If Anyone Was Wondering: The Order The High Lords (and Lady) Of Prythian Saved Feysand In:::

I finished the first book today and I needed to draw Feyre discovering the tattoo on her hand.

I spent a lot of time trying to get her face like I picture it and I’m quite happy with it so Yay!

Writing Female Fighters

The Heroine Must. Fight.

Today's female protagonists cannot sit on the side crying and breaking down or whimpering as the battle ensues.

Readers want to see autonomous female fighters who can at least defense themselves with courage and adequate skill.

Not all women are the same, but the heroine should get her butt moving.

Less Muscle, but More Flexibilty

The average woman is shorter than the average man, which makes it more difficult to wield a long sword or slam something down on the opponent's head.

A woman who works out can plausibly be stronger than a male couch potato, but if her male counterpart works out as much as her, the man is going to be much stronger.

On the other hand, the center of gravity in a woman's body is lower than a man's which makes it harder to knock her off her feet.

She is also more flexible, which gives her advantage in grappling fights, making use of complex landscapes, or deflecting blows.

A woman's small size can also be an advantage if her opponent has only ever trained with male opponents. His big hands might not get a good grip on her slender limbs.

In historical fiction, giving your heroine good muscule build can be tricky as exercise was generally considered harmful for women, with some exceptions for horseriding any maybe archery at best.

In such cases, make your heroine an accomplished dancer or an eager horsewoman, or the only girl whose father considered to be son replacement and thus, gave her a boy's education.

Women of lower classes who couldn't afford to be fashionably weak will be plausibly stronger, perhaps even more than an idle gentleman.

More Room for Negotiation, but Prolonged Ruthlessness

In the Suspense part of your fight scene, females are more likely to negotiate and talk more, strategically trying to descalate the situation rather than attacking on a momentary impulse.

Generally, women are less aggressive than men and remain level-headed longer than her male counterparts, opting for non-violent methods first before using force.

Exceptions apply if she is trying to protect her children (or someone who she cares for as a child). Mothers can be tigresses.

A female pre-fight conversation may be: "If you had not done so-and-so and betrayed me with so-and-so, we could have been good friends as I thought we would be." "What do you mean? It was in fact you who brought bad blood between us. I can still hear you laughing with so-and-so, taunting me, purposefully making me look bad -" "But that was so long ago! If you want me to say sorry about something so insignificant, you should have just said so: I'm sorry. There. Satisfied?" "Ha! I can't believe you say that so easily. You still don't get it, do you?" "Who's being petty and unreasonable now?"

A male pre-fight conversation will be shorter: "Who's the coward now?" "You're wrong." "Prove it." "Bastard."

Compared to men, it will take more time for a woman's fight hormones (adrenaline, neurotransmitters and such) to kick in.

She would be slower to engage initially, throwing reluctant punches and thinking, but she'll grow more and more violent and lose all rational thought and compassion, and once she's in full flow, may not stop even when her opponent begs for mercy.

When writing a male-female duo, you can show him going for the first blow while she observes and strategizes first. When he's past his peak and panting, she is flying about left and right. Later when the tension wears off and she becomes wobbly and teary, she can rely on him to have recovered faster and distract other teammates so that they won't see her cry.

Plausible Skills and Backstory

In many cultures and time periods, the general attitude of society towards girls is that they have no place in fist fights or martial arts, unlike how it is encouraged for boys of the same age. So if your heroine has physical prowess that surpasses typical 'fitness' or is hidden, build a backstory of how she's obtained it.

For modern heroines, it can be as simple as signing her up for martial arts classes or yearly membership at the local gym. For historical fiction or girls with strict 'feminine' upbringing, it can be trickier.

It can be related to profession: maybe she was an erotic wrestler, catfighter, or an assasin who thought killing was more honorable than prostitution. They may have dabbles with it for a short time and is now trying to hide their past from their respectable employer or fiance.

It can be family backstory: Perhaps her mother was an accomplished martial artist or she had to fend for younger siblings on the streets from an early age. Maybe she was the only girl in a family of many boys who refused to be the punching bag.

Inexperienced Female Fighters

A woman with no fighting experience or training is likely to resort to one of these on instinct:

Try to talk herself out of the situation, attempting to persuade or negotiate for her life.

Grab something to use as a weapon. This instinct seems to be stronger for women than it is in men.

Use her hands to try and break free, or kick (often wth little success)

Pull hair

Scratch.

In a serious fight, pulling hair and scratching won't be helpful, except when the police come to find her body, they would find the opponent's DNA under her fingernails.

Plausible Weapons and Clothing

All of the above applies to scenes where both parties have no weapons, or has the bare minimum (like one dagger each).

Weapons are equalizers, and if your heroine is pointing a gun at her opponent she will definitely NOT hesitate to be the one to shoot first.

When giving your female character a weapon, choose one she can plausibly use. It would take an unusually brawny woman to wield a great medieval longsword.

For historical fiction, give your heroine something she'll plausibly own. Swords and firearm were a no-go for women, but archery was borderline acceptable.

For clothing starters, you definitely CAN NOT dress her in a tight miniskirt and chainmail bra with long, flowy hair and multiple silver chockers. Unless she's trying to seduce her way into her opponent's bedroom, and he has a chainmail bra fetish.

A practical heroine will have her thighs covered, preferably with leather but at least with fabric, since a lot of blood flows through the thighs and a slash would be critical.

She'll keep her hair tied, tucked under a helmet, braided back, etc. so that it won't impede her vision.

She'll support her breasts with a strong sport bra. In a historical eprioid, she'll either tie her breasts tight with a fabric bandage or support them with some kind of leather corset.

Invent a female version of male fighter clothing of the time you are writing about if it doesn't exist.

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Aelin & Rowan

Rhysand Attempt #2

This one came out WAAYYYY better… I was gonna finish the rest of the body but I liked this the way it is..

Thank you @fuckingughhh for suggesting Samuel Larsen!

Jude and Cardan by Crisol Crowling

Just seeing the title “High Lady of the Night Court” under Feyre’s name gives me so many emotions!

ya lit meme: seven friendships [1/7] Rhysand’s Inner Circle

character in a fight scene: *restrains their opponent by pinning them against the wall by their wrists*

me:

Don't forget Snow White! A poisoned apple and crazy weird mirror!!

ACOWAR References

I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite references in ACOWAR because it really does make the story way more fun! (These are mostly my own observations/ideas and nothing too official). 

I’ll add more tomorrow when I have time… but off the top of my head I remember:

Koeschi: probably from the Russian folk tale Koschei the Deathless

Stryga: the same name as that main chimera on Notre Dame!

Vassa: a reference to the Russian folk tale The Firebird and Princess Vasilia (although her story also sounds like it’s blended with Swan Lake). A lot of other recent YA books have retold this one too yay

I got serious Exodus vibes from Nephelle’s story

Lord Thanatos. lol

Thesan, the Etruscan Goddess of dawn

the Morrigan (which still makes me so happy)

Andromache

pretty sure Azriel is named after Azrael, the Angel of Death

Madja the healer: I read about an ancient Egyptian archeological site where they found a healer’s body and named her Madja but maybe that’s a total coincidence

not sure if Dagdan is a reference to The Dagda but that was my first thought… especially the association with the cauldron

Idk if Elain is a reference to the Arthurian legend where Elaine the Fair (or The Lady of Shallott if you’re an Anne of Green Gables fan) dies of unrequited love… but that kind of fits.

the Myrmidons: I’m taking this in the Achilles context

Eris, the Greek goddess of discord

I think the Illyrian stuff is obvious but there’s that

Helion’s probably a form of Helios, the Titan god of the sun

I totally googled this after a certain plot point: Lucien means “light/illumination” and that’s rather fitting haha. He’s also a prince in Persian mythology buuut I don’t think that really fits.

the Naga

And this is old news but still makes me sad when people don’t know it, so: the ancient Scottish ballad of Tam Lin

Ouroboros!

and then there are the obvious influences in earlier books of Beauty & the Beast, Hades/Persephone, Cinderella (with how she had to pick the lentils out of the fireplace before she could go to the “ball” in ACOTAR), East of the Sun West of the Moon, etc…

Ok I feel like I’m forgetting a ton and I know I’ve read about a Brannagh before, so let me think on a few and add more later! I just love mythology and how many reference Maas can throw into one book.