Strong Men in Fiction

I have written a fair bit on strong women mostly because that is the more obvious of the two battlefields in fiction. But the dearth of capable, competent, and confident male leads is beginning to tell in a manner no one can now ignore. As a writer interested in portraying characters who are capable and …

Writerly Sound Bites, Number 8: Character Progression – How Characters Broken by Trauma Recover and Rebuild, Part 3

Brunhilde (Marvel Comics) Thus far we have looked at how children and men are broken and remade in abusive situations. It is not a pleasant picture and the road back is rough even for the strongest members of each demographic. Manipulation cannot be overcome in an hour, perhaps not even a year; it takes time, …

Children in Fiction, Part 3: Are Heroes and Heroines Interchangeable in Fiction?

  Thus far we have discussed what a lack of children means in terms of world-building, along with fictional children and teens’ (often outrageous) adult-style behavior. Both these items were mentioned in Ms. R.J. Sheffler’s article here. Today’s subject, however, is not among the issues that writers encounter listed therein. Many writers, particularly in the …

The Iconic Feminine – Are Modern Writers Shying Away from This Archetype?

Michael Critzer, also known as Professor Geek, returns in this excellent video on the Iconic Feminine. He uses the original She-Ra and the Netflix remake to emphasize his point. This makes the topic even more interesting if you only have a minimal knowledge of one or the other series. It’s rather obvious who needs to …

Japan’s Women Warriors – The Onna-Bugeisha

Long unknown to the West, recent archeological discoveries have brought the women warriors from the Land of the Rising Sun international attention. Known as Onna-bugeisha, these female samurai were few (the last known corps of Onna-Bugeisha numbered around thirty individuals), but they were fierce and capable fighters. It is said that they were particularly skilled …

The Three Types of Heroine: A Closer Study of What Makes a Strong Female Protagonist, Part 3

This article is the third in a three part series dealing with the three types of female heroines available to writers. Parts One and Two may be read here and here. Adding to the conversation on “How Do You Create Strong Female Leads,” ridersofskaith posted this insightful comment: “the Strong Female Character (TM) is someone …

The Three Types of Heroine: A Closer Study of What Makes a Strong Female Protagonist, Part 2

This article is the second in a three part series dealing with the three types of female heroines available to writers. Part One may be read here. Last week we reviewed the first type of strong female heroine originally described by Anthony Marchetta here. In order for an author to properly portray this kind of …

How Do You Create Strong Female Leads? Simple – Look at the Ones Already in Existence

Anthony Marchetta over at Superversive Press and Castalia House published an interesting pair of articles on SuperversiveSF some time ago. In the original article, he stated that there are two forms of heroines who take active part in combat in the stories writers create. The first type, he states, are capable fighters who have lost …