#can we have a show with them as the protagonist

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Excuse me, do you have any posts on writing well written female characters/protagonists?

Writing Notes: Female Characters

Conducting research through observation – including self-observation – is the very first step in creating memorable women characters.

We observe the women in our lives. We watch and learn, noticing how they engage relationally with family, friends, colleagues, and strangers.

Creating memorable women characters is much like developing memorable relationships. The only way to have meaningful relationships is to be real:

Be willing to share.

Be honest.

Listen with an open heart.

Love without judgment.

This is all very easy to say and much harder to do.

But it’s what’s necessary if we want to have rewarding and lasting friendships and partnerships. And the same is true if we want our female characters to connect with audiences.

Let your female characters speak to other female characters about something that matters. In doing so, you will make women and girls visible.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before writing from a woman’s perspective:

Why are you assigning a female gender to this character?

Are you just doing it to show how cool and hip and progressive you are?

Are you writing a biting, sardonic social commentary?

Do you want to create a realistic portrait of a woman?

Is there an added level of symbolism to your gender choice?

Let the answers to these questions dictate how you assign gender to all of your characters, not just the female ones.

Using men and women to foil each other can create an delightful dynamic in your story, as long as you avoid stereotypes. Here’s a list of stereotypes:

The delicate flower. She barely talks above a whisper, she’s sad, so terribly sad, suffering from the pain of a mysterious past.

The femme fatale. She’s a sexpot, only wears skin-tight clothes, and has a gun with your name on it.

The crazy girlfriend. She’s also got a gun.

The stay at home wife. She’s wholesome, virtuous, and dependant. Her only will for living is to be a wife and a mom.

The career driven. She’s cold-hearted and she wears designer shoes.

The most beautiful girl in the world. She’s so beautiful that she doesn’t even know it, but every other woman around her hates her.

Stereotypes make a character fall flat.

They deflate what could be an interesting character.

Refer to the Bechdel Test. By no means is this “the end all and be all,” however the test is useful in determining whether you story supports two active female characters who aren’t solely wrapped up in a guy and/or his journey. A story passes the Bechdel Test if it has:

two named female characters

who talk to each other

about something other than a man.

The tool is a great reminder that females, even in a love story, can discuss other matters that don’t include a man or romance.

There is no formula for creating complex female characters.

For that matter, there’s no such thing as a step-by-step approach to crafting compelling stories with complicated characters of any gender.

But we can begin to intentionally reflect on how we think about gender representation in film, television, literature, and other media.

We can think about the people we love and consider how the screen stories they see will impact their lives, today and in the years to come. We all want our loved ones to feel confident and empowered and inspired.

We’ve recommended films, television shows, and books to our family and friends not only because we think they’ll enjoy them, but also because we think the stories will in some way be helpful to them. Our stories can help.

They can make viewers/readers laugh when they feel down. They can help them process their feelings and experiences, escape into a fantasy, or visualize possibilities for their future. The benefits of screen storytelling are limitless.

And if we populate our stories with characters that represent all of humanity, in all its complexity … who knows? Maybe someday this conversation will be outdated and unnecessary.

STRONG CHARACTERS. Come in all shapes, sizes, and genders. Every creator has a different idea of how strength is expressed, but there are a few ways to ensure your audience understands the type of character you’ve created when your focus is on writing a strong female character.

Writing Tips: Strong Female Characters

Creating strong female characters is the same process as creating strong characters in general—they need backstory, motivation, and depth in order to cultivate a three-dimensional profile that makes them feel like believable, real people. Here are some ways to write strong female characters:

Give her complex emotions. Vulnerability and emotional depth are important characteristics for good characters of any gender. A strong woman shouldn’t be written as a one-dimensional trope—she can be a stoic warrior who cries when her best friend dies, or a sweet kindergarten teacher who boxes to deal with her rage. People are complicated and often unpredictable, so giving your female character the same complex range of emotions you yourself experience as a human being is a good way to start writing stronger characters.

Give her multiple kinds of strength. Physical strength isn’t everything—even the most hulking adversary can be taken down by smart, tactical fighting—and a female lead doesn’t have to be a bodybuilder or professional athlete in order to be strong. There are different types of strength that female characters exert. They can have confidence, wit, and mental fortitude. They can be brilliant scientists who stand up for themselves when no one else will listen. They can be stay-at-home mothers who won’t tolerate their spouse leaving a mess. Female characters have their own strong opinions and morality and aren’t just generalized for being women.

Give her female allies. Sometimes writers try to make a female character appear stronger by turning her into a “tomboy” who only has male friends. However, your female protagonist can just as easily draw strength from the women who surround her. Giving your female lead character female friends can help her feel more like a real-life person.

Give her more than her looks. Describe the way your female protagonist looks in a way that informs who she is. Does she have a defining physical feature that is integral to the storyline? Does her body language denote a particular personality trait? Brainstorm ways to avoid or subvert clichés (“she was pretty but didn’t know it”), which can weaken an audience’s first impression of your character.

Characteristics of Strong Female Characters

Strong female characters can encompass many different types of women, with varying opinions on what is considered “strong.” In order to write strong female characters, old tropes and stereotypes (like the damsel in distress or the nagging wife) should be avoided, as they can be detrimental to how your female character is viewed as a whole. If you’re looking to write a strong female character, check out some common characteristics below:

She has her own opinions. A strong female lead will listen to her own instincts and make her own decisions based on her own value system (even villains have their reasons for their choices). She’ll make mistakes, but she’ll always try to learn from them. A strong character isn’t immune to influence, but they have their own thoughts and feelings about their world and the things that happen within it.

She is her own person. Strong female characters don’t all have to be single, independent women. They can be in relationships and care about their partners without being weak or codependent. However, a strong female character has her own identity and trajectory that she follows, as well as her own ambitions and goals outside of her relationship with another person.

She has flaws. Strong female characters have struggles and flaws just like everyone else, but what makes them strong is how they deal with their shortcomings. Even the strongest characters have weaknesses, but that’s what humanizes them and makes them relatable to audiences.

She’s tough in her own right. What makes a female “tough?” The term is subjective. Is toughness just a character’s ability to physically bring down foes? Or can it be her ability to think fast under pressure or negotiate with powerful figures? A stay-at-home mother can be just as tough as a soldier—a woman’s role does not necessarily dictate who she is as a person.

Give her conflicting personality traits. Conflicting personality traits make a character interesting. Balance traditionally feminine and masculine character traits, as well as give your characters several flaws and strengths. Conflicting character traits not only make your female character three-dimensional but also provide for interesting internal or interpersonal conflicts in your story. You can imagine characteristics—positive, negative, or neutral—in pairs of opposites, such as:

Bookish & arrogant

Gossipy & trustworthy

Pensive & uninhibited

Kind & tactless

Empathetic & selfish

Examples of Strong Female Characters

Strong female characters are not flawless and unemotional—they’re complicated, just like everyone else. Authors, along with screenwriters for TV shows and film, have portrayed a great number of strong female protagonists in a variety of roles. Here are a few that are especially memorable:

Buffy Summers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a powerful heroine with awesome fighting skills who can be both tough—even when chasing a love interest—and empathetic—even towards those who have wronged her. She is a three-dimensional character, and she always tries to do the right thing.

Ellen Ripley: Sigourney Weaver plays alien-fighting heroine Ellen Ripley in the film Alien. Ellen Ripley is straightforward, physically strong, and a smart main character—but she also has strong maternal instincts that sometimes drive her decisions. All of those traits coexist with one another without lessening the strength of her character.

Katniss Everdeen: In Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Katniss is a young woman living in a dystopian world, who volunteers her own life in order to protect her younger sister. While sometimes impulsive and susceptible to the manipulations of others, Katniss grows throughout her story arc, becoming a skilled warrior who makes sacrifices to keep the ones she loves from harm. Although she has love interests, most of her decisions are based on survival and not romance—because as long as she’s alive, she can keep her family safe.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Here are some notes and tips I compiled from various sources. It's interesting to see where the authors' advice overlap. Choose which ones work best for your specific story. Hope this helps with your writing!

[novlr]

Weird question here: do I need to describe my character's clothes? Obviously I need to if it's important to the story or setting (if they're wearing a beautiful ruby gown at a ball, or maybe dirty and torn to indicate a fight) but just on a normal day? Do readers need to know what characters are wearing?

As writers, we often get caught up in the details of our characters. We describe everything from their eye colour to their favourite breakfast cereal, and it can be so easy to go overboard with unnecessary description. Describing a character’s clothes is a danger zone for too much description. It’s incredibly easy to get lost in the minutiae and forget the most important element when writing for readers; will they find this interesting?

The short answer

No, you don’t need to describe every piece of clothing your characters wear throughout your story. Like all elements of writing, clothing descriptions should serve a purpose.

Just like clothing in real life, descriptions of a character’s clothes serve a function. This means that your chose in when to describe things should be intentional; usually for the purposes of character development, world-building, setting a mood, social commentary, plot advancement, or symbolic representation.

When should you describe clothing?

Every plot is different, but there are some key moments in a story when knowing what a character is wearing or how they are dressed could be important:

When it reveals a character’s personality or status (e.g. do they favour muted tones or bright, bold colours? Do their clothing choices signify wealth?).

During important story moments or turning points if it highlights that moment’s significance (e.g. wearing black at a funeral, or an academic gown at graduation).

If the clothing affects the plot or action (e.g. Cinderella losing her glass slipper).

When establishing the time period or setting (e.g. historically appropriate clothing descriptions to put readers into the right headspace to appreciate your setting).

If it shows a significant change in the character (e.g. a shy character who likes to blend in suddenly switching to bright colours to display their newfound confidence).

When it symbolises something deeper in the narrative (e.g. a meaningful piece of jewellery, or a bride wearing her mother’s dress for her wedding).

When should you skip clothing descriptions?

Readers don’t need to know what your character is wearing at every moment of every day. The best way to think about it is, if it’s not important to the story, don’t describe it in detail. Usually it’s enough to know that someone is wearing a jumper on an overcast day, and it won’t actually enhance the scene to know it’s a plain black one. Here are some moments when it’s probably not all that important to go into too much detail:

During routine daily activities.

When the outfit doesn’t add meaning to the scene.

If it interrupts the flow of important action.

When it feels like “outfit cataloging” rather than storytelling.

If you’re describing clothes just to fill space.

Tips for how to effectively describe a characters’ clothes

Make it matter: Make sure your descriptions reveal something about the character, whether that be a personality trade, social or economic status, or their cultural background.

Illustrate change: Highlight a change in your character, whether that be something external or a internal, emotional change.

Create uniqueness: In the case of a protagonist, especially, the way they dress can make them unique. It can contrast them with other characters.

Set something up: Describing a character’s clothes can be used for foreshadowing a future plot point.

Be selective: You don’t need to describe a whole outfit. Instead, you can focus on one or two distinct pieces, items that have significance, clothing that affects movement or action, or elements that reflect the character’s state of mind.

Don’t info-dump: You should try to seamlessly weave descriptions into the narrative. Describe actions and interactions, use sensory language, have other characters react, or let clothing be a part of a scene’s atmosphere.

Common pitfalls to avoid

There is a fine line to tow when describing a character’s clothes in a way that is effective. And essentially, the pitfalls happen on either side of that line. You will either over-describe or under-describe. So what does that mean?

Over-description

Listing every item of clothing, regardless or relevance or usefulness.

Describing outfits for every scene. We rarely need to know what all characters are wearing at all times.

Including brand names unless relevant. Sometimes, a character’s brand loyalty might be important to the plot, but if it’s not, it’s unnecessary, and potentially alienating to readers.

Getting too technical with fashion terminology. Most readers won’t be au fait with the specifics, so make sure you write in a way that most readers can follow.

Focusing on clothes at the expense of action. Nothing will bring an action scene to a screeching halt faster than a detail dump.

Under-description

Don’t ignore clothing when it would be significant. If a character has undergone a significant personal change, then it would make sense to describe how that might also affect how they look on the outside.

Don’t miss opportunities for characterisation. A lot of a character’s personality can shine through their clothes, so if you’re telling the kind of story where that could be relevant, make sure you don’t miss those opportunities.

Don’t forget period-appropriate details in historical fiction. Research and authenticity are essential in certain genres, and clothing can go a long way to setting the scene.

Don’t overlook clothing that affects movement or action. The clothing a character wears can hugely affect the believability of a scene. If a character has just stepped out of a coronation and is dripping with heavy jewellery, it wouldn’t make sense for them to go for a leisurely swim.

Don’t skip descriptions that could build atmosphere. If it’s cold and dark, make sure your characters fit into that setting. Or you can use it to contrast your character and invert expectations (like a character who only ever wears shorts, even in winter).

When in doubt, ask these questions:

Does this detail reveal character?

Will it matter later in the story?

Does it help readers understand the world?

Is it necessary for visualisation?

Could the scene work without it?

Like all descriptions, clothing is a tool that you can use. Describe clothing when it serves your story and skip it when it doesn’t. The key is to make every detail count, whether you’re describing a ball gown or a worn-out pair of sneakers.

The bottom line is that you must trust your instincts and your readers. They don’t need a detailed inventory of every character’s wardrobe, but they do appreciate thoughtful details that enhance their understanding of your characters and story. When in doubt, less is often more, but make the descriptions you do include count.

[deskraven]

About Chaos Terran AU Transmutate

Transmutate was the last Chaos Terran to be born, and their birth was quite unexpected. Instead of Starscream succeeding in S02E09, a shard was knocked out of his hands and fell into a very convenient pool of water before Spitfire could piece them together. Starscream immediately tries to abort (?) the Terran in formation with the Cyber Slayer. The action shocked Spitfire. She acted before thinking and knocked the weapon away.

The new Chaos Terran survived but their generation was interrupted, causing them to be half-formed, both mentally and physically. They have a skeletal appearance with a hollow abdomen (indicating the lack of a T-cog), their limbs all messed up. They don't have a sense of identity, meaning no name, no gender, and no language. Their frame is too weak to hold the chaos energy it generates which caused them to immediately scream out a huge blast of chaos energy, and the Autobots took the chance to collect some of the shards and escape. The Malto Terrans were very concerned with the safety of the new Terran but were urged to escape quickly.

Starscream called the new Terran a transmutate and the name sticked (I might change this if I ever come up with a better origin). He didn't try to kill them, not wanting to raise further suspicion from the Chaos Terrans as well as wanting to exploit their chaos energy scream in the future.

The world is a really confusing place for Transmutate! It took them a while to realize those who don't share a psychic link with them are also sentient beings, that these bots and organic creatures are different from objects and have their own thoughts and act under a certain logic that is for some reason invisible to them. Transmutate ends up being very good at interpreting their siblings' emotions and thoughts though the link, as well as express themself through it.

Spitfire felt really torn about them. She wished she had either acted quicker before Starscream could have stroked them with the Cyber Slayer, or acted later because she thought death would be better than ending up like this. She was heavily manipulated by Starscream and wanted his approval, but didn't know how to feel about him trying to kill a Chaos Terran. Overall she was very protective of them though she didn't know how to care for them.

Transmutate's birth would somehow help Sideways realize chaos energy's connection to Unicron. Transmutate is the only Chaos Terran who's able to release chaos energy though it's involuntary, so it gave him samples to study. Sideways wasn't a good big brother at all and would intentionally trigger them to collect chaos energy.

Wreck-gar was probably the only being in this world who felt completely positive about Transmutate. She was simply happy to become a big sister and immediately assumed the role. Transmutate's messed up limbs made walking a struggle so Wreck-gar usually carried them in her backpack.

I think the Maltos, especially Twitch and Nightshade, would try very hard to approach the duo, but it was hard to persuade them to willingly stay at the Maltos. The two were friendly and were happy to visit but would always return to their siblings. Transmutate grew an interest in flying due to the two flying Maltos though, and Wreck-gar built them a jetpack.

Thoughts on their future

Eventually Starscream would collect all the shards and start killing the Chaos Terrans, I haven't thought the whole thing through but here are some thoughts:

Spitfire and Aftermath stayed to fight while ordering Wreck-gar to leave with Transmutate.

The Decepticons were more involved with Starscream's plan in this AU, but some grew attached to the kids and allowed the duo to escape.

Wreck-gar decided to return when she felt Aftermath dying. The Maltos arrived and split up - Nightshade was responsible for taking Transmutate away and the rest went to rescue the other Chaos Terrans with Wreck-gar.

Hashtag and Wreck-gar would eventually reach Starscream, join force with Spitfire, have a cool fight, but eventually be over-powered. Starscream would spare Hashtag's life and maybe give her an invitation to join him, which only left Hashtag with severe survivor guilt.

Sensing Spitfire and Wreck-gar's deaths, Transmutate was devastated and could no longer keep the chaos energy within them under control. Feeling about to explode they decided to focus their energy outburst on the one responsible for their siblings' death. The concentrated energy created a very unstable chaos dome (similar to the one they made in BW), which trapped all the Decepticons and the rising Chaos Titan.

The Maltos managed to escape the shield in time.

Instead of watching them explode, Nightshade remembered that Terrans and Chaos Terrans can sync and hopped in to help. The rest of the Terrans joined as well. Their combined form was able to stabilize both Transmutate and the chaos dome, making it a chaos-quintus dome.

Transmutate wasn't that happy about surviving though. They were still mostly nonverbal at this point and their siblings were literally the world to them. For a good while they would refuse to go with the Maltos and just wander outside the dome wanting to get in to the side of their siblings. But the dome wouldn't be so easy to open in this AU.

Eventually they would start living with the Maltos. Initially they might abuse syncing as a replacement for psychic link communication but would eventually learn to communicate with English - maybe picture cards at first, then reading and typing, eventually speaking?

Nightshade would be very enthusiastic about building them assistive tech. Dot would supervise them to make sure they don't make something like a shooting leg again and teach Transmutate to use them. She's also quite insistent that Transmutate fly with a helmet (which gives Transmutate a chance to look not bald but just like any normal person they refuse to wear the helmet when not flying).

Eventually Transmutate would have an upgraded jetpack and a pair of crutches attached their forearms that can transform into jets and arm blades. They usually only wear the multifunctional crutches. They would also repaint themself into their classic colors ^ ^

Transmutate would still want to go back inside the dome, not wanting their siblings bodies to be trapped with the ones who murdered them. And the wish grew stronger as they learned more about Cybertronian biology and realized that there were hope to revive their siblings. Nightshade would very much support the idea and the two would research on it together, but I need to think more on the attitudes of the other Maltos.

It would feel really weird when the Chaos Terrans (excluding Sideways who were somewhere in some other universe doing child labor for Unicron) were revived. By that time Transmutate would have lived longer than their older siblings. Spitfire and Aftermath would refuse to live with the Maltos and move into the previous Decepticon base, and Transmutate would go with them. They regard both the Maltos and the Chaos Terrans as family and would try to bring them together, or at least urge their older siblings to think about who they want to be now that the Decepticons are gone.

Transmutate wouldn't assume the Maltos' surname though, and wouldn't wear a Terran badge. At some point they may reconsider the name and gender they were assigned with, only to realize they feel quite apathetic about it. （So technically they are okay with all pronouns including it/its but most of the character would just continue using they/them.)

I'm still weighing whether to add Rampage to this AU or not. There are already too many characters. But if I do bring him in - he would be a result of Quintesson experiment and meet Transmutate when the latter got abducted by the Quitessons for some reason. I don't want this AU to be an exception if the two are having a "do you think we are friends in every universe" conversation somewhere else lmao.

[mymarifae]

i will also be dedicating my account to hating on the amphoreus men. i hope mydei is too problematic for the average fandom space to justify liking. i hope anaxa is boring as fuck. i hope both their 3d models end up being really fucking ugly and unsatisfying. i hope phainon kicks a puppy

[dayurno]

cavan got an ask about it so i am thinking of it but it is truly really funny when raven neil aus have ichirou or kengo or even tetsuji for that matter weirdly fixated on neil even if it's in a bad way (re: going out of their way to abuse him). the powerful men with a bloody empire that cannot even acknowledge their own blood family in riko would not spare a single thought for some no name wesninski downgrade in the perfect court i fear.............. as far as they are concerned pc members are literal dirt under their shoes. just a deeply unserious way to create angst for a character that does not need it

[benkaben]

I seriously can't stop thinking about it.

[sunbunnyyy]

i know i just got here, but seeing all of the laughably bad takes from both sides of the spectrum is convincing me that no, i don’t actually need to be on social media again.

[navree]

no longer gonna have to see against my will absolutely dogshit dragon show takes that are the absolute pits of misogyny, racism, homophobia, classism, and inability to celebrate fact from fiction for at least two more years now

[aroacettorney]

when will aup sidestories return from war and stop leaving me bitter about how the main story ended

[angel-thoughts-dump]

Cordy's 'you can't change a person, but you can change fate', VS Wesley's 'a person can change, but you can't change fate' VS Angel's 'if I don't change both I don't deserve to live'

[livvyofthelake]

stewart letterkenny unanimously voted greasiest little tv freak of all time. jughead wants to be him so bad unfortunately he got. imagine me shuddering. tolerable. after season one. stewart wouldn’t do this to me xoxo

[littledeadling]

Cant get over how hard they’re biffing it with the Mandalorian. God. Ouchie

[sethdomain]

imma be honest I did not watch 3below it was boring as hell, they should've stick with Jim story

[jackass-jones]

Listen I don’t really care about this play anymore and I haven’t interacted with it in ages but in Be More Chill I think Jeremy and Christine were good together and I won’t STAND for everyone in that fandom trying to convince me otherwise!!!!!

[pigeonliker420]

everyones obsessed with the idea of this guy being some secret obsessive freak and while you know what they say about men who want to save everyone they meet i think itd be incredibly funny if he did just turn out to be a normal guy

[deviousdiesel]

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