: Re: How to write female characters with agency? I'm attempting to write a novel, an historical fiction with a small fantasy component (time travel through a portal). The travelers (main characters)

@Carla500

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I think you're more likely to have problems with the male character.

Back then, it was relatively common that women could be the brains of the outfit. "Behind every strong man" and so on. They may not have carried a sword, but they certainly led armies. Consider the Empress Mathilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Lucrezia Borgia, for example. Even lower down the ladder, women regularly ran businesses on their own.

Your male character has a different problem though, which is survival. Any noble with a sword can kill him with impunity. He needs to learn not to speak out to his social superiors, and that's likely to be a big deal. Even worse, there are things he may do to cause offence without thinking about it - biting his thumb, for instance.

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