Gender balance in novels

RRK · Aug 8, 2007

Since a lot of us weighed in on the male or female MC question, I thought I'd raise a similar one. How important is it to you, as a writer and a reader, that there be a fairly even balance of male to female characters in a novel? If you've got more female than male characters and the time comes to introduce another person who could be either gender, are you swayed by the numbers, or do you go by gut instinct?

ETA: This is assuming the setting is one where it could make sense either way. Obviously in some settings gender is key to the plot, but I'm talking about what if it's not.

maestrowork · Aug 8, 2007

What is your world? What is the story? If your story is set in a military barrack in Afghanistan, maybe there will be more men than women. If your story is set in a brothel in Japan during the WWII, there are more women than men. If you set your story in modern day New York City, perhaps there should be an equal mix -- just like in the real world.

Again, I do think it depends on the story and the setting. At least that's what I will go by. There really is no formula.

Spiny Norman · Aug 8, 2007

I dunno. I'd hate to wind up assembling a balanced committee that fairly represents humanity and eventually agrees upon a theme rather than just tell a story.

I'd prefer my characters exist on their own terms, along with the voice of the story.

Stew21 · Aug 8, 2007

most of the characters in my current ms are men. most of the characters in my first ms are women. It just depends on the story. I've never tried to balance it out.
In my current work, almost everyone is semi-crazy, quirky and eccentric. and then there's the ghosts. The sex of the characters is less important than their personalities and their relationships with each other.
I'm just trying to write it truthfully, not balanced and fair, just honest.

mscelina · Aug 8, 2007

I have the characters I need. When they show up, I write them in. I've honestly never given a thought to why each character is the way he/she is, and I certainly never stopped and thought, "Hmm, I'm getting a little dude-heavy; I need to add in a chick." Some of my characters evolve from obstacles another character needs to face--that may be the closest I get to 'purposely' leaning towards one gender or another.

JBI · Aug 8, 2007

My current work is probing this sort of thing. I am trying to get inside the head of an ultra-orthodox Jew, and see what goes on inside her head.

ChaosTitan · Aug 8, 2007

mscelina said:
I have the characters I need. When they show up, I write them in.

I'm the same way.

I admit, though, that the timing of this thread amuses me. Just yesterday, I was thinking about the WIP. I realized that I while my protagonist is female, every other major supporting character is male. Does it bother me? Not really. Am I striving to add more female characters just to maintain balance? Nope.

Claudia Gray · Aug 8, 2007

Like others have said, the setting determines the makeup of the story -- there are going to be situations in which you'd properly tell your story primarily through male characters, and others in which you'd have mostly female characters.

But if I pick up a book that has five male characters, all of whom are in positions of interest and authority, and one female character, who works as a stripper and whose only contribution to the plot is being endangered, I put that book right back down again, unbought and unread.

So I think it's worth asking yourself if you're unreasonably favoring one gender over another.

(Also, I have found in the past that sometimes, if a character isn't gelling, it's a VERY interesting exercise to try switching the gender of that character. That really makes you focus on the individual, not any internalized stereotypes you may be unconsciously using as shorthand.)

Azraelsbane · Aug 8, 2007

I've never thought much of balancing. In my fantasy series I have 4 MCs, 3 men, 1 woman, and my main antagonists are male, with one exception. As for bit parts in the story, it varies. Considering the war/fighting aspects of my novels, and the fact that one of my realms houses only males (due to the creator's hatred of women) they are predominantly male. However, that tends to make the roles my female characters play that much more important.

In my mainstream fiction novel, it's 1st person and the narrator is female, though she tends to surround herself with men

:cough:: not for that). I guess no matter what I write I have a trend.

scarletpeaches · Aug 8, 2007

I write male-dominated novels. That is to say, the MC is always female, but she's surrounded by blokes! My WIP has two young women to three men, but I have something bubbling away in the back of my mind which will have one female MC, a secondary female character and at least four main male characters.

I don't plan it that way; indeed, I don't plan any of my novels, being such a rabid anti-outliner. That's just the way things work out.

chartreuse · Aug 8, 2007

RRK said:
Since a lot of us weighed in on the male or female MC question, I thought I'd raise a similar one. How important is it to you, as a writer and a reader, that there be a fairly even balance of male to female characters in a novel? If you've got more female than male characters and the time comes to introduce another person who could be either gender, are you swayed by the numbers, or do you go by gut instinct?

As with the MC question, the fact is that this something I never gave any thought to. It's purely on instinct, I guess, and I don't think there's a point where I know that there's a character without knowing the gender at the same time. I may not know much more than that at first, but I always know if it's a male or female, and that information is never something I have to think about.

In any case, I wouldn't allow myself to be swayed by numbers. Some stories naturally involve more males than females or the other way around. I wouldn't ever switch things around for the sake of balance or to be politically correct.

JoNightshade · Aug 8, 2007

I usually have more males than females. I think probably because I find it more difficult to write females, so I just tend to add males because they're easier and less apt to start going off in their own direction. Seriously, females are risky. They like to pop up and say "Hey! Let's go do this instead!" Guys are pretty dependable.

Tracy · Aug 8, 2007

I read somewhere that, in advertising, say on a billboard, if you have an equal number of men and women, it looks unbalanced in favour of women. (Because we're so unused to seeing women in the meeja [media] and so their presence carries more weight). So, if advertisers have a billboard (or magazine ad, whatever) they'll always have an odd number of people (odd numbers are more asthetically pleasing anyway), and the extra one will be a man.

Since reading that I've kept an eye out, and sure enough ... there is almost invariably more men (unless it's an ad for something specifically feminine).

Since then I've tried to redress the balance a little by having more women in my stories, especially for the walk-on parts. So the doctor, the solicitor, the pilot who ferries my characters, etc, will deliberately be women.

BenPanced · Aug 8, 2007

I really, really have a hard time writing female characters. They all come across as either a Nurturing Mother or a B@ll-Busting B!tch with very little variation, so all of my work has male characters. So, yeah, I'd rather be accused of being biased against women by exclusion than biased against women by portraying them all as awful stereotypes.

reenkam · Aug 8, 2007

Tracy said:
I read somewhere that, in advertising, say on a billboard, if you have an equal number of men and women, it looks unbalanced in favour of women. (Because we're so unused to seeing women in the meeja [media] and so their presence carries more weight). So, if advertisers have a billboard (or magazine ad, whatever) they'll always have an odd number of people (odd numbers are more asthetically pleasing anyway), and the extra one will be a man.

Since reading that I've kept an eye out, and sure enough ... there is almost invariably more men (unless it's an ad for something specifically feminine).

That's pretty interesting...thinking back to ads I've seen, I think it's true, too. Which is weird. Aren't there supposed to be about twice as many women in the world as there are men? Or is that a myth they tell us in elementary school....

I never really think about how many males or females I put into a work. My current WIP is aimed at boys, so there are more boys in it. In the WIP before that I think it was exactly even, strangely enough. Unless you count one of the MC's brothers...then there were more guys.

Hm...I guess I do put more guys in my writing than girls...but not purposely.

necia phoenix · Aug 8, 2007

I write stories. In some of them there are more men than women, in others more women than men. I don't really pay attention. If the story feels like it needs an additional character, one shows up.

I do however seem to have more men than women, I seem to write men better (IMO >.<).

blame it on being a tomboy and having five boys.

Alexandra Little · Aug 8, 2007

I like more guys than girls, because all my MC's tend to be girls, so I like it when she has to overcome a gender barrier as well as whatever the main plot is.

Rhea L · Aug 8, 2007

Now that I think about it, I have two female characters in my current WiP... and the rest of them are male. Including both of my POV characters. Oops. But I don't really see a problem; it's how the story wants to be, and since I have a particular kind of dislike for the typical damsels in distress, neither of my female characters are like that.

Then again, you'll never please every single reader out there. So even if they might pick your story because they read in your genre and like what they read on the back of the book, they still might end up not entirely happy with it at some point because it has too many/few females or males.

Point being, write the story you want to write, the way it should be written to be true to itself, and with the characters it takes to tell that story.

blackpen · Aug 8, 2007

gender balance alone isn't that important to me. however, i hate it when an author keeps describing a woman as super sexy all the time while making all the men angst ridden super spies that blow up generic terrorists. i like the bourne series because it doesn't quite follow this pattern, at least the movie doesn't.
i also dislike the kind of novel where all the women are running around in high heels and angsting about relationships over martinis.

Azraelsbane · Aug 8, 2007

blackpen said:
gender balance alone isn't that important to me. however, i hate it when an author keeps describing a woman as super sexy all the time while making all the men angst ridden super spies that blow up generic terrorists. i like the bourne series because it doesn't quite follow this pattern, at least the movie doesn't.
i also dislike the kind of novel where all the women are running around in high heels and angsting about relationships over martinis.

I hate the ones where women are running around in high heels shooting things and being badass. It is not feasible to be running after bad guys in high heels. I'm in a wheelchair, and even I know this.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 8, 2007

RRK said:
Since a lot of us weighed in on the male or female MC question, I thought I'd raise a similar one. How important is it to you, as a writer and a reader, that there be a fairly even balance of male to female characters in a novel? If you've got more female than male characters and the time comes to introduce another person who could be either gender, are you swayed by the numbers, or do you go by gut instinct?

ETA: This is assuming the setting is one where it could make sense either way. Obviously in some settings gender is key to the plot, but I'm talking about what if it's not.

I can't think of anything less important to me than gender balance in fiction.

aadams73 · Aug 8, 2007

I just want a good story. I don't care what gender the characters are.

necia phoenix · Aug 8, 2007

blackpen said:
gender balance alone isn't that important to me. however, i hate it when an author keeps describing a woman as super sexy all the time while making all the men angst ridden super spies that blow up generic terrorists. i like the bourne series because it doesn't quite follow this pattern, at least the movie doesn't.
i also dislike the kind of novel where all the women are running around in high heels and angsting about relationships over martinis.

you know, thats why I prefer fantasy; usually high heels haven't been invented.

Zoombie · Aug 8, 2007

I know for a fact that high heels are the worst shoes ever. They are even worse than those flipflops with all those little dull nubs in the part where your foot goes.

In my stories, the spread of females to male tends to be fairly...even, actually. It just seems to work out that way.

Huh, never noticed it till I started checking on it.

reigningcatsndogs · Aug 8, 2007

I've never even considered the male/female ratio in my writing. You use what works for the story!
In my case, the men outnumber the women. I like men. They're easier to write. Example: a guy staring at the roof after a romantic encounter -- ask him what he is thinking, he says 'nothing', and he really means nothing (as hard as that is to believe!)
a woman staring at the roof after a romantic encounter -- 'I hope the kids didn't hear. I have to remember to get stuff ready for their lunches tomorrow. I think I'll just make a salad for me. I should probably lose a few more pounds, so salads for the rest of the week. I wonder if I've put on too much weight that I shouldn't wear that blue skirt tomorrow? And I need to extra condition my hair when I shower, and my leg's look like Magilla Gorilla's. I wonder if he noticed? (turns to look at husband staring off at ceiling) He did. He definitely did. He's thinking about my stubble, and that's why he's not talking to me. I need to pick up more wax strips tomorrow on the way to work.....

Gender balance in novels

I named the dog Indiana

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