Male VS Female Characters

[WOSTR]

I never try to create male or female characters or strive for balance. I have the story idea and make so many changes that once I'm somewhat satisfied, it is what it is half the mains are now sides, new people have come in and that human's now a monster.

[carafox2121]

I love writing as both genders, and whenever I get the chance, I try to switch it up. I am currently writing 2 stories on here. In The Last Goddess, I would say that currently, the cast is overpopulated with male characters, and there's really only 1 consistent female character. It is an entirely plot-based decision and will later balance itself out... kinda. Lol. In Tempest, there are about 7 male characters and 5 female characters, but there's honestly no real reason for it.

[ArthurAleksei]

I think I have a tendency to make my lead characters female for some reason.
I've heard some circles in the writing community say that male writers can't write female MCs properly, so it's interesting to hear that the opposite is said as well (and a little satisfying to hear it to be wrong)

[MoseyP]

I definitely find myself writing more female protagonists, probably because I am female

I've had an idea for a story with a male protag though

[Prometheus]

I haven't tallied up all of my characters yet, as my comic is in the process of being made, but I can say that there are definitely more male characters than female. Out of the main group, I think there are 5 males and 2 females. But that's not counting the villains. I'm hoping to add some female villains in there.

[BreakingChalk]

As my comics do with fighting stuff, I'll do one for the "good" guys and the "bad" guys.

GOOD ONES
let's say 60% males and 40% females. Though the main cast is 50-50 (plus a plant, lol) the allies they'll make are mostly males.

BAD ONES
90% males, 10% females. There are a lot of "animal-esque" evil characters, and I don't know why, there are few animal female characters along their lines.

I'm a male and I'm biased by not having many female friends back in my childhood, and being that the main character of this part of the story is a male and I aim for mostly males in their teenage years, I thought it needed to have more male characters than females. Though Stephanie takes the spotlight at first, or at least that's what I'm trying to do.

But there's a story with a female majority characters that I'd like to do, but as it is connected with this one, it'll take some years before it comes out.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

My cast which have more male characters is a remnant from when I was still obsessed with shonen manga and ended up emulate those, or that phase when I just want to have as much male eye candy as possible.

For my current project, I write a teen boy protagonist. I do think if he was a girl, there would be a very little impact to the plot. However, he has been established as male to the circle of people who followed my process and consume the story that I don't wanna make a sudden change. That is also the case with other characters.

That is unfortunate considering I cannot write males to save my life.

[Moctemma]

I love to write about women. Even during my time as an artist most of my drawings were women. I also struggle writing about the opposite sex when topics like pregnancy come to play, but I can't stop myself to like women so much. Even in the stories I read, 95% have a female protagonist.

I have three stories with male protagonist in my waiting list, but I enjoy writing the opposite sex the most. My ratio for all characters would be 60% women 40% men. If it's main characters and secondary characters, it goes 80% women 20% men. And if it's main characters. 100% women.

If I had to say why, my only answer would be, why not? I have no reason to do it, but also no reason to stop.

[ChaoticConstellation]

I have 3 men, 3 women and one non-binary character. It just worked out that way, I hadn’t planned to have a fairly equal ratio. I don’t have a preference really, I write queer romance so gender depends on what I’m working on.

https://tapas.io/series/Ready-Spaghetti

[arcojawa]

If I ignore random background characters there are...

14 Females
12 Males

... huh... surprising. I thought I was focusing on women more with this comic. Well, I guess they get the most screen time I suppose.

Initially when toying around with this comic I was really focused on writing character I thought I was bad at or had no natural experience with. Women and minorities I'm not part of both receive a big focus in the comic.

https://tapas.io/series/Surprising-Octeal

[kkaawmics]

This was interesting to read through because I have the Worst time figuring out what to do with this. I've reached the point where my protagonists are physically ambiguous and people ask if they're male or female and what their pronouns are. I just can't decide and they end up like this I think I'm just projecting a non-binary inclination.

As of right now in my comic, there's 4 females, 2 non-binary, 4 males? Roughly?

[Puck]

I made a topic about it some time ago. The majority are female characters. It was interesting to know because in printed comics, stories and books the majority of characters is male

And please write what genre the story is and maybe if there are more female characters than male characters in your story. In most comic books that I have the female characters are beautiful side characters, but I have the feeling that it changed a little bit in the last years and it´s maybe different in webcomics Female Male 0voters Choose up to 2 options Votes are public. Vote now!Show results

[milejdyvan]

Oh, I didn't know! That is interesting although this one is more so about the cast overall and not just the main character ^^ Still, it's interesting to see the differences !

[Puck]

it was just for information not to diss your topic.
I think it is a very interesting topic, I been reading and thinking a lot about it.
I think the situation in fan made web comics it totally different than in popular movies, books, comics, stories etc.

[milejdyvan]

I know! That's the interesting part of it ^^ and don't worry. I wasn't thinking that. I was more so glad that there was a slight difference in the topic at all, because otherwise I would feel like a fool for making the same topic as you​

[carreonaiwille]

I have almost equal number of male and female characters in the novel at the moment. I thought it wojld skew towards the male characters since the setting is the 1800s. I don't know, maybe because Historical figures discussed are usually male?

[disco_deewane]

Rn, I have 3 guy characters, 4 women, and 2 enbys

[Pommie]

Probably almost even amount of females?? I'm not even sure, I have shown like 3 women so far and 5 men OOPS.

[Maps]

Oh man. I have like double digits of reoccurring and one-show men and like 3 reoccurring women and a few appearances of others. But the majority of my work does take place on a male encampment.

[eyewhiskers]

This is an interesting topic to discuss. I think the balance comes down to the kind of story you are writing. For example, the setting of your story influences this a lot. Is it set in modern day high school with mean girls as the main cast? Or is it set in medieval times with a King and his knights? Is it a female gaze or a male gaze?

Of course you will (and should) always have both in your story. But your main protagonist(s) will guide your choices in this. Do they have a love interest? A rival? A mentor? The genders/orientation of these characters will help your story with depth and will add to the overall richness of your writing.

Personally, I'm writing the kind of story I like to read. I have a varied cast of both male and female, but I have two males as the leads. So this tends to skew the majority of my cast male. Their friends, associates, business partners etc. But the female characters I plan to introduce will be well rounded in their own right.

At the end of the day the main thing is to allow characters to have their own motivations and goals. Make them well rounded. No one likes flat characters. Allow each one to shine.