Don't Forget the Strong Female

As I wait for the next phase of the editing process for my debut novel, THE VASE, I'm keeping myself busy with my fourth novel. I've outlined most of the book, and synopsized the first few chapters. So I have a very good idea where I'm going with this story. I have my main character, John Dunn, the main antagonist, Theophilus Shepstone, some supporting characters in Xegwana, Bishop Colenso, and Captain Walmsley, and of course, King Cetshwayo.

But I most certainly will not forget a strong female character. Anyone who's read any writing blogs lately knows that strong female characters are pretty much required in novels these days, and I don't just mean Chic Lit.

Nope, and if an author has any savvy in the craft of writing novels, he better not forget that fact. So, what do you do when the setting is in the 19th Century, and in Africa? Doesn't matter. You get a strong female character in there.

And I have one. It's John Dunn's first wife, Catherine Pierce. She married John Dunn at age fifteen, (he was eighteen,) and ran off with him into Zululand where they lived off the land, (and mostly John's hunting,) for two years. They returned to civilization when the Natal Border Agent, Captain Joshua Walmsley happened to run into them, and seeing their sorry state, offered to let them move in with him. (They had two sons by then.)

So they moved in with the captain and his wife, and Catherine became good friends with the older, but childless Mrs. Walmsley. Now this was an important friendship because Catherine was considered a "colored" woman, meaning she was half white and half black. And Maria, (Mrs. Walmsley,) was not prejudiced or racist in any way towards her. But Catherine did have to deal with a lot of that from the other people in the colony.

It was not uncommon for a white man to marry a black or colored woman, but it was also not uncommon for said man to abandon his black woman and colored children for a white wife to make himself acceptable into the white society. But when John Dunn faced that crossroad, he scoffed at the notion of leaving his wife and kids. To him, skin color was not a factor.

But in dealing with this issue, Catherine Pierce needed to be a strong character. Now, she didn't fight in any of the wars, but she did fight her personal war. (Racism.) And it's worth mentioning that although John never did marry a white woman, he did marry several black ones. So these will be some of the sub-plots. Yes, it's all coming together. I'm over 10,000 words into this, and only mid second chapter.