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Portraying Gender in 1st Person



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Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:18 pm
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Featherstone says...



So, I have a problem that I'm sure other people who write in first person have: portraying gender. My main characters are female, but are very masculine; tomboys. They are soldiers and they can act a lot like a guy. I don't want to change this. It's part of their character. One has a name (Silver) that could be male or female. How can I get the point across that they are female without being really blunt about it?
"All that is gold does not glitter,
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The old that is strong does not wither,
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Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:27 pm
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Vervain says...



First things first: If you have to ask this question, gender is not that important to your storytelling in this work.

Question: Does it really matter?

Of course it matters, to you and to the reader. But this is something you don't have to sit down and explain every two pages. We don't need constant reminders that "I'm a girl, not a boy, girl girl girl girl girl".

Drop things here and there. "Aye, what is it, lass?" -- "I was the first girl in my family in ten generations." -- just little things, things someone might miss, and that's okay.

If you have to ask this question, if your readers miss out on gender for a little bit, it's okay. It's like finding out 200 pages in that a character has black hair, not red like you imagined. I have gone entire books without realizing that a character's gender was completely different than what I imagined -- by no fault of the author's.

It's not the end of the world.

Best wishes!
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Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:01 pm
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Rosendorn says...



I Am Apache has this exact situation— female character who's a warrior. I often forgot the MC's name because it's hardly ever used in the series, and because of the way gender exists among the Apache the fact she's a female warrior doesn't mean anything special. It's unimportant to 90% of the plot, so it doesn't come up for 90% of the plot.

I have a full out non-binary protagonist so I throw in mentions of multiple genders around a bunch of times, in first person. Part of the plot is how she navigates her situation, so it comes up a lot more, but even then it's hardly a thing.

The only time it would really matter is if they're sneaking into the military against some gender-segregated laws, but in that case, the very fact they have to sneak in and avoid communal baths, etc, will be plenty.

All of the "gender markers" that you could use are culture dependent, so if they come from a fantasy culture where women have different expectations placed on them, they won't behave like Western girls. Even the concept of a "Western girl" is a pretty big oversimplification, just because depending on where you are and what the local culture is like, the expectations change.
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Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:28 pm
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Virgil says...



Context clues! Context clues are basically little details that can be sprinkled throughout with subtlety and without being blatant about what you're attempting to convey to the readers. They're my favorite. I feel the same as Lare in that gender of the character matters, though at the same time the audience is smart and doesn't need constant reminders.

Once or twice is nice though usually I don't see this as an issue unless this is being overdone instead of what you're worried about, which is vice versa. Having other people refer to her as female in some subtle way or another usage of a context clue generally works in this situation if you're worried about that not coming across to the reader (even though I can't see this being more than a minor problem).

Edit: Rose's response is also fantastic. Just wanted to note that.

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Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:12 pm
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Featherstone says...



Thanks guys! In this culture, gender doesn't really matter to anyone (that goes for genders other than male and female as well), so it is pretty minor.
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


he/him/his
  








The words you speak become the house you live in.
— Hafiz