What Sex Do/Can You Write As?

[chrisgelderd]

Howdy.

I'm in need of a new challenge, having been here for just under 2 years now and going through successful and non-successful characters; they've all been male and human. However I want to try to make a new villain as my last 2 haven't taken off as well as I wanted (both sadly IC motivation).

I've never had chance to write and RP as a villain. I have my Jedi and my NFU good and bad, but for a FU villain I've still yet to score a goal.

Playing it safe, my current characters are all male and around my age (give or take 5 years) so I can relate and understand them as much as a male can.

But I digress.

I know many male writers write female characters, and female writers as male.

For that, I have respect for all who do, and even those who write as alien species. I am thinking I should try shake my writing style and comfort zone up and try write a female character, who would be a villainess.

What's your experience / view on writing different sex characters? What challenges do you find, if any, and how does it fare thinking outside the "sex" box, so to speak. If you can't manage to write as another sex, what stops you?

Just after your views on it.

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

I'm a male writer mainly writing female characters.

I think I have managed to grasp the concept of the opposite gender at least so much that I can write them. I tend to think that I write them good enough, but there is still a lot that I may mess up with. Writing an opposite gender was once a challenge for me and it still is, but nowadays I am pretty OK with writing a female character, like you can see from the fact that I have only had one male main character during my stay here. And about four-five female ones, I think?

Anyway, I have reached the state where it's... a little bit odd to write a male character. All of my successful ones have been female and I've kind of grown used to the fact that most of my male characters will not be so successful. I can write a character of the same gender as I, but I just don't do that so often. Kind of difficult to explain.

The most difficult thing is portraying feelings correctly. But I think I am getting a little bit closer to understanding how women feel emotions.

 

[Ronan Nakasla]

I primarily write male characters, I'm male myself. I've only tried writing females once or twice. My peers at the time said I was convincing, but I never saw it and I was never entirely comfortable with it, so my girls never took off. I guess my main limiter is my comfort zone and a perceived 'weirdness' of writing females. Otherwise I could probably pull it off.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Female writer here that writes both sexes and to be honest it is equally hard to write both. Especially the aspects of being a woman who is married and has children something I have yet to experience in RL. Being a girl does not necessarily equate to knowing what it is like to have a child or raise them so I am drawing my source from those around me that do.

As for my males, I have only written one before Theo which was fun but I think I did not do that character justice. But with Theo I have family members around his age that I watch them now with the idea of seeing how they are and react to situations so I guess I use RL a lot with characters. Also when in doubt I ask someone I trust how they would react in that situation and use their experience.

At the moment, I love writing Theo and am having great fun with him, the challenge will be when he gets older and becomes a man.

 

[The Upright Man]

Writing a female character is as easy and fluent as a male. There truly isn't much difference between us. It's not like our minds are alien to one another.

I see it only as human, human goals and aspirations. It is aliens I have trouble writing, because their brains are wired differently to our own.

 

[Kana Truden]

It's not so much about writing this or that gender as much as what feels right at the moment of creation.

[member="Julian Solo"] is right about the whole female/male writing. The key is to not focus on what separates genders because there's nothing that separates them at all. Write a female just as you would write a male and vice versa. I guess the easiest way to put it is that you should write them as human as you possibly could. Shape someone you could see as a plausible character that you would (and potential wanted to) meet on the streets any day of the week. Consider their, race, color and gender to be artificial flavors and you should be good. Really.

Oh and, the holy rule still applies: It's only awkward if you make it.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

It's not like our minds are alien to one another.

That's news to me. I am often confused by members of the male community.

I haven't had too much trouble in writing this character, but that is more so because Togrutas and Twi'leks were always the aliens that most inspired me in Star Wars. I'm a massive Ahsoka Tano fan, as well as Shaak Ti. The only reason I decided to write a Twi'lek instead of a Togruta was because I found it difficult to find a number of well drawn avatars that weren't Ahsoka or Shaak Ti.

As far as writing male characters though? I don't know...I've never really tried. I just find it easier to write females. But I would have to agree with pretty much everything [member="Coci Heavenshield"] said as well.

 

[chrisgelderd]

Sounds good, all points and views. I know writers here who write different sex characters superbly and I often see the "Oh I thought you WERE male!" pop up. But, like you say, sex is irrelevant of writer to character I guess. You just want to create someone as believable and exciting as you can, and I think it stems from my confidence in not wanting to get them "wrong".

Silly, I know. But it's interesting reading these. I think it's time to be brave and just do it and stop thinking it's a challenge, more of a new experience in creative writing.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Chris Gelderd"]

And you can always try again if not satisfied too.

I look forward to seeing what or who you come up with.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Shark.
Or Space dragon.

 

[Nima Tann]

[member="Chris Gelderd"]

I would say JUST DO IT! You can always adapt a character to your needs, alien, human, female, male, ghost ... etc. Roleplaying has so many possibilities for you to explore. And think about this, book writers write both male and female characters, right? You don't need to be worried about things, that's all fictional and you are here to enjoy the fiction world. And if you want to explore, you can. Just write, and fun will follow. And if you don't get the fun you need, you can always try again later when you feel ready, like [member="Coci Heavenshield"] said.

Wanna write an alien but don't know how to do it? Just write them as they've been lost and then found by the humans and raised by them from the youth. Don't think as you, but think as them.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Why not do a Clawdite?
Be EVERYTHING

 

[Darth Ferus]

[member="Chris Gelderd"]

I shuffle around male and female characters to keep myself interested in the RP I write, though its not the gender. Its the personalities. A couple people have already said it, but they're right, there really is no difference between writing male or female. Just how you play out their personalities. I wish you luck with your villianess, I hope to see her around soon.

 

[Briah Song]

I write characters I enjoy writing and can comfortably understand. My main writing project outside of RP has a protagonist of the opposite gender to myself. Gender is secondary, really.

I thought this was interesting reading.

"Male and female characters are people before they are gendered. That is, if you write any character with depth, you should be able to write any gender of character with that same depth."

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

I am pretty much in the same situation as [member="Coci Heavenshield"]. I only have the one female character and she's a child, so it's not any different to how I would write a male character her age. Your gender shouldn't be part of your personality, since boys and girls can often times share the same interests (depending on their age). With my character, I've yet to encounter a point where gender plays a role in how she acts. She is a Jedi first and foremost, regardless of gender, and since she's the daughter of my main character a lot of her decisions echo those of her father, as well as some of her personality while still remaining her own character.

I will add that I never envisioned myself playing a female character. She was originally written by [member="Kyra Sol"], but when she left the site for a bit she asked me to pick up where she left off, which I more than happily did.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

My main character is a male but IRL I am female. It hasn't been hard to come up with some aspects of the male personality because its as others have said, human traits rather than gendered ones. I have the same problem as [member="Coci Heavenshield"] though. Judah is married and raising a son. I've never been married nor do I have children. My current challenges for the character mainly come from that aspect, how does a father act? What would a parent do in this situation? What would a husband do?


It was a little nerve racking at first to write a male character because I wanted to get it right. While brains of either sex aren't so alien to us, there are still some subtle differences I try to pick up and use to add depth.

 

[Chevu Visz]

Female writer here, and one who enjoys writing both men and women, and feels equally comfortable writing both. Do I worry about “getting it wrong?” Definitely! But I’m similarly worried about mucking up writing a fighter pilot or fleeting. (more worried actually).

I think [member="Julian Solo"] hit the nail on the head. We’re really not all that different inside. The biggest differences, aside from the physical ones, are the cultural expectations put on men and women, and those don’t always apply in a Sci-fi/Fantasy setting, especially not Star Wars where you have some cultures where the matriarchy rules (like Hapans)

I think one of the biggest mistakes you can make is being too ham-fisted with the character, for example being overly descriptive about your female character’s “feminine” features or voice. The reader takes for granted that your character is female. By all means, describe hair color and the like, but there’s really not too much of a need to hammer her “feminity” home for the reader.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

We’re really not all that different inside

Can confirm, cadavers have the same parts when you open them with a saw.

 

[chrisgelderd]

[member="Chevu Visz"] Very good point - I worry about messing up job types, like writing all that pilot lingo and soldier talk and getting it wrong and looking stupid in a serious thread, which in turn knocks muse for characters like Dax where I feel I'm not good enough to understand and write as a pilot.

Hmm. Food for thought indeed.

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

Male writer who does either or both with about the same level of comfort, here. Though I write more female characters than male characters generally, because it's a nice escape from my hugely aggressive, hyper-masculine job corralling felonious teenage boys.