How to Write a Strong Female Character

The short answer on how to write a strong female character is to write women with agency. They can have conviction and be firm in their believes, even if they are open to change. They need not always start that way…but the goal is to be Agent Margret Carter.

Hello, there!

Welcome to Anjali’s Musings where today we are going to talk about strong women characters. Now, popular media would have you think that this means we are writing about the Tris Priors and Arya Starks of the world. And while, they are awesome gals whom we love, strong women need not be limited to killing or fighting machines that scorn at emotions or femineity.

Who is a strong woman in Literature?

Strong women are women with agency, women with drive and passion. They are unafraid to stand up for themselves or cunning enough to get their own way. After all, I dare anyone to tell me Catyln Stark was not a strong female character. Neither are such characters an invention of the 21st century. Jane Eyre when she stood up for herself and left Rochester displayed strength. Elizabeth Bennet’s popular dialogue “I could have forgiven his pride, had he not injured mine,” can be viewed by some as rashness and by others as boldness.

Not that boldness and strength are always the same thing.

Strength is more grounded after all.

Like Isabelle in Encantor? Or our protagonist Mirabel?

Mirabel stood up for her family, she helped her sister embrace her true-self, and she did not let Abuela’s discrimination water down her spirit or determination.

That’s hella strong to me.

And when speaking of female icons of strength and agency, how can we forget Helen Parr? Or Pepper Potts?

The point here is that strength doesn’t have to be muscle or amazing archery skills. It can be anything. Media literacy. A drive to start the best gossip in Hobbiton.

But Anjali- then what distinguishes a strong female character from a regular woman character?

What distinguishes a strong woman in Literature from a regular woman character?

In my opinion?

A regular woman character is a woman with agency and drive, yes, but we just see less of that in the story. She is in a limited supporting role but not in terms of screen or page time. Let’s understand with an example.

Galadriel is a strong woman character because we see her strength, as a queen, as a fighting machine, as a power sorceress several times in the movies and books. Eowyn is strong in the same sense.

But then there are other women in the tale.

Like Arwen, whose strength we just get a hint of when she stitches the banner for Aragon. Or the women in Minas Trith, whom we hear going about their lives and talking about the greater events of the world.

It’s not screen time as much as lens.

While those city-dwelling women could be strong, we simply don’t know, because we don’t see them show any strength or even agency in dire times. They just exist.

But what about women character who take up a lot of time?

Well, they are usually strong because woman usually have agency but you can also show us airheaded women, docile women, women who simply follow others. Literature is filled with those examples. Such as Karen from Mean Girls.

And then we can see them come into their own and become strong independent women.

Sansa Stark, for example, started out as a girl with fantasies and unrealistic notions of life, which honestly is many of us as teenagers, but then in a very short time, se became adept at politics and manipulation. While she was always strong, her strength was not obvious because in her world strength meant arms and power.

What does that mean Anjali?

Glad you asked.

It means that strength for your character can come in many forms. Power. Magic. Schemes.

And sometimes, a character can grow from naïve Mary Margaret, open to life beating them down, and turn into Snow White who steals from Prince Charming and gives bandits a run for their money. Madge from The Hunger Games can be seen as either strong or just there, but in the fandom when she stands up for Katniess and Peeta to her Dad, the Mayor, which builds on her being friends with a Seam kid, she is a strong woman.

It’s just a matter of what we see.

In the end, it is simply a question of how do they respond when life gives them lemons!

And that is how you write strong female characters.

You give them agency, you make them stand up for what they believe in in the face of trial, you have them try to turn the tide in their favour, and you just let them be women.

After all, we rarely have discussions on how to write “strong, male characters” now do we? Because as my partner says, a strong female or male character is simply a well-written character with believable motivations, beliefs that they struggle with or fight for, and a consistent character arc where any changes to the core personality of the character are believable reactions to what they’re witnessing or living. Not someone who glorifies trauma or is such a toxic masculine character but identifying as a woman.

Which again leads me to say, we rarely have to wonder how to write strong male characters whether they be Peeta or Aragon or Samwise or Jon Snow but often struggle to imagine empowered women.

Wonder why that is…hmm…

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Updated- 09/03/25