Guest post written by Up In Flames author Hailey Alcaraz
Hailey began her writing career in the sixth grade as a kid reporter for Time for Kids magazine, and has been addicted to storytelling ever since. Born in California and raised in Arizona, she’s a Southwest girl through and through who loves stories about fellow multicultural girls finding their way in the world. She currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, two daughters and precocious German Shepherd.
Up In Flames chronicles a riveting portrait of transformation, resilience, and love with an unlikely heroine who, when faced with unforeseen disaster, surprises everyone, especially herself.
In the era of Barbie and Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS, I firmly believe we need to embrace the unlikeable female main character—and advocate for a well-deserved rebrand.
After all, I’m not talking about the anti-heroes here. The murderers, the abusers, the serious harm-doers. I’m talking about regular, everyday, messy, flawed, complicated girls.
The Han Solos. The Jon Snows. The Spidermans (Spidermen?). You know, the kinds of characters that show up with all their trauma, mess up frequently, and yet still get to be the heroes of their stories. Relatedly, how come we never use the term “unlikeable male main character?” But alas, that’s a tangent for a different blog post.
Today, I am here to join us in solidarity—in loving support, in fervent fandom—for the ill-titled unlikeable female main character.
Because these hard-to-like girls and their stories matter. They have feelings and experiences and passions that are important—but we often get hung up on the fact that they are a little rough around the edges.
In the past few years, we as a society have pushed back against the urge to tell women to smile when they’re walking out in public, minding their own business, with the mindset that they shouldn’t have to make themselves more physically appealing just because a stranger wants them to. I want to take it a step further. Girls shouldn’t have to make their personalities more “likeable”—sweeter, more agreeable, softer, quieter—just to win our support. Let’s root for the loud ones. The strong ones. The ones who make mistakes.
In my debut novel, Up in Flames, Ruby Ortega is a classic, unlikeable female main character. She embarks on a journey of both self-discovery and social awakening as her hometown is destroyed by wildfires. She is forced to contend with her own racial identity, as well as the inequitable ways this disaster has impacted people in her community.
At various points throughout the novel, Ruby is determined and inspiring. But she is also selfish. She is loyal and smart, but also immature. She is complex and flawed. She, like all of us, is many different things; some of those things are wonderful, and some are less so—but she, like all of us, still deserves to be the hero of her own story.
Down with sugar, spice and everything nice. Here’s to girls being whoever they want to be.
