Writing an Antiheroine who ditches her family's traditions and society's expectations

[indianroads]

True. But I feel it's very tacky and lame to always put a heroine with a man and kids in the end. I want to see more originality in how people write female heroes. In this day and age, there are many women out there who don't need a man and kids at all to be complete human beings. I have a female friend who's almost 40 who's been single her entire life and never wants any kids. She's living life to the fullest and kicking asses right and left. If I wrote her as a character, she would definitely have a character arc. She's always been a loner, that's just part of her DNA, but she has changed a lot and is a lot stronger because of that.

I completely agree.

[MorganaPendragon25]

I completely agree.

I mean, Where is the support for those women out in the world who chose to be happily single and happily childfree? There are MILLIONS of women who are happily single and happily childfree on this planet. The sad thing is they are vastly underrepresented in all forms of media. All we see on TV a lot is a woman's happy ending MUST be getting a man and having kids. That's a concept we need to throw out. I'm a man and I'm sick and tired of reading about heroines needing a man and kids every single time. There are a few exceptions I've come across but they are few and far between. My childhood was basically reading about male heroes saving the female damsels in distress and him having kids with her. Thankfully, more female heroes are breaking through and are seeing visibility. However, I want to see more female heroes who have lifestyles that stray far away from a husband and kids. To me, it's the most cliche and boring thing you could do to a female hero's character arc. There are millions of ways you could write a female hero and what the conclusion of her story will be. Does it take too much imagination to write a story for her that goes against societal norms?

I love my antiheroine and I am damn proud of her and who she is. She is the most unique thing I've ever created and I will give the demographic she represents a voice with her!

[MistWolf]

I mean, Where is the support for those women out in the world who chose to be happily single and happily childfree? There are MILLIONS of women who are happily single and happily childfree on this planet. The sad thing is they are vastly underrepresented in all forms of media. All we see on TV a lot is a woman's happy ending MUST be getting a man and having kids. That's a concept we need to throw out. I'm a man and I'm sick and tired of reading about heroines needing a man and kids every single time. There are a few exceptions I've come across but they are few and far between. My childhood was basically reading about male heroes saving the female damsels in distress and him having kids with her. Thankfully, more female heroes are breaking through and are seeing visibility. However, I want to see more female heroes who have lifestyles that stray far away from a husband and kids. To me, it's the most cliche and boring thing you could do to a female hero's character arc. There are millions of ways you could write a female hero and what the conclusion of her story will be. Does it take too much imagination to write a story for her that goes against societal norms?

I love my antiheroine and I am damn proud of her and who she is. She is the most unique thing I've ever created and I will give the demographic she represents a voice with her!

Baloney. There are a lot of single, childless heroines and heroes out there. If all you're seeing in stories are women who are damsels in distress who need a man and children, you need to broaden your horizons. Single, childless characters are not unique.

No, we don't need to throw out the idea there are people who desire a family. Procreation and love is a huge part of the human condition and cannot be ignored. Believe it or not, there are still people in this world who want the joys of marriage and parenthood. The triumphs and tragedies people go through in a marriage and during child raising makes people stronger, tougher and better. There are things in life single, childless people will never understand.

I don't mind single, childless characters. They too are part of the human condition albeit a smaller part. But being single and childless doesn't make them better or more interesting. It doesn't give them any kind of moral high ground. It just makes the character less complicated and the story easier to write. That's what makes them popular.