Gender of POV Characters?

Haoro

Haoro

Really Really Experienced
Out of interest, for your POV characters, do you tend to prefer writing male or female viewpoints? Is there a particular reason why you favor one over the other? Or do you write nonbinary/ genderqueer characters?

In my case, I have done both male and female POVs, but I do write from the perspective of men more often. Partly because I am one, so I find it a bit easier. I also think it's because I tend to write femdom-focused stories as a sub myself, so the submissive view of the situation is more attractive to me. I find that the thoughts and feelings of someone reacting to what is done to them by the domme gives me a lot of chance to get into the head of the character and focus on their reactions.
 
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I find it awkward to write as a guy so most of my works default to women. But I have written some things in the male perspective. The simple reason? i am a whamen and understand whamen thoughts… actually that’s a lie I don’t even understand women. But I understand them more than men so I opt for the one I’m more familiar with.
 
I think I do about the same amount of both.
Though I somewhat prefer writing the POV of the opposite gender.
Why? I have no idea.
 
I tend to write mostly male, write what you know, but have added female branches from time to time when the main character wasn't around and want to just show things from a girls POV.
 
In my stories, if I'm writing a male MC, there's a good chance they won't stay that for long... But my favorite main character I've written is a woman from the start, and I'd probably like to do more characters like her.

Given my own situation, I just recently started a trans branch in a story that reflects a lot of myself beyond just the kinky stuff that interests me. But I don't tend to write from that perspective of someone actively looking to transition; on the other hand, just about everyone in my stories is a little non-binary and more accepting of the gender-based shenanigans than I'd expect from actual people.
 
Most of the stories I've participated in up to this point that involve 2nd person narration have been from the Female POV, really. Though the longest (still ongoing) one is male. I think part of it is I like writing from perspectives that are not my own in any situation and not just sexual ones.
 
Whatever suits the story best. So far this has resulted in mostly female perspectives in my writing.

I think writing from the submissive perspective feels natural for most authors, at least where it exists. It's usually more compelling and the relationship between the character's actions and their outcomes is more dramatic. In the case of non-con, this also means you're essentially writing from the angle of the protagonist underdog, which is traditionally effective. In a way, the submissive character often has more power over the course of a fictional story.

Personally, I tend to find women more interesting to write about in most situations I devise. Perhaps it's because I like conflict and tension in my erotica, and I find it slightly easier to write female characters with higher stakes (e.g. in a patriarchal fantasy world, or speaking sexually, where they have problems like pregnancy to worry about). Perhaps female characters have a somewhat greater variety of actions they can take in the types of settings I like to write that the average reader is willing to accept at face value with relative seriousness (e.g. seduce the guard). Perhaps I'm subconsciously avoiding writing experiences that are too reflective of my own. Perhaps I just find it more comfortable.
 
I prefer female viewpoint characters, myself. Male mcs just tend to be...not as interesting, to me. More limited and generally they are all more or less the same barely legal highschool nerd boys who discover strange powers. The novelty wears off really quick. Female characters tend to just have a wider range of options of what to do with them. I don't know how to put it. Sexually, speaking I prefer female x male over anything else. Female x Female also tends to be pretty boring to me as well, on it's own without anything to make it more interesting.
 
A good mix of thoughts, cool to see! Though there does seem to be a slight preference towards female POVs over male, which I can definitely understand.

insertnamehere said:
I think writing from the submissive perspective feels natural for most authors, at least where it exists. It's usually more compelling and the relationship between the character's actions and their outcomes is more dramatic. In the case of non-con, this also means you're essentially writing from the angle of the protagonist underdog, which is traditionally effective. In a way, the submissive character often has more power over the course of a fictional story.
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I'd agree with this, and it's part of why I end up writing more male POV characters since they're the submissive viewpoints in my story. I do try to write situations where it's more realistic for the male MC to be in that position where the stakes are in fact higher for him than the women he's interacting with.

Auraicide said:
I prefer female viewpoint characters, myself. Male mcs just tend to be...not as interesting, to me. More limited and generally they are all more or less the same barely legal highschool nerd boys who discover strange powers. The novelty wears off really quick. Female characters tend to just have a wider range of options of what to do with them. I don't know how to put it. Sexually, speaking I prefer female x male over anything else. Female x Female also tends to be pretty boring to me as well, on it's own without anything to make it more interesting.
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I don't think male MCs are inherently less interesting, but I'd agree there seems to be less willingness to do interesting things with them, perhaps because of straight maledom being much more the default, the power fantasy element in a lot of stories written from the male POV, and what insertnamehere mentioned about the submissive perspective often allowing more scope for interesting narration. I could make a rather self-serving argument that malesub perspectives can in fact be more interesting than femsub ones because of the conflict between the expected sexual/societal roles of each gender and the desires of the characters, but that could be a whole new thread in itself. I also tend to find female x female stuff not as interesting, for whatever reason.
 
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insertnamehere said:
I think writing from the submissive perspective feels natural for most authors, at least where it exists. It's usually more compelling and the relationship between the character's actions and their outcomes is more dramatic. In the case of non-con, this also means you're essentially writing from the angle of the protagonist underdog, which is traditionally effective. In a way, the submissive character often has more power over the course of a fictional story.
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Thanks for putting this better than I could :3
 
Interesting question! I used to think it was male, but upon rereading my earlier stories, I've been writing from a woman's POV this entire time.

I especially enjoy doing it more deliberately and, if you will excuse the pun, explicitly.
 
I like both for different reasons and in different kind of stories.
Of course being a male makes writing for a male PoV easier and all-around more relatable for me, but female PoV is very funny and engaging to write too.
 
I generally write male POV as it tends to be easier for the reasons Serious mentioned, but strangely find that wrting female POV tends to be end up better. Don't know if that's because I need to take more time over it, but the outcome is more rewarding. Sometimes multiple POVs in different chapters works well too.
 
insertnamehere said:
(or speaking sexually, where they have problems like pregnancy to worry about)
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I remember watching a movie....awhile ago now where one of the female leads likened the risk of unprotected sex to Russian Roulette by holding a pistol to the male leads head while it was loaded(and the chamber spun) and pulling the trigger when he came.

He died
 
I also do about 50/50, but if I'm thinking about it, I tend to write male perspective most often if it's 2nd person and female most often if it's 1st or 3rd person. That's not intentional on my part and probably speaks to me writing most comfortably for my own gender and orientation, although I hope that my stuff has some appeal for people of all sorts.

I do like reading other people's stuff regardless of the POV gender and think I can enjoy any about equally.
 
Truthfully, I don't really have a real preference for gender in my stories in general, though I do tend to focus on males and females - more toward the former, I'd say. Sometimes I do write futa-oriented chapters, though those aren't many. POV wise, I mostly go 3rd person POV; I just can't really do 1st Person. At times, I do 2nd POV as well.
 
I write roughly 50/50 when writing first person, but while I am a guy I honestly find it easier to write women sometimes. Or maybe I just like it more? That could just be a coincidence too because we're talking a small sample size. Something about a woman's point of view makes me pay more attention to the interior, I guess, and that makes the story more engaging or something to write. I try to be aware of how a woman would view a situation differently in general, and that seems to help me with the particulars of the characters. If that makes sense.
 
Both, for PoV characters.

I'm guessing my balance, counting by chapter contributions, is heavily female PoV; this is influenced by the quick episodic next-scene shape of Slut World and Lusty Magical Academy.

I've been enjoying writing big feelings in the F/F Morgan/Fay pairing in Lusty Magical Academy.

I might be uncomfortable writing a male character taking up so much space, I'll have to think about that. I am probably bringing some of my own "don't be That Guy!" energy to writing male PoV characters.
 
I don't really have any real preference. I generally allow readers to select between multiple characters and usually write a male one first. However, I have also written stories where the only 'player characters' are female but none where they were all male. Those stories tend to be about magic girls, princesses, demon princesses and girls in an enforced nudity in school program.
 
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