: Generally I write female characters as "softer" and male characters as "harder." I have no idea what that means and some how intuitively, when I write, it makes sense. I've never had anyone

@Candy753

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Generally I write female characters as "softer" and male characters as "harder." I have no idea what that means and some how intuitively, when I write, it makes sense. I've never had anyone read my writing and say "no woman would ever say that" or accuse me of having written a feminine man...unless I wanted them to. When I'm writing a female character or male character I switch into male or female mode (or mindset). It works...don't tell me how (because you're probably wrong, because I can't even tell me how, lol). When I have a female start to sound too much like a male I always remind myself to "dial it back" and when a male character starts to sound too feminine or even less masculine than I want I tell myself to "ramp it up." I guess it's the difference between more direct dialogue/actions and less direct dialogue and actions. Men tend to think about solving problems (your sad, what can I do?) and women tend to think about emotions (your sad, tell me why) and somehow, in my head, I've turned all this into an abstract concept that I draw upon to great effect.

A female character should always be female and a male character should always be male. This does not mean they fit any stereotype. In fact they shouldn't. What it means is that a reader should never have a hard time believing your character's gender even if they're a butch overly masculine woman who works in the steel industry, drinks beer, watches football, and spits...or a man who's so feminine that he's all the girl's best friend, the I know girlfriend type. You need to find the ways that your character's gender will show through and use them as subtle clues. Every character will be different. No templates here. You might have a feminine "friends with all the girls" man who is slightly more direct in his speech than the average woman would be or a butch woman who still likes a good hug once in a while (yes, these are obvious), but if you do it right you're 1) not stereotyping and 2) creating unique real characters that readers will enjoy. People are complex and messy. If you find writing any character to be easy...you're doing it wrong. Fun, sure...all writing should have an element of fun...but easy? HA!

I once wrote a book where all the characters were extremely blunt and to the point. The prose bordered on beige prose (opposite of purple prose) and the lead female fit a lot of masculine stereotypes with language and action, but no one accused me of having written men with vag***s. ...although they did accuse me of having written gross dirty characters, but that was the point, lol

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