Balancing an Action Girl

I'm gonna side with Loni Jay on this one, but from a different perspective. Try thinking of it this way: if your Action Girl was a real-life person, would you want to spend time with her? What would you talk about? How would she act? What would really get under her skin? Is she fun to be around? If so, why? If not, why not?

I think it's important for a character to be "charismatic" — the reader needs something to latch onto in her personality, words, thoughts, or even quirks well before she does any fighting. Take a step back for a moment — before you even start planning her action scenes and/or capture — and think about what makes your Action Girl tick. The details you add beforehand, like certain traits and habits, can actually help guide her actions in the middle of a fight.

I say this because I've been thinking about how to make a solid Action Girl as well (even though, as others have said, you shouldn't have to think about it THAT hard or you're doing it wrong). If someone asked me "What's this character all about?" I think I could give some semblance of an answer; as her creator, I imagine you can do the same if given the chance.

...Though I suppose if you absolutely have to focus on not putting her in god mode, make it so that she struggles in a fight. I'm not opposed to taking down a hundred mooks, but she should at least show signs of wear and tear. Leave her exhausted. Give her a few injuries. Let the mooks use some better tactics than "attack her one at a time." Put her in situations that challenge her to use her strength as well as her intelligence.

At the risk of this turning into a novel, I'll stop here. In any case, I hope my little ramble was of some use to you.

Adding to what Voltech and Loni Jay said, you can also show her charismatic qualities whilefighting. If she's the snarking type, have her Trash Talk her opponents, if she's arrogant, have her fight without going all out, or have her use some "gimmick" when taking on mooks (fighting without using her hands/weapon etc), if she's the stoic, methodical type, have her analyse her enemy and her options.

There's nothing wrong with her taking down an army of mooks without breaking a sweat, it'd be a good way to show the reader how powerful she is (and the power of your verse, by extension), but give her a rival's and enemies that can match and/or surpass those feats and make her struggle against them. She doesn't have to struggle against every plot important action-character, just a few (the rival(s), several antagonists, the Big Bad, etc).

Another option is Crippling Overspecialisation. Maybe she's an invincible warrior, but not so great on the academic or social side of things. Not every obstacle can be dealt with by punching it until it falls over.

Actually, it doesn't have to be bondageriffic stuffs. Even 'put in a cell and can't even get out' will do! The problem is, if she's told that "I've planted a bomb inside your house containing your sickly best friend (shows it too). If you ever try so much break away from that cell, then I'll blow that bomb up." and she chose to not to resist and keeps herself imprisoned... that's not making a Faux Action Girl, right?

Of course the events leading to her capture would be like taking down around 100 mooks, but fatigue hit in. When fatigue hit in, someone (specialized in spying) did a sneak attack (because her awareness has decreased due to fatigue) and disabled her.

So?

EDIT: @Voltech: Yeah, those are really helpful things. Though if these mooks are actually mindless monsters, not much they can think of strategy, except maybe ganging up on her rather than attacking one by one.

edited 14th May '12 8:21:17 PM by ChrisX

...Is this an RPG?

I would just toss out the whole idea of being captured and just set up a 'desperate escape' chapter. What I can see of the storyline here sounds more like Hollywood Tactics than anything realistic - if the bad guys' goal here is merely that she doesn't escape, she'd be in a plastic box with four armed guards watching her at all times (perhaps a little nervously, as she's killed her way through a couple of platoons already).

I would also use the relationship she has with her friend to show her character, where they both learn and develop from it. (She learns peace while the friend learns war, for example.)

And if the setting doesn't support bad guys who are better than her, there's nothing wrong with overwhelming numbers - a mook rush (cf. Asuka vs. MP Evas, or the situation that leads to the first formation of Dancougar/Dankuuga). That way, eventually, she's going to have to learn how to fight smarter than just murderfy her way through her problems.