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Hi, my name is Maya Bode and I'm thirteen years old; this year I wrote and self-published my novel "Tess Embers," to Amazon.com and the CreateSpace store. I am now a verified author here on Goodreads, and my book is here as well! As an aspiring young author, I really look up to you and admire you and your work. You may not see this comment, but just in case I want to say that I'd be honored if you followed me/became a fan! Of course it would be amazing if you bought/read my book, but I know you are very busy :) Thanks for your time!

I will say that currently, I'm seeing more heroines who are strong and funny as well as ambitious while also being concerned about said ambition. My primary example is Yelena Zaltana from Maria V. Snyder's Study books. Granted, while Yelena's past might not be the brightest, she grows into a formidable heroine that shows us her inner ethical struggles. And overall, it made me adore her even more. I do hope there will be a surge of amazing heroines in new books that will hopefully inspire even more young readers.
Thank you for this post, Maggie. :)

However, I see your point about how the awesome, madcap female characters tend to not get written or acknowledged.
Now that you are a well established author, you can write all of them and inspire others to do the same.

How many of those characters were the main character and not just a strong sidekick, though? It's a subtle reinforcement of their not-quite-the-most-interesting status.
Also, to all the nods to strong characters in a secondary fantasy world, it's true, it's much easier to find this sort of female character in a book set in a society that ISN'T ours. What does that say?

Then we do have the wonderfully strong women of Austen. Are they madcap, no, but brilliant, strong, solid, etc.
Something seems to happen in the transition from children's chapter books to teen, young adult, and adult reading. There are many madcap, female, lead characters in children's chapter books.
Perhaps it is a publisher problem. Authors struggling to find agents and publishers may have a great story about a madcap female lead character and someone above doesn't think it will sell, so she gets moved to a side or forgotten all together.
These days I think you have a better chance of finding the type of female role models you wanted growing up than you have if you read the daily newspaper.