A strong heroine is a charm of a book. A great and unique female character is very essential for a story to success. Who would forget the likes of Hermoine Granger and Katniss Everdeen? Below are the tips on how to make stunning, and relatable heroine base in my opinion.
Define what is strong female character.
A strong female character doesn't need to be an Amazona type of girl. She may not into kicks, jabs or any action. Well, it's up to you if you add some to spice her up. But you should be careful not making her less believable. Don't afraid to make her feminine. Many readers have less respect of female protagonist who is trying hard and hate feminity and would rather act manly instead. Masculity doesn't equal to strong after all. Both man and woman has unique ways to win. So what if she still washes the clothes and dishes or being an engineer?
Give her the strength of character.
In literary view, a strong character is not the one who can carry tons and pull a gun. A strong character is complex, relatable and believable as if she is really existed in this real world. She has visible strengths, weakness, flaws, like, dislikes and aspirations in life. She should be three dimensional.
Make her decisive and independent.
Don't make her actions base on what was told by men and women in her life. Let her decide on her own. May we are presured by people in our life, don't afraid let her disagree if that is really her stance. She should not be submissive. Make her independent, show some hint she can do things in her own and may she needs help in other aspect.
Don't let her motivate only by a man.
Women love men. That's a fact. Your heroine is in love, but it doesn't mean, it's her only purpose of the story and her life. Fact of life, no one focuses only on one thing in this world.
Don't make her cruel.
There are some authors got mistake in portraying strong female character. They ended having them bitchy, rude, bully and unlikeable. That's a misconception of feminism.
Make her stand-up if she needs.
This. This one is the main reason why I can call a female protagonist weak in a novel. When she failed to defend herself. Story may focused in abuse but it's not right when she's tolerating it, being blind and giving it a faulty justification. Having a character who has no respect in herself will be also unrespectable. It's doesn't mean she will go straight into a crazy cave woman though.
Let her suffer the consequences.
If your character makes wrong decisions, punish them. Give them the deserved outcome. Nothing's more annoying than a Mary Sue. A female character who is liked by everyone, she has zero hater, everything is about her and her faults are tolerated and falsely justified.
So how's your heroine?
