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@seekjustice

If your characters are falling into the same patterns, perhaps you can try switching up the traits? Maybe a character can be extroverted, feminine and ambitious all at once, which I think is not a combination often seen among female leads. You can also try flipping things up and seeing how all these traits would play out if the character was the opposite gender, since their mindset, experiences, challenges and opportunities would differ as a result. Quite a few of my character concepts were conceived like this. 😛

If you having trouble coming up with and writing characters that are unlike yourself in personality, one thing you may want to consider is to read about real women who are very different from you to gain some exposure to their psychology and ways of thinking. For example, one area of research I did for QOD was to read about real-life celebrities, from historical actors to old Hollywood stars to modern pop singers. So perhaps reading biographies of women who had lived very different lives from you can inspire and help you get some ideas for your female characters.

Some character types I wish to see more of:
– Extroverts. More specifically, extroverted nerds.
– Non-villainous Thinking types
– Villainous Feeling types
– Characters who have devoted themselves to discovering and learning something specific (e.g. learning a certain craft) instead of some grand nebulous ideal
– Politicians and social experts (both villainous and otherwise)
– Non-villainous ambitious characters
– Characters that actually need to work for a living (not really a personality type but it’s something that can significantly ground a character)

That’s all I can think of for now. Hope this helps.