What's it take to create a strong female character?

[keii4ii]

This is a wonderful article: I hate strong female characters

If it has anything to do with 'strong' characters, I define that as someone who is independent; capable of doing things themselves, responsible, etc.

I like that definition. However, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with characters who are physically weak, reliant on others to a fault, etc. Such characters can be a part of great stories. They could even be the main character! It's definitely a problem when writers write such characters as the Default for any category of people, such as females, though.

[jjfresh]

Haha, BEAUTIFUL TITLE. Perfect way to guarantee readers.

Yus. My main character is physically weak. A cultural image of strong female character is a hotheaded, impulsive girl who likes to start fights. That's not strong, that's just annoying. Legend of Korra is an example and so is Hunger Games. Katniss has some toughness to her but she had that impulsive, moody attitude that managed to make me dislike her by the second book.

In the age of political correctness and sensitivity, we have a need to address this "strong female" idea and "everyone is equal." These are true and yet they get annoying after awhile. I went through that phase of "strong female" leads and now I'm being realistic about what "strong" really is. And it isn't impulsiveness.

[Creaux]

I don't write genders personally, but I will absolutely assign men and women fodder roles. As in they have simplistic desires, nothing outstanding about themselves or as weaker beings of mental and physical state, to show off how freaking weird or hardened my regular cast is.

For me, personally, there's a rule called the "stupid stick" that really destroys writing for women. The rule is that if a guy wouldn't do it out of common sense, why would a girl do it?

Case in point: The Walking Dead. Beth Greene is a younger female character who, while scared, did what she had to do to survive. And, very suddenly, they write her having a teenage "I CAN DO WHAT I WANT" phase while out with a guy who was in the same basic boat as her. It was completely OOC for her. It really comes down to how the characters handle situations. They're totally allowed to not handle them well, but when you go so far out of character to show this, there's a problem.

I have a girl in my comic Weirdwood named Gwen. Her goals in life are to settle down with a family-- She literally wants to be a typical boring housewife.But she'll never have this due to the situation at hand which is a mix of the apocolypse and her and her brothers' duty to an extermination company that owns them. So instead, whenever she sees a guy, she goes crazy trying to woo him. In her spare time, she imagines herself as a princess in distress and often has mental breaks of reality where she truly believes this. She's sort of incredibly out of touch.
While she is boring by desires, her actions balance her out, and when push comes to shove, she has goals that need to be met and nothing will get in her (Or her hatchet's) way. I see her as a completely unrealistic person, like I only meet people like her when I look at completely depraved teenagers. But her character is fun when she has to be, and she has more than her desires to drive her.

I feel like if people want to write typical females (Ones that truly are damsels in distress/weak) they totally can. I mean look, it's their stories they can do whatever they want, you know? And it's not like women who depend on men don't exist. They absolutely do (I know because I'm related to a few who are archetypes of "Mary Sue"ism. Ugh.) Not every character can or will be some in-depth rainbow, nor should they. Sometimes you need very simple people with hilariously simple desires.

I'm going to have the unpopular opinion and say getting a comic out there, that people will want to read, means doing some things with writing you wouldn't normally do. With Webcomics, you don't have to try TOO hard to sell out, but you do still a little. If you don't, you really don't get read. I'm not saying selling out and making weak characters is a must, but I find most of the popular comics, or ones with the loudest fanbase, happen to be ones that show of women as objects of sexual desire or weaklings or "Strong type but TOTALLY BEWBY"

People will do what needs to be done to sell a concept and, while its skeevy and gross for the artist to do, they have readers. And those readers are actively feeding the approval of those types. I think if you go into a setup with the mindset of "DON'T WRITE A TYPICAL WOMAN" you'll fall into the same trap that everyone else has and make a totally flat character. I think it's no better than writing a basic female archetype. So when you go into writing, don't think so hard, don't let opinions shape you. Look t characters you like and add bits from them, or watch documentaries to get how human interaction works. It's worth it.

I WILL SAY I DON'T SEE THAT MUCH ON TAPASTIC. I see great characters with goals and desires that make them incredibly individual, and that's what I love about this website

[getsuart]

I don't write with gender first either. Two or three of my characters, who were supposed to be male, became female, and they still have the same goal.
Of course, not everyone is strong. Youd don't have to fight, or being always stubborn. There is one thing that gets on my nerves when I come to see the "typical strong female character", is that they all look like the same (strong and appealing).

And I think that's what we should avoid, strong or weak female : the really big clichés.
One or two clichés are nice, sometimes it adds some comedy too, but if the whole story is full of clichés, that becomes a problem to me.
I don't know if I'm telling it correctly, because I like when female characters don't wait for the plumb...* prince, and if every women are like "yeeaaah we don't need your help maaan we're toooo badass and strong and sexy and everything" and become just big shadows of the cause they want to defend, well... it's not interesting.
Even strong male characters have flaws (MANY flaws, like the characters listed in the article you gave, Keii4ii).
They need to be felt human first.

(but you do whatever you want with your story of course. If it's a story full of cliché, most of time ti's a parody. Though I saw a lot of stories written by people of every ages where it wasn't a parody. So... boring.)

If my main character (female) would have been a boy and the male that accompaign her a girl, I think he would still be a numbskul for the lady. Because the main character is coward (with some other flaws, but that's the main one), and will have to get over her fears to realize anything. That's how she will become courageous. Just like a shy person will have to talk to an assembly.

*yeah, I was talking about Peach, but I think Peach is only trolling Mario every times she get captured and feel nostalgia about the first time he saved her. That must be it.

[elixiadragmire]

Hmmmmm always find these topic a bit of a trap.

I don't create strong female characters, hell I don't create strong characters full stop. Thats boring, I create people. I'll break down one of my own:

Teb: exceedingly feminine, is book smart, well read, very curious, naive to a fault, a bloody idealist, hates rude and cruel people to the point of being rude and cruel back (double standards much?) hates being told what to do or forced to do it (even if its the right thing to do) - This girl love freedom of choice, its her main trait

Is she strong? I dont have a clue! She's physical weak and mentally strong, bloody minded in fact. I had a scene recently where two thugs nearly made off with her, I played it as a trope, mainly because I want to lure my readers in a gender stereotype trap so I can flip this later. If I'd let the scene play out without the inference from a male character (with gorgeous locks, lovingly groomed in honey soap) I'd have two dead thugs no doubt, but the story would of been on a different track. So why have the thugs? Well be as it may the world, the one I've made, much like our own is run by men, being a woman is hard, its a constant fight. THAT is what I wanted seeded FIRST before a truly expanded on her character development.

I hope I'm doing her justice but at the end of the day I can only let Teb speak for herself.

[Zanreo]

I just try to make interesting characters regardless of their gender, really. And I focus more on making "interesting" characters rather than "strong" ones.

Step 1. Make an interesting/strong character
Step 2. Make her female

[hades]

I have a bigger question. Why does gender matter so much that we have to write a specific way instead of you know making them believable?

[Creaux]

Yeah no, this is the second topic that you could either totally agree with, or slightly disagree with (with good reasons) and start a war. PS: Very good add in however

[elixiadragmire]

Ah then I've misinterpreted the tone. I'll dial back the post

[Creaux]

No you're fiiiiiiine!!! It's hard to textually talk to people hahaha your post was great!

[PotooGryphon]

Hmmm, yep, this topic is a bit of a slippery slope. haha

I agree with everyone that characters should just be developed characters embarking on their hero's journey. Personally, reading a story I don't seek out stories based on the main character's gender. I don't care as long as the story is good.

Now, that aside, there are SO MANY gender centric articles out there on this topic. An interesting one being the Bechdel Vs The Sexy Lamp test. The Bechdel test being a story needs at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man to pass, and the Sexy Lamp test being if you're female character can be replace with an inanimate object your story fails. shrug

I do agree that characters do need to be more well rounded than their stereotypes, unless that's the punchline or gimmick of that character. That's my thoughts. As a female, myself, I just want stories with characters that are more dynamic than a sexy lamp

[Gabbi]

When I create a female character I don't really think about making her "strong". I just want to make her interesting, with a lot of layers. Sometimes when I create characters, I decide their gender at the end of the process, because I don't want the gender to really matter that much.

Sometimes I think people try too hard to make a "strong female character" and the character ends up sort of...uninteresting.

[allenthomas]

This may sound really crazy, but a "strong" or "weak" female character or male character for that matter isn't that important to me when I create characters. I like to create reasons for my characters, or at least I think I do. If a character is "strong" or "weak", I don't mind as long as there is a LEGITIMATE reason for the character to be that way. A weak character just for the sake of being weak is expendable for lack of a better term and uninteresting. A strong character for the sake of being strong is a robot and is equally uninteresting. Don't worry about the gender or "strength" of a character and instead worry just about the character and WHY they make sense to exist in your story. (And not because you said so) Everything else will flesh itself out accordingly.

[ck_tapastic]

a "strong" or "weak" female character or male character for that matter isn't that important to me when I create characters.

this reminds me of a story that I heard from a Marvel editor; when Spider-man debuted, it was the first superhero character that wasn't unrealistically muscle-bound and that's why a lot of readers could relate to the character; and as we know, the debut of Spider-man was a watershed moment for Marvel's history..

[balalaikayon]

The trick of making strong female characters is to make as many female characters as you can and make them matter to the story.

Because, when you have only one character - and usually action movies/games/cartoons/comics have only one "main girl" - this lone character becomes the representative of the entire population. Like, the ideal. As if every girl can be only like this one, the stereotype. The girls who don't fit into this narrow ideal are failures, so they don't matter. So, whatever she does is harmful, beause only she dictates the rules of "real womanhood".

So, for example, if you make your main girl an innocent doll-like creature, you're reinforcing the idea, that girls can be only like this. And we don't want that. So you add an another girl, the complete opposite of the first one - a frivolous mean girl.
But look! It's still not enough, because now the "Bad girl" is only an antagonist for the "Good girl". And if your "Good girl" wins, it still reinforces that "Bad girls" must be punished. And if "Bad girl" wins it'll mean that only "Bad girls" are accepted in society.

So, add one more female character! And one more! And more! And more!

This way your female characters can be whatever they want - physically weak, physically strong, girly, tomboyish, stupid, smart, naive, cunning, funny, serious, etc.

[kambreapratt]

We have a few "strong female" characters. Each is different and their "strength" is defined differently. Our main female character is a strong character, but she was intentionally written to be weak initially. We wanted an evolution and starting her out as "strong" would not have worked.

I think "strong female" character is a tough thing to define to begin with. I think characters should be believable and should be as real as possible. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. "Strong" means different things to different people and stength can be situational as well.

[carloswebcomic]

Well, if you lived in the 90's or early 2000's, all you needed to make a strong female lead was to spell 'girl' as 'GURRRRRRRL' and make them pissed off at EVERYTHING all the time.

Aaaaah, I miss those simple days.

Not really.

[Caelestie]

hmmmmmm
gender= sex roles
it doesn't mean female or male. it means feminine or masculine.
you might want to use sex instead.

"Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and femininity. Depending on the context, these characteristics may include biological sex (i.e. the state of being male, female or intersex), sex-based social structures (including gender roles and other social roles), or gender identity." wiki

I think most of you forget something really important when writing a female character. Is the place where they come from is patriarchal, matriarchal or equal. This will help you a lot when it come to writing characters in general. It seems most people forget about it since the default setting is patriarchal and it never assumed otherwise unless stated. Your audience might assume stuff about your character depending on their sex but it you that need to clarify and make sure the audience understands what your characters are regardless of sex.
That what I do in my comic. It causes confusion when I do that but I trying to make sure that my female don't always enter the same boxes.
They are free of that.
so yeah it a different way of seeing stuff because I just looked further than mainstream feminism.

[meepGTV]

Really, it doesn't matter whether they are female or not. A strong character is a strong character. Just make that strong character identify as female, and boom. You've got a strong female character. She doesn't necessarily need to be psychologically different. She is just female. No need to make her different, unless your comic specifically deals with gender identity or she has an interesting background. In that case, you might want to refer to the above comments.

[taylorpitts545]

Write a character that could be a guy or girl, not around the fact that the character is a girl.