I like that we were forced to pick one or the other Sure, I added "non-binary" as an option in my own poll, but if either of us had put "I don't write all of my characters as having the same gender" as an option, then literally everybody would've picked that one, and we wouldn't have any information about what anybody writes more of
I don't think that's what most of us are doing. Some are, apparently. I did see a thread a while back where people were discussing using actual character sheets from a game, but I think most people, whether they start with character or story would agree that chosen attributes are a bad place to start. Personally, I start with a concept. It's usually an idea or situation I haven't read before or a juxtaposition of existing concepts, and the story grows from there (or it doesn't, and I don't write it). Somewhere in the early stages, before I've even figured out the story, focus characters just sort of pop into being. They'll be more nuanced and better formed later on, hopefully, but there they are, and whether they like it or not, they're stuck with me. To follow your example by giving one of my own, one of my dozens of back burner projects is a short story idea that occurred to me recently: What if a video game HUD-style countdown appeared in everyone's view simultaneously around the entire world and no one knew how or why or what would happen when the timer ran out? How would the world react? It's silly, I know, but I've been reading a lot of Robert Sheckley and Philip K. Dick this year. Anyway, before I even had an answer to my question, there was a main character, a sixteen-year-old band nerd in the mid-nineties. Why? Because he was my guy. It was as simple as that. I wanted someone who had no way of affecting the way the things unfolded around the globe, and poof, there he was. As soon as he came into existence in my head, he became exactly the character through whom I wanted the audience to experience the world as it loses its collective shit. I don't think this question is about picking a gender before you write. It's about whether you have a leaning, and if so, why.
They made so little a deal of it that Ripley in Alien is often credited as being the first female action hero, but Leia beat her there by two years, and she didn't panic, cry or take her clothes off for no reason (not that I object to skin in cinema, of course, but Sigourney in her underwear makes for a more muddled feminist statement). Yeah, Leia ended up in the metal bikini in Jedi, but she strangled to death the monster that objectified and humiliated her, so there.
I love the inquisitiveness of a female as they ask questions that seem out of character for a man. I would never ask to see the engagement ring or the baby pictures, and if someone was hurt I would just want to know if their alright, not will they ever dance again or have children. I have been lucky being surrounded by strong women most of my life, who will sometimes hold my feet to the fire for a reality check, but they have always shown love and concern for my well being. You can't buy that stuff.
That's exactly what I was getting at with the question. I'm sorry that you thought I was asking it as if it was a form, Veltman, that wasn't my intention. And very good points, Thundair.
My leads are usually female, and I'm male. I'm not sure why, I think I need there to be a gap between me and my characters, so I don't fall into the trap of just writing myself, and I need to work harder to have that difference when I'm writing a male lead. Also, in hindsight, I often seem to cast a male lead as an "outsider" so far. He shows up in the story, we don't know what his deal is and find it out as the story progresses. With a female lead, it's more likely that there will be insight into what she's thinking outside of what she says and does.
That makes a ton of sense. It’s difficult not writing yourself as a character and what better way than to just make your MC a different gender?
I don't follow guidelines to writing either gender. I don't think there should be. My thing is, while I agree that men and women tend to have their own perspective and ways of thinking, there's always the exception, and why can't characters be the exception? I hear a lot of people worried about writing the opposite gender for fear that they will "get it wrong", but you have men who are more emotional, like to go shopping, or getting their hair done, and you have women who are all about sports, not very emotional, or like to keep things simple. I think characters can be the same way. At the end of the day, I don't think you ought to write a character based off their gender, but based off who the character is. A male may have female traits and a female may have male traits. It's fine. I think, more than anything, it's about staying true to the character you're writing and knowing who they are and how they respond.
My current protagonist is female, and it becomes relevant to the story at a few points. In particular, there are gender issues that exist in the background in this world, which rear their head from time to time. My protagonist isn't a physically powerful kind of person, so she can't address problems with brute force. She has to solve them with her intellect. And has to deal with patronization too. I'll find out whether I develop a trend as I write more. The protagonists in my old books were almost exclusively male, but I've leveled up substantially since then, so I don't really count those. I'll probably aim for about 50:50, which I already do for any characters whose genders do not matter substantially to the story.
For as long as I can remember, I've always written male leads. I'm a male myself. So I feel a sense of familiarity when writing male leads. Reading about female characters where all they go through is the struggle of being a woman. Though that's probably cause of bad character writing. And I wanted to stay as far away from that as I can. To be honest, I don't ever see myself writing a female protagonist. I'll write a female antagonist, or supporting character for sure. But protagonist? Nope. Maybe one day I would, nothing is set in stone. I just don't wanna fall into the "Rey Effect". Where I make female protagonists super overpowered mary sues, or just get the psychology wrong, ruining the story. Edit: took out the anatomy part, it just sounds weird and unnecessary now that I think about it.
I've written both. I feel when I write the opposite sex (female in my case) I'm more challenged and do a better job. Writing from the male perspective is a side I obviously know better but it also can result in characters that are perhaps too vanilla. My first book was a bit of a love story told from the side of the male protagonist. The female love interest is far, far more interesting in that book. She has better dialog and more 'issues'. After that I wrote two books with a female lead and I believe they are much better. The protagonist is very complex and in the struggle to get her 'right' I think I challenged myself to do better work. She is a fan favorite. It's scientifically supported that men and women's brains work differently, thus they think differently. While you can write a strong, fearless woman and a weak, weepy male there are still programmed parameters to each gender you have to respect and abide by. My challenge now in my next project that will have a male protagonist is to apply a similar effort to making him as interesting as my females. Recognizing that I can't cruise through a character's creation simply because we share a gender has been a significant insight.
Say 'Screw it" and go for a hermaphrodite. Best of both worlds. I've done male, female and herm. As long as you justify it, you can sell a reader whatever you want.
Just to clarify - in the same paragraph as you claim scientific support for gender differences, you seem to be characterizing traditional feminine traits as "weak, weepy" and traditional male traits as "strong, fearless". Do you think you should possibly separate the second part from the "scientific support" part a bit more?
I don't think it matters much as long as you have a sizzling plot to go alongside the protagonist. In most of my writing, I have crossed between male and female characters. For me (as a female) I think its interesting/creative to explore both genders as protagonists. (not necessarily together in the same book) but throughout my writing career. Personally, I quiet enjoy writing about my male protagonist because he's so different from me, but I don't believe we as genders differ too much inside our heads. (to a certain extent anyhow.) I have written about female protagonists too, but I nearly always write in third person which can give me a little breathing space from 'deep inner thoughts.'