Tag: writing tips

The Beautiful Scientist Problem, Pt III: Three Traps to Avoid When Writing Female Characters

July 1, 2018

Even when writers describe and develop female characters well, they still must navigate a minefield of stale and unhealthy cliches. Tumbling into one of these pernicious pits can ruin a great heroine, and sometimes the entire story along with her. In this final post of my series on writing female characters, I’ll identify three common … More The Beautiful Scientist Problem, Pt III: Three Traps to Avoid When Writing Female Characters

The Beautiful Scientist Problem, Pt II: Three Tips for Writing “Strong” Female Characters

June 17, 2018

In the first post in this series, we discussed subjectivity and objectification when describing female characters. But “beautiful” isn’t the only contentious adjective frequently applied to them. Lots of readers claim to love “strong” heroines; what does this actually mean? As a kid in the 90s, I caught the leading edge of the “more strong heroines!” … More The Beautiful Scientist Problem, Pt II: Three Tips for Writing “Strong” Female Characters