Too Masculine?

[Aeradalia]

I have written a little more than a page of a story with the main character being female. I've let a few close friends read it and they've generally agreed that the character is much too masculine. Her thoughts, mannerisms, and overall approach to life is very much unlike an average female. Even had a friend suggest that I rewrite the story from the view of a male to create more believability. However, my dilemma is that I am female... I based the main character more or less on myself (first rule of writing... write what you know), and as this is intended to be an erotic story... I'm at a loss for truly understanding the physical and emotional dynamics of a male.

I guess I would like the perspective of one of the editors or another here to see if my friends may have been mistaken... and if they weren't, what can I do to either make the female character more believable or should I simply start over with a male character?

 

[evanslily]

I have written a little more than a page of a story with the main character being female. I've let a few close friends read it and they've generally agreed that the character is much too masculine. Her thoughts, mannerisms, and overall approach to life is very much unlike an average female. Even had a friend suggest that I rewrite the story from the view of a male to create more believability. However, my dilemma is that I am female... I based the main character more or less on myself (first rule of writing... write what you know), and as this is intended to be an erotic story... I'm at a loss for truly understanding the physical and emotional dynamics of a male.

I guess I would like the perspective of one of the editors or another here to see if my friends may have been mistaken... and if they weren't, what can I do to either make the female character more believable or should I simply start over with a male character?

Interesting...

The first thing I'd say though is, "So what?" And what I mean by that is quite simply, why does your character have to be a girly girl? In fact, if your main character bucks the trend and isn't ya stereotypical girl in an erotic story, well done you.

I'm guessing that you aren't a girly girl either, right? But would your friends describe you as male? Probably not.

So what you're doing in your story is only a problem if you're trying to pass off your main character as a girly girl and not a tom boy. I think I'd resist re-writing the character as a male.

 

[ericahope]

What does it matter whether she acts masculine or not? The more important question is the story good writing and does it turn people on? That's the whole point of Literotica stories, at least in my mind. I enjoy reading stories where the characters are realistic. If she's based on you, that's pretty realistic if you ask me.

 

[driphoney]

Okay, so I don't really know what I'm talking about here, but first off, I agree with the others, why not let your character be unique? And second off, how can we really know your character that well after only one page? Why don't you give her time to gain more life, more personality? Then, if you feel she's not attractive enough or sends the wrong message, you can change it up, do some modifying.

But then, I'm just figuring this stuff out too!

dh

 

[Guest]

Your character can act as "masculine" as she pleases, provided you give the reader enough background to understand why she does. If she's interesting enough, we'll wait; it's not something you have to cram into the beginning of the story. And, it needn't be reams and reams of exposition; something as simple as, "She never was a 'girly' girl" lets the reader know that this is her personality and not a poorly-drawn character.

Just my two cents.