Agency is a really tricky thing to have at the forefront of your mind when writing, especially female characters and leads, I’ve found. You can’t overthink it or dwell. But at the same time, it’s vital for a truly strong character. It’s important to let your characters be themselves, have a voice, and be able to act.
(For the purposes of this post, we’ll be referring to your character with feminine pronouns.)
But sometimes, you just have to admit that they’re fucked in a certain situation. A single bad situation or someone else coming in to help/resolve something doesn’t ruin a character’s arc; sometimes, they’re necessary. This post is about these bad situations specifically, and how to preserve your character’s agency within some helpless, vulnerable, violent, or just fucked up scenarios.
Figuring out whether or not you want a fight scene could be the first decision to make, or it could be a result of how you get her out of there. A few questions to ask yourself:
-What can you get away with doing to your heroine? Can she get her arm broken, or maybe some scrapes or a cut, or any other wounds to show that there was real risk to getting her out of the situation?
-Is she smarter than her enemy? Can she talk them down or trick them somehow?
-Does she have any real fighting experience or would that actually increase her odds of escaping? (The element of surprise is a strong one!)
-Is there any way to improvise a weapon? Weapons drastically change the odds in someone’s favor.
-What would the risk(s) be of adding another character to the scene? Either someone to help rescue, or a distraction, or even a neutral party?
There are definite ways that physically smaller and/or weaker characters can win fights against larger and/or stronger characters. Any experience in actual fighting techniques goes a long way, but also consider the rules of your universe. Superpowers, magic, technology, or anything else could easily help your heroine get out of this tough spot.
But if you do need to call in something else, don’t fret too much. Make sure your heroine is aware of what the risks were, and let her vow to do better next time, or be shaken by it, or get revenge later. Agency doesn’t always mean constantly kicking ass and taking names. The character can make mistakes, get beaten, and/or have significant personal or narrative flaws too. She just has to be able to make these choices and live (or not) with the consequences.
