Writing Strong Female Characters

On Friday, I wrote that I am committed to write strong female characters. Honestly everyone should be. It should not be a surprise that there are strong female characters in anything...but I digress. What is interesting about writing strong female characters is that "strong" can have many different meanings and ways of being demonstrated. And when you are in the middle of a writing sprint, you can get lost on how to show strength.

Confused? Let me explain.

I like to believe that I am a strong woman. In fact, I know myself to be a strong woman. But that doesn't mean that I don't cry, complain, get angry, make mistakes, etc. It doesn't mean that there haven't been moments when I haven't needed to rely on someone. It doesn't mean that there haven't been moments when I haven't spoken up. This weekend I ended up spending a lot of time thinking about those moments when I didn't speak up, when I let someone (usually male) believe he was right, when I went with the flow to the detriment of my own happiness. I thought about these moments because my character was in the midst of a similar one. Of course, I look back on my own history of voicelessness and see weakness. I don't see strength. I judge that poor version of me harshly for letting other B.S. get between me and my voice. So I looked at the computer and began typing away. I made sure my character didn't make my mistakes. I made sure she spoke up loudly and proudly. And, of course, that is one way to show strength.

When I finished the scene, it didn't feel right. My character was strong, but how did she become strong? One way to show strength is to show how one becomes strong. How moments of supposed weakness (which usually aren't really moments of weakness) lead to growth and future moments of strength. In some ways, it is easy to write a character that is strong off the bat. In some ways, it is a far more interesting challenge to show how strength can appear in the strangest of moments, after the biggest of breakdowns (which are actually breakthroughs). It can also be interesting and important to show how moment of "weakness" are actually evidence of strength.

I think it is especially important to think of these nuances when writing female (any character really...) characters. There is strength in all kinds of women. Homemakers, CEOs, Single, Married, Straight, Gay, Transgender, Black, Asian, Vampire Slayer, or Princess...We should not let one definition of strength define all modes of strength. As a woman in my mid-twenties, I am still learning how to be strong and I fully expect to keep learning as I enter different modes of life. I personally find the stories the show this learning process to be the most intriguing.

Still, I didn't rewrite the scene. Not yet anyway. I am just now far more aware of how a strong female characters grows like any other character. I am aware of how each scene is an opportunity to test her strength, to grow it, to nurture it, and, since it is a story, break it down and hopefully build it back up.

P.S. 16,000+ words have been written. I'm thirteen days from my half marathon. Still chugging along in 1Q84.