her other dimensions & preferences - be it race, age, income, sexual preference, or preferred flavor of soup - also exist. They shape her world and her decisions.
Y — Yielding/Changing
Does she respond, adapt, and change under pressure and events? A character is yielding when she reacts to events in the story - she changes her mind, she is excited, fearful, opportunistic or more.
This rubric may seem awfully simple but a surprising number of stories do not meet these criteria (and not for cool reasons, like intentional subversion)
At Words She Keeps, we publish and uplift stories that show women in all our complexity. Read our stories here.
Over the next several weeks and months, we’ll be writing Notes elevating stories that meet these criteria, as well as revising the criteria over time with reader & author feedback.
Do you have a story that assesses well against this rubric? Paste it in the comments or write us a note with a brief explanation!
Do you want help assessing your story? Reach out at wordsshekeeps@gmail.com
Are you a fellow author/critic with experience and interest in refining the criteria? We’re more than open to ideas on revisions and see this as a “living rubric” that will continue to evolve based on feedback from our community. Comment below or ping us at wordsshekeeps@gmail.com.
Acknowledgements
**This first draft of the rubric is informed by several sources - including scholarship of women’s literature, the work of famous female authors, feminist critique of the male gaze in fiction, the Guerrilla Girls, other parallel rubrics like the Bechdel-Wallace test, Aristotle’s Poetics, Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze, and many more. In addition, special thanks to the following incredible collaborators who gave feedback:
Hazel Allen, Bookstack
Judith Ashcraft, Pay to Exist/Synesthesia
Jenifer Jorgenson, Snark Floats