Are your Oc's your Gender?

Rose-Wood

Dill Pickle Chips
All my Characters are my gender, Female, I've always been too afraid that I would wrongly portray a another (well I have done a non-binary) and I'm wondering what other people think about it. Have you ever been afraid to be a different gender? do you dabble in all? Or do you prefer to only do the opposite/no gender at all? I'm excited to see what others think, share your thoughts!
 
I was like that for a long time.
Then i decided to give it a try, and actually enjoyed it.

I usually stick to characters of my own gender, simply because its easier. But from time to time i play the other gender as well.
 
Personally, I am a tomboy, but I don't mind playing as any gender I feel meets the role. I find it a challenge to portray my characters as different personalities as I can and I accept critisim as they come as a learning experience.
 
I've personally never had any trouble or fears with portraying different genders; my OCs range from male to female and even one genderfluid. I've never seen the act of playing a male character as fundamentally different from playing a female character, but I myself am genderfluid personally, so I sometimes wonder if that's always played a part in helping me easily identify with characters regardless of gender, heh.
 
I usually play a female character's just because it is easier for me to portray, but, I have played males before for the fun of it. Trying to play a tough big guy when I'm actually small in reality was endearing and very fun for me!
 
Not a problem! I hope you use what you learn and challenge yourself as a writer to expand yourself further. :) If you have questions, I'm more than willing to help!
 
Usually, yes. The only reason for this, is because I don't think I could do a female character justice. Male behaviours, mannerisms etc all come natural to me and the characters I portray of course. In a nutshell, it's easier for me!
 
I've written characters who are male, female, and non-binary before. So long as you can familiarize yourself with mannerisms and whatnot, it's not all too difficult. After all, how one expresses themself isn't tied down to their gender. That is, you can have a very feminine male or a very masculine female (you know, tomboys and all that jazz), so really it's not about getting down how to write a man, woman, or otherwise, but rather masculine and feminine expressions, which can be embodied by any gender. So, from that, I think it's really important to get down no matter if you only write characters of certain genders or not! Anyhow, that's just my rambling view on it.
 
I try to do both genders as much as possible (and give nonbinary a little love, too), though I do have more male than female. I'm not entirely sure why. I find that actual gender doesn't change much about the character, though, at least not as much as expression does. A drag queen and a stereotypical football jock can both identify as men but come across as completely different personalities. Lots of my characters tend to blend the gender line, though, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
 
Historically, I've always played male characters, same as myself. I can't say that I've ever given a lot of thought as to why. Maybe it's as simple as I identify as male and so I find it easier to play as one? -shrug- But as I've become more serious in my desire to become a better writer, I plan on challenging myself as much as possible and that means writing outside of my usual comfort zone.

After all, if I can conceive a non-human entity from another dimensions who feeds exclusively on bone marrow then why shouldn't I try playing something other than a white, cis-gender male? Granted, portraying a real-life demographic different from my own requires more care and consideration than that of a bone-munching alien, but that's part of the challenge that I hope will make me a more diverse and capable writer.
 
The female to male ratio of my characters is like 1:10. I write more males probably to avoid the mary sue stigma that surrounded female characters back then, but it's probably also because playing a male feels a bit more lax to me... Though, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. I may sound a bit rude, but I create characters that are fun to play instead of realistic. For me, the gender isn't that big of a deal until the story makes it one. I usually just see if the character's gender fits the backstory and determine whether they'd look better as a male or a female.

There are also some characters with unspecified gender that I made, but they're all non-human in some sort of way. For the case of these characters, the gender really really doesn't matter. Like, one of them is literally made of glass and one of them is an alien, does it even matter?

(I just realized that I sound a bit insensitive! About the unspecified gender part, I have nothing against people who consider themselves outside the gender norms! Apologies if it sounded a bit unflattering!)
 
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Though there are differences between men and women here and there, either culturally or physically, I often find that if you write a post as the same character you've always been using, then change all the pronouns to the opposite gender, it... reads naturally still. Even if the person is very masculine/feminine, there are enough men and women who have the opposite gender's mannerisms that it doesn't come off as strange. People are, very generally, the same, so my characters tend to get on the 50/50 route because I don't see the opposite gender as being different from myself.

Much like It'scalledabonfire, I've also played people who have not revealed or do not conform to gender norms (either because that's the kind of person they are or because they're a different species, mutated, etc.) and though sometimes these characters will act differently because of it, generally they're just like my male and female characters and act more alongside their morals and life experiences rather than their gender.
 
Most of my OCs are males on the LGBT spectrum. I may be a girl irl but I always connected more to males! I think it might because I only had sisters and my dad kind of treated me like the son he never had.
Either way I always loved creating boy ocs, I just always end up liking them more!
 
All my Characters are my gender, Female, I've always been too afraid that I would wrongly portray a another (well I have done a non-binary) and I'm wondering what other people think about it. Have you ever been afraid to be a different gender? do you dabble in all? Or do you prefer to only do the opposite/no gender at all? I'm excited to see what others think, share your thoughts!
I always stick to my gender. I've thought about trying to make an opposite gender OC, but for now, I'm too scared to.
 
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