Writing Female Protagonists in Fantasy – Strength Beyond the Sword

Fantasy has always been a genre of escapism and empowerment, filled with dragons, magic, and battles for kingdoms. But it’s also a space where, for a long time, the female protagonist was either absent, sidelined, or written through a male lens—either a passive princess or a sword-wielding caricature of a "strong female character."

Thankfully, the genre has evolved, and writers today have the opportunity (and responsibility) to craft female leads who are fully realized people—complex, powerful, flawed, and relatable. Strength, after all, doesn't always come from swinging a sword. It can come from perseverance, empathy, leadership, wit, or even the courage to make the wrong decision and face the consequences.

In this post, we’re going to look at how to write female protagonists in fantasy who are more than just tropes, how to avoid the common pitfalls, and why a broader view of strength enriches your story and your world.

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Sword-Swinging Stereotypes and the “Strong Female Character”

Let’s get this out of the way: there’s nothing wrong with a sword-wielding woman. There’s a deep satisfaction in watching (or writing) a female warrior cut down her enemies with a battle cry. The problem is when that becomes the only definition of strength.

The “strong female character” trope has too often meant a woman who behaves exactly like a man in battle, while shedding any softness, vulnerability, or femininity. She’s emotionally closed off, inexplicably good at everything, and often exists only to prove she can “keep up with the boys.” She may have no real backstory or emotional depth—and crucially, she rarely changes over the course of the story.

Real strength, in fiction and in life, looks different. It’s not about erasing femininity or replicating male heroism. It’s about honoring the complexity of the character.

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Ask the Big Questions First

When you sit down to write your female protagonist, start by asking the same deep questions you’d ask of any protagonist:

• What does she want?
• What’s standing in her way?
• What does she fear?
• What is she willing to sacrifice?
• How does she grow?

Character is not gendered. Good writing means understanding what drives your character and how she responds to her world—not just what she looks like swinging a sword.

That said, gender does affect how characters interact with the world, especially in societies with rigid expectations. So you also want to ask:

• How does her culture view women?
• What expectations does she resist, embrace, or challenge?
• How do others treat her because of her gender?
• How has her experience shaped the way she sees power, safety, loyalty, or ambition?

These questions can help you root your female protagonist in the fabric of her world—not in spite of her identity, but because of it.

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Different Kinds of Strength

Strength in a female protagonist might look like:

• Emotional resilience: surviving loss, hardship, or trauma and choosing to keep going.
• Intellectual strength: solving problems others can’t, seeing patterns, or outwitting a villain.
• Compassion: choosing mercy over revenge, understanding over violence.
• Leadership: inspiring loyalty, building coalitions, holding power responsibly.
• Defiance: refusing to conform, even when it’s dangerous or costly.
• Sacrifice: giving up something she loves for the greater good.

Your protagonist doesn’t need to be able to fight with a sword to be brave. Maybe her bravery is standing up to her father, or escaping an abusive relationship, or telling the truth when everyone wants her to lie. Maybe it’s daring to fall in love. Maybe it’s choosing to become a swordfighter, when no one believes she can.

These types of strength are deeply human—and they create characters readers care about.

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Avoiding the Pitfalls

Here are a few common traps when writing female protagonists in fantasy—and how to avoid them:

1. The One Girl in the World Syndrome

This is when your fantasy world is somehow 90% male, and your heroine is “not like other girls.” She’s the only woman who fights, the only one who’s brave, or the only one who matters to the story.

Fix it: Populate your world with many kinds of women—warriors, mothers, merchants, spies, queens, witches, scholars. Let your protagonist exist in a world where other women have influence, opinions, and stories of their own.

2. The No-Fault Flaw

You give your female protagonist a “flaw” that isn’t really a flaw. She’s too caring. Or she works too hard. These flaws are designed not to risk reader affection.

Fix it: Give her real flaws—pride, fear, jealousy, selfishness—and let her grow. Readers connect with characters who fail, learn, and evolve.

3. The Romance Token

She exists mainly to be someone’s love interest, or her entire arc is defined by who she does or doesn’t love.

Fix it: If there’s a romance, make sure it’s part of her journey—not the point of her existence. And please, let her have an arc that doesn’t revolve around the male lead.

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Feminine Power and Magic

In fantasy, magic often reflects inner truth. So how does a female protagonist wield power?

Maybe her power is rooted in healing, creation, or intuition. Maybe it’s elemental. Maybe it’s dark and terrifying. Maybe she’s powerful because she chooses not to use it unless necessary. Magic systems in fantasy can help explore what power looks like when it isn’t about domination.

Let her magic be mysterious. Let it be messy. Let it have consequences.

And let it be hers.

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Examples of Powerful Female Protagonists (Done Well)

If you’re looking for inspiration, here are a few memorable female protagonists from fantasy who go beyond the sword:

• Egwene al’Vere (The Wheel of Time) – Politically shrewd, emotionally complex, and deeply committed to her values, Egwene grows into one of the most powerful leaders in the series.
• Ged’s Aunt (A Wizard of Earthsea) – Though not the main character, she quietly influences the protagonist’s path through knowledge, restraint, and the passing of old magic.
• Tiffany Aching (Discworld) – A young witch whose strength lies in empathy, stubbornness, and knowing what needs to be done—even if it’s unpleasant.
• Sabriel (Old Kingdom trilogy) – A necromancer who must walk into death to save the living. Strong, yes—but also fearful, uncertain, and deeply human.

These women are not all warriors. But they’re all unforgettable.

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Final Thoughts: Let Her Be Real

The most compelling female protagonists in fantasy aren’t perfect. They aren’t superheroes in corsets. They’re people—people with fears, doubts, passions, and dreams. They cry. They laugh. They screw up.

And they keep going.

Let her be soft. Let her be angry. Let her be clever and wrong and brave and unsure.

Let her story matter.

Because when you do that, you're not just writing a “strong female character.” You're writing a great character—and that’s what readers will remember.

Worldbuilding That Feels Real – How to Make Fantasy Worlds Come Alive

There’s a certain magic in opening a fantasy novel and immediately feeling transported—whether to windswept moors lit by twin moons or a bustling city ruled by merchant-mages. As a fantasy author, your job isn’t just to tell a story—it’s to build a world that lives and breathes beyond the page.

But how do you make your world feel real? How do you move beyond map-making and name-generating into something that truly immerses the reader?

Let’s dig into the craft of worldbuilding that lingers in the imagination long after the last chapter ends.

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1. The World Is a Character

Your setting should have a presence—personality, history, even emotional tone. Think of it like another character in your book. Is your world harsh and cold, like a winter queen who spares no one? Or is it ancient and wise, filled with whispered secrets and half-buried ruins?

Give your world quirks. Maybe the rain smells like sulfur because of volcanic ash. Maybe everyone wears bells to ward off desert spirits. The more you understand your world, the more it will shape the people who live in it.

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2. Culture Comes First, Not Just the Map

It’s tempting to start with the geography—but while maps are helpful, culture is what breathes life into your world.

Ask yourself:

• What do people value here? (Honor? Wealth? Magic?)
• What’s taboo? (Touching someone’s head? Speaking during a storm?)
• What does a holiday look like? A funeral? A wedding?

When readers encounter fictional customs that feel deeply rooted—even if they’re entirely invented—it makes the world feel lived in.

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3. Magic Should Feel Like Mythology

Magic in your world doesn’t need to follow rigid rules (though it can)—but it does need to feel consistent and consequential.

Think about:

• Who controls the magic?
• Is it feared or revered?
• Does magic have a cost?

Even soft, mysterious magic should behave with intention. Readers don’t need a textbook—they need to believe that the magic has been shaping your world for centuries.

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4. Language, Names, and the Weight of Words

The names of people, places, and things matter. Even if you don’t invent a full conlang (constructed language), a little consistency goes a long way.

If one character is named Aerlyn and another Bob... something’s off. Pay attention to phonetics, cultural naming traditions, and titles. Does your desert empire call their ruler a Shah, a King, a Speaker?

And don’t be afraid to invent terms—just ground them with context. “She wore a maranai at her throat” is intriguing. Add a quick clue (“a bone-and-feather pendant given to grieving daughters”) and you’ve just taught us something about your world.

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5. Show, Don’t Infodump

One of the hardest parts of worldbuilding is resisting the urge to explain everything. Trust your reader to figure things out from context. We don’t need a 10-page history of the Great War right away—we need to see how it still affects your characters.

Weave world details into dialogue, rituals, and scenery:

“She lit the third candle for her brother, as tradition demanded—but she used her left hand, and the priest turned away in disgust.”

Now we’re hooked. Why is that hand important? What does this ritual mean? The reader becomes a participant in the world.

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6. Ask Yourself: What Does This World Do to Its People?

The most powerful worldbuilding isn’t just about cool landscapes or new creatures—it’s about how the world shapes the people who live in it.

A world where the sun burns skin to ash by midday will breed night-walkers. A world where books are banned will breed oral storytellers and hidden rebel scholars. Your characters should be a product of their environment, even when they rebel against it.

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Final Thought: Start Small, Then Expand

You don’t have to build an entire globe before you start writing. Focus on what your character sees and touches. Build outward from there. Over time, your world will grow organically, layer by layer.

And remember: you are the god of this place. But gods who rule with subtlety often craft the most unforgettable worlds.

Writing the First Chapter—Even When It Feels Impossible

You’ve outlined the plot. You’ve dreamed up your characters. You’ve lived inside this story for months—maybe even years. And now you’re staring at the blank page, trying to write the first chapter.

Why is it always the hardest part?

The truth is, the first chapter carries the weight of the entire book. It sets the tone. Introduces your world. Hooks your reader. That pressure can paralyze even seasoned writers.

Here’s the secret: your first chapter doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be good. It just has to exist.

Write the version that gets your characters walking and talking. Let the scene unfold, even if it’s clunky or awkward or full of placeholders. That polished, gripping opening you’re dreaming of? It will come later. Probably on the third or tenth rewrite. That’s normal.

Your job right now isn’t to impress—it’s to begin.

Give yourself permission to write the messy version. The rough draft. The human draft. Because that’s where all great stories start.

And when in doubt, just write the second chapter first.

Writing a Novel: Choosing a Title

Many, many writers will tell you that choosing a title is the hardest part. Sometimes we choose a title before we start writing, but most of the time the title changes a few times. Maybe we never had one at all. But now the book is written. The characters are fluid and real. The plot is exciting and entertaining. But what do we call it?

In my estimation, titles should be simple in fiction. You want to grab a reader's attention, not bog them down with details. The title needs to be attractive and eye catching, but also intriguing or even shocking, perhaps. It should sound good when spoken aloud and it should have some kind of emotion behind it. And it absolutely should make you ask a question.

A really good title will undergo a metamorphosis or sorts as the reader works their way through the story. When they begin the tale, the title will have one meaning. But by the time they've finished the book, the title will mean something else entirely. A powerful title will evoke emotion even as the reader closes the book at the end.

So how do you choose a title? That's really up to you but there are some things you should consider. Perhaps you wish to name your book after the catalyst in your novel. The catalyst is the thing that is the reason the entire story starts. The inciting incident, if you will, but it does not necessarily have to be an event. It can be a thing or person. Sometimes there is more than one catalyst. It may also be the goal. think about the novel The Sword of Shannara. The title is basically the catalyst. It's the reason Allanon recruits Shea Ohmsford in the first place. If you know nothing of the book, seeing that title will make you wonder what this sword is and why a guy or girl named Shannara might be important. The story answers this question, but you leave the novel feeling quite differently about the title. It's an effective title.

Perhaps you'd like your book title to have an aura of mystery. In this case, try a single word or phrase with a defined meaning. Think of Twilight. By now, everyone knows exactly what the book is about. There's little mystery to it. But imagine you knew nothing about the book. What is twilight? A time of day. Nothing more than that. By the time you've finished the book, however, it's far more than just the time between full dark and sunrise. Whether you like the book or not, the title is effective.

Other novels have titles that are either based on a familiar phrase, a play on words, or even a puzzle. You can use irony in your title, perhaps an irony that isn't revealed until later in the story. For example, a story called Road Trip seems like it would be fun and exciting and full of unexpected adventures and hilarious moments. But what if it wasn't? What if instead that road trip turned into a horror show? Taking something benign and turning it on its head is a great way to find a title for your book.

However you choose to title your book, you should try to make sure that your climax, denouement, and title work together in some way. It will give a further cohesive nature to your novel. Even if you start with a title you think works, be open to changing it. Make it work for your story. You may have a wonderful title, a title you love and cherish, but it just won't work for the story you've got. So shelf that title and come up with a new one. The old title isn't going anywhere. You can always use it for another story, one it fits better. You don't need to be protective of a title. It's just a title. It serves a purpose.