What makes some characters instantly compelling to one another? Sometimes it isn’t vulnerability, physical attraction, or even conflict. Sometimes it’s the moment one character looks at another and thinks: Oh. You’re good.
In this episode of Master Fiction Writing, I explore the Hawksian woman, the confident, capable, quick-witted female character associated with the films of director Howard Hawks, and ask what this classic Hollywood archetype can teach contemporary fiction writers about creating characters with agency and relationships with genuine chemistry.
Using examples from To Have and Have Not, His Girl Friday, Much Ado About Nothing, Pride and Prejudice, Star Wars, The X-Files, Killing Eve, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hunger Games, Firefly and more, we’ll look beyond the archetype itself to uncover the storytelling principles underneath it.
We’ll explore why competence can be attractive, why banter alone doesn’t create chemistry, how characters earn one another’s respect, and why some of the best relationships are built through mutual reassessment. We’ll also look at the limitations of the traditional Hawksian woman and how writers can take what works about the archetype without falling into the tired idea of the woman who earns respect simply because she’s “not like other girls.”
There’s also a practical exercise to help you examine an important relationship in your own story. You’ll identify what your characters initially believe about one another, find the actions that force them to reconsider those assumptions, and explore what becomes possible in the relationship as recognition turns into trust and intimacy.
Because sometimes the most powerful relationship progression isn’t:
They hated each other. Then they fell in love.
It’s:
They learned how to operate together.
And sometimes the most romantic words in fiction aren’t I love you.
They’re I trust you.
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