Guest Blog: Strong female characters by Susan Murray The problem with a phrase like ‘strong female characters’ is it implies a default state where female characters are inherently ‘unstrong’. By its very existence it risks reinforcing stereotypical images as the norm: the silent movie heroine, tied to the tracks, in floods of tears as she awaits rescue by the hero; or the housekeeper in Tom and Jerry jumping on the table and screaming because she’s seen a mouse. These examples are laughably old and outdated, as is – or should be – the notion that ‘strong’ women are somehow unusual. Female characters should every bit as able to get out there and make life happen as male characters: the fictional world they inhabit may set constraints upon them, in which case the author needs to decide if – and how – they accept these constraints or resist them. Strength isn’t just about bench pressing your own body weight at the gym, either. Nor is it just about kickass assassins protecting the...