Hi Guys, One of my mainish character, who usually timid, naive, sensitive, childish, cowardly and distrustful due to being sheltered most her life and want to avoid making the audience see her as weak and annoying and while I HATE the whole "weak" heroine vs "strong" heroine complex seriously it's just toxic masculinity for women but still I want her not end up being the Scrappy, especially in an arc where the main theme is "we all have different strengths." "It's ok to be weak sometimes."
On another note, She's a feisty and sassy foil, and I have trouble writing those type since I find them annoying myself Idk if it's my taste or hearing the idea that "SASSY THE BEST" so much that I roll my eyes to the back of my skull every time I hear the words sAsSy or fiesty or S N A R K Y of STRONG and heroine/MC together So how to write her as less than raging brat She is one at first but still and keep her likable
Make her laugh a lot. More smiling, more teasing, more of everything non-brat. give her a secret fear to make her more likable, cause that helps people relate more to her. it could be just a fear of spiders. also, you could have moments of anxiety, or even give her a stress disorder.
Romance can also add a softer feel on a character if you want to consider that.
Hope this helps!
Can you clarify a little by describing her personality more in depth? I can't really visualize how a timid and naive girl can also be sassy and feisty. If she was sheltered, maybe she would be an introvert who has no concept of the world, but once she gets to know someone she is clever, well-learned, and funny. As long as you flesh her out, I wouldn't worry about heroine stereotypes.
I agree with all of the above and would like to add: Write the character the way she is first, and then go back and see if she's too cliche or annoying. It could be that once she's put in the story and written without fear of being criticised, she won't seem stereotypical at all. Plus that way her personality will be more true to what you envisioned originally. What I'm trying to say is, don't stress too much about what your readers will think at this point. Everybody's a critic, especially these days. If you let some people read your draft and they all share a strong opinion about your character, then you could consider changing her. But otherwise, write her however you want ^^
Aaanyway, I know that's probably not the advice you're looking for, but I hope it helps XD Good luck!
Advice from a different angle: put her in situations where her personality and reactions would feel natural. Bonus: those reactions would be the right thing to do, but not necessarily the easiest or first thing most people would do. This isn't to say that you need to make other characters morally or empathically bankrupt to make her stand out, but perhaps being sheltered makes her more cautious towards things and the slower approach gives her insight others would not have.
Unfortunately, you can't really fix "people might think she's annoying" because that's an impression every reader makes on their own opinions, but you can work on not making her seem weak. A lot of times, that impression is influenced by how the narrative treats the character. Is she the only one being punished or rewarded for standing out? Are her "focus episodes" more heavy-handed than the others? Part of a "Everyone has different strengths" narrative is that everyone should have room and time to show their facets.
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