So...if the first half (and part of the middle) of a book consists of primarily female characters, with only a few men or boys, what would be your opinion? Guys- would that bug you? Would you keep reading? Ladies- How about you? Keep in mind, the premise of the story revolves around an all-female military group, so it's not like it wouldn't be expected. The beginning focuses on my MC in her home town. So you have her father, some townsfolk, etc who are male. A group of three women come to recruit MC to this military company. So they feature heavily, plus MC's best friend, also female. A short jaunt to a neighboring town with MC and one of the female soldiers then brings in a male healer, and a conflict between male soldier and female soldier. Then travel- journey from MC hometown to military base. Two rather nasty men are met along the way. Now she's at the military base/fort. Since it is all female, I have no males yet. I'm thinking of incorporating some males who work there- trainers, stewards, the like. (it's a medieval-esque setting) The male military units are based at a town nearby, so on her first day off, when she gets to go to the town, more male characters will be introduced. But I'm wondering if the female-heavy storyline would make it less likely to interest male readers. Thoughts?
I think it might make it less interesting to male readers (that's what we're told, at least, that men and boys don't appreciate female protagonists), but I don't think that's a reason not to do it. I don't think there's any book in the world that appeals to all readers, and I think trying to write something that does would end up producing something totally bland and pointless. Pick your target market and go for it. And the target market of "female readers" is significantly larger than "male readers", so it's not a bad way to go!
The target market is female? Stormsong07, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. if that is the plot then so be it. I would not think: OMG there are no boys/men in it. Surely we can have an all female story. Why the concern about gender balance? It would actually bother me more if you inserted the 'token' male just to be PC.
I dunno, I was just working on character names and I realized just how many females I have, and so I was wondering if that would be a turn-off to anyone. Obviously I'm not going to change my story because of it, but I was just wondering if there would be any noticeable impact on quantity of readers in the future. Just one of those random worries that pops up in the writing process I guess, lol.
I love it! When I hear any instruction for what something is "supposed to" be like – in this case, "leading protagonists have to be men while women protagonists can only be supporting" is disgustingly popular – I feel compelled to find the counter-examples Might I interest you in one counter-intuitive fact about medieval weaponry that I learned in research for my own work? Spoiler Longswords are often better for female warriors than short swords are
Very cool. Unfortunately I do not have sound on my current computer, I will have to wait until later to watch the video, but it looks interesting.
The only time I've ever consciously tried to balance gender (or race, age or sexual orientation) was in my first book, set in a TV reality competition. Most of these shows (and believe me, I've watched tons of them) are cast by the producers to be fairly diverse, so I wanted my ensemble cast to have a similar makeup of individuals. Other than that though, I just write and enjoy reading stories with the characters I think will best tell the story.
I'll say, if the setting calls for an all-female or mostly-female cast, then inserting random men just so that there are some in there would actually be more likely to put readers off. As has been said, it'll probably just attract more female readers. (You aren't the only one, both my books are set in girls' schools, so all male characters have very minor roles.)
I guess it depends on your audience. When I read a book, I find myself looking for somebody to identify with. For many males, the lack of a strong male protagonist would be a drawback, but if the character is compelling, I couldn't care less about gender. (One of my favorite childhood books was Caddie Woodlawn.) Of course, it's usually flipped the other way, with male characters taking up more than their share of the protagonist role. That's just something that women readers have had to put up with for far too long. Too many women have read Robert Heinlein, for example, and wondered "Where am I supposed to be in this? Does he really expect me to identify with this female character?" So write your book the way you want to. If your story is good and your characters are real, it won't make any difference whether they're male or female.
Thanks guys. I guess this was just one of those silly "What if the readers won't like this?" questions that crops up along the way of the writing process. You know, self-doubt and all that jazz. Thanks for the reassurances...the whole premise of my story revolves around the idea that women are capable of being badasses and doing what men do. So, clearly....the women have to have the starring roles. Duh. And if readers don't like that...they can just read something else.
I don't care what the gender of the characters are as long as they are well developed and the story is good.
I'm a male reader, and I appreciate a (well-written) female protagonist. In fact, one of my protagonists, and the only significant human character, is female.
