I have a problem. All my characters seem to end up being guys. I mean it. I have no idea why, I was looking through my book the other day, and I was like.....Where are the girls? All my characters are male. Maybe I find it harder to write female characters - I don't know. Have any of you ever struggled with this?

I'm going to have to rework the chapters anyway to add some female characters in.

I have some sections where the book skips over to a grandmother telling her young granddaughters a story of my worlds past, but other than them I seem to have missed any female characters altogether.

Anyway, I'm feeling rather annoyed with myself at the moment, but I suppose re-writing will only do it some good anyway. At least I noticed now, and not even later on!

Yeah, I have that problem, for the most part - at least, until I hit 2018 and start on a miniseries.

I always attributed it to the fact that I was a male, so I found it harder to write female characters, but...*shrugs*

So does anyone have advice on how to write female characters, since the two of us need a little enlightenment?

*raises hand* I'm guilty as well. Almost every single character I create is male. I don't know why, they just are. It's beginning to pose a problem, especially in my short fiction collection.

Huh. To be honest, I do have a higher proportion of male to female characters, but I do have some female characters (some of them very important). I'm probably not the best person to give advice on writing them, but I have done it.

Interesting thoughts. The more I think about it more, the more I think that this isn't just something with us specifically more. If you think about all the fantasy books out there, in most of the ones that I've read at least, the males greatly outnumber the females. In fact, I can't think of any fantasy book I've read where females outnumbered the males. Although I'm sure there are some exceptions, I think in fantasy specifically, but even in literature as a whole, I think that males outnumber the females in the written works.

Thus, that's not saying that we shouldn't try to write more females into our stories. But right now I'm pondering why, as a genre, this seems to be a common occurrence.

Well, if it's a war/questing type story, there's more room for male characters than female characters.

My male and females are about the same, but that's because I don't have a lot of going out to war, it's a very small group of people.

And honestly, don't force girls into a story if it's more prone toward male roles, unless they're really developed as girls and aren't just a girl in a man's role.

I think I do tend to create more male than female characters. I've always attributed it to the fact that I have four brothers and am used to being outnumbered. There is the odd occasion when it seems like the cast needs to be balanced out, but it doesn't usually seem to be a problem.

As far as advice on writing female characters, I don't think I can help (oddly enough, since I am a girl and should therefore be an expert). When I sit down and try to write a character as male or female, I completely break down, because I don't know where to start. For me, it's easier to start with a more focused idea. For instance, a nurse rather than simply "a woman," or an older brother rather than simply "a boy". I also try to observe people around me, such as my brothers.

Huh, I have the opposite problem, although to a lesser extent. But I think it's fine to have mostly male characters, as long as it makes sense. I'd recommend just looking at the story and thinking about whether or not it makes sense.

I think you hit the nail on the head, here. Male characters outnumbering female characters is incredibly common in fantasy works. Personally, I don't think it's because male characters are better suited to the fantasy genre, but because this has become an unconsciously accepted norm; we see it in many of the published works, and subconsciously copy that style, including what kind of characters we write.

When I was in middle-school/high-school and just starting to write my fantasy stories, I read several series of books that had female characters as the protagonists (although they were often supported by males characters), I think this influenced me a lot because now, most of my characters are female, including supporting characters. Part of my goal in writing fantasy stories is to change this norm. Not by forcing female characters into stories, I agree you should NEVER force a character into a story, but I choose to write mainly the stories that are about my female characters.

Sorry, didn't mean that to be such a long post.

It's good to know I'm not the only one who struggles with this.



That's a really interesting observation. To be honest, I was telling Jay the other day, I don't read a whole lot of fantasy. I should read more as I'm writing it, and kind of immerse myself into fantasy a lot more than I do, so I haven't noticed this other than in the LORT books.

Is it, and male characters will be more prominent in the book than female, I think. But I don't want the book devoid of females. Maybe what I'll do is leave it as it is for now, and keep it in mind as I keep writing, so I can fix the problem, if it is a problem, as I keep writing. Then in the re write I can always tweak it in the earlier chapters.

Well, I have one brother and three sister, so I would have thought I should find it easy to write a female character. Unless as Rin was saying it's just how the book is; in my other writings (like my historical fiction works) I didn't struggle with this at all.

Thanks for all the helpful comments, guys! Nice to see you, Elestar.

Well, so that I'm not 'forcing' a character into the story where it would seem there is no need for one, I will just carry on where I am at at present, and not go back adding extra characters in. However, there is a scene at the start in the 'village' and I have missed mentioning women in that even, so I will tweak that but probably later on in the re write.

Out of interest, Elestar, what roles do your women take on in your books? Do you make your warriors female, or do they take a more 'womanly' role in your books. I'm curious because you said you were trying to change the norm, so I was interested in what kind of roles your female characters take on in your books.

Thanks again for all the comments!

Thanks for the interest! My female characters tend to take on all kinds of roles--I've had warriors (one even led a civil war, of course, she was an elf) assassins, entertainers, herbalists, pirates, mothers...one of my favorites was a farm girl who was forced out of her home and ended up on a quest; she wasn't a warrior by nature, but she was pushed into a survivalist scenario. I don't like to limit roles by gender. But, more often than not, my female protagonists are in a more aggressive role (warrior, pirate, Chosen One-Quester type). Hopefully that answers your question--let me know if it doesn't, I'll try to elaborate some more.

I am so unbelievably happy that you are all struggling with this conundrum. Okay, well, I'm not happy that you are struggling, per-say, but that I am not alone in this struggle. I, like most of us, it would appear, thought I was alone in this. So a big thank you to Elanor! We could have our own support group.

Anyway, time for something constructive, ay?

I don't write primarily male characters in lead roles because of what I read, though I suppose that on a subconscious level it could be affecting me. I write male characters more often than female because you can do so much more with a male character.

I agree with what Kitra said. Girls can be strong and athletic, but it's often not where their true strength lies, and writing a female lead (or a lot of females in the cast) of a story, especially a fantasy story, is a difficult thing to do. After all, you don't want to come out with a host of females who (to borrow from my sister's analogy) might say 'I AM WOMAN. HEAR ME ROAR.' That is often what you seem to get in stories with a lead girl, especially fantasy and sci-fi where the character must often be strong physically. It is much more natural for a male to fit that role.

Also, I think for girl writers, if we split the people we know and love into two categories of 'friends' and 'role-models' I think a lot of us might find there are more females in the first category, and more males in the second. (That's just a thought, of course, not a rule.) To me, this comes from the God-given way we look up to our fathers and in seeking out husbands. (Which verges on a completely different subject, so I'll back away from it now. Again, that's just an opinion and everyone will find it to be different.)

I struggled with this, not for the single books I write which may incidentally have a male lead or hero, because I think it is perfectly natural for a guy writer to sometimes have a female lead, or heavily female cast, and for a girl writer to have it vice-versa. It was when I came up with an idea for a series of four books each with a different main character, and ALL OF THEM GUYS, that I started to worry. (Since then, I've managed to change three of the major characters of the story, including one of the POV characters to female and it is working ever so much better for the story, but again I digress.)

I am personally looking around for books/blog entries/articles/etc. on writing strong female characters (not necessarily on a physical level) because I know it to be an area where I am weak in my writing and need to improve.

Sorry, that was a bit long-winded...

Heh. I have the opposite problem. I'm awful at writing male characters.

LOL, then you need to teach us your secrets!

I concur!

Ummm... I don't know. I'm just more used to writing female characters. Make sure and give your FCs lots of depth. Remember that their emotions change very rapidly. If they say something, they might mean something entirely different by it. You should try doing character questionnaires to flesh them out. (My latest FCs are very very flat, but I just created them today.) Take your time, don't rush with the questions... but don't spend too much time on just one question. There aren't many rules in writing female characters - everybody's different. Just like male characters.

Ooh interesting! Thanks for expounding!

Do you ever struggle with creating women in those kind of roles, as in do you struggle in keeping them feminine or do they come across as very macho? Not that it matters a great deal, there are some macho women, it's just sometimes (probably more in films though than in books) women who are put in those kind of roles (warrior, pirate etc) they can come across as - I don't know, women who have been put into a man's role if that makes sense. Do you struggle to find an even balance, do you try to stay away from that kind of portrayal or does it not bother you?



*Chuckles* I am glad I brought it up, it's always nice to be able to talk about it and realise you're not alone in writing struggles!

Funny thing is, when I consider my Historical Fiction novel, although my two MC's are male, I have plenty of female characters in the book, and I don't feel I struggled with those. Which leads me to believe even more it's maybe because of the genre.

We should do some work shops where we have to write a short fantasy story where the lead MC is a female, for good practice.

Very interesting discussion. I don't have this issue, but I thought it was worth mentioning that female characters are often very important. You lose a significant percentage of readers if you do not have female characters. I wouldn't be part of that statistic, but other women are.

That's definitely something to keep in mind! Thank you, Airi.