: I've had a related discussion with my wife two weeks ago about whether there's anything significant about men writing a female protagonist and women writing a male protagonist. For example,

I've had a related discussion with my wife two weeks ago about whether there's anything significant about men writing a female protagonist and women writing a male protagonist. For example, Robin Hobb writing about FitzChivalry, or Witi Ihimaera writing about Paikea.

In the end, my wife and I concluded together that the protagonist's gender is really only a small part of what makes a reader identify or empathize with the protagonist.

The larger part that causes the reader to engage with the protagonist is how similarly or dissimilarly the protagonist's experiences and objectives match the readers own life experiences and objectives. We found that my wife's upbringing and my own upbringing have lead us to enjoy and desire different qualities in our protagonists.

Also, in some cases, a secondary character induces a sense of identity and empathy that may also not align by gender. For example, my daughter connects more with Draco Malfoy over Hermione Granger. Go figure.

Here's a secret for you. If there were an article that stated, "that men can identify and empathize with male as well as female protagonists, while women identify better with female protagonists", and if your personal experiences and objectives align with this statement, then you may be much more likely to consider the article to be truth.

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: How can I keep secret a major detail known to the POV protagonist? How do you write a story where the point-of-view character knows something, but you want to keep it a secret from the reader

@Megan928

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: How do you give the murderer away? 'There once was a popular soap opera staged in the southern, modern capital of Imaso in Europe. It had run for 50 years and over time produced new characters;

@Megan928

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: How do I plot the defeat of an all-knowing, god-like antagonist? I have a plot bunny lingering in my head about a rag-tag band of defective cyborgs facing off against a god-like supercomputer.

: I've had a related discussion with my wife two weeks ago about whether there's anything significant about men writing a female protagonist and women writing a male protagonist. For example,

More posts by @Megan928

: How can I keep secret a major detail known to the POV protagonist? How do you write a story where the point-of-view character knows something, but you want to keep it a secret from the reader

: Avoiding repeating "I" and "you" in an epistolary piece I've had two recent ideas for short stories that I feel would be best written as epistolary pieces where the main character is basically

: How do you give the murderer away? 'There once was a popular soap opera staged in the southern, modern capital of Imaso in Europe. It had run for 50 years and over time produced new characters;

: How do I plot the defeat of an all-knowing, god-like antagonist? I have a plot bunny lingering in my head about a rag-tag band of defective cyborgs facing off against a god-like supercomputer.

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