I need help in creating a female character.

[langland07]

haunting heaven

Women aren't a different species, dear.

I know that, where my troubles came was there are some psychological differences and that's what I didn't understand. I once tried creating a female character that was a cop and I tried making super badass but at tons of times super girly when stuff happens. People then said she appeared like she was too weak for her position.

So I was seeking advice on making a good balance.

[haunting heaven]

langland07

haunting heaven

Women aren't a different species, dear.

I know that, where my troubles came was there are some psychological differences and that's what I didn't understand. I once tried creating a female character that was a cop and I tried making super badass but at tons of times super girly when stuff happens. People then said she appeared like she was too weak for her position.

So I was seeking advice on making a good balance.

Yeah. The reason she appeared to be too weak is because you treated her as "girl" rather than a human being. Hence my point that women aren't a separate species. Don't think that women have "psychological differences." Think that individuals--male or female--have differences depending on their life experiences, goals, etc. If you keep othering your female characters, they're always going to seem stilted.

[Maeve Faylenn]

Quote:

I want her to be woman but at the same time someone who can hold her own and take care of herself.

If you dont mind me asking what is this supposed to mean? "be woman but at the same time someone who can hold her own". I don't mean to go all feminist but, the way you have worded that is that woman cant hold their own usually. I think what you meant to say was "I want her to be feminine and dainty- but still able to hold her own etc." Or at least something to that effect.

[Niamh the Fae]

langland07

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Just make a guy character and give him girl parts instead of man parts.

yeah but what about the emotions of a female character? I want to know what are good emotions to incorporate. See my main character Kurt is a naive idiot who'll go into harms way totally not understand why there is a treasure yet to be obtained until he's there and the trouble has showed itself. And when it does, he's showing his fear and yet he's works through it to get out of a sticky situation. Sometimes he'll even feign bravery to get through his problems.

Those seem to make a good male character but I'm not sure if all those makeup a good female as I wan her to be a little bit smarter too just enough to fool my male character a few times.

I could pretty easily see that being a female character, too. That description makes just as much sense if you say she instead of he.

How she expresses things will probably be a little different, though. Differences in mannerisms because of gender are a lot more visible in an individual person than differences in emotions. So she might cross her legs when she sits, if she's from a high class family. If she fidgets, that will probably be a bit different - playing with one's own hair is more socially acceptable for woman than men, for instance. This probably won't come up much if you won't be illustrating your story, but women stand with a different posture than men and tend to carry flat objects like books with their arms crossed against their chest instead of holding it at their side because of anatomy differences. (Mens' and womens' wrist bones are different. You can observe this in how students carry their school books.) Start paying attention to how the people around you act and make a mental note of things that one gender does more often than the other, and things that make you think of your characters.

[Ritual at Dusk]

Make her edgy and dangerous when mad, but also playful and teasing. She could sort of tease the main character in dangerous ways. She is smart too and able to work things out very well...good luck.

[langland07]

Ritual at Dusk

Make her edgy and dangerous when mad, but also playful and teasing. She could sort of tease the main character in dangerous ways. She is smart too and able to work things out very well...good luck.

I already had an idea for that. Well when she meets my main character, she'll try to kill him even though she'll clearly misunderstand why he's around int he first place. After that she'll then use lustful methods to one up my main character even though in many situations she'll be in the sticky situation and my main character will bail her out. But also she'll bail out my main character in a few sticky situations. It's kind of balanced rivalry with a small hint of infatuation even if it doesn't go anywhere.