on Fiction University:

Representation in fiction leads to a more inclusive society.

There has been a rise of strong female characters and representation in recent years, which is super awesome. I love that there is more attention being given to this topic.

However, writing strong female characters is more complicated than simply giving our female character a sword. (Though for the record, I’ll pretty much read any book where there is a hero with a sword so don’t hold back on my account)

This post will walk us through why writing strong female characters matters, what a strong character looks like, and 14 common pitfalls we may encounter.

Note: Gender representation is complex and all identities matter. This post is focused on characters who identify as female but this is by no means saying other identities are less important.