: Re: Is it frustrating not to know the narrator's gender? I have written a 1st person piece and reading it I realize it's very difficult to tell if the narrator is male or female. There are one

@Cooney417

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If you characterize your narrator, then add gender. If you keep your narrator the omniscient without characterization, no need to mention anything about gender.

Consider the 'Harry Potter' novels. Is there any mention of the narrator's gender? Or even that there is a narrator at all?

Now look at John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" (I just happen to adore this book, and thus I am using it as my example). The very first word of the novel is "I". Since the narrator is characterized, the author must then tell us a little about who the person is.

It may be the intent of the author to string the reader along a bit- making the identity of the narrator part of the story. But unless he/she has a good reason for doing it (intrinsic to the story), the narrator generally remains the anonymous omniscient.

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