It shouldn’t be any harder to write strong (as in, fully-wrought and believable) female characters than it is to write strong male characters because women, just like men, are people (not that not being a person has ever prevented a character from existing in the first place). Still, the very idea that a popular male writer like Neil Gaiman could somehow create great female characters is apparently so anomalous that it can take up space in a interview.
This is one of my favorite topics. 🙂
I honestly feel like he says it all.
Don’t just write characters who can punch through a wall. Make them interesting. Make them fragile. Make them contradictory. Give them deep, dark secrets. Give them weakness.
Get to know the people around you, and the idea of writing strong female characters becomes natural–and explaining it seems just plain silly.
Neil Gaiman Explains How the Phrase “Strong Women” Begets Lazy Writing