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Any Tips For A "Strong" Female Character?


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#1 Dalton.T.R

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Posted 24 September 2020 - 01:41 AM

For as much as I love Sakura's character, it's undeniable that she wasn't used to her full abilities. She was constantly kept at the sidelines except for when the plot needed her, and this is something I would like to avoid with my own female lead. I absolutely REFUSE to let her be a sideline character.

 

So what do you guys and gals have to say about writing a strong female lead? It's not that I don't trust in my abilities to write one, because I've done it before, and I'm doing it now. But maybe some of you would like to see some traits on display in my own character. No promises I can fill them in, but I'll certainly give it a shot if they fit her character... which is similar to Sakura, but she starts off towards her companions/teammates with a more neutral perspective. 



#2 Phantom_999

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Posted 24 September 2020 - 11:32 AM

Huh, Well obviously what NOT TO DO is make her character revolve around only being the love interest. She should have a clear and cut goal and show passion and conviction in achieving it. Being nice is a generic personality trait But I guess everyone like nice girls more or less. Don't make her a Sasuke fangirl. If she must have some sort of attractions to him at first at least tone down the squealing wanting to please him in any way possible. Make her more outgoing and condident, Well even more so than in the manga I guess. I'll think of some more stuff later. Kinda sleepy right now. got back from work a little while ago


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#3 gamma

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Posted 26 September 2020 - 06:22 AM

I think a character having independence makes them strong.

Its the ability to stand up and make her own decisions for herself, to have her own drive and instincts, and actively learns from her mistakes is what I think constitutes as a good trait for any female lead to have. Its the basis for courage and confidence, which are attributes of strength.

#4 catsi563

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Posted 01 October 2020 - 07:02 PM

In my opinion make the character a strong character who happens to be a woman. its one of the big mistakes that gets made making a  strong gay or black or woman character instead of  strong character

 

the writer ends up making the defining trait the characters femininity or gayness or blackness and the character has no other characterization beyond that

 

lets use Sakura as example before her character assassination

 

as plot points for the character she had the following

 

A: Step out of Inos shadow and stand on her own

B: become a strong kunoichi never give up

C: be able to stand in front of her teammates instead of behind them "watch my back now"

D: find love

 

each of these plot points is and can be seperated from naruto and Sasuke in some way so that if you remove them from the equation the plot point it self still stands by itself as a breathing point from which the story teller can work forward from and which helps define the character without her love interests as a standalone character in and of herself

 

A: she wants to be stronger so she can stand on her own

B: She has a never give up attitude and a will to win

C: Stand and protect others instead of being protected

D: find someone who will love her for herself and her flaws

 

again as you see not once are the two male leads mentioned in her motivations though in the story theyre the core. But as you can also see that removing them from the motivations doesnt diminish them in the slightest

 

While Sakura can be rescued from a bad situaton here and there she is still fully capable of handling herself and standing on her own as a character with her own stories and plot points

 

Sakura is a strong character by herself to a point where she stands on her own as part of the story 

 

Karrin Murphy is another example as well with her own plot points and troubles which she overcomes during the course of the dresden files shes no mere love interest, She fights and gets hurt and even needs to be saved on a couple of occasions, but that doesnt means shes weak no sir, she comes roaring right back and takes on bad guys way out of her weight class sometimes quite literally 

 

Karrins character arc is clearly defined throughout the series and again we see how if you remove harry from the story you can see how Karrin stands on her own as a character without him, How a Karriin murphy files would function with her as the protagonist with out stretching any of the story basics or world building to accomodate her

 

Strong characters stand on their own in the sense of not needing another character to validate their existence in the story. Sakura does NOT need Naruto or Sasuke she has her own plot elements that with very little effort can be modified to support her as a standalone

 

Same wth Karrin 

 

the key takeaway is to make sure when making a strong female character that you first make a STRONG CHARACTER who happens to be female. let it be a trait but not let it be the sole trait that defines the character above all else


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