Do you usually write about the same gender?

I agree with the rules part, but titling your high fantasy book "2019 Kyoto Central Square Hostage Crisis Rehabilitation Success Rate Statistics" just because you felt like it would be at least borderline mental.

 

Ya know, I can only really think fro mthe male perspective, so I only write from the straight male perspective. I have female characters for my novel-in-the-works, but its shakey writing

 

I'm curious to know how you think a female perspective is any different.

 

I must say, as a girl I notice boobs far less often than my hubby. Maybe that's what he means?

 

My WIP is a female character - I love writing strong women, most of my stories have been from a woman's perspective. But I enjoy writing male characters too. I do always wonder whether I'm doing them justice though.

 

Good question! I usually write about male characters. Although I occasionally ask myself how come I don't ever use a female as the central point of my stories I never find a valid reason.

 

I've never written a female MC and I doubt I ever will. Not being female, I don't have the right perspective to do a female MC justice. It's hard enough for me to convince myself I can do justice to any of my female characters.

 

Are there any women on here saying they can't write men, or is everyone who says they can't write the other gender a man?

Just curious.

 

What's your new book about?

 

It's an NA m/m romance - lots of letters! A rough guy raised on the street meets a mildly prissy young veterinary student and they solve a murder while falling in love. And there's a puppy!

ETA: Obviously I'm okay writing from male POVs.

 

Cool, I had no idea -- just noticed the avatar. The puppy's sure to be a knockout

 

I wouldn't say I have trouble writing from a male POV, but I naturally gravitate toward the female one. I would say it's like an 80-20 split?

 

Of course the "female perspective" is different. If you talk to both sexes, it's obvious.

Not that you even need that. Biological and societal differences should offer reason enough.

 

It took me a long time to feel that I had an adult male character that I wasn't viewing from the outside. New that I've broken that boundary, I can no longer remember what my problem was.

I say "adult male" because I now feel comfortable with girls, women, and men, as characters. Young boys, I still can't comprehend. Presumably the day will come when I can no longer remember what my problem was there, either.

 

I've only written one book and I'm working on the next one but in both cases I used - and am using - both. The books are very different but the two heroes are the same - a strong and clever middle-aged woman and a strong and clever young dude. When I'm writing, I like to have a mix of both and also young and older people. It just seems more natural that way.

 

In the short story I've just started: 2 female MCs, no bit parts at all.
In the short story I'm polishing: 2 female MCs, 2 female bit parts, 1 male is mentioned by name though.
In other short stories I have ideas/notes for: all have 2 female MCs.

This could have something to do with my preferred genre though...Lesbian Erotica. Kinda need women for that.

The funny thing is personally I do like sausage now and again. But I never write straight erotica...why? Maybe I should give it a go.

 

Give it a go! It can't hurt....or perhaps it should - depending on the subgenre of the erotica I guess!

Sorry, your last comment made me smile, so I had to reply to tell you to give it a go!

 

The two longer works I've done (one stopped for the time being...given I lost the USB stick, one a current WIP) are completely different genders.

The "on hold" WIP MC is a teenaged, straight male - I'm definately none of those!
The current WIP MC is a mid 20s, gay, female - I'm two of three of those (I'm not mid 20s...sadly). But that is all that she matches me in.

Each WIP wouldn't work if it was the other way around, so I guess I tend to write equally. Can't say I do it terribly well, but it's all a learning experience right?

 

I am a woman I find writing women more challenging simply because they require more tracking.
I use a calendar for my current WIP with a female MC so that I can track the phase of the moon and where she is in her menstrual cycle. My male characters have NEVER expected me to know where they were in their cycle . . . LOL!

 

I was a Boy Scout Leader for 10 years. I'm writing fantasy. Every time I write interactions where my male characters are sitting around the campfire, I think, this is what it'd be like on a 50 Miler if I let them have beer and whores!

I prefer to write boys than girls . . . I don't think I'll ever understand teen girls, tween girls, hell, any girls!

 

I typically write female protagonists because I know how girls work. I have no idea how men's minds work, so I feel like if I wrote a male MC I would get it all wrong and the character would be totally unbelievable. That being said, I did write a male MC once and think I did him justice, although he did not have a "typical" male mindset (at least I hope not); I wrote a short story about a high school teacher with an inappropriate interest in his female students, so basically I just tried to take the darkest (well, maybe not the absolute darkest; 16 is legal in several countries, after all) reaches of the human mind and brought them to the foreground. I think it also helped that the sex of my MC wasn't as important as the non-gender-specific aspects of his personality. The fact that it was a short story as opposed to a full-length novel helped with that too, I'm sure, since he didn't need to be explored as completely as with a longer work. So I was able to focus on generic aspects of human psychology rather than the fact that he was a man with a male brain and a male mindset, etc. But when I'm writing characters I need to know more intimately I do tend to go with females because I am more in tune with a female's mind than a male's.

 

A character's gender should be mostly irrelevant unless the plot centers around the idea of gender. Any person of either gender is capable of acting like the other gender's socially expected archetype.

 

While there are exceptions to any norm, there are norms. It frustrates me that female characters seldom get to be 'a woman.' They are generally divided into damsels in distress or bad ass bitches, both of which play to extreme stereotypes. I think a lot of literature is missing complex female characters, who actually think, feel, and behave like women. I wish authors would pay more attention to gender.

If a man and woman are taken hostage and both of them beaten and raped, they will have very different reactions to the situation because of their biology. The man would never have to worry about becoming pregnant, where the woman would fear pregnancy in addition to all the other psychological factors at play. If a woman is taken as a POW she will have to manage menses under extreme circumstances whereas her male counterparts will not. If she had been raped and later becomes thin enough to experience amenorrhea she would also be terrorized by her internal thoughts of pregnancy. To claim gender is irrelevant because the plot focuses on overthrowing the government and not some 'woman's issue' is a mistake.

 

I can't remember if I answered this question or not.

I'll answer it (again?) anyway.

The gender I write about/through has fluctuated as I've aged. When I was very very young (writing stories in illegible handwriting and drawing pictures) I wrote from a females point of view. This only lasted a little while. Then, from about 8-13 years old my main characters were always male and they had male friends. I'm not 100% sure why; I never put a whole lot of thought into their gender. The characters ARE themselves and it seemed ridiculous to question it. Interestingly enough, all of my stuffed animals and toys were always given male names (except baby dolls).

And ever since I hit puberty all of my MC's have been female. However, every single one of my important secondary characters are always male. Oh, and I still automatically assume my stuffed animals are male.

 

That's more of an issue with the lack of character depth in general. If biological factors affect the plot, then yes, gender should be addressed.