How To Create Strong Female Characters – Women We Need In Fiction

Have you made up your mind to write a strong, feministic, female character for your story? Then let’s set something straight. It’s 2020. Bechdel or a rebellious character not wanting to be abused shouldn’t be the only litmus test for an empowering, feminist book, or movie.

To defy the traditional, feminine roles, “masculine” attributes are often assigned to women to give strength and boldness to their characters.  While that is great, and I do enjoy them every once in a while, I’ve always craved a female Dexter or Sherlock or Elliot Alderson or Joker or Tyler Durden. The layers of complexity those characters hold are often found absent in female roles.

I made this list a long time ago for my personal preference, but I still don’t see these traits in fiction. When they ARE present, they are depicted in a negative light, or the said woman mostly transforms by the end of the story. It’s also important that these qualities are infused in the protagonists and not just side characters to amplify their purpose.

Here are some pointers you can use to write strong, distinctive female characters that the world needs

1. “Imperfect”, non-sacrificial mothers/women (someone who can eat the last piece of her favorite chocolate without sharing with her kid and feeling guilty)

2. Strong females without an abusive past (sexual trauma has been overused to generate complex female characters)

3. Geeks and tech-nerds without a makeover in the end

4. Women not wanting kids or having an abortion without showing it as a bad thing

5. Diverse women (Diversity not just in race, religion, sexuality, body type, etc. but also in social and economic classes, job titles, and professions)

6. Fierce, career-oriented women who are not bitter or cruel

7. Flawed, realistic women without degrading or glorifying their flaws Show me a woman smoking without shaming her or depicting that as women-empowerment

8. Complexed thinkers who prefer rationality and logic over emotions

9. Anti-heroINE/gray characters

10. Women good at sports/STEM subjects, without them playing the role of a real-life personality

11. Women in leadership roles

12. Women having a healthy, non-marital sex life without that being the center of the story or her character

13. Women obsessed with “feminine” traits/habits without showing them vain

14. Aromantic/asexual women