There's a poll on "Male or Female Protagonist?" that just started, but I thought it might also be useful to add a second axis for the writer, that way we can also see what the patterns are for who writes their own gender and who doesn't
Hm, so my current WIP has 2 female MC's, and I'm currently writing with a third character to make it a trio. He's probably more very important secondary than main though, and at this point I'm not really sure if he'll end up cut or not. However I do have a good number of male MC's in other novels, and without really sitting down to think about it I don't think I could say if I tend to write more one gender or the other. (Which probably says that I've got a decently even split right there.) And I am a (cis) female writer, myself.
Mine have two equal protagonists, usually one male and one female. I probably enjoy writing the male characters more, because readers are so much more forgiving of their flaws and I like writing flawed characters...
I'm male, and I write both male and female high profile (i.e.protagonists, antagonists, other important characters with significant roles in the story) characters, not so much non-binary characters, which I interpret to mean characters who don't clearly identify as either male or female). For that reason, I don't feel I can respond meaningfully to the poll as presented.
So do I, but I still notice a preference for female characters over male characters In my Doctor Who fanfic, my ensemble cast of protagonists didn't have a clear hierarchy of who controlled most of the action, but from the 5 characters whose POVs we saw, the split was Woman (20,000 words) Man (15,000 words) Woman (12,500 words) Man (8,000 words) Man (7,500 words) And my Urban Fantasy WIP is also female-dominated, but in exactly the opposite way: the POV is dominated exclusively by a single male narrator, but there is a clear hierarchy of which protagonists control most of the action: Woman Man (narrator) Woman Man I do have a lot of major male characters in my work, but I still felt confident in voting "Male author, female characters"
Female writer here! In the past I exclusively only wrote all female characters only because I had no male exposure or interaction and I thought they were mysterious other worldy creatures. These days (After the male exposure) I find they are not so different afterall and I enjoy writing male characters more than female. My current story only has 2 females and multiple male characters with more scenes. I never thought about why that is until you asked this question. So after brain storming I think its because due to my beliefs I think ladies should for the most part be quiet humble sweet ladies and sure I could write about them anyway I choose but meek females are more natural and pleasurable to me. Males on the other hand are much more diverse and I have more fun with them. and like a poster said above me, people are more forgiving of their flaws and short commings.
female writer, female characters. I do like to show a female character that has strength, deals with an issue showing strength and determination. They can be normal in every way but have gone through adversities. I am not a fan of the meek female character. My female MC will not bat her long lashes at men, she gets what she wants by working for it. She respects men, they are part of her life but she does not "need" a man to take care of her or complete her. Let me qualify that by saying she wants the man she doesn't need the man. There are women that always have a man, they have a new boyfriend/husband before they have broken up/divorced the last one. It's like they cannot stand by themselves, they always need to be a couple. They go through them so easily, it doesn't seem to bother them to pick up one, drop him and find another. Could make a good story.
Wow total opposite POV lol it's always interesting to see how different people think and view things. Nothing wrong with that though. I totally respect your outlook and I actually hear that very often. But it's a concept I will never be able to wrap my head around and I can never read a book or watch a movie with "Strong female characters" and enjoy it. I'm quite young but with a very old traditional way of thinking. One thing I do agree on is the part about dropping one man and picking up another because they can't stand to be without one but hey I won't judge. I always assume girls that do this must feel too sad and loney when they are alone so they need the constant company. How do you normally like to portray your male characters?
Female author and I like doing male mc's. Even when some of my title characters were female the stories were still presented through a male protagonist. I grew up in a home with lots of males around me so they've always fascinated me even as they drove me up the wall.
Hm, coming back to this- I think I may have a tendency to not do a mix of male/female MC's in the same book. I have exceptions but it seems the majority of my ideas usually center on a duo that's either both male, or both female. It may have something to do with the fact I don't want to write romances. I know there are gay romances but I do not plan on ever writing those, while I will include het romances for background flavor or whatnot. So avoiding different-gender protags feels 'safer' to me in the 'avoiding romance' department.
As a short guy, I write both male and female. Though that is not to say that I haven't dabbled in the non-hetero world of fiction, just not quite to the trans level. I can only go so far with what I kinda know. But I just write what ever happens to come out honestly. Not overly picky, but I do try to keep them as close to what they should be as per where the details count. I have written a tertiary character that would be A-sexual in the amphibian sense, and not the standard for what humans have. So I still can't vote.
... Um, I'll have you know that the lead protagonist of my UrFan WIP is a lesbian and the two secondary protagonists are a hetero man and a hetero woman, and not one is them is remotely attracted to the other(s) They are best friends, and the deep love they share for each other is platonic best friend love And I don't just like this because I'm asexual/aromantic I've seen plenty of straight people saying they don't like the "men and women can't be friends" narrative and would love to see more stories about straight/bi men and straight/bi women having deep platonic love for each other, and I've seen plenty of gay people saying the same thing about wanting to see two gay/bi men or two gay/bi women loving each other platonically as best friends
I do like the men and women friendships as well, and now that I realize what I'm doing I may start trying to act against that more. Hm. Maybe my narrator character might get gender flipped here.
Been there I know a lot of writing circles rail against "EVUL SJW CENSORSHIP," but every single time I've ever changed a story for bleeding-heart liberal SJW reasons, I can assure you that the same change also made the story in question better for a bunch of non-SJW reasons in addition to the SJW ones That is a fun game Good luck!
Maybe the bleeding-heart liberal SJWs have somewhat of a point ... Maybe some of the Anti-SJW outrage is an overreaction ... Oh shit I made it political. Abort abort abort
Female writer who writes m/m romance, so by default my MCs are always male. I do enjoy including well-explored female side characters though.
A lot of opposite gender writer responses so far, especially male writing female. Interesting. I wonder whether opposite gender writers are more likely to respond to this?
It means that you're not strictly male or female. Most people are strictly one or the other, but not everybody.
Male author, (mostly) male protagonists, but the balance has been shifting in later years, and some of my favourite characters to write has been women. It's not just protagonists, either; much of my early fiction (from my teenage years) was almost exclusively populated by roaming bands of Hollywood Action Hero Dudebros. Very few women, and practically no children; if there were any, they were lucky to have even the one dimension. Let's see if I can find some numbers. I'll limit myself to what I've written since 2017, including older stuff that I'm still working on. Memories of Eden, novel: 5-8 POV characters, 1 female. The Face of God, novel: This one is tricky, thanks to the omniscient narrator and the somewhat blurry lines between protagonists and supporting cast. Let's call it two female to about eight male (I know this thread is about protagonists specifically, but this novel has many other major characters of a female persuasion). Short stories and flash fiction: (From the top of my head, I'm most likely forgetting something) 7 male 1 female 3 unspecified (but perhaps implicitly male) One short story has one of each, but the female one is eponymous (not perfectly sure I can use the word like this, but I'll risk it) and more central to the story, whereas the male is more like a sidekick.
