?

Do you usually write about the same gender?

  1. Yes.

    23.7%
  2. No.

    23.7%
  3. I have an even amount of both, usually.

    52.5%
  1. AmyWriter

    AmyWriter Member

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    Do you usually write about the same gender?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by AmyWriter, Aug 20, 2015.

    I often find that authors will write about their same gender. I also find that this is not the case with myself. I usually have male characters (to my disbelief). I always tell my friends about my characters and often they will say "Oh, he's a boy." Does anyone else have this happen? I would like to see.
     
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  2. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    No, I feel equally comfortable with each. My WIP alternates POV between a man and a woman.

    Most authors do seem to have their preferences though.
     
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  3. Samson Michael

    Samson Michael Member

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    I write both, granted, as a male, I do worry about how I portray females far more than how I portray my male characters. I try to give all characters depth and realism, however, because I'm not female, I sometimes fear that my female characters will appear more masculine than I initially intended. Quite simply, I write whatever gender the main character needs to be.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2015
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  4. Shandeh

    Shandeh Active Member

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    I mostly write male characters - I am female but I feel much more at home in a male mindset. It's my female characters who tend to lack authenticity.
     
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  5. Fernando.C

    Fernando.C Contributor Contributor

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    I'm comfortable with either gender - I'm a boy myself. I actually don't tend to think too much about the gender of my characters. My focus is always on making my characters complex and interesting, real people with depth and insecurities and fallacies. To me a characters sex, unless directly related to the plot, is not that important.
    The novel I'm currently working on has four POV characters, three of them are girls and only one is a boy. I'm quite comfortable writing them
     
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  6. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    I actually have a harder time writing characters of my own gender (male) and my stories end up being very female-dominated. When I do write male characters, they can be easier to slip into in terms of "hacking" their thoughts (especially regarding the opposite sex), but I tend to find male characters less interesting and it takes more effort to create interesting ones.
     
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  7. AmyWriter

    AmyWriter Member

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    If I tried to describe why I write about males more often, it would be exactly like this.
     
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  8. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Huh? Just messing. No I am pretty fluid when it comes to writing gender. Even though it is far simpler to write male than female. Alien species is a whole new ball game though.

    I would use the As Good as it Gets anecdote, but I feel it would fall on its face. :D
     
  9. Shbooblie

    Shbooblie Senior Member

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    I'm only on my first piece of fiction writing and I've decided to write it in first person from a male perspective. This is because I feel like I identify more with male lead characters than female ones despite being female myself. I just find it easier to write as a male.
     
  10. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Most of my main characters are females, so opposite of my own gender. I can count the number of male protagonists with...one finger. Mainly its due to the fact that I feel more at home with my female protagonists than my male ones. Granted I do have plenty of male characters, only one of them is an actual main character, though.
     
  11. ManOrAstroMan

    ManOrAstroMan Magical Space Detective Contributor

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    I've only ever done a couple of first person projects, both from a male POV. Though, one guy has amnesia and no sense of cultural mores.
    I have had (abandoned) projects where I comfortably wrote in third-person, following a female character, or hopped between a mostly female mixed cast.
    I suppose it helps, basing characters on people I know, at least in part.
     
  12. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    I can write either or. Sometimes I feel more comfortable writing male character because there's less obligation for a romance or to explain why there is no romance. I feel like when a female character doesn't have a man I have to justify, explain and somehow reassure the reader that she's not a hobgoblin.

    That being said when I write female character's they're mostly young.
     
  13. OurJud

    OurJud Contributor Contributor

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    Depends what you mean by 'about'.

    I've never written anything with a female MC, but of course my writing contains characters of both sexes.
     
  14. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

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    I usually have both in my novels. My current WIP is actually the first one that has only one (female) perspective. I actually like writing males as well. It's interesting to get inside the head of the opposite sex. Sometimes I get the impression that my males are more vivid and relatable than my females, because of the comments I get from readers. :)
     
  15. ToeKneeBlack

    ToeKneeBlack Banned

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    I noticed that many "trios" of characters consist of two boys and one girl, so I decided to make mine two girls and one boy to start with.
    As I began to add more characters to the central group, I soon realised that the boy was becoming vastly outnumbered, though the two side-story groups have a 50/50 ratio of genders.
     
  16. AmyWriter

    AmyWriter Member

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    Could you please not use acronyms? I don't know what they mean.
     
  17. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    WiP= Work in Progress
    POV= Point Of View
    MC= Main Character

    Sorry if this wasn't what you meant, but that's what we mean by them.
     
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  18. CMastah

    CMastah Active Member

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    WIP - Work In Progress
    MC - Main Character
    POV - Point Of View

    When I created my first MC, I wasn't sure whether I wanted it to be male or not (he's not human)........then........I decided to do both and now each MC has their own separate storylines.

    EDIT: Lol, beaten to the punch.
     
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  19. AmyWriter

    AmyWriter Member

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    Thank you.
     
  20. Enyo

    Enyo Member

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    Yes. My main characters are always female because it's the gender I'm drawn to overall. I can write men and boys. I just have no desire to make them MC's.
     
  21. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    Wait, do you mean if I write characters of the same gender as myself, or if I always write the same genders in every story (eg. all my MCs are of one gender)?

    Cus I'm a woman and my MCs are almost always guys. So depending on what you meant re your question, my answer could be yes or no :ohno:

    I connect just fine with both genders. I find my female characters are more similar to me, and my male characters are usually the type I'd find attractive myself. No one's ever complained about my male characters, so I believe I write men just fine. My women, when they're not primary characters, sometimes suffer - I blame that on too much anime. I totally admit there's some level of wish fulfillment in my writing and I simply rather enjoy writing male characters I could fancy myself - so since I'm straight, male MCs it is :blowkiss:
     
  22. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Heh, I'm the exact opposite. My MCs are almost always the ladies and some of them even develop romantic interests with guys.

    I wonder if there's a subtle message here? o_O
     
  23. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    What message? (if it's really obvious, I've missed it. Brain not functioning atm)

    For some reason I've always thought you were a dude... You're a dudette!? :bigeek:
     
  24. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Oh, if only I was so I could bask in the glory of having fooled the entire forum for six years into thinking I was a dude. Nope, I'm a dude. :D And I can count up to possibly three dude MCs in all my stories/story ideas. :D The rest are dudettes.
     
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  25. Jack13star

    Jack13star Member

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    My WIP has both a male and female POV. I think this happens because I start writing from the view of a woman, but, when I introduce the male character I find I enjoy writing him, and can usually write better as a male POV, although I am female. Strange :confused:
     

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