How to Avoid Creating Female Character Stereotypes in Your Writing
Write several important female characters., Have the leading lady (or ladies) help solve problems., Make sure she wants something., Give your leading lady some meaningful character development., Break narrow gender roles., Give her meaningful...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Write several important female characters.
There is no right way to be a woman, and the more women you have in the story, the more clearly your story will convey this.
Give your women different roles, different personalities, and different skills.
Diverse female characters will help you avoid stale tropes.
If you are writing a story for a mixed-gender audience, your cast should be about 50% female, and the women should get about equal screen time. -
Step 2: Have the leading lady (or ladies) help solve problems.
Give her a clear set of skills, and let her actions meaningfully contribute to the plot.
Her actions should move the story along.
What decisions does she make? What are her talents, and how can she use them to help? Give her an active role throughout the story, not just one or two moments of usefulness. , What is her motivation? Giving your leading ladies something to strive for helps them become more nuanced, interesting characters.
Give her a goal beyond helping the team or finding a boyfriend, and she will become more exciting in the readers' eyes.
She wants to prove herself and make a meaningful contribution to her field.
She wants a friend.
She wants to cure the disease that killed her mother.
She wants to win a competition. , Show that she has vulnerability as well as strength, and let her learn and grow along the way.
This will help you create a complex, relatable character.
Here are some examples:
She learns to step up, let her voice be heard, and be a leader.
She learns to ask for help in coping with her PTSD from her difficult past.
She stops looking down on people who aren't as smart as her.
She figures out what she wants in life. , Show your audience that women can succeed in STEM, that they can be leaders, that they can be successful at work while having kids.
This will inspire your female readers, and send a positive social message that will create a little extra buzz about your book.
Show that it's okay to wear skirts or pants.
A woman can still be traditionally feminine (dressing girly, liking pop music, dating) while being successful and awesome.
Don't let femininity be seen as degrading.
Don't have your heroic men express disgust at pink, girly things, or being placed in a role that is usually reserved for women. , Build her relationship with her sister, her coach, her platonic male friend.
Show how she interacts with others.
Let readers see how she reacts to their vulnerability, and how they react to hers.
Show them bantering, working, and just being silly.
This will help her become likable in the readers' eyes. , Some stories make the mistake of having a female main character or two, and having the rest of the world populated by men.
You can avoid this pitfall by making some minor characters female.
There is the absentminded mother, the stern councilwoman, the comic relief shopkeeper, the bored bank teller...
Let women also occupy some of the minor roles in your story, and this will help show that there are many kinds of women. , Write women of different races, disabilities, sizes, sexualities, et cetera.
This will help you reach out to groups that are often underrepresented in the media, and promote a positive message.
Many curly-haired girls and women of color love to see dark-skinned characters with curls.
Disability is more than wheelchairs and white canes.
Also consider Deaf women, chronically anxious women, autistic women, women with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder... -
Step 3: Make sure she wants something.
-
Step 4: Give your leading lady some meaningful character development.
-
Step 5: Break narrow gender roles.
-
Step 6: Give her meaningful relationships beyond romance.
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Step 7: Write more than one or two women.
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Step 8: Create diversity in other forms.
Detailed Guide
There is no right way to be a woman, and the more women you have in the story, the more clearly your story will convey this.
Give your women different roles, different personalities, and different skills.
Diverse female characters will help you avoid stale tropes.
If you are writing a story for a mixed-gender audience, your cast should be about 50% female, and the women should get about equal screen time.
Give her a clear set of skills, and let her actions meaningfully contribute to the plot.
Her actions should move the story along.
What decisions does she make? What are her talents, and how can she use them to help? Give her an active role throughout the story, not just one or two moments of usefulness. , What is her motivation? Giving your leading ladies something to strive for helps them become more nuanced, interesting characters.
Give her a goal beyond helping the team or finding a boyfriend, and she will become more exciting in the readers' eyes.
She wants to prove herself and make a meaningful contribution to her field.
She wants a friend.
She wants to cure the disease that killed her mother.
She wants to win a competition. , Show that she has vulnerability as well as strength, and let her learn and grow along the way.
This will help you create a complex, relatable character.
Here are some examples:
She learns to step up, let her voice be heard, and be a leader.
She learns to ask for help in coping with her PTSD from her difficult past.
She stops looking down on people who aren't as smart as her.
She figures out what she wants in life. , Show your audience that women can succeed in STEM, that they can be leaders, that they can be successful at work while having kids.
This will inspire your female readers, and send a positive social message that will create a little extra buzz about your book.
Show that it's okay to wear skirts or pants.
A woman can still be traditionally feminine (dressing girly, liking pop music, dating) while being successful and awesome.
Don't let femininity be seen as degrading.
Don't have your heroic men express disgust at pink, girly things, or being placed in a role that is usually reserved for women. , Build her relationship with her sister, her coach, her platonic male friend.
Show how she interacts with others.
Let readers see how she reacts to their vulnerability, and how they react to hers.
Show them bantering, working, and just being silly.
This will help her become likable in the readers' eyes. , Some stories make the mistake of having a female main character or two, and having the rest of the world populated by men.
You can avoid this pitfall by making some minor characters female.
There is the absentminded mother, the stern councilwoman, the comic relief shopkeeper, the bored bank teller...
Let women also occupy some of the minor roles in your story, and this will help show that there are many kinds of women. , Write women of different races, disabilities, sizes, sexualities, et cetera.
This will help you reach out to groups that are often underrepresented in the media, and promote a positive message.
Many curly-haired girls and women of color love to see dark-skinned characters with curls.
Disability is more than wheelchairs and white canes.
Also consider Deaf women, chronically anxious women, autistic women, women with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder...
About the Author
Teresa Young
Brings years of experience writing about lifestyle and related subjects.
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