I feel the same. It's easier for me to write male characters than females. I joined this Creative Writing class and every story I had to hand in was third pov and had a male main character, but my teacher said I have to learn how to write a female one too but I don't get why? I don't have to write a story or whatever in a girl's pov, do I? The thing is that I'm scared of writing a girl character because some books I've read had female main characters that acted too weak and depended on their male counterpart. If I ever decide to change my writing habits I would want it to be perfect so maybe that's way I stayed with guys.

@aeru Makes plenty sense, I feel like they're writing their story through me as well. (Which is why I don't make the charts). Human characters are much more enjoyable and it's easier to take traits and build them into a human if you don't have to care about what's "feminine" and what's "masculine". We probably all have a mix of it anyway.

With female and male characters I don't focus on whether this is too feminine or masculine, I just think of them as blank slates. This girl is an explorer, so that means she must be courageous, right? She loves adventure, she's brave, strong and smart. Now we go onto bad traits: maybe she's too reckless! Only likes working alone, perhaps she is a bit prideful, as well? You see where I'm going? I don't think 'all right this is a girl, how do I make her appear as a girl?' I think of my characters as people with character, which makes things so much easier to understand who they are. Not every girl needs to be painfully oblivious or a damsel in distress, maybe the dude is the damsel in this story? I love playing around with stereotypes and switching them, so the opposite genders wield them. It's fun lol

So don't try to think of them as just female characters. Think of them as regular people with thoughts and personalities. Base it on what they do or what they love. Give them bad and good attributes that separate them from others. YOU are the writer. You are in charge of each and every single thing that occurs in your story. You don't like something? You have the ability to get rid of it and start over. You're in control. These are fictional characters that you created, so if anything you should be the one who understands them the most. And if your character goes off track, well, it depends how FAR off track. Sometimes a character does something that was never expected to happen and become so much more important. That's fine! In fact, I'm pretty sure it happens a lot. But it's when that character starts going way off the track and out of the arena completely is where you need to go back to your character sheet and ask "where did I mess up?" Go back to trying to understand that person so things go back on track.

With my female characters, I base them off the people I know in real life. I mix and match their attitudes to create a stubborn girl or a fun, perky yet odd heroine who likes pizza way too much. Maybe you'll have to list down your character's traits or interview them...something like that. and i agree when you say boy characters are easier to write...they are more fascinating, esp the angsty ones

@aeru That is a good way to write about female characs. Usually I read that inserting yourself in your own story is not recommended, but your method will help to understand the character more. This is just nice. Wow.

@MissMinew I agree with this as well. Often times, even though I have a character sheet, my characters end up making a life of thier own. Like they're the ones writing the story, and I'm just their instrument to share it with everyone. Does that make sense? Also like you said, human characters are enjoyable not because they are some amalgam of the best traits of their gender (or other predefined label), but because they are believable and real, even if they have many faults.

I don't really control my characters. I don't really establish traits because I can't stick to that anyway when I write and my characters usually form themselves. I know them but I probably couldn't tell you all about them because ... I don't need to plan them like that. I also find female characters just as easy to write as male, if not at times easier. I think, for me, it all depends on who they are and that I try to forget their gender in some way. I don't play into the stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and it makes it a lot easier to have female characters that are just ... human. Does that make sense? (But because I have a thing for smart girls who love science many of my female characters share some aspects - mainly the fact that they're strong and don't need no man to help them out. But I think it's the smaller details that really sets them apart at times.)

I think it helps to do a character sheet before hand to help me keep my characters in check, and to refer to when I feel like I am straying from them. Honestly, even though I enjoy writing male characters more, I find female characters easier to write bc I often try to insert myself in their place. I know it sounds like borderline Mary-sue-ing, but honestly, I think, if I was (for example): Blonde and rich, but incredibly insecure, how would I act if someone told me I was ugly? Would I just cry? Would I hold it in? Would I act like a bully? Would I ask them why they called me ugly? Ask yourself some questions about the character, maybe tak a break from writing them in terms of the story and just think of a random problem and practice your writing by jotting down how they might react to it. For more info: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/504438/1/

(I also have another writing shop called The Empty Inkwell that I will be updating with new writing tips and things fairly regularly. http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1223938/)