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Do you prefer to write a specific gender?


Grimscythe
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Do you prefer to write a specific gender?  

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On 10/9/2020 at 7:14 PM, Grimscythe said:

So my question is this: do you have a preference for what gender your characters are? Have you ever felt forced to write a character you didn't want to write in order to find plots because of a lack of interest in your preference for plotting purposes?

Yes, I prefer to write females but I have in the past few years written more male characters mostly because I want to but also because there were roles that needed filling which no one was interested in. I however found I do enjoy playing male characters and I am told I write them well. That said I am definitely becoming aware of the fact that female players will only actively seek me out to roleplay as my male characters. They have very little interest in writing with or engaging me as my female characters which leaves me feeling quietly resentful I must admit.

Edited by VVitch

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I am happy to write characters of any gender, though as a cisgendered female, I do feel more comfortable writing cisgendered females because I can understand their experience better. As a result, most of my characters tend to fall into that gender identity but not all of them.

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I honestly enjoy writing both. It depends on the story I'm trying to tell and what role I can see my character in, but I find that male characters are usually a lot more in need. So I play those to fill a role and end up loving it. I have an equal mix of both these days and I don't mind at all. My biggest struggle is finding male FCs that I like. Its HARD. (At least, for me)

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i enjoy writing characters of any gender.  i do tend to gravitate toward playing more masc-leaning characters myself, if only because they tend to be the ones in which other people have complimented or had fun interacting with the most.  and i've been told that my male identifying characters are all interesting, and that i write them well enough where others want to follow their stories even if they're not actively plotting with them.  personally i tend to feel more comfortable and relate more with my masc-leaning characters, as well as my non-binary characters whenever i get the chance to play them.  don't get me wrong, i love my females but a lot of them end up feeling the same or my muse for them doesn't last as long as i like.  since i tend to write characters who are more platonic focused, and tend to prefer a strong core friend group over a romantic relationship, my fem-leaning chars seem to struggle more in regard to getting non-romantic plots half the time.

 

  although as i get more and more comfortable with my own identity, i find it more and more difficult to relate to females despite being afab myself.  so that might have something to do with it as well, since i feel like it can be more difficult for me to come up with ideas for fem chars sometimes.  which leaves me feeling a lack of confidence that they are interesting and thus might be difficult to plot with.

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  • 1 month later...

See I love this topic because I love seeing the insight to others around here.. But to answer and staying on topic I will have to say that they both have their pros and cons.. I mean I do love writing both genders when I RP, I try to have an even amount of both female and male characters but the one thing I do kind of find annoying is that female faces are always easy to find while I can be picky with my male faces.. Not that it matters but I have found myself having an uneven balance since I do find myself addicted to the female faces but I do prefer to do both because I love their different aspects in life!

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Honestly, I enjoy writing any gender and am open to all options on the table. I do not mind writing either gender, but I will say I sway towards roleplaying males. Subconsciously I think this reassures my own gender dysphoria and the subject surrounding it, but that is my theory. Along with this, I think I tend to write males better...??? Truly, I do not know exactly why I have this preference. It's only a guess. 

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hey

i didnt prefer a gender on my chars, since i play female and male ones really often, i just dont like to be forced into sexualty stuff with my chars since i only play hetero chars. 

--- ARMY 4 LIFE ---

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I write as both male and female characters, but if I had to choose I'd play female characters 9/10 times. It isn't even because I dislike writing as male characters, I think I tend to feel more pressure to people-please when I write them, and as a result I feel more limited. 

 

I do like doubling and having a wide-variety of characters, though. Sometimes that changes how I feel.

 

There are very specific plots or ideas where I prefer men. I've felt pressured to write as men before, but I never hate it.

 

I refuse to write men for people who will not play men, themselves. It feels like they are asking me to scratch their back, without the intention or willingness to scratch mine. And for me to enjoy a partnership, I have to feel like my enjoyment of our product is as important as their own.

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I will 99% of the time play male characters despite being female myself. I feel as though I relate more to men than I do my own gender (which brings in a whole other variety of questions). I've been playing male characters for nearly 10 years now. I just recently made a female character though, and I like it so far, but I don't see myself making too many more of them in the future. Not that I have anything wrong with them. Mine also tend to be somewhere in the LGBTQ+ area of things.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I know I'm terrible at playing femme, so I play masculine roles myself. I've tried a number of times, and I can do it capably, but I just never connect with those characters the same, which often leaves them to go fallow.

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For the longest time, at least 70% of my characters on a site would typically be female, but nowadays it's roughly 50-50. Nowadays I usually just come up with a personality and then decide on the rest of the character's traits (including gender) after establishing that. I will say that I find female characters a bit easier to write, though, which is probs because I'm a girl myself.

Been roleplaying for about 8-9 years.

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I've historically always erred towards writing cismale characters. I never thought much about it, just thought that I was just weirdly uncomfortable/bad at writing cisfemales despite being AFAB but in hindsight and exploring my identity in the past year and a half, I think it's a couple of things:

 

a.) wish fulfillment where ships are concerned; I identify as bi/pan, but have historically been with cismen who haven't been very good to me, so I enjoy exploring writing cismen who aren't awful and treating others.............how I wished I'd been/deserved to be treated lol

 

b.) on the flip side — projecting bad qualities of cismen I've known onto these characters and...for lack of better phrasing, forcing them to suffer the consequences of their actions (e.g. cheating asshole losing everyone around him, etc.). I do NOT redeem all of my characters. Some are terrible and I make a point of this and they suffer for it and are alone in the end. It's cathartic, ngl lol. I have WAY more models of cismen in my life to do this with than anyone else.

 

c.) a matter of request — I've been told that I write excellent cismales, and often get requested to play them in ships, want ads, etc. If the shoe fits sort of thing...lol

 

d.) and more recently, questioning my gender identity a lot, and realizing I simply do not vibe with most things feminine. I'm more apathetic towards gender than I ever knew....I still to this day err towards playing cismen, but have been adding a few other genders to my mix as well — non-binary, agender, demigender, and trans. I have several chars who use neopronouns and...it's been very enlightening for me and feels...comfortable? Right? I think that's worth exploring for myself because there's probably more to that on a personal level for me. I discovered my sexuality through roleplay so I'm not shocked that I've come to the revelation that I'm also discovering (or at the very least, questioning) my gender through it, as well. if I had to wager a guess, my roleplay preferences are probably interconnected lol.

 

At the end of the day, I'll write any gender of char though I definitely have my niche/personal strengths and preferences. What I could NEVER do is join or write on a site that ratios or limits. I never understood that??? I WILL acknowledge that I've generally seen sites where females outnumber males tenfold (which I've always kind of laughed at since I'm the opposite and will have 20 males lmao) but I???? still don't get it????? lol

 

Edited by wonderlovesyou

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Yes, I write mainly men and boys. I do write women and girls as side characters of course--as girlfriends/wives/daughters/sisters of my main characters but I don't recall ever RPing or even writing solo fiction with a woman as the main character.

Even as side characters the ladies' personalities remain rather vague or end up becoming more masculine or at least not very feminine.

I'm a man myself so I gues that's why, but I don't know. Over the years I've observed that a lot of women write a lot of man characters just as much as woman characters and no one's ever said that they find it any harder or less enjoyable than writing their own gender so I suppose somehow writing the opposite gender is easier for a lot of women. I may be wrong, I doubt I've known that many RPers in my life nor have I known what type of women they are like in real life. At least not all of them. Maybe some of them are tomboy-ish personalities who are comfortable with writing either gender.

One of your question is particularly interesting. I've never felt forced to write the less preferred gender for a plot but I've also never even come across the need to, and now am thinking would or could I if a plot required a woman main character. I'd probably try. Unless it had to be especially fleshed-out or especially feminine, then I'd serve the plot better with a supporting male character. I want to do justice to and write believable characters no matter who I'm writing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Though I am more comfortable writing females, largely due to the fact it's what I know, I can write males just fine. It just requires exiting my comfort zone and the confines of my own head. I will say that, when it comes to mature themes, I feel more comfortable writing from a female's perspective and will try to avoid writing in the male perspective. Oftentimes, this discomfort will lead me to either avoid writing mature themes completely or find a way to explain to my writing partner(s) that they shouldn't expect much, lmao.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I enjoy writing both male and female characters. I don't think I have a preference of leaning more toward one or the other. I can say, regardless, males are more difficult for me to play. I can sometimes struggle with self-conscious issues of wondering if I'm portraying my male character the way I envision him. For some reason, I don't really struggle with that "image" issue with girls. But, I do find I struggle with writing sweet and friendly girls. I've had a character for years who I really do cherish and want to play, but I really struggle with having muse for her as an actual character. It's harsh, but I feel a sense of boredom when it comes to their personality and have really struggled with trying to find a way to write her more dynamically.

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