Feature Chance for Women’s History Month

2 - Two college-age women run away from their spiraling lives together, discovering themselves and getting to know each other along the way.

3 - If it needs to be from a published update: "I could drive to Canada or Texas or wherever on this dang continent I so well pleased and never have to face Isaac or Mama ever again."
If it can be from a future update: "Then I did something I never could’ve done two months ago; I said no." (Will go up in October)

4 - I work in an extremely conservative and male-dominated industry. Writing allows me to ignore the standards of that industry and embrace controversial topics, extreme emotions, and not censor myself for fear of getting "cancelled" at work, so to speak. It's an opportunity to make my voice heard in a different way than normal, and to create things that might help someone like me. I needed a book like this at one point in my life - about freedom and unpredictability and self-discovery. I couldn't find one that fit the bill, so I made it; my hope is that someone else who's searching for the same thing will find it.

Logline:
Rekki has always dreamed of being a magical knight and giving demons the smackdown, but when Excalibur is drawn and this simple childhood wish comes true, her adult life as a celebrated monster-slaying hero throws her into a complex world of politics that tears a rift between her and her best friend.

Quote:
"You can't seriously think I'll bow and call you my king!"

Being female in webcomics to me means opportunity for free expression. I was once told by a Marvel editor that while he felt my skills were good enough, my style was "too feminine for a mainstream book like Spider-man", so basically I figured if I want to make an overblown action comic, I have to take it into my own hands! I'm a big fan of shounen manga and how it has these outrageously powerful characters with giant swords and magical powers fighting huge monsters, so I thought it'd be cool to make a series like that, but where the main heroine and the "cool rival" character are female and where the villain pretty much embodies the worst elements of toxic masculinity and patriarchal power structures.

Logline:
Follow the adventures of shape shifter siblings, Mae and Dante Rojas, as they go on a cross-country RV trip with Bear and Asuka; a pair of curious women lost on their journey in life.

Quote:
From episode 5 "Not if I drive fast; they (cops) can't catch me if I'm fast."
From a future update, hope that's ok! "With or without you, I'm going to find my sister and bring her home."

Being a female in male dominated industry is challenging, but also exciting. I'm paving the path for future women to travel. I have a deep love for animation and comics, and always felt so frustrated seeing that the majority of characters were men, written by men, directed by men, and meant for men. I'm making something I love, and that I hope brings joy to other women who read it. I'm also a lesbian, and so I write lesbian characters. Creating characters and stories about gay women and their lives let's me show a category of women that we can exist in media. Writing gay women to be more than just a side kick or a creepy stalker or dead in season, I'm drawing the stories I wished I saw so long ago. Creating comics as a woman, a gay woman, in a male dominated industry, means I have a voice in media, and can show other women, that they can too.

Longline:
A young woman desires to pursue her grand dreams of becoming a masterful swordsman, despite her family's insistence that such a life is not fit for a lady.

Quote:
"I won’t let them dictate my life. I'm a grown woman, and I am going to become an expert swordsman!”

In this industry, it's often difficult being a woman creating something that isn't romance. I'm often told I should stick to writing that, but romance is just one genre and there's an infinite number of other genres that are just begging to be written about. It's absolutely frustrating to see women constantly portrayed as the sidekick to a male-centric cast, or shoved into the arms of a male lead for the sake of being a romantic interest. Women can do so much more, and we don't always have to be thrust into the arms of the main male lead. As a bisexual woman, I try to showcase how there's more than one route when it comes to the love interest and I want to create grand worlds with amazingly strong, beautiful, and talented women characters who don't outshine the men, but rather they coexist with them. They work together, prosper together, and love together. That's what I want to accomplish.

2- Series Logline
One brave angel rises to unveil the real meaning of life and fight for peace. With countless secrets and schemes to overcome, she stumbles on with death following her wherever she goes.

3- Quote
"In front of thousand eyes,
Faced with myriad lies,
I will not stop to rise,
to find my deeper ties." [Chapter 1]

"If there is one thing I will never do, it will be to give you what you want, Azrael! I am done playing your games, you are not my nightmare... And I am not your puppet!" [unreleased Chapter]

4- I have struggled with "women standards" my whole life. From living with an abusive father to not being able to get a decent college place for my dream job, all because "more qualified" men where more interesting. Because of childhood trauma, I was diagnosed with depression, a mental illness that a lot of young and old women struggle with. What I found helps me cope is writing. My story is my escape from reality, I use it as my fuel to be able to overcome my obstacles and struggles just like Seraphina does. In my novel, I want to display the countless highs and ups of life, the struggles, the low falls and the high rises. It's important to give people something that shows them a realistic way of life, with all it's ugly and pretty sides. I want to wrap it into the fantasy world of my novel to get the important messages across and comfort and help women like me. Because dark clouds will pass by and make place for sunshine, no matter how long it takes. Never give up fighting.

A question about the definition of strong for this topic. You mean strong in terms of power? (either physical, political, mental, etc...) or this also includes a strong characterization and inner strenght like a strong resolve?

Some stories may have a female character lead that is not strong at the beginning, but grows into someone stronger.

Logline: Tara Sparnak, a dejected American dancer impersonating an elite K-pop idol, struggles against the sinister ties of his group in a desperate attempt to avoid being wrongly convicted of his murder.

I placed myself between Min-Soo and the assassins, shielding him with my body as best as I could.

The writing industry has long been a male-dominated field, where women in the past even had to use male pen names in order to get their works published because it was once frowned upon for women to become authors. Being able to be a part of the webnovel industry nowadays is incredible for me as a woman because it showcases just how far we've come in the writing community as well as everyday life. By creating my own series, I'm able to share my voice with others through my characters and show that female leads can be just as strong as male leads in novels, even after facing countless hardships.

Hello. I am a woman webcomic creator and while the two main characters are men of my main series, their love interests are strong, brave women who assist them at saving the day rather than being damsels in distress. Hyde's girl is Lucy Harris. A beautiful steel magnolia who is toughened from being of the lower class and she managed to escape prostitution. Jekyll's love interest is a celebrity alchemist Dr. Katherine Vice who has a deformity, but her mind and strong will make up for it. She even joins them on missions under disguise. Then there is Jekyll's niece Emily who always urges him to better himself and isn't above reprimanding him when he goes too far.

1- https://tapas.io/series/MKs-The-Strange-Case-of-Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde2/info2
2- A lighthearted and adventurous retelling.
3- By Lucy; "Then ya'll ain't sorry! A real man doesn't have 'buts' when he's sorry!"
By Vice; "I found a new purpose, Uz. Which is avenging my sister by stopping you and the board!"
By Emily; "It's not my uncle's fault you acted like a floozy! Why didn't you just say how you felt, Emma?!"
4- It means a lot to me for many reasons, but in the case of the women of the story, the original version and most adaptations don't do the women of Jekyll and Hyde justice. I take pride in making these women so strong and giving something meaningful to the story besides just being girlfriends.

Logline: Katareen, a princess in line to be queen, and her bodyguard Ryn, a one-armed elf, adventure around the world seeking wisdom and culture. Along the way they learn more about each other and discover that their destinies are more similar than they may have realized.

Quotes:
Kata: "It's my choice and no one else's! I don't want to hear anymore of your prejudices!"

Ryn: "I don't question my own abilities. I've come far. But I don't pretend that life is as easy as it was before."

4.As a queer woman in this industry, it has been difficult to truly express myself and write the stories that I want to see, for fear of being criticized or judged. It has only been recently that I've felt confident enough to post and show close friends, family, and the public what I've been making. I know that if I had seen or read about strong women as well as strong queer women as a child it would not have taken me so long to accept myself. I can only hope that even if my comic affects just one person then I've done my job.

Ohh hey, I fit all these requirements! This is awesome Tapas, thanks for these types of opportunities!

2) Kinley and her friends find ways to navigate and survive a supernatural society that now regrets their existence. Trouble begins when one of their own gets caught up in a situation bigger than anything they've ever faced and the group must determine how far they will go to protect their found family or do what is right.

3) "You wanna go to jail quietly or do we need to make a whole scene out of it?" - Kinley to an unamused criminal

4) I love creating this series and being a part of the webcomic community. Even though traditional comics are more of a male dominated industry, the webcomic community overall is much more accepting of female creators/strong female leads. I love that I can just hop on and create the types of stories/characters that I wanted to see more of as a kid! There's a lot of freedom that comes with self publishing on tapas so I really value having that! Unlike in other industries, I feel like being a woman hasn't gotten in my way and that I have the same opportunities here as anyone else!

2) Ahiko is a simple stable hand in Azeria when she receives an acceptance letter from the Aris Mage’s Guild. As she journeys to the Aris’ Guild, a surprise encounter with the mysterious Illocian Guild changes the course of her life forever. Accompanied by the sorcerer Rokuzo Barachi and artificer Enossa, Ahiko travels across the Azerian countryside to Acanium. Now working as mercenaries, the trio faces against the Illocian Guild to maintain peace in Azeria

3) Quote: “You made a promise to me, don’t break it.” chapter 3

4) I really love action comics, but I often find that they are written with male audiences in mind. And, I really hate seeing female characters with chests that would realistically cause sever back pain. I also hate seeing when a strong female character suddenly get pushed to the side for a male protagonist, and losing her status. So, by making my comic, I want to show powerful female characters who are strong in many ways, and not get pushed to the side. I often have my female protagonist clean up battles when the rest of the party can't and showing that they can pull though over and over again. In this way, I am making a comic I would have wanted to read when I was younger, to support young girls, showing that they are not going to be pushed to the side, and it is not ok to be pushed to the side.

1. Logline: Every year, when the bell tolls for the New Year Roxanne hides in fear for the Night King comes to take away someone from the village. When her mother is about to be taken Roxanne must make the choice, to let her mother go, or to take her place.

2. Quote: Because you took my heart… and I mean to take it back.

3. I love telling stories. I've always loved creating and telling stories, and being able to do that here is wonderful. Growing up and (and now still :P), I've always loved a good female protagonist, someone I could relate to. Being able to write these female characters now and allow others to read and enjoy my stories is incredible. :3

1. Nasty creatures need to understand this: You don't mess with little old ladies protecting babies.

2. "Tonight's plan was to do nothing but observe. Not that that isn't what they had been doing, but this time with both of them focusing at the same time they hoped to come away with enough matched observations that they could actually formulate a plan as to the best way to kill the creature. She sighed, in her old age she had become a killer. The little old neighborhood lady who fed the birds and squirrels and found homes for stray cats was now a stone-cold killer. The thought did not sit well with her, never mind that the creature was after the neighbor's baby."

3. As I've been writing all my life creating series for me is a continuation of that activity. I do not look at "women" writers or "male" writers. I'm a writer first, above everything else in life, I am a writer. I'm fortunate in that that's how my friends, male and female, who are writers look at me... as a writer, nothing more, nothing less.

Hey there! This is awesome and I love it and I want to humbly submit my story for this opportunity:

Logline: When Ira, a powerful and ruthless mafia queen, falls in love with a beautiful and charming man, a whirlwind romance begins. However, when his connection to her arch nemesis is exposed, Ira goes through extreme lengths in order to make her his. Whether he wants her to, or not.

Quote: "My rules are the law. This Island is my property. Everything on this Island is my property."

I have never been content to be a side character in my story. Growing up, I have always been entranced by the strong woman, the powerful woman, even if that woman is the inevitable villain of the tale. The Witch. The Evil Queen. The Cruel Step Mother. They have the best clothes, the best songs, the best powers, and yet often those women are portrayed as evil simply for wanting something that has been held as Man's domain.

Power.

Independence.

A life dictated by their own terms.

In the 90s, there have been plenty of women in the media I consumed that pushed boundaries while not being seen as villainous, which furthered my own drive and independence. Lina Inverse from Slayers, Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth, Ororo and Rogue of X-Men are all characters I looked up at too. I also very much loved Sailor Saturn and Sailor Galaxia of Sailor Moon; one character is physically weak but terrifying in power, and the other, while villainous, is uncompromising and sacrificed her soul in order to save what she loved.

I have worked very hard in my education and career to become a successful engineer in a field that is STILL portrayed as male dominated, STEM. Now, I want to share my creativity to the world and use the women, heroic and villainous, as the basis for the stories I write and the images I draw. My women are not simply content to wait on the sidelines. My women are still feminine and confident in their beauty and sexuality while also aiming for high goals. Heck, sometimes my women are princesses who are kind, and yet their power still brings fear. My characters won't compromise and neither do I. I have often been described as aggressive, smart (and smart-acting), and intimidating, which is just fine. My role models are often described the same and my characters will reflect that influence. If that makes people in the male-centric industries I work in uncomfortable, so be it.

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Oh my. Tapas is in the game!

Oh hey, this is exactly why I started making comics!

Logline: A young explorer must travel to unknown space and solve a cosmic mystery to bring her missing mother home.

Quote: I will find all the secrets of the UNIVERSE! (Prologue, pg. 7)

I was a child in a family of scientists - curiosity about our world had been instilled in me since before I could walk, so I always gravitated towards the narratives that features characters who were curious about the unknown. That lead me to sci-fi, which, just like comics, was a very male-dominated genre and I did not see much of my humanity reflected in my favourite stories. As a result, I wanted to tell a story that represented my humanity, tenaciousness, curiosity and passion for all that is unknown about the world - and I wanted to tell it visually. That meant comics; that meant another outwardly male sphere. I wanted to show a girl who is smart, who loves to tinker and engineer, but who also is not ashamed of her femininity, but rather who openly embraces it. I'm hoping to write a story that would inspire lots of girls to ask questions and stand strong, and for boys to see those girls, and look up to them as their heroes.