Is your protagonist male or female?

by Adrian Sroka
8th February 2014

I wonder if most protagonists are the same sex as the author.

Replies

Must admit I find it difficult to write women well. If you're male and can do it I take my hat off to you.

Having been involved with horses much of my life I've probably had more female friends and acquaintances than male. So it's not really character or physical traits that are a problem, it's the fact that women seem to have...I can only feebly describe it as something 'mysterious' about them, and it's THAT quality which is difficult to reproduce on the page. For me, at any rate.

Sexist? Hopefully not. Non-PC? Definitely ;)

Profile picture for user oldchesn_4270
Jonathan
Hopkins
6735 points
Practical publishing
Fiction
Historical
Adventure
The writing process
The publishing process
Self-Publishing
Jonathan Hopkins
10/02/2014

The female characters have more 'problems' then male characters

Profile picture for user tiagofon_31066
Tiago
Silva
270 points
Developing your craft
Film, Music, Theatre, TV and Radio
Poetry
Short stories
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Comic
Speculative Fiction
Gothic and Horror
Romance
Tiago Silva
09/02/2014

So far I think all the protagonists in my short stories have been male - I don't know what that says about my imagination or sense of empathy, but in my defence they are all very different men!

Task: create female protagonist

Profile picture for user danforre_32501
Dan
Forrester
330 points
Developing your craft
Film, Music, Theatre, TV and Radio
Poetry
Short stories
Fiction
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Comic
Food, Drink and Cookery
Media and Journalism
Business, Management and Education
Speculative Fiction
Historical
Gothic and Horror
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Dan Forrester
09/02/2014