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based in your heavily clichéd views of women
You have an interesting point and I appreciate you bringing this to light: what if if my goodie-goodie character were a man incapable of physically defending himself instead? I hadn't thought to gender-flip the situation, and this is a valid question.
However, after thinking about this particular situation, I would still have the same problem, how to make the combination of lack of life experience, limited physical agency, and adherence to goodness interesting.
I would also like to add that, as a woman, I could not fight my way out of physical violence in which someone tried to overpower me. It's 2018 and this is a real thing. It has nothing to do with my worth as a person. But in a "might is right" situation, I'm toast.
I do also have a male character who can't defend himself, but his character arc goes dark before light.
She does acquire dark powers from demon sex
I spoke briefly and poorly - as a result of said demon sex, FMC explores a hedonistic, destructive inversion of her character which will give me all kinds of fun things to write about, concerning the interplay of light and shadow, selfless vs. selfishness. It's ultimately the integration of the two that save the day. BUT while my FMC is strictly light side for the first two books, I need to find another way to deepen her conflict before inverting her character. She gets a late start compared to everyone else. I don't feel like I'm "finished" with characters until I invert them.
The plot in the first book hinges on her purity, so it has to remain (relatively) intact.
Purity of heart, as in not giving way to rage or violence. She's the only one who doesn't rage and the plot hinges on that.
I think you have a larger problem here, based in your heavily clichéd views of women. If you can resolve that, the way to fix your character problem will become clear.
If anyone else has concrete suggestions for self-checking ways out of unconscious thought traps, I'd appreciate if you could share.
part of the problem is that you seem to think that "dark" characters = "interesting" characters
Generally, people make mistakes, mistakes have consequences, and then you're left with the choice to either learn and own up, or continue down a destructive path.
And on that note - this is why I appreciate these comments, thank you - it's the learning/owning up part of that process I find makes it easy to write character growth. So I'm struggling with ways to facilitate character growth without a host of selfish/destructive decisions being precursor. Mistakes are easy to make...
I suppose there are well-intentioned mistakes...
But some of my favorite female characters in science fiction that fit your mold, do not run away - they stay in their circumstances and what grows ... is their understanding and philosophical views of the roles of men and women in society.
I was planning on taking the "acceptance" route in the last book. You make great points.
@Roxxsmom - thank you for the links!