Building Better: Tomboy Characters
Howdy, fellow word parents!
Today's post will be about tomboys. As a tomboy myself, I felt that I qualified for this post, so here it is!
I love reading about tomboy female characters. They're strong, determined, stubborn, and just over all a fun character to follow throughout a story!
--But I feel like a lot of people tend to misunderstand the average tomboy. Many writers make the tomboy wear nothing but jeans and leather jackets, know all about mechanics, despise girly girls, hate anything related to dresses or fashion, and they are usually really good at trash-talking other girls who enjoy things like painting nails, dressing up, or shopping, and they know how to fight people they disagree with like a trained soldier.
Is this who we really want our readers to look up to?
I love bugs. Okay, I know a lot of you are probably wondering what that has to do with anything, but just bear with me, please. Tomboys usually have a sort of hobby that assists in keeping them a tomboy. Mine is insects. I collect them. There are tons of other hobbies out there that can belong to a tomboy too, but this is just from my own experience. I also raised pigs for a while, and loved (almost) every minute of it. Climbing trees? Chasing cicadas? These were things I did on the daily--but not to prove that I was a tomboy, it was just simply because I enjoyed it! On the flip side of all this, I hated jeans. I thought they were tight, scratchy, and uncomfortable. I wore dresses and skirts alllll the time.
I think something a lot of people think is that being a tomboy only relies on how you dress. "T-shirts, jeans, and tenis make you a tomboy." Wrong! Being a tomboy is so much deeper than that! It's not how she dresses, it's not a certain way she talks (although her environment can affect this), it's simply how she chooses to act. Does she love sports? Does she love playing in the dirt? Does she love fishing? Then surprise! Your character is a tomboy. She can still paint her nails and love playing basketball. She can still go shopping and enjoy hunting. She can have a feminine side (after all, God did make the tomboy a girl, even if she doesn't always act like it), being a tomboy just means that you won't usually find her at a salon, but more likely at the ballpark or the creek.
Some good hobbies for a tomboy could be gardening, fishing, hunting, gun collections, insect collections, but they can also be things normal characters may find interesting! Maybe your character collects old perfume bottles because they look cool. That doesn't make her not a tomboy, it's just something she enjoys doing!
And another thing. Being a tomboy does not mean that she hates on other girls. She might occasionally butt heads with a girly girl who's trying to force her to do/act/be a certain way, but normally, us tomboys just want to live our life the way we like it. No punching or trash-talking involved. (Although there's always the exception. . .)
I sure hope this helps you out with your character!
In Christ alone,
Daisy 🌼
