Gender of POV Characters?

Discussion in 'Authors' Hangout' started by Haoro, Jun 12, 2021.

  1. mkokp

    mkokp Virgin

    I was thinking about this exact question.

    I always write female POV, but for my first CHYOA story I'm writing the same story from both POVs. One thread as the Male character and the other thread as the Female character. (I am unsure how this would work if I introduce more than two, but then a story with three main characters sounds harder/longer than dealing with two.)

    I also end each chapter with a POV choice for the reader to follow either character. (by switching the story to the other thread with a redirect)

    Let's see how it goes, which is more popular and which I like better.
     
  2. Twiska

    Twiska Virgin CHYOA Backer

    I have only written one erotic story. And the POV is female. I chose this as I saw a lack of strong, proactive, slutty female POVs on chyoa. As those are the stories, I enjoy reading the most. So I thought I should just do it myself. To why I enjoy reading those POVs is mainly because I enjoy it when women actually show interest in sex.
     
    Cuchuilain likes this.
  3. Krevmh

    Krevmh Virgin

    I can go either way but I usually find the male body less interesting to depict in sex, so I focus in more on female leads or futas/femboys.

    Granted, I'm not sure how much a female reader would approve of my depiction of women, but I just try not to think about that.
     
    Cuchuilain likes this.
  4. kinkygeek

    kinkygeek Virgin

    I've been writing my story Secret Affairs from both perspectives because I wanted my readers to have the option of male or female POV, but I've found that it's easier for me to write from the male perspective and have written more for that POV. I want to make a push for the female side of the story soon and hopefully get it caught up with the male side.
     
  5. I'm pretty good with both male and female viewpoints when writing SFW stories, I don't really see a big difference between them outside of erotica. Inside NSFW stories, it is easy to tell that there is a major difference, so I just stick with what I know and work with a male point of view. Now that I think about it, although my only story here is in the first person, I would much rather work in the third-person omniscient point of view. Usually, third-person omniscient is much easier and more convenient to use for storytelling tools like foreshadowing, characterization, setting development, conflict, and others. Since I'm more used to writing in this form, it's sometimes a little annoying to remember that I am limited by the protagonist when I write in first-person. Yet, I think it is more fun to observe a fictional universe through the eyes of every major character so that all opinions and viewpoints could be seen. This is especially fun when I'm reading or writing any work that is morally ambiguous or has a lot of "grey characters" (like antiheroes or understandable villains). Yet, even if the story has a clear good guy and bad guy, it's still quite entertaining to follow both of them through their journeys omnisciently instead of only the good guy or, very rarely, the bad guy. If anyone finds an entertaining work where only the villain's viewpoint is seen, please tell me because I'm bored and need to distract myself from life. I would prefer the recommendation to be a military sci-fi or a medieval fantasy (because those are my favorite genres). Despite third-person omniscient being more convenient to use when writing linear stories, it is most definitely incompatible when applied to CHYOAs. Imagine a CHYOA from two points of view, things would get out of control fast. So, because I know guys better than girls and because this site literally has CHYOA in the name, that's probably why I made the point of view of my story here a man in the first person.
     
    Cuchuilain likes this.
  6. I've used both male and female POVs. I just go with whichever I think suits the story.

    Anime Club Harem has a female lead because I was originally gonna make the gender optional but then I decided it would complicate things so I went with the one with the greater writing possibles.

    Plus how many lesbian harems are on here?

    Fantasy Adventure only has a female lead so far but I plan to make many more characters optional.

    Incubus has a male lead because I wanted to explore non consensual fantasies with the female kind. Like Anime Club Harem, its the kind of thing where gender options would only change the character's gender, meaning I'd be writing the same scenes twice.

    I chose a male this time because I thought it would give me more options for this scenario.


    Superhero Academia has a male lead because it was originally going to be a My Hero Academia fanfic. Though I might add a female option given that its a big superhero universe.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
    Cuchuilain likes this.
  7. remysloane

    remysloane Experienced

    I prefer writing from the female POV, and I much prefer reading from it as well. Most of the erotica I've read is from literotica, and it seems to be mostly male POV. It could just be the novelty of that has worn off more for me.
     
  8. bastian

    bastian Virgin

    I've never written from a woman's POV because I have difficulty visualizing what sex would be like from their perspective and I'm worried it would feel inauthentic.

    I'm not against it, I just don't think I'd be very good at it.
     
  9. To make my life easier I just treat the character as if they are nonbinary. I make it so dialogue is the main focus, the only time I do write with a specific gender in mind is if the story needs it. For example a sex scene or describing the character.