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UGH will delete later but I’m annoyed and have to vent.

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles and videos about female characters lately and they always worry me because I’m very attached to my female characters and I hate thinking they might be “wrong” or “not good enough” based on certain formulas or rules (ie: The Bechdel Test). I mentioned it on Twitter (probably not the best place for it since most of my Twitter followers have never looked at Karasu) and I got a lot of responses which completely missed the point. Basically, explaining the Bechdel Test to me (I… already know what it is…) and telling me how to write “good female characters” while simultaneously admitting they’ve never read my story. 

Karasu kind of?maybe? passes the test because female characters do talk to each other, but the main character is a male and is therefore in almost every scene. My point was that it saddens me that no matter what I do with my ladies, my story might not meet certain guidelines that the people in these articles put together. I’m not going to throw in scenes just to meet these requirements and it just stresses me out to have to fret about them. I don’t think Karasu is “bad” or “anti-female,” I just really dislike my own constant worrying. I hope I explained this clearly enough.