: Re: What are the standard genre characteristics of contemporary women's fantasy I want to write a fantasy novel with a female protagonist, and I want to familiarize myself with reader expectations.

@Debbie451

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As a female reader of SF/F who enjoys fantasy books with protagonists of whatever gender and plot, my advice is:

Make it interesting.

It doesn't matter if the basic plot structure is older than dirt.
Your details are what make it fresh.
Make the characters people I can believe in, and care about. Don't
just write "a strong female protagonist." Write an interesting
female protagonist. Write a protagonist with flaws. With bad habits.
With a weird hobby. With a string of past loves. With one or more children/pets/familiars/personalities/personal deities.
She doesn't have to be a warrior, leader, sorceress, etc. so long as she has agency in her own story. She can be totally happy to be a wife and mother if that's what she wants and the plot rewards her for it.
Make her somebody I enjoy hanging out with, even if I wouldn't make
her choices or do the things she does. Give me something to like
about her, something to root for. She doesn't have to be perfect. She
can make stupid decisions and rash mistakes. But make her decisions
understandable.
If she's the protagonist, she needs her own agenda which isn't driven
by a third party (of whatever gender). She needs her own plot, her
own drives.

The Hero's Journey is the archetypal fantasy plot, so by all means use that if you want, but I don't pick up a "fantasy book with a female protagonist" and only expect a Hero's Journey.

What I expect is someone I will want to spend three or four hours of reading with.

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