Final girl
https://i0.wp.com/www.writerandthewolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Authorial-Intrusion-1.png?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024 683 Siobhan O'Brien Holmes Siobhan O'Brien Holmes https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e13fe604611de8ab95f8fa1e5862d0115e805367dd2bb462c28ba4013cebfee7?s=96&d=mm&r=gWhat is the ‘final girl’ trope?
The ‘final girl’ is the last surviving female character in a horror film or novel, particularly in slashers where characters are killed off one by one. When the term was coined in the 1980s, it referred specifically to a (usually young) female character who is part of a group of victims being hunted by the killer. That’s why Sidney in Scream still counts as the final girl even though Gale Weathers is alive at the end: Gale wasn’t initially being targeted by Ghostface – she just got in the way (she is awesome, though). The term typically refers to kick-ass female characters who fight back and survive the killer’s attacks through their own strength, courage or smarts, rather than women who just happen to be left alive or are saved by other characters.
Usually, the final girl goes on to kill the villain, or at least put them out of action until the sequel. Other final girls include Sally in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Laurie in Halloween and Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
What do children’s authors need to know?
The final girl trope usually crops up in slasher horror stories so it’s the terrain of YA rather than middle grade.
In earlier films and horror stories, the final girl was sometimes positioned as being ‘better’ than the other girls who weren’t so lucky: maybe they all had sex while the final girl remained a virgin, or they smoked or drank alcohol. Scream parodies this trope (like it parodies most tropes!) with Sidney joking she should stay a virgin in order to survive Ghostface’s spree but choosing to have sex with her boyfriend anyway, right before he tries to kill her, while Sidney’s best friend Tatum – strong, fun, sexually active – is murdered in a particularly undignified way.
When writing your final girl, remember that today’s YA readers don’t want you moralising about how teenage girls should act. Don’t write a Mary Sue character who is so morally perfect that readers won’t relate to her or root for her to win. Anybody can be a final girl, so play around with the trope a little and surprise your readers.
