Forums » Smalltalk » Writing Male Characters, How Hard Can It be?

One of my fellow writers pointed out a trend in my characters that I have been thinking about recently. All of my characters are female, or have feminine qualities! Even those not open to the public share this trend and even though some of my npcs grouped together are male, I barely ever portray any of them. When I do portray male characters in fiction, they are not my characters and the fictional work is for entertainment purposes only. What I ask is thus:

What are some important male tendencies?
What makes an memorable male character?
What common tropes should I avoid in making a male character?

I look forward to your opinions and answers! Have a wonderful night/day!

One thing about guys from a RL perspective is that they are simple. They like simple things. They don't overthink or have a ton of thoughts going on. They see something, may want it and might go to embarrassing lengths to get it. This doesn't mean they can't be smart. They just don't have a ton of ruminations going on, not unless something is expensive or dangerous.

Some have more doubts than others, but if they're starting a courting process or something, they are what they seem. So if they seem nonchalant or barely interested.. Then they are. It's not a complex emotional response or something like "having trouble connecting'. If they seem like they don't care they don't. It's not about being coy.. Except in the modern age, one has to do so (and its lame. Guys don't want to play this game in dating but are forced to. Beware of that OOC).

Also, if they seem like they like someone and try to spend time with them, they're not having needy thoughts in their head. They just simply like the woman. It's not some inner thought process of wanting to be coddled. They say what they mean in that case. Those two things are what I've seen women get confused with IRL, because I don't know what inner processes a woman thinks in those cases.

That attitude branches out to other things too.. Like if they like cars, and have a nice one.. It's not about a status symbol or a diamond to have other males covet. No. They like the car. Maybe subconsciously it reminds them of something in the past, a memory with their dad or friends.. But everything they do isn't tied to competition.

Women could be the same, but to a guy a woman's thoughts are a mystery and vice versa. If this sounds the same to how women feel, then mystery solved and writing them should be similar.

I've recently started writing females as well, but they can be tomboyish like Francine here.

I have one other, more feminine character and she may be my most coy. I don't really expect to write romance for my females though, unless I paired one with my own character.. But maybe one day I'll try. It would be interesting to see the opposite gender write the opposite POV.

I guess certain male characters I write are less masculine... Like Aydr.

i think one of the most common of the masculine tendencies is to have unhealthy emotional lives. there's a bit of angst somewhere in their emotions, because most societies don't see emotional health as an acceptable masculine behavior. of course, i might also just be talking nonsense because i just generally like characters that are dynamic throughout storylines, but all of my masculine characters follow that sort of trope.

i don't think there's one fit for a memorable guy character. i have a guy who's completely unwilling to deal with his problems, and i have a guy who's so willing to deal with his problems that he overshares with everyone he meets. i have a guy who keeps his problems to himself and wallows, and i have a guy who dissociates with the help of alcohol and drugs whenever anything that's out of his hands happens. the most memorable masculine characters - or just characters, period - are the ones that act like genuine people. the difference between a 2d and a 3d character, to me, is that a 2d character isn't written so that someone could empathize with it, and a 2d character is written regardless of whether people can empathize with it - what i mean regardless of whether or not is that the creator just got so excited about creating them, because they were an interesting premise, that they didn't put in the necessary tidbits that made the character fun or worth ur while to interact with. if that makes sense?

i think it's important to make sure every character you write for is written so that people can empathize with it, regardless of its gender. when i first ventured out of making masculine characters, i couldn't really get a sense for my feminine characters, and it was because i didn't develop how their minds worked, how they sorted through what they did and how they sorted and perceived the world around them. make sure you know your character like you would know a close friend, and you'll be all set for a dynamic, fun, and interactive experience no matter who you're playing with, or what gender you're doing it as.

This exactly! Gender is an important facet of people's identities, for sure, but when it comes to writing I think the most important thing is to develop a character that feels authentic and real. There isn't really a checklist of masculine traits that can achieve this; especially if you're trying to avoid stereotypes. In my opinion, the most memorable characters are dynamic. Just write the kind of character you'd like to play and don't worry about if they come off as masculine or feminine.

Sorry if that's shaky advice, hah.

This whole conversation seems to have steered off into the wrong direction. The common problem I always see when women write male characters and when men write female charactersin a roleplay is that people often seem to exaggerate the character. I don't think at all that this is intentional but I have very rarely seen a roleplay in which the person writing the opposite gender was not extreme in some form or the other.

Male characters do not equal violent, brash, silly, extremely cheerful, mysterious and simplicity. Most of the roleplays in which I have been a part of always seem to slot into one of those descriptions when a male character is written by a woman and similarly the same situation occurs when males write female characters.

The reason for this is because most people like the OP assume that writing characters of the opposite gender are somewhat different than writing a comfortable character which leads them to compensate by attempting to make their character somewhat 'special' or different.

Ultimately though as said above, a good writer can turn any situation around. Forget about the descriptions and focus on the writing and characterisation.

Tom the carpenter from east London can be just as interesting if not more interesting than Michael the C.I.A agent if written properly.

You have all given me much to consider! Thank you all for your input.

redacted

I write men a lot better than I write women. The thing about writing men is people over think it. Some men are calculating, cruel, quick to think. They are cunning and wise and calm.

Other men are quick to anger, slow to think. They usually can't see past their own noses. Perhaps they border on selfish tendencies or narcissism.

It's more about settling into a character you feel comfortable in. For whatever reason it's hard for me to get into the mindset to play a female character -- even if I'm female irl. Like it's definitely a Thing so I know how it can be tough.

Don't worry too much about gender roles or if your guys fits into this or that or whatever mold. If you look at Game of Thrones, the depth of the men written is just as complex as women. I use Game of Thrones because GRRM does a great job of representing both genders without reverting to sexualized or emotional stereotypes for either.

Other good examples of complexity in male characters is The Dog Stars, Watership Down, The Old Man and the Sea, Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. Men have traditionally been explorers, builders, inventors, military scientists. They like to explore, invent, invest, and create. Most of the time they are more brawn than brain, but many use both together. It's really up to you.

One thing I will say, is men tend to be brunt when up against something they don't feel is right. Women tend to fight from the inside -- they are typically non-violent and non-confrontational and can make sounder judgements. I think most of my guys get a bit prickly when someone says something they have a strong opinion on, whereas my female characters are like "k." But again, that's me putting my own spin on it.

So yeh. Roll with your concept. Don't worry too much about tic marks and check boxes. If you aren't feeling it don't push it and let the character guide you.

I'm female and tend to primarily write male characters, i'm not sure why but honestly? I've always considered that male and female characters are fairly similar because in my experience, men and women aren't that different. Guys might be a little less inclined to talk about their feelings and gossip but that entirely depends upon the culture in which they've grown up in.

I feel like it's dangerous to assume that playing a male or female character is somehow "massively different" because you're falling into the trap of thinking men and women aren't just people. Everyone is unique and different, sex doesn't really have such a huge defining role on your life so much as everything else does, UNLESS you're from a culture that's particularly into gender roles.
In modern society we're kinda stepping away from this idea of "men are like this, women should be like this" anyway.

Consider when writing a character perhaps how gender expectations of their culture might shape their life. The boy who isn't into "manly" things may feel like an outcast, may feel ashamed, or may over compensate by pretending he likes football to fit in. consider upbringing and how it might shape a person's outlook but generally speaking, I tend to develop character first, then let them "tell me" what gender they are. I default to male because it's what i'm more comfortable playing, I always played the boy in any games as a kid lol, I was always the prince to my friend's princesses so it's just where i'm most at ease. I do have female characters, I just don't tend to make them as often because I already have soooo many characters.
I wouldn't worry too much about "balance". Some people like to play a certain sort of character, be that certain genders or certain tropes or species or whatever they tend towards.
Like some people only ever play elves heh.


With male vs female characters, the only things it really might change is certain events in their life. A female victim of abuse for instance is seen by our culture as a victim, while a male may instead feel weak and immasculated due to the way we as a culture treat that sort of thing.
Think about how society treats the sexes and how that could colour your interactions with the world.
And if it's not earth or they're from a culture with no real gender divide well, that gives you a whole load more freedom.

I actually have several alien races from cultures where they're either matriarchal or have no gender division and it creates some interesting attitudes. A bafflement when it comes to humans claiming women are weak and need protecting for instance, not understanding why you shouldn't hit a girl if she hits you, not understanding this "men ask the woman out" ridiculousness.
It means when they do encounter sexism from other races it's a really alien concept they find really frustrating and confusing.

To put it briefly, men are not really any different to women and all the perceived differences primarily come down to cultural expectations and societal pressure. Don't fixate too much on the gender pronouns of your character, instead just build a character and see where it takes you.