M/F

I didn't know what to write about today. So I asked one of my friends. His response?

The difference between writing male and female characters.

I thought about it for a while. In truth, I hadn't really taken the time to think about something like that before. Whenever I sit down to create a new character, I simply sit down and do it. It comes naturally to me. It's just how my brain works, after writing so much.

But as I was forced to think on it, I realized that it can't possibly be the same for everyone.

So here we go...

First things first. It's not just a matter of writing male and female characters anymore. It's a matter of writing characters from every sexual orientation, and of writing them from every single background.

That's definitely not as easy as it sounds. For my own work, I mostly write non-earth stories, making things slightly simpler on the research side of things. I make my own cultures, and my characters live their lives however they want to (or not, depending upon the themes of the story, but that's neither here nor there).

So what's the answer, then?

To keep things simple, we'll stick with the male/female heterosexual style (not because I don't know how to writer others, or that I don't want to, but because the simple dynamic makes the illustration easier to follow).

Male characters tend to follow certain stereotypes. They're stronger, hyper-masculine, and generally all around butch. That or they're geeky, weaklings, and have no idea how to talk to people.

Females have similar (but generally opposite) stereotypes. They're weaker (supposedly by nature), hyper-feminine, and all around la femme. Or, they're semi-masculine, hyper-sexual, and bad with people.

See how similar those are?

In reality, men and women aren't that far off from each other. Yes, you'll want to break the majority of these stereotypes within your writing, but that doesn't mean it'll make them less stereotypically human.

The thing with humans is that we all act very similarly to each other. So where you see difficulty, trouble between creating male or female characters, there is, in reality, more similarity than many people even want to consider.

Have any of you found things to be different from this in your writing? If so, drop a comment! I'd very much like to hear about it.

[love]

{Rani}