Theory on choice of protagonist gender

I have a lesbian romance novel!

Well, there's a lesbian romance in this novel between two POV characters, if that counts ...

 

I used to focus more on female characters when I was still writing less seriously - just some awful author surrogate crap where I, the magical heroine, conquered kingdoms and cute boys. When it got a bit more serious, I started writing both pretty evenly. I decided what kind of story I wanted to tell or character to explore and went from there. It's possible I find male characters a bit more fun and effortless to write. With women I still have a tendency to make it about me, and it just gets exhausting and emotionally draining after a while.

 

I also have a lesbian romance plotline and I say it counts!

 

I remember reading something about how the new Dr Who was going to have a hard time avoiding flack from both sides of the culture war. If she does X, then it's "problematic" because it reinforces a gender stereotype, if she does Y, it's "SJW propaganda".

The thing is, everyone has slightly different standards for what a "strong female character" is. Kicking ass along with the boys? Bearing suffering with an air of noble martyrdom? Escapist power fantasy? Relatable person who goes through the same crap the reader does?

I've noticed this creeping in a few times--the female teacher of my writing group commented on one piece of work as "such a male thing to write!", and in a discussion of a TV drama, they were talking about how the female lead was well-written, "even though" the writer was male. Female authors seem to get much more of a free pass for writing men--even when they're flat and stereotypical, it's not taken as some inherent gender-based blind spot on the author's part.

 

I just write people. People are complex enough without worrying if "all women behave like this in x position" and "men all do that when faced with x issue." My MC's tend to vary if I'm writing a short story, though my main WIP has both a male and female lead.

 

I actually have such a relationship in mine as well, but it doesn't last. Though, my MC is actually bisexual. Only the other character was lesbian. First time I've done that in a story, but it just felt "right". Didn't originally plan it.

 

I know. I remember reading the early stages of those characters interactions and thinking "Damn, I ship these two SO MUCH."

 

The very best kind of ship.

 

O-oh, really? Well, that makes me feel good about it!

 

Where can we read that?
And what genre is it?

 

It's literary speculative fiction, and not published yet. It's the book I'm currently working on.

 

I have never had a problem with writing characters of ether gender. I don't know about other people, but to me it doesn't seem to matter.