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Lisa Hall-Wilson

Dive Into The Soul Of Storytelling With Deep Point Of View

Are You Writing Female Characters Who Are Too Stupid To Live?

Posted on August 31, 2017April 30, 2020 By Lisa Hall-Wilson

Writing strong female characters has become this… thing recently among writerly types. Nobody wants to write a tired trope or cliched character, and yet they keep popping up. Fantasy is particularly bad, but historical and horror are only a couple of other genres guilty for it.

If your character is too stupid to live, it means they continue to make baffling decisions that force them or the people around them into otherwise impossible situations OR they are passive and bad stuff just keeps happening to them (the poor dears). It feels contrived, and instead of cheering for the too stupid to live female, readers cheer on the situation that’s causing them so much trouble.

Some particularly too-stupid-to-live-females in my opinion are:

Daphne from Scooby Doo (that girl needs a rescue virtually every episode)

Bella Swan from Twilight (I’m talking more in the first 2.5 books, after that she finds some gumption)

Scarlet O’Hara from Gone With The Wind (I just want to smack that woman over and over and over…)

Aim to create female characters with agency. Characters that have their own motivations and desires and do things to move the story ahead.

I am guest posting over at Kristen Lamb’s blog today on how women should be brave not stupid.

Portraying strong women authentically is tricky. Most of the time, I find strong female characters are caricatures of an extreme: the dim-witted blond, the stock-in-trade man with boobs, the femme fatale. These are stereotypes sure, but what they really are is extreme examples of real life. Can you find an example from history of a female warrior in a male-dominated society – sure, but she’s an outlier. If you want to write an outlier character that’s fine, but let the traits that make her an outlier be the source of her strength not her ability to wield a sword.

Read more here.

Which female characters have you read/watched lately that you felt were well-written?

Been told you should learn Deep Point Of View? Had an editor or critique partner tell you to “go deeper” with the emotions in your fiction? Looking for a community of writers seeking to create emotional connections with readers? Check out the Free Resource Hub and then join the Going Deeper With Emotions In Fiction Facebook group.

How To Write Fiction - Advanced Tips female charactersfiction writingstrong female characters

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  1. Dee says:
    January 5, 2025 at 8:06 pm

    Absolutely unbelievable … the characters they write for women are so stupid it becomes hard to watch. No women are that stupid. Often just stop watching because it’s just ridiculous

    Reply

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