Do you like your protagonist to be male or female? I find it easier to empathize with a male protagonist than a female one. It helps me get into the story quicker because I can imagine myself as the protagonist, where as with a girl it can be a little awkward at first.

 

Male definitely, though I can get into female protagonists with a little bit of time. I guess it depends on how well they're written.

 

I think you answered your own question. Most people like to identify with the main protagonist, and it's easier done when the protagonist has the same gender as you.

But, it all depends on the writer and how well he can write.

 

Yeah, I think a well-written female protagonist can be just as interesting and sympathetic as a male one. Katniss, Lyra, Lirael, Sabriel, Lisbeth Salendar, and Scarlett O'Hara all jump to mind. I had no trouble identifying with any of those characters despite being male.

 

I prefer a well writen female protagonist to a well written male one, but there are some amazing male characters I have never seen topped (Kote, Harry Dresden, Bilbo Baggins)

 

I don't think it matters much to me as long as they're well-written.

 

Male... Although that could be attributed more to a lack of well-written female protagonists in the genres that I enjoy, rather than a real gender preference.

 

I enjoy both equally probably, but there are far less good female protagonists, since it seems like most female authors try to be a self insert (or more accurately, wish fulfillment). Not that male authors aren't guilty of the same thing.

 

I've written more male protagonists, but I've made a point to write more female protagonists and have my stories actually pass the Bechdel test. To be completely honest, while I consider gender important, I think the other elements that compose the character are just as relevant.

As for preference, it depends on what kind of story I'm trying to tell. Certain stories work best with a male protagonist, some stories could only work if you have a female protagonist.

One thing is certain, though: it really gets on my nerves when you have some people (they know who they are) who make statements like, 'You're a guy, you can't possibly understand the female experience, and thus you can't write women!' Not even a qualifier on whether or not I can write, my gender simply makes me unqualified in their eyes. Forgive me for being crass, but that's a lump of cow dung. If you're a good enough character writer, you can write for each gender.

 

Something I've observed from writing female characters: every woman has an opinion about what is typical female behaviour and considers themselves to be authoritative on this matter. Further, they don't like to read about characters who deviate from their idea of how women think and behave. However, generally these women's opinions differ - what pleases one annoys another.

Lessons learned:

1. Women are very varied.
2. Women don't like other women who aren't like them.

Conclusion: write your female character however you want, because whatever you choose you're going to piss some women off.

 

I've read more than a few female protagonists and if I were to summarize what "typical female behavior" is, its this:

To be a strong and independent woman, you must be a completely selfish and self-centered whore who's favorite toothpaste is semen squeezed freshly from as many penii as possible.

TL-DR: Male protagonists are preferable simply because there is less chance of being batshit crazy by way of asshattery. There are good female characters but they are rarer than decent Harry as a Were/Vampire/random mythic creature.

 

Don't care. I have never understood the need to "identify with" a protagonist. I very rarely identify with a book's characters, because man or woman, they are rarely anything like me.



As for writing female characters, if you're being told you do it badly, you probably are. If you're being told as a blanket statement that men can't write women, you need to find a different writers' group.

 

In commercial fiction, I don't particularly care.

In fan fiction, I prefer the focus to be on the series' main character: Harry for Harry Potter, and... Er, well, HP is all I read, where fan fiction is concerned, for the most part. >_>

So, no real gender preference for protagonists.

 

Here's the issue, I think.

With a female protagonist, you are following around this girl and in the case of any good narrative, are getting a peek into her head. Problem is, most of us here are male readers. So when you have someone writing a girl, a lot of the time the writer gets hung up on her being all infatuated with some male character, and as men we don't want to read that shit. But if you try and swing too hard the other direction, you end up writing some viciously anti-romance bull-dyke type that comes off not at all legitimately feminine. Its a fine balance, I think. Because we are used to reading male characters who don't necessarily revolve their lives around their romance, but a lot of the programming of women in at least American society defines them by that exact thing. Or whatever - not to feminist!rant or some bullshit.

I think a female protagonist has the most potential to be fucked up - by male writers who want to make her not feminine enough, or by female writers who wish-fulfillment themselves into being Stephanie Meyer and making the main character useless and awful - but I also think they have the higher potential for good dramatic situations without having the sky rain down and the world end. I mean, let's be honest here. Women aren't often seen as physically imposing things, so its a very different world than for say... 6'twenty Harry Dresden.

I tl;dr in this section so much, lol. But really, I think it depends on the writer, as was said earlier. But I think female main characters, if allowed to escape the trappings of 'my life's mission is to be in some guy's bed' have a lot more potential than they're given credit for.

All else fails, make them batshit insane.

 

The two contradict each other. Unless you meant to say " Women are very varied except for the one uniform trait that all women possess, which is a dislike of other women who aren't like them." Which I doubt you meant to say.

So really "Women are very varied" is the only one you need... But that's true of both men and women, so I don't know why you wrote that either.

Perhaps you could clarify? Because as it stands I don't really see why you didn't just write that people are very different and like different things, so write to please your preferred audience.

 

Very varied is not the same as entirely unique.

 

For me at least, it's exactly the opposite. I'm one of those people who reads primarily for the main character. Plot and world-building and interesting side characters and great writing are all well and good, but I'm in it for the protagonist. Most of my favorite books are told in first person; The Dresden Files, Kingkiller Chronicles, and Acts of Caine to name a few. And there's very few female characters I don't actively dislike, I have a much easier time identifying with male characters. It's not surprising at all that most men prefer male characters, but I'd be interested to know how many women tend not to like female protagonists, I doubt I'm alone.

And you know what? The female characters I don't mind tend to be written by men. I've a bit of a soft spot for George R.R. Martin's Arya. I was quite fond of Matthew Stover's Marade. I just finished reading Daniel O'Malley's The Rook, and actually kind of liked the female protagonist. Depressingly enough, I can think of more female characters I like than female authors.

I remember being in Grade School and reading short stories by Alice Munroe. There was a segment in there where she was talking about a young girl dreaming of fighting bad guys and rescuing people. But then as the girl grows up she sharts dreaming of rescuing a handsome young man. And then one day it's the young man rescuing her. This is apparently the female equivalent of the "growing up and becoming a man" theme. My reaction of course is something along the lines of "WHAT THE BLITHERING FUCK, THAT NEVER HAPPENED TO ME!" And thus the angry defensive feminist is born.

But really, what kind of book sells to female readers? Goddamn Twilight, and Fifty Shades of Grey, and Anita Blake. Awful books, with insipid main characters and obligatory love interests whom I actively want to die, but that's where the money is. They don't need to cater to my demographic, they already get my money with all the excellent sci-fi/fantasy out there.

 

Forgive me, I haven't slept in a very long time, and I'm feeling a bit slow... But I don't see where you're going with this. I hadn't suggested otherwise. To the contrary, I don't believe that any individual could be ascribed with the description of entirely unique.

So of course entirely unique is not the same as very varied. But surely you don't mean to suggest that intolerance of people unlike themselves is a trait that all women possess?

 

You're not, I have the same problem. I don't have a preference for protagonists (male protagonists can be just as annoying), but I tend to like male characters much more than female ones. It's been a while since I read a series with a female POV character (outside of GRRM's stuff and Discoworld), so most of my dislike of females comes from works with male protagonists. I don't know exactly what my problem is, but female characters tend to be seen in a very sexual light from the male POV and it's something I can't sympathize with.

I dunno. On the farthest end of the spectrum, I've noticed a lot of women prefer male characters but bash female characters with a fiery passion. It's weird.

 

I have liked both female and male characters, but I tend to like male authors better. I dislike pointless romance, which is apparent in almost all female POV. Romance almost always makes a story worse, unless it is exceptional. I think that's why chauvinistic/old fashion males are always so popular.

Most female protagonists act nothing like an actual female. They turn them into people who just lust over attractive guys. This is why I love Arya in ASOIAF.