questions to ask yourself re: your female characters

I'm getting a little tired, is the thing. Because I'm not fond of reading fic and being blindsided by the only woman appearing being an evil doctor or a shrewish girlfriend or, for that matter, the understanding girlfriend who gets out of the picture in order to further the love of our two heroes. Or the only girl dying. Or--you know. (Note: none of these examples are taken from a specific story. That's actually part of the problem--they're tropes. And I keep seeing them and many others and I'm so, so tired.)

I realize that it's hard. I realize our culture premiers the Stories of white dudes. I realize fandom is prone to writing m/m, and there is nothing wrong with that. I'm not asking for everyone to start writing femmeslash, no matter how happy that would make me. No, I'm asking for something much smaller.

As usual, I'm fine with being disagreed with: these are my opinions and I'm definitely wrong sometimes. I would ask that discussion is polite and respectful, with all that that implies.

( questions to ask yourself about your female characters )