Feature Chance for Women’s History Month

Logline: Her gifts set her apart, but are they enough to survive the Invisible War?

Quote: Nothing about this job was going to be easy. It was scary. It was awesome. Rose couldn't wait to get started.

Growing up, I loved to read. Books with dragons and spaceships were the best! But there were so few women on the page that I could look up to or emulate. It was so hard to find any characters like me. Professional success is one thing, but when my niece reads my book and loves it, I feel like I've done something incredible and given her something that I never got to have.

Logline: At 28 years old, Neera starts falling again for her high school sweetheart. Their love has a price, she soon finds out, but magical powers and a prophecy are not what stands in the way of their love.

Quote: “THEO!”
Everyone in the room held their breath and looked at Neera, who was trembling with fury.
Theo, though his eyes were aflame, tried to maintain a straight face. “What?”
“This is my choice.”

What drives me: I'm an Italian migrant and an English Literature graduate, among other things. During my degree I learned to dissect written media as well as other communication means; it's as if since I mastered literary analysis I can't take off this metaphoric pair of analytic glasses! And so I have started looking at things and reflect on them in a multilayer-way, leaving behind (or, better: revisiting and filing away in the 'learn from the past' drawer) prejudices and other conditioning ways to see the world that I have inherited from my parents, school, friends, etc.
I'll get to the point. One of the main takeaways from all this personal growth has been to say what I think without being afraid of being judged because whatever I believe should not get in the way of what you believe and viceversa. I'm still working on it of course, but I'm starting to shed all this fear of being judged I've always had. Breaking free from mummy-like bandages, it's what it feels like.
Writing helps me with that, because, although it can be frustrating and challenging, it's what makes me feel free the most: free to say what I want, the way I want, in the language I want.
It also makes me feel incredibly proud, because it doesn't matter I'm part of a minority (immigrant, woman): writing webnovels means I'm part of a larger community of passionate authors and readers from all ethnicities, backgrounds, believes, styles, etc. Each and every one of us reads/writes webnovels/webcomics to share, enjoy, laugh, feel, and we all deserve to be here.

1. Series link
   Frankie and Hayley

2. Series logline
   When a struggling coffee shop owner receives aid from a shy artistic customer to host a creative event, their relationship becomes more than just friendly.

3. An inspiring/powerful quote that showcases the characters’ strengths (max 100 characters)
   “The only thing I’m seeing that no one wants is your fucking homophobia.”

4. Tell us what creating series means to you as a woman in the webcomic/webnovel industry.

Creating allows me to bring stories that are needed into the world. Not only am I a woman, where mainstream representation is only marginally beginning to improve (and continues to centre white women), but I’m also queer. Stories about queer women are few and far between, and when they do exist, they’re either traumatic, sexualised by male creators, or tell only the most palatable story to engage straight and cisgender audiences. I want to tell uplifting stories about queer women falling in love. I needed to see queer women falling in love when I was younger to help me realise my feelings were valid. I want my story to help people feel validated in their own identity. Creating means I can craft the story I’ve always wished to see, and it brings me the greatest comfort.

Megan x

Logline:
Gwynn is a happy-go-lucky young lady off on adventure with her grumpy elf companion, ready to befriend whomever or whatever crosses her path with her unyielding optimism.

Quote:
"Why are you all alone here in the dark?? It's ok, you're not alone anymore."

Artist:
Growing up I think it was hard to find female characters in media that I could relate to, or really look up to. Nowadays, it's wonderful to see the amount and diversity of strong, unique and realistic female characters, and I'm happy to be able to add to that. I think a larger diversity in anything is really a good thing, and with webcomics/webnovels it's great that anyone can put their own uncompromised work out there.

Logline: Sam, short for Samantha, was one of the many worker drones. Working to the end of her days that were rapidly approaching, however, in one moment Sam found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lucky her!

Quote: "So, what is your intention now? Do you wish do you return to Sulla?"
Sam felt her eyes strain as she held back the flood of emotion of her next statement. "No, I know that I'll never be able to return. Or at least never alive. I knew that the moment I stepped out of the tower. Please believe me when I say that I never intended to be a disruption in your home. I just wanted to help Marco, but I have nowhere else to go at this point. I have lost everything."

Reasons: I have always enjoyed writing stories but never felt that I was good enough. So after years and years of having these stories in my head, I decided to try and get one out... This is one that hit me as being different but shows who I am. As a female, I wanted to write a strong story that didn't centralize around romance but did have heavy topic in it like corruption and propaganda. Females can write these stories too and be amazing at it! So here is my leap with my story.

Logline
A tween with a 'tude and her ghost ancestor team up to solve a historic murder. Maybe they'll teach each other a little bit about life along the way?

Quote
"If you had tried to talk to me last night I would've told you to get lost... but I've had some time to cool down. And look, maybe your advice was bad, maybe not. It doesn't matter. I know you meant well. So, I forgive you"
-Iris to Amelia in Chapter 4

About Me
I've done a lot of struggling in my life to accept who I am, and overcome my challenges. For me, this has included my gender, can I like this traditionally girly things? Will people still take me seriously? It has also been a struggle with mental illness. In my art, I'm learning to express myself, as a strong, intelligent, and sometimes very feminine woman. I also want to bring light to the struggles of life, and speak candidly about issues like mental health without stigma. That's what I'm trying to do with TROL. We are not perfect, we are not alone, we are not defined by our worst thing.

Link:

https://tapas.io/series/Magefront1

Logline: Amarantha Steppenhaus has big dreams of following in her famous battlemage mother's footsteps, and when she's accepted into the prestigious College of Magic and chosen to become a Bonded soldier, she sees those dreams becoming reality.
Quote: "For a wraith to answer a call from someone so young, you obviously have a hidden strength!"

I've been in the webcomic world a long time, over fifteen years now, with my first webcomic going live back in 2006. I've seen a lot of changes in opinion and "rules" when it comes to webcomics, but one thing that always remained a constant was how much more available and open webcomics were to women. Mainstream industries are hesitant to break up their old boy's clubs and tell stories that aren't the same rehashed plot, but webcomics allow female creatives to create whatever they want with no one to tell them no. It's exciting to see what stories can come out of people not tied to the very strict rules men in the industry have to follow.

Logline:
Aspen Ralvath is the young daughter, and most controversial creation, of the infamous late wizard Calpurnius Ralvath. Without her father to protect her, Aspen must brave the world outside of her charming seaside hometown if she hopes to resurrect him, potentially facing many of his powerful detractors in the process.
Along the way, she'll join forces with four other misfits; an amnesiac, a pint-sized knight astride his Rottweiler steed, a ravenous princess, and an overworked, vibrantly clad servant.

Quote:
"Sure, I'm gonna bring my dad back, and obviously, I'm going to be one of the world's foremost mages one day, just like him! However, it's all going to be on account of my own dedication and study! As if I'd ever let some dusty old piece of parchment take all the credit!" -Aspen Ralvath

About being a woman comic creator:
For me, making comics has always been very self-indulgent. There's something very empowering, and liberating about making the type of content that appeals to me personally, rather than hoping and waiting for someone else to give me the characters I like, and being disappointed if they don't get a very prominent role or much agency in the stories they're found in.
For New Stars, I wrote Aspen to be the type of character I would have liked to see when I was younger. She's a smart, resourceful young girl who isn't ashamed of her femininity, nor is she restricted by it. She's also ambitious, willful, and strong in her convictions. She isn't without her flaws, however, and has a lot of room to grow and learn. It's okay for her to not be perfect, and it's okay for her to be wrong sometimes. I feel like I really needed that, you know? An unabashedly frilly "girly" girl, who isn't the butt of a joke, who is intelligent and capable. A girl with sometimes very ugly emotional hurdles to overcome, who isn't wholly vilified for them even if she fails, and is still allowed to be loved.
I feel too often, the women I see in media can be these sort of easy to digest two-dimensional archetypes that don't challenge our perception of how complicated and dimensional we can be, and at worst, almost feel like they're trying to tell us what the "acceptable" way to be women is if we want to be treated with kindness and respect. "Be feminine, but not too feminine." It feels like there are a lot of unrealistic balancing acts like that that we have to do to be deemed worthy. Fuck that, sincerely.

Logline:
Elena, a woman who believes that a person have three lives; the planting, the watering, and the harvesting. Although she believes in that saying, she knew a person can never keep his or her past memories. So why can she?

Quote:
"People tend to regret things after they experienced the consequences." - Elena Salacia Benedict.

About being a woman series(novel) creator:
I have experienced writing various stories from ine app to another, but I can't seem to find the best one for me so I kept on looking for apps and found this. As a novel creator, it makes me very happy when people like my newly updated series. I made each one of it with all my heart. My peers sometimes think I'm over reacting but they're also proud of me even if its just one view. That way, I know someone is reading my work, someone is interested with my novel. There's this one time that I really cried a little when I saw that people are reading my series. Also for me, it does not stop from my happiness. I want to inspire aspiring writers to write their own stories, just like how my favorite authors inspired me. I remebered, I started writing stories when I was in 5th grade. Even though English is not my native language, my classmates didn't mind. I used to write those stories on a notebook and my peers would ask me if they could read it. Then, when one of my friends started writing stories as well, I said to myself, 'Woah...it feels good when I made someone write their own stories.' I didn't really have that much problem being a writer as a woman but I've encountered some people who underestimated my, let's call it, talent, because if my gender. I actually didn't care but that made me thought, 'What's wrong being a writer as a woman? There are many famous authors out there that're women. Is it because I was an easy target?'. I write, not only to tell people around the world the story I wanted to show them, but also to make them unleash the creativity they might not know they have.

Series logline
Until today, horror stories about ghosts and the Grim Reaper only made Mina smile. Those things don't exist, so why be scared of them?
But now she finds herself in the middle of it all, ghosts waylay her in the streets and a Grim Reaper is trying to recruit her. She could help them, but is she really willing to open up to their world?

An inspiring/powerful quote that showcases the characters’ strengths
By now Mina had no real strong quote. Her actions shows her strength more. She faced ghosts and a dangerous looking smoke out of nothing and decided to protect the ghost and be nice to her, cheer her up.
A friend of mina says in chapter two: "No it wasn’t really important. Just a jerk who couldn’t see my advantages" by talking about a date. Not letting it get her down, is also a kind of strength.

Tell us what creating series means to you as a woman in the webcomic/webnovel industry
Creating comics has always been my safe haven. The world is cruel to girls interested in comics and drawing, but despite that it was always my salvation. When i draw or write, I can escape to any world imaginable and be any character. There was never a time that I hated drawing because of that. I hated only the stuck opinion of the people. So I started to draw strong girls (maybe to get strong myself), first as illustration and later as comics. I also started to be more open about my hobby. Many years I just don't speak about it, to prevent the discussion and their displeased looks. Now I'm not afraid anymore to tell who I am and what I like. Creating comics and the community gave me the strength to do so
through comics and illustrations i want to give other girls the strength to be themselves

Series logline
Do you know the story: Two people fall in love and live happily ever after? A story for everyone? As if! In school, it's not that easy to live happily with your love. Because you two are not the only ones who have a say in it. When they have put you in a drawer, they know way better than you, who and what suits you.
Can you overcome that?

An inspiring/powerful quote that showcases the characters’ strengths
"Besides, not everyone believes the lies. Those who do are just too loud, so I can't hear the others."
This Short Story is mainly about strong women

Tell us what creating series means to you as a woman in the webcomic/webnovel industry
Creating comics has always been my safe haven. The world is cruel to girls interested in comics and drawing, but despite that it was always my salvation. When i draw or write, I can escape to any world imaginable and be any character. There was never a time that I hated drawing because of that. I hated only the stuck opinion of the people. So I started to draw strong girls (maybe to get strong myself), first as illustration and later as comics. I also started to be more open about my hobby. Many years I just don't speak about it, to prevent the discussion and their displeased looks. Now I'm not afraid anymore to tell who I am and what I like. Creating comics and the community gave me the strength to do so
through comics and illustrations i want to give other girls the strength to be themselves

Logline: A daily comic about two female cousins growing up in an ever changing world. Sometimes it will make you laugh, sometimes you'll just wonder why the hell you are reading it.

Quote: "I love you for who you are, not for what you appear to be.” (Sparkle)

I try to create a comic that is positive and inspiring to women of all ages. The characters are loosely based on my two teenage nieces. Sometimes the characters, like my nieces, don't get along, but at the end of the day they love, and are there for, each other.
The comic is a comedy and a slice of life. The two main characters, Princess Sparkle and Jilly, are strong female role models. It is a clean, light-hearted comic with the simple goal of making people smile.

Logline:
Breaking free from their prison seemed like the hardest part of the plan for the young gods. However, they will soon find out that defeating King Cronos and keeping the family together might be more difficult than they once expected.

Quote:
"You are brothers and sisters. You are family. Your father's time is up. And your bond is something he won't be able to fight." - Gaia, Episode II.

About me:
I've been making comics for a long time, and this comic series means a new start from me, specially because it's the first time I'm both writing and drawing a story. Publishing a webcomic means creative freedom from the rules of big publishers, since I can draw in my own style, without being told it's too soft, or cartoon-y or colourful and it only belongs in Kid Lit (as if that was something bad).

This series also means I get to revisit Greek Mythology, a topic which is very dear to me, but giving the goddesses and other female characters a new chance to shine and be reclaimed as more than jealous wives and angry jealous mothers. I get to tell their story too and (hopefully) portrait them as characters with different nuances and more than just one kind of strength.

1. Here is a link to my comic, Kitsune:

2 - Hikari Tamano is new in town, and just wants to fit in, make some friends and move forward with her life, but things don't ever go as smoothly as we want. Enemies, frenemies, teenage drama, issues with trauma, and an unexpected, rather unwanted bout of romantic feelings, will complicate things more than she'd like.

3 - One quote that I like so far is "A crush is just a crush. It doesn't have to be love, or lead to a relationship. You don't need to do [them] any favors or fawn over [them]. What you need to do is think about what YOU want, and why." There's a different quote that I have coming up in the next chapter; however, that resonates even more for me. "Don't lie to me. Don't promise me something you have no control over!" (I'm still drawing the next chapter. I hope to start posting updates soon though.)

4 - This series features several characters that serve as coping mechanisms for me. Each one is some extension or exaggeration of a facet of my personality, emotions, and state of mind at various points of my life. In my past, I have felt a distinct lack of control and agency, and I've had anxieties over various things, for example, when it comes to dealing with new environments, people, and relationships... especially intimate relationships. Like many women, I am a "hopeless romantic"; however, I've often found a lot of romance plots to move a bit faster than I'd like, or else be slowed more by external conflicts happening to the characters, than internal ones. Writing this story has given me a romance that matches my rather abnormal and cautious pace when it comes to relationships. I have characters, not facing too much external obstacle to their relationships, but rather grappling internally with processing their feelings, deciding for themselves if they are ready for a relationship, often questioning their own emotions.

Hello, I apologize for my terrible English, it is not my first language.
As my profile indicates, I am a woman and I would like to participate in the activity with the mini comic, Unsolved Case. Whose first story narrates from the perspective of a woman who was the victim of a horrible crime.

What does being a writer mean to me? Well, I have always loved storytelling and have learned the art of storytelling with effort. This is my first comic and I'm excited for it.
What does it mean to be a woman in this environment? Well, I have never doubted that I have the same ability as a man, I have never felt that I cannot achieve the same literary goals and I have always valued the effort that this profession implies. I know that as long as I strive I will continue to advance and improve. :rubor:

1. As war tears apart everything she's ever known, Elise decides to take matters into her own hands to fight the invading armies.

2. All she knew was that she wasn’t going to let the Giskens take her alive.

3. I grew up in a very traditional part of the United States - the only expectation for women was to get married and pump out babies while their husbands worked. I'd always known that I wanted something different from that, and so I was always drawn to stories of strong women. Writing gives me the chance to create and show women in strong roles traditionally reserved for men - especially military, and to hopefully inspire more women to take one more of those roles.

1

2 Otterly absurd comics
3 "Does it work?"
4 - As the female half of a two person team, it feels all too easy to fall into the background. This is especially true in the field of comedy, where the frustratingly overused "women aren't funny" stereotype still persists. I make all the art, and with webcomics the art is what really carries the humor. Even the funniest lines will fall flat without the correct expressions and characterization. I look forward to a future where "funny for a girl" no longer exists.

Logline:
APOC is a supernatural urban fantasy centering on Clara, a young woman with no memories of her childhood and Death constantly permeating her thoughts. She, alongside three others, deals with apocalyptic powers that they never asked for. Chaos inevitably ensues.

Quote:
"I'm hard on you because I know what you're capable of. You were the best of them all."
Dr Jennings - Chapter 5, Page 21

The ongoing creation of APOC stands as an example that traditionally male-focused genres such as Action & Superhero can not only be created by women, but can breathe new life into well-trodden story tropes. While there are plenty of mediums out there that cite a strong female character as steadfast and almost stoic, I hope to show a truer version of that - someone who develops herself over time, keeps in touch with their emotions and develops empathy alongside the strength needed to do what is right in the world. In that way, I wrote APOC not only for a younger version of me, but for a present version too. I only hope that in the same way, it will resonate with other women out there too.

2 - "Sam in New York" follows Sam's life from his elementary school years to his late twenties, as he deals with his overbearing, demanding parents' desire for him to be a lawyer, his burgeoning love for the theatre, and embarks on his unceasing quest for fame, love and acceptance.

3 - "Perhaps that's where I got my obsession with being 'larger than life' from." A quote from Sam about how Yiddish Theatre has encouraged him to become a famous actor.

From this episode: https://tapas.io/episode/1979867

4 - As a woman who loves writing psychological stories that take a deep look into what motivates people to do certain things, change their lives around, and interact with others, "Sam in New York" is a series I look forward to working on every day when I have the time to.

Sam, in many ways, is based on myself, as is his desire to go against the societal grain and do what he wants. While his parents and society tell him that being a lawyer would be "easier," he has already to live for himself and establish his life on his own terms, not that of others. This is something a lot of women can identify with, since a lot of women are often told to put others' concerns before their own. Sam is myself, but "magnified" in certain aspects - his chutzpah, his daring, and his bombastic personality. Armed with these personality traits, it will be easier for me as a woman in a male dominated industry to achieve my goals as a graphic novelist on my own terms.

"Sam in New York" is a slice-of-life psychological graphic novel, which is a genre in which women are often brushed aside or reduced to plot points or "mere" love interests (think Philip Roth's novels, which have received a lot of criticism in recent years for objectifying women). I wish to breathe life into the female characters who populate Sam's Lower East Side, since many female characters will have a role in shaping his life, including and especially his mother, Raisa. They are people in their own right and will not be reduced to plot devices in Sam's life.

Another woman who will greatly influence Sam's life is Katya, who will be introduced later in the series. She is a different take on the "strong woman" trope, because while she is not athletic or good at fighting, she is incredibly emotionally resilient, kind, and sex-positive. She is a loyal, loving woman to her love interest, and exerts a lot of sexual agency. She appears quiet and shy on the surface, but is deeply interested in the lives of others (much more than she initially "appears" to be) and will have a big impact on not only Sam, but many others around her as well.