Writing a Strong Female Lead—And Why It Matters

Would you rather read a story where the female main character is a one-dimensional damsel in distress, or a complex heroine who overcomes layers of trauma and vulnerability, putting her life on the line to protect others?

No, really, I’m asking.

Because I’ve been having some fantastic discussions with all of you about what makes a female lead relatable, believable, and ultimately enjoyable to read. I’ve gotten SO many comments from women who have named their daughters ‘Evie’ after Evelyn O’Connell from The Mummy movies because they want their girls to grow up curious, intelligent, fearless, and loyal.

Conversely, I’ve gotten comments from a lot of men (no, I’m not pulling punches on this one) that women like her just don’t exist, primarily focusing on how Evie in the movie was loyal to Rick—or was straight up dependent upon him since (they say) she caused all of the issues and he had to save her. As if her fierce personality only appeared after having met him.

Now, we all consume media differently, and we all have different viewpoints. But I think those men are missing the point. Not every female lead needs to have a love interest in order to be compelling. (River Tam in Firefly is an excellent example of a badass woman who fought through incredible trauma primarily for love of her brother and the crew of Serenity). In fact, if a female lead is NOT compelling without a love interest, she’s just not compelling at all. If her relationship with a man is her entire identity, the entire story will fall flat.

Movie magic may dictate that props and actual physics are ignored during some fight scenes (take Kara in Dragonheart wielding a double-sided axe that would have been incredibly heavy in reality), but that doesn’t take away from the fact that her character is actually very fleshed out. Kara is not the only person in the movie that is unqualified to fight a highly trained soldier—Bowen points out that the entire population of peasants are no match for trained knights… right before Kara convinces him to train them and her.

So who really won the fight with Einon? In a complex, well fleshed out tale, the answer is: they all did. Draco provided the motivation and support, Bowen provided the training and focus, and Kara provided the unflinching courage and fierce determination. Nevermind the fact that Brok was a huge guy, trained as a knight; he was toying with her, and instead of meekly dropping her head and waiting for the final blow, she took advantage of his arrogance and saved herself. Bowen would be proud.

One final example—and the one who probably influenced my writing of Kitania Celeste in the Native of Nowhere trilogy the most—is Quorra, the last ISO from Flynn’s Grid in Tron Legacy. She spends her entire life being different, hunted, and in hiding. She is inherently ‘special’ because of what she is, and she has no way of changing that. She probably would if she could, but she doesn’t agree with the ‘perfection’ that CLU is chasing, and prefers instead to align herself with the Users, primarily Kevin Flynn. When she meets Sam, she’s still terrified of being captured, but she decides that he’s worth the risk. Without her, he would not have been able to take Gem’s advice and survive.

My point is, having a deeply flawed, vulnerable, or traumatized leading lady doesn’t make her useless, and giving a female lead the ability to overcome obstacles and challenges that seem insurmountable doesn’t make her a Mary Sue. You can have both truths co-exist: she’s vulnerable and afraid, but she’s also determined and fierce. If it takes three books in a trilogy for her to come into her power and finally trust herself, that’s not slow character growth, that’s realistic. How many of us have dealt with abuse, exploitation, demeaning treatment, and inequality? How many of us are STILL dealing with it?

Now… the male characters who support (or don’t) these leading ladies? What role do they have in the story? I think I’ll save that for a future blog post, but if you have any thoughts, feel free to leave them in the comment section below (and please, let’s try to keep things respectful). I want to hear from you.

How many Evies, Rivers, Karas, and Quorras do we have in the audience? Please raise your hand and share your experience! And the next time some guy (or gal) tells you you’re just not worth it, remember that YOU are the author of your tale, and you get to choose the outcome. Now go out there and be your badass selves.

Unapologetically.

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