“This is an expression of everything I feel, in the midlife women around me, this sort of simmering rage that we’re living with. You’re supposed to be the perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect daughter, the perfect friend. It’s a huge, huge pressure.”

Held to an incredibly high standard by society and squeezed from all sides, women are fed an ideal that is impossible to live up to. And for women of a certain age, there’s the prevailing narrative that they’re “past it…invisible and unfuckable”. 

Refuting this narrative is Fran Littlewood. In her novel Amazing Grace Adams, she rails against the existing stereotypes and expectations placed on women. Grace, who at times feels like a minor character in her own life, ends up fighting back, ripping up the social contract to have her “main character moment.”

In this episode, you will learn:

1. Why authentic characters can lead conflicted and contradictory lives.
2. How to use your writing to shine a spotlight on unseen stories.
3. Why you should reimagine the best version of yourself in your next character. 

Find out more about Fran here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production, and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up to the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here. 

You can view the full transcript here.

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