: Re: Character growth when the entire story is actively working to prevent it? My MC is a woman who is shy, introverted, has a strong sense of right and wrong but also a doormat personality -

@Kevin153

Vote Up Vote Down

You are writing political propaganda, stop

Your character looks like ticking the boxes of PC list: female-check, non-conformist - check, oppressive society - check, forced marriage - check, abusive family - check, path to liberation - check. You may score few brownie points among leftist, liberal and feminist crowd, but actually nobody likes such straw-man characters and stories.

In reality, life is very complex, and historically there was no country where women didn't have any influence, not even among strictest islamic societies. What you need to do is to create diverse and life-like supporting characters around your main character, to interact with her. Some of these characters would abuse her, but you need to motivate that abuse. Some would help, but again you need to find reasons for that too. Also, try to develop some situations around her. Usual cliche would be that her husband gets incapacitated (war, prison, illness ... ) so your character now becomes head of the house, and must act more like males of that period. You don't need to use that cliche, but it could be useful if you create story where she would be taken out from her usual routine, and must act on her own.

(0)

Login to post a comment!