would anyone like to give me a few pointers or do’s and do not’s
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Lol I watch Jenna Moreci too.
I think the biggest tip is to not make her a stereotypical tough girl.
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Remember that being badass or though doesn’t mean she’s got to be mean, disrespectful or masculine. Being strong should come from having strong morals or ideas, determination and mental strength. Not muscle and brute force.
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Give her a personality other than being physically strong. Strength comes from character depth, not brute force. And make sure she’s not sexist to men. That’s an annoying trope, and putting men down doesn’t make a bada**… it just makes an a**hole.
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yes 
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i am trying but i totally agree !!
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yeah 
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i watch her as well 
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Avoid describing her as “sassy”. In most cases, that just proves to be synonymous with bitchy which, again, is not the same thing as being badass.
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Making a badass female character that is bearable would be to keep her feminine virtue and making those things both her strengths and weaknesses.
For example, let’s give a female character a feminine trait. Let’s say she is compassionate. So she deeply cares about people and tends to be kind of selfless, that’s cool. How about she bends over backwards sometimes too much and gets used by all the wrong people and then has to find her way out of this mess and also LEARN from the experience. Learn that she needs to make a change. Be caring, loving, compassionate, all that jazz, but not self-sacrificial.
That’s just one example, but it can work for any trait.
So a feminine trait as well, perhaps she’s kinda superficial and cares more about how things look rather than how they function. It can seem shallow, but if she’s a person who pays attention to this sort of thing, she can probably keep brands in mind and know a lot about a person from something they are wearing and it gives her a one-up on their personality and knows how to talk to them or can probably better guess their background. And at the same time, perhaps she buys pretty things that actually end up breaking easier or are more expensive because she favored aesthetics over practicality.
Know what I mean? You can do this sort of thing with every trait. To make her badass would be to not make her overly masculine, but keep her feminine and let her learn from the problems that rise from the same things that can be a virtue as well. Being a badass female character doesn’t mean that she can take out 5 grown ass dudes with four fingers and a toe. Of course she probably can’t. There’s nothing wrong with that. She could be strong by perhaps outsmarting them, being resourceful, using her smaller size to her advantage, etc.
<3
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thank you very helpful !!! 
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Try to show that she can be a badass woman. She doesn’t need to be manly or forfeit her femininity to be an awesome character.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a woman who isn’t stereotypically “feminine”, but we have way too many female characters out there who “just basically act like a dude” because they’re cool and can handle themselves. That makes it seem like women who act “feminine” can’t be cool, too.
She can be physically strong but remember that there should be way more to her character than that. A badass character, in my opinion, is a character who can handle themselves and take care of situations in different aspects of their life. Someone who doesn’t constantly need help from others, but knows when to ask for help and appreciates it when she does occasionally need it. We all need help from time to time!
Also, a badass character to me is one who can achieve great stuff despite her flaws. But that means you need to give her flaws in the first place! Maybe she does struggle to ask for help. Maybe she’s got a temper. Maybe she’s really smart, but she needs to get past freezing up in tough situations (like Hermione in the Harry Potter books and Yaoyorozu in My Hero Academia). It’s just like how someone needs to be afraid to be brave, really. A badass character is someone who works through problems, not someone who has no problems to begin with!
And remember that strength can come in many different forms. She can be physically strong, strong-willed, strong-witted or she can be the emotional rock of the story. There are so, so many different ways you can make a woman a badass. My favourite trope is the badass mother like in @EliseC’s Maternal Instincts.
My main tips:
- Don’t make her a damsel in distress. Let other people help her, not save her.
- Realise that badassery is only really cool when the woman isn’t just rude and mean.
- Realise that she has nothing to prove. A lot of “badass women” on TV and in films act like they have a chip on their shoulder. Like they need to prove that they’re just as good as the guys. But the best badass women don’t need to constantly shout about that. They just are as good as the men and they know it.
- Give her flaws and weaknesses. The most badass characters overcome adversity.
- Actually show her weaknesses, too! We all have them and badass people just deal with them better than others
If you need more info on characters, check out these links
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Super helpful thank you
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