How a character's gender should affect how they're written

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Proper characters half-write themselves by telling you in your head how they'd react in a situation. Writers can take control, but the more you relax, the better it is, sometimes.

This is pretty much how I write. I'm not a professional by any means, mind you, just an online role-player, but the concept still feels the same. Any time I write a character, I tend to have whatever that character is react as I feel the character actually would, rather than what is necessarily "best" for the story.

As far as writing genders go, I try not to make a big deal out of it. Part of it is the fact that I've spent much of my life surrounded by women, including an older sister, so I have more of a concept of how to write females. Namely, that they are not always that different from males.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I tend to think pen-and-paper RPG systems and modern Western RPGs have the right of it. Gender is purely cosmetic, as males and females are equally capable and empowered in whatever fiction they happen to inhabit.

Now, slap that notion onto a developing Fantasy novel project. That means it's easier to consider characters as being essentially that - vessels for goals and personalities, as opposed to typecasted gender roles. A lot of my favourite authors tend to subtly and effortlessly make it clear that none of their characters are functionally what and who they are because of their set of chromosomes - but because they display the right skills and personality traits for it. You might write a Steampunk story set in the stultifying Victorian era and be forced to confront female characters to the quaint and limited social prescriptions of the time period - but that doesn't mean they have to sit down and take it.

At the same time, novels tend to involve diverse personalities. Not every woman in a Steampunk tale needs to be a plucky explorer and early Feminist, not every man in the same genre needs to give Phileas Fogg a run for his money in terms of how to act in as bloodless and pretentious a way as he does. Creating a submissive female character isn't an act of treason in the face of 2016's progressive goals - unless you use her to soapbox about the so-called inferior status of the fairer sex, for instance.

The short of it is that if you're creating, whether that means you're writing up a D&D campaign or working on a story, unsavory aspects have their place. Characters *can* be sexist or misogynist, they *can* be homophobic or transphobic. The real world isn't a bastion of tolerance and equality, and odds are your planned fictitious universe won't be either.

Considering, if you think that "Is Female" is an important trait in your piece of fiction, you're lacking in depth. Unless you're actually going for baseline empowerment, in which case there's always going to be an audience for shameless "Grrl Power" exploitation.

Proper characters half-write themselves by telling you in your head how they'd react in a situation. Writers can take control, but the more you relax, the better it is, sometimes.

This is pretty much how I write. I'm not a professional by any means, mind you, just an online role-player, but the concept still feels the same. Any time I write a character, I tend to have whatever that character is react as I feel the character actually would, rather than what is necessarily "best" for the story.

As far as writing genders go, I try not to make a big deal out of it. Part of it is the fact that I've spent much of my life surrounded by women, including an older sister, so I have more of a concept of how to write females. Namely, that they are not always that different from males.

This, essentially.

You want to learn how to write girls convincingly? Talk to them. Spend some time with them. They're functionally identical to men, if you reduce them to mere personalities. There's no easy and foul-proof way of writing a woman that won't come across as mocking or demure, unfortunately. Your attempt at realism will be someone else's unrealistic expectations, and your decently-crafted female character is someone else's carboard cutout and source of indignation.

 

[Phasmal]

Eh.

Gender is just another thing that can either affect a person or not. It usually means there are a lot of social expectations on a person, but it's up to them how they react to them.
When it comes to writing a gender you're not, just think of them as a person first. Most women don't go around thinking 'And now I will do [x] thing but in a womanly way'. We just do shit. I think that's where a lot of dude writers fall short.

Some people see the advice 'gender shouldn't matter' to mean 'the status quo is fine don't change anything', when personally I would see it as more: gender is not as important as many people make it out to be.

And don't worry about tropes too much. Pretty much everything is a trope these days.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Proper characters half-write themselves by telling you in your head how they'd react in a situation. Writers can take control, but the more you relax, the better it is, sometimes.

Yes. This is generally fantastic advice. It's helped me on more than one occasion.

When it comes to writing a gender you're not, just think of them as a person first. Most women don't go around thinking 'And now I will do [x] thing but in a womanly way'. We just do shit. I think that's where a lot of dude writers fall short.

Somehow, I feel like you made my point even more succinctly in like 3 lines than I did in my entire post. XD

In fact, you know, given how many people in this thread seem to "get it", I have to wonder how so many writers seem to fail at this these days. It feels almost preposterous.

 

[K12]

Either:

Not in the slightest.
OR
A few little bits and pieces where it feels relevant.
OR
An underlying subtext, or subplot when interacting with some characters/ groups or making some decisions.
OR
A significant and important element in the main story, though not the primary focus.
OR
The main focus of the story, significantly effecting all (or most) interactions or decisions.

Pick one of the above depending on the other parts of your story and the way you like writing and the way you see the world and the themes, plot, setting, genre and characters of the story you want to tell. You know, all those little unimportant things.

 

[Kingjackl]

It also affects how a character is treated. You can write a character that isn't defined by their gender, but that doesn't mean other characters should do the same, depending on how they are characterised. For example, certain male characters might act more aggressive towards another male character, but patronising toward a female character. That's a situation where the whole "don't define female characters by their gender" thing falls flat, because a female character being treated with masculine behaviour comes across as unrealistic. For example, nothing is more ridiculous than when you're playing as a woman in an RPG with gender customisation and some tough guy comes up to you and says "where do you think you're going, buddy?" in a threatening tone. It comes across as lazy writing.

 

[Glongpre]

I think you should first get the personality of the character, because that is really who the character is. Is character commanding? short temper? deceitful? etc.

Then work out the world building. This will determine how society reacts to stuff. Maybe you are making a world where it is mostly Amazonian, so if you make a male character, then you have some obvious challenges for the character to overcome that a female would not have to.

So really, gender doesn't matter, it just depends on what kind of obstacles you want your character to get over. Which also depends on what kind of world building you have done.

You can literally make your character anything. A girl who takes no shit, is strong, and would be an obvious tough guy trope if only her name was Dutch. Gender really has no bearing.

I don't know if my point is clear or not

 

[Baresark]

I have to agree with my wife on this one. The only time gender ever actually matters if it's somehow important to the character. With the character you are describing, the gender doesn't matter. You are basically free to do what you want with the character including which gender they are. But if you are writing a character where gender does matter, then I think it's really important you think hard about the gender of the character. In your example, you can take that character as described and just attach any gender. You shouldn't feel compelled to write a character of a certain gender unless it comes with gender specific requirements (ie; if they were child bearing you would most likely make them a woman). But if they don't, have fun with your character, make them whatever feels right to you. Ultimately, if the character feels labored they won't read as good characters. I am in the middle of reading a book right now called Outriders (not the best or most creative title by a stretch). He has written some good characters that feel right, but they are in a lot of ways interchangeable so long as gender is concerned. That reads as bad for some people, but if the opportunity presents itself, why not have a little fun.

I would actually consider Rey an ok written character myself. The thing you describe though is actually a matter of poor writing on Finn's part (though I'm not going to get into a debate). I don't think it's new or unique that a woman doesn't want help, this is not actually a new concept, though society would have you believe otherwise. There have always been women like this, but how the rest of society acts towards it is the thing that changes over time.

 

[Thaluikhain]

As mentioned, gender is only really an issue in a society which makes it an issue. Ours does, some made up one needn't,

Of course, there's no reason why a made up one shouldn't have the same issues, but it gets tiresome that so many of them do.

 

[Trunkage]

As usual, I'm going to point out something people aren't talking about but related. Men aren't well written either. Better than women sure. But how many men are just a Marcus Fenix clone. You know, "I'm angry cause I'm an man." Which is just a clone from the original doom guy. I'm not sick of seeing male heroes. I'm sick of seeing exactly the same male hero. I'd prefer female heroes because someone might spend some time creating a character.

Edit: Last characterisation of a hero I remember was Alan Wake. But I don't really want whiney, self centred and obsessive in one character either.

 

[Trunkage]

I think you should first get the personality of the character, because that is really who the character is. Is character commanding? short temper? deceitful? etc.

Then work out the world building. This will determine how society reacts to stuff. Maybe you are making a world where it is mostly Amazonian, so if you make a male character, then you have some obvious challenges for the character to overcome that a female would not have to.

So really, gender doesn't matter, it just depends on what kind of obstacles you want your character to get over. Which also depends on what kind of world building you have done.

You can literally make your character anything. A girl who takes no shit, is strong, and would be an obvious tough guy trope if only her name was Dutch. Gender really has no bearing.

I don't know if my point is clear or not

I also find people who talk about an Amazonian society as if they hate men or it being a matriarchy funny. Would a society run by women be as unequal as a patriarchy? Or could it be different or more equal.

But then there is that city in Brazil where men are not allowed to live, make laws or own property.

 

[Satinavian]

I also find people who talk about an Amazonian society as if they hate men or it being a matriarchy funny.

Amazonian society and matriarchy is usually not used in the same way. Matriarchy is a society of women and men ruled by women. Amazonian usually refers to a women only society. How to achieve that varies in the different setups but can include killing all male infants.

Would a society run by women be as unequal as a patriarchy? Or could it be different or more equal.

A society run by women can't be equal because only one sex gets to decide important things. The same way that a society run by men can't be equal per definition.

Aside from that we have not a single reason to assume that a society run by women would in any way different than a society run by men (aside from topics directly linked to procreation). Men and Women are pretty much the same. Sure, you could ask "Why wouldn't it be more equal?" the same way you could ask "Why wouldn't it be less equal?" But the particularities of the culture depend mostly on the culture at hand, not the ruling sex or class.


As probably guessed by noe, i also go with the "gender is just another character trait and depending on the setting probably an unimportant one" approach. I don't play or write men and women differently if the setting doesn't treat them differently.