As a woman who is very much all about writing male characters as closely as real men as possible and tackling issues men face, this video makes me really happy. Women often do not extend empathy towards men because they don't actively understand that men and women in broad strokes are different, and tend to see men as "broken women" when in reality they just behave differently, with a completely different set of pros and cons that "fixing them" could never lead to anything good nor will it actually "fix" anything because there is nothing to fix. And as an romance writer, it sometimes irks me that so many of the male leads are just women but with dicks. I genuinely love feminine men, but they don't feel like feminine men, but women in men's bodies. There is a difference and you can immediately tell when reading. If that was their intention, then whatever, but it often isn't and it does make the romance tank for me because the chemistry also tends to get affected, among other issues in the writing.
Romance Male Lead's Inner monologue: "Ugh, Stacy didn't even notice me today. I mean here I am TRYING to look cool in front of her? I mean, how could she not notice me? Maybe I should show up in a muscle shirt and flex a bit. What if I shift my balls around a bit more? That might work." Typical male inner monologue: "Stacy's acting weird. She must hate me. I'm just gonna go to the gym and forget about it. My balls itch."
I agree so much, I dislike yaoi and BL precisely because it's so clear that it was written by women who barely talk to men... There's always a guy who acts like a woman in a man's body (the uke, who often looks quite feminine as well) and a man who's almost like a caricature of masculinity. In my case, I don't consider myself a traditionally masculine man nor a feminine one, i'm just myself, so I can see things from both sides and it's so obvious when a man is just sensitive, chill and kind, and when he's a girl pretending to be a man in a work of fiction.
I was not born a man so I needed this video. In general, the only type of men I know how to write are: 1. Goody two shoes that are angel babies and pure goodness and have never done anything wrong in their lives. 2. Diddy.
Hello internet person, thank you for leaving a comment. I challenge you to write a male character who is so guilt stricken he can't correctly function, but he works in air traffic control
@nessmarie6044 Those already exist. They're called nice guys or wokefishers. Edit: Don't make passive, backhanded demands of writers in the yt comments.
12:31 i think this actually works on both ways as a woman myself i prefer always writing characters whose actions speak louder to words, because it makes the reader more intrigued and let them interpret things, the only exception is when a character is more of someone who wears their heart on a sleeve, but even then i like to make some moments where actions matter more
And i think simple motivations can work for both genders, for example just before this video my female character motivation was getting a video game console and a nice home(on context they are rare on her world due to being a post apocalyptic setting),just because she wants to experience the joy of having something that brings both safety and something to avoid boredom
Thank you Scrit Writer, thanks to your videos, I opened a document, set up the format I wanted and started writing the title. I'm already done with the title so I think that's all for today. Series is back on indefinite hiatus.
When it comes to writing male characters I believe most people write from the perspective of the fact that most cultures were male dominated and lead, so anything "uniquely male" to the average writer is just chauvinistic and prideful or wise and intelligent. This is why some writers would write a male character who is old as wise and humble whilst younger ones could be portrayed as cowardly and clumsy or prideful and egotistical. Men are usually so much more than base human flaws, they're combination of beliefs and perspectives and ideals, experiences mostly influence by things outside of their gender. When such isn't recognized you fail at writing compelling or realistic male characters, and end up producing uninspired sewage waste at worse or barely passable male characters at best.
Wait, how does a cowardly and clumdy character fit with the "uniquely male" theme ? Do you mean as a basic switch, as in, "Oh, I'd better make a character that is the complete opposite of what men are represented like." ?
I'm attempting to write a script for a webcomic I want to make. My two main characters are women (I am a woman) and I have been trying to write a supporting male character, but didn't know where to start. Thanks for making this video, I always see tips on how to write female characters and not male. I think people, both men and women, forget that a male character is not a "default" character, and have unique struggles that accomodate their gender identity as well.
Hey I'm a writer myself (male) and I'm writing a shonen manga right now, I'm hoping to have well written female characters in my story so perhaps we can bounce ideas off of eachother and help eachother write characters of the opposite gender? let me know if you wanna reach out.
3:50 honestly i blame the obsession with power scaling to this, people are more obsessed with feats that certain characters can do on combat, than what they do on the narrative, of course there's nothing wrong in power scaling for fun but some people completely disregard other purposes and strengths, that x character bring to thr table
@a_naotenhonome780 and this bleeds into other stories as well. I'm watching this show on RUclips called Mytstic Myths. As much as the show tries to hide it with weak story arcs, the characters are pretty much defined by their abilities.
@jamesjoe1690 it sucks because a lot of interesting characters, get thrown aside because they are not strong enough to the fans or even the ones that are the strong ones also suffers since people tend to overlook their personality, and story feats to focus solely on their powes
1:49 To anyone wondering why “stupid” wasn’t listed, it’s because it’s an inherently factual male fact(kinda, hear me out fellow dudes) We, are all stupid. Because being a monkey, frankly, is fun Of course, we aren’t monkey’s ALL the time But generally, having your males be goofy himbos can be an accurate portrayal of males Just… make them stupid on purpose… we aren’t babies with no concept of intelligence. We ACT stupid, we aren’t stupid (An example would be having a guy do something really REALLY dumb, for the sake of it. Our stupid moments are INTENTIONAL. NOBODY, will drink water with chopsticks because they’re dumb. They’ll do it with intent. NOBODY, will use a mouse backwards because they’re dumb. They’ll do it with intent. The general rule of thumb, is intent with their stupidity) TL;DR Males are dumb because we want to be dumb, not because we are actually dumb. If you read through the whole thing and don’t understand the examples, go watch meme compilations(strike me down Zeus, you don’t have the ba-)
As a Professional regular male especimen i can confirm i do counter productive crazy shit all the time for the fun of it and charachters that do the same are soooo releatable and likeable to me
This was made for me since im a woman i have a hard time writing male characters to the point where my stories just had 1 to 3 men as relevant characterd, while it had like 25 relavant female characters lmao
I always find that confusing since both men and women are humans, so merely by trying to see things through the position they find themselves in life, you can already write them... I'm a man but I never had trouble writing female characters, it is always a matter of just giving them motivations, backstories and unique traits regardless of gender.
@Snormite on my case its not exactly that i have difficulty, im just scared of my characters coming off as badly written in the perspective of a man who may read my story, i just try to write them as same as i would do any character but i change a few things to suit to a masculine personality better
@@a_naotenhonome780 I don't blame you for having that fear, its perfectly reasonable. But you shouldn't worry too much about it. As long as your character is well-written, men will never not like him because he 'doesn't act the way men do.' That's not really a thing. I've read/watched plenty of stories with male characters written by women and never ONCE have I ever thought this, EVER. Only, 'wow, this character doesn't act like a human being'. It's hard to describe. I feel like men write bad female characters because they don't write women like people. If a woman ever messes up writing a man it might be because she tries to change an already fine character to add more traditionally 'masculine' traits, in fear the character is unrealistic to men. And those are usually traits like 'logic over emotion'. Or being goal-driven. Or something like that. Those traits don't apply to all men. And people who aren't men might have those traits, too. You know what I mean?
Its why I sort of dislike this video. He makes claims that men look up to strong male characters because they inspire them to go to the gym? That men prove themselves through action? Okay. But these are stereotypes about men. If you get in your own head with this advice you'll just write stereotypes.
@@bigmanontheinternet3824 He never said hit the gym, just be inspired to better. Which can come in many shapes. And expressing through action doesn’t just mean fighting. Hugging is an action, making a meal is an action, fixing something is an action, giving others time to be alone is an action. None of which is inaccurate or negative stereotype that should be avoided.
6:18 "a good male character is someone who has desire" I don't see how this is specific to men characters. A good female or no character is also someone who has desires
I usually make an idea for a character and for the gender and design I just choose what I feel best fits the personality and feel I'm trying to give off or what best fits the purpose.
I usually just end up getting ideas for characters pretty gender neutrally. At the same time, sometimes I wind up coming up with a design for a character FIRST and then not quite nail their characterization afterwards.
“In a world where we seek to prop up the oppressed and forgotten it is important we do not oppress and forget in exchange” THOSE ARE SOME REAL WORDS RIGHT THERE. We need to break the cycle!
My favourite tv show. Especially when it comes to non-romantic relationships is Elementary, because it gives us a modern version of Sherlock & Watson with a twist. Both are exceptionally good examples of what Scrit has been talking. When he talks about the difference between women and men. Also because of them being companions without being romantically involved. It allows you to see how a woman would react to certain situations compared to how a man would. Both are intelligent in their own way. Both call each other out on their flaws without being abusive and both have their own inner conflicts and support each through those problems as true friends more. I honestly wish I could see more Anime do this. Especially Action anime because I honestly can’t think of a single female character in anime that has lots of fighting involved. That doesn’t lay hands on the male character and then proceed to treat them like garbage. And no offence but sometimes I sit here and ask myself if part of the social problems between gender right now is because tv shows do things too often and therefore teach things that you shouldn’t be learning. For example hitting a man is unacceptable. I totally understood that because you don’t hit someone. EVER. See this where things get interesting, because even with that understanding. It still slipped through the cracks of my morality that sometimes it was acceptable and when I realized that I had such thoughts… it was like hitting a WALL of realization. Like… how the 🤬 did that get though. It took me a bit to realize that a lot of my favourite shows. Especially the anime ones had female characters hitting men or treating them like garbage to the point where I had become immune to that behaviour without realizing it. I don’t even blame the writers. It’s one of those unintended consequences of something being seen as the norm. Basically it’s normal for women to hit men. Even though it’s mostly supposed to be seen as nothing more than a joke. Trying to figure out right & wrong gets harder as we get older. I hope to never slip into such opinions ever again and I hope all of you keep on your toes too.🧐
I don't really make a conscious difference in writing male and female characters. I think besides their physical differences (strength, genitals) I don't make any distinction.
People love that in theory but still complain that female characters act like male characters and vice versa or when a female character isn't feminine enough and a male character isn't masculine enough.
Fair, I feel like that's sort of how I feel with my OCs as well since I'm usually not trying to make a point about gender. This extends to my queer and/or trans characters as well. I think I just see character traits or actions as largely gender neutral since different people can act the same way, and vice versa.
@@sugarzblossom8168 I mean most of my characters still fulfill some of the gender stereotypes. But I also like to mix things up. Not every male/female has to fulfill every stereotype. I really like "androgynous" characters (femboys/tomboys). I also often have women as the main characters of a story. I doubt it would make a huge difference if I used a male. Maybe when it comes to romance, female characters still prefer protectors, while males just want somebody who looks cute. And maybe females are more cautious when walking around in some shady street.
@@DarthBiomech I personally would just keep doing what they are doing. Whether characters "act" like their gender or not to me isn't a bad or good thing. Plus the people who give such advice contradict themselves so might as well make the characters you want to make that are well written and complex or not if that's what you have decided on.
I’ve wanted to write a story or novel for a while now and your videos give me new perspectives that really help me to understand how characters and worlds should be established and portrayed. Thank you Scrit!!! 😁🥔 (Also a webnovel that I’ve finished reading recently called Omniscient Reader has really good male characters. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for something to read, but it is kinda long 😅)
I don’t know why but since I was a child and as I started creating my own ‘stories’ and characters (I draw mostly) I made them almost always centered around males. My favorite plushies were always boys, my favorite cartoon characters were men, my first animes were shonen; I feel like I was able to look at this perspective from other points of view (as the girl that I am) and become able to feel empathy for the ‘male’ “emotions”. I was always taught to look at men as what they are: human beings, so I often feel like encapsulating some emotions,fears and motivations as masculine or feminine might take away the main message or lessons from a story. Great video 👍
Agreed 10/10 video couldn’t say it any better especially the solo leveling series I suggest checking out god of high school it’s how u do an overpowered mc right
Generally what i understand from male character. They fight for their core principles ,it's rare for female characters to be motivated by something like that. 11:40 women, especially mothers and teachers do so at absurdly often rates, the reason for it is that there is no critique for being a bad or incompetent in their guidance. The only reason it's not ever present is because men aren't spoken to as much. 17:27 the problem is that, that reflects on literally everyone, not just men because the reality is that we aren't born with a detailed purpose that we can articulate with sufficient clarity. 20:14 this is a perfect example of a male character that defines the male ideal, a being of single minded determination. They sacrifice everything for their purpose to the point that everything can be used to serve that purpose... thought at times they will still express silly things as a harmless remnant of who they were before they cast aside everything they could.
@@JamPierreRow Exactly. To me the example in the video of Dandadan is not a good one because I think both characters could easily be gender bent and not much needs to change
9:04 I remember watching westerns with my dad and to this day I still recall that one cowboy that strolled up and solved a problem and just walked away.
Men, women, and nonbinary people can all act in the same way. Its impossible to give tips on how to write each one in broad strokes. Like, so much you say in this video doesnt just apply to men. "Male characters can also be a force of nature. Male characters dont always have a reason for their actions." Youre absolutely right about how you shouldnt write a male character to embody being male. Like your goal shouldnt be "okay, time to write a male character... what are some male character traits?" Because when you write a character, you shouldnt be trying to write a stereotype. Its true that gender and the way society treats it can affect your character. Some genders are expected to do certain things, and if you want to include that as a theme or story, go ahead! But remember that gender has no inherent effect on how people act or dress, and you can make a characters gender completely irrelevant to their character if need be.
The only time I think you really need to sit down and think "time to write a male/female character" is when the story is about gender in some way or if you really care about realism. Whether we like it or not, gender stereotypes are what they are because they are true for a lot of people. The realism of the highschool jock could help make that character and their arc more potent to some. I'm not saying it needs to be like that and I'm more on your side of just write a good character and make them either gender, but I do see why it's good to know when you want to make a gendered character.
"remember that gender has no inherent effect on how people act or dress" -- I mean that's just factually incorrect. Men are more action and things and rationality oriented, women are more people and emotion oriented. Men are more competitive. Women are more anxious and agreeable. Etc etc. And these things are scientifically proven and true across cultures. Now sure you can always write a person who is a statistical outlier. Sure those people exist. But that doesn't mean that gender doesn't affect behavior.
@lightworker2956 these aren't products of gender, but of how society treats gender. Women aren't more emotional, they just feel more comfortable expressing their emotions because society says that's okay. Men aren't more competitive because they're men, they're competitive because that's what society tells them they should be. You can write men and women like this, but this shouldn't be the only way you portray them, or even the norm.
Havn't women ever had a boyfriend or a father that they admire? Think about the way that they comfort and reassure you, the way they logically problem solve what you're going through.
So it's the same as for female characters. Write a person, but take into account the pitfalls characters of that gender fall into, and be aware of the impacts their gender can have on their behaviour and outlook on life.
That is so true, 09:00 - 10:00 currently I am doing a big major project, and I have not asked for help 'Mainly because it's not needed'. but for my project that has coding I thought of doing it myself but because I am so bad at it, I did ask for help. and being heard is not going to happen, when I ask for about a problem, I expect an answer to it, in the next hour.
I plan to give your book a read to hopefully learn to write my own story someday! I don't know if it is possible for you but I think it would also be fun if you reviewed viewer's short stories and give pointers on where to improve, just an idea I thought would be fun :p
At first glance that's true, but as the story unfolds and if you think about it, Gojo is more interesting than he first appears. For example: Gojo is powerful enough that he could just murder the old people in charge and implement any system that he wants, but he chooses not to do so, and chooses instead to teach the next generation. That's an interesting choice, and one that certainly not all characters would make. Alternatively you can view Gojo as a warning against developing an excessive ego, even if you genuinely have reasons to think highly of yourself.
He isn't terribly written, but he definitely isn't greatly written either. He lacks a motivation for his actions for most of the story and has no depth or emotion outside of being evil. In the end of the story, the most important things we get on him is that nobody was there for him when he was young and that he just stuck to his sinister ideals because he was stubborn and nobody was strong enough to change his view. He definitely had the potential to be a great character, but since he wasnt involved in most of the story until the end, he wasn't given the time to be developed, like a lot of Gege's characters.
There are two schools of writing. One school is: the villain is just evil incarnate, and is evil just because. And this is fine, because the focus of the story is not on how secretly sympathetic the villain is, the focus of the story is on a somewhat normal person's struggle to overcome this evil incarnate villain. An example of this kind of storytelling is Lord of the Rings: Sauron is pure evil for no real reason. Yet, obviously Lord of the Rings is a great book. The second school is: it's horrible writing to make villains evil incarnate, who are evil because they're evil. It's not realistic, and such villains are boring and flat characters. Villains need to have understandable motivations and quasi-realistic psychologies.
I appreciate the insight, although I did more or less know a fair amount of what you said I will definitely rewatch this video in the future if I get stuck. Having several brothers definitely helps-one of the 3 gals I guess lol
Good video. Genuine question though, did you put Sukuna as pure clickbait, or do you genuinely think he isn't a good male character? I'm just wondering because he bassically covers all of your guidelines.
While I think that men's issues maybe overblown i do acknowledge their there. I dont think its fair that guys are treated as monsters or as incompetent. But at the same token i dont think you should prop up or negate another charecter. I think its best to let the charecters simply shine through on their own accord. Dont be afraid to give them flaws but also dont be afraid to give them virtues. Dont be afraid to let your charecter fail but also dont be afraid to let them win.
I mean 80% of people ending their own lives are men. That suggests that men's issues are quite serious. Unless we're going to make the argument that if any group struggles, that proves that this group is facing harsh societal conditions and needs help; but if men struggle that's just because men are making bad decisions.
Ryuji is written as the butt monkey who is always wrong. The one time he stands up for himself against the cat who mocks him the most, he's treated as the bad guy. Then he makes a bold move to save his friends, literally suffering from his injury, only to be beaten for daring to survive the maneuver. I know the last one is played as a joke, but it's in poor taste when you add up the list of his mistreatment.
I would normally be iffed because you only focused on shonen but imo they are really good examples because they are very simple (no a criticism) Which makes it easy to scale. Btw have you read Re:zero coz I gotta tell you not all isekai are shit at writing characters
13:42 I strongly disagree. I tend to prefer the more reserved characters. I find over confidence very obnoxious. The only time it works is when the character is obviously in the wrong and is just making a fool of himself (think uncle ruckus)
It's less about over confidence and more about proper confidence. Some characters can walk into a bar and shout "I'm the best here and y'all suck!" and that's over confidence where as a proper confident character will be insulted at the bar and either know how to stand up for themselves or realize it's not worth it because they have self confidence. The two can overlap and usually the nuance of the second is lost due to people writing more the first way, but I believe the difference is there.
Idk, I kinda like the trope of "big, strong, loud guy who is also extremely delusional". When done properly those brief moments of vunerability hit alot harder (think Itto from Genshin Impact or or Handsome Jack from Borderlands)
Hey I actually was wondering if you recommend any other channels about improving a story I love your videos but I just want to get other perspectives that are your standard writing criticism channels
The best way to improve your story is to write it, reread it, and ask for trusted people's opinions. It's a far more effective way to get better at writing.
(one of) my favorite male characters is natsume from natsume's book of friends. hes very lovely and is my goat tbh. all of the characters in the show are very very good. you should watch it. or read it idk (also was it too much to expect you to talk about shoujo after you talked about shounen,, especially when part of the video was talking about women writting men? yea prolly lol,,) ( watch natsume's book of friends pelsase
Im here because you put Sukuna, my favorite, on the left side of the thumbnail so i will say your video is corny and you lack media literacy without watching the video
Most manhwas MC's are boring. They literally don't have personality.
Sung jin woos entire character is the OP chill nice guy, and everyone calls him peak for it lmao😂
99.99%
Yi zaha is peak writing bro. How can a guy talk so much shit with a straight face? I could never
Yi zaha: 😐
@@jamesjoe1690 fr
As a woman who is very much all about writing male characters as closely as real men as possible and tackling issues men face, this video makes me really happy.
Women often do not extend empathy towards men because they don't actively understand that men and women in broad strokes are different, and tend to see men as "broken women" when in reality they just behave differently, with a completely different set of pros and cons that "fixing them" could never lead to anything good nor will it actually "fix" anything because there is nothing to fix.
And as an romance writer, it sometimes irks me that so many of the male leads are just women but with dicks. I genuinely love feminine men, but they don't feel like feminine men, but women in men's bodies. There is a difference and you can immediately tell when reading. If that was their intention, then whatever, but it often isn't and it does make the romance tank for me because the chemistry also tends to get affected, among other issues in the writing.
Romance Male Lead's Inner monologue:
"Ugh, Stacy didn't even notice me today. I mean here I am TRYING to look cool in front of her? I mean, how could she not notice me? Maybe I should show up in a muscle shirt and flex a bit. What if I shift my balls around a bit more? That might work."
Typical male inner monologue:
"Stacy's acting weird. She must hate me. I'm just gonna go to the gym and forget about it. My balls itch."
I would say that romance is a type of fantasy and that's what a lot of women want in their love life or at least enjoy in a fictional love intrest
@@ScritRighterWho let bro cook, cause he's doing a great job
I agree so much, I dislike yaoi and BL precisely because it's so clear that it was written by women who barely talk to men... There's always a guy who acts like a woman in a man's body (the uke, who often looks quite feminine as well) and a man who's almost like a caricature of masculinity. In my case, I don't consider myself a traditionally masculine man nor a feminine one, i'm just myself, so I can see things from both sides and it's so obvious when a man is just sensitive, chill and kind, and when he's a girl pretending to be a man in a work of fiction.
I don't face no issues, I AM the issues 🔥🔥🔥🔥
I was not born a man so I needed this video. In general, the only type of men I know how to write are:
1. Goody two shoes that are angel babies and pure goodness and have never done anything wrong in their lives.
2. Diddy.
Hello internet person, thank you for leaving a comment. I challenge you to write a male character who is so guilt stricken he can't correctly function, but he works in air traffic control
I was and I need it, we all do. You really never stop learning or changing as a writer.
Well, since this video made it to you, I'm sure you'll have alot of new material for the future. Best of luck.
good. now write a man who embodies all the traits of the goody two shoes angel baby archetype while making him act like diddy. i dare you
@nessmarie6044 Those already exist. They're called nice guys or wokefishers.
Edit: Don't make passive, backhanded demands of writers in the yt comments.
DENJI MENTIONED WOOHOO!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS A BADLY WRITTEN CHARACTER!!!!
Fr, the goat
Denji is my favorite character in fiction
Denji is one of my favorite characters too
12:31 i think this actually works on both ways as a woman myself i prefer always writing characters whose actions speak louder to words, because it makes the reader more intrigued and let them interpret things, the only exception is when a character is more of someone who wears their heart on a sleeve, but even then i like to make some moments where actions matter more
And i think simple motivations can work for both genders, for example just before this video my female character motivation was getting a video game console and a nice home(on context they are rare on her world due to being a post apocalyptic setting),just because she wants to experience the joy of having something that brings both safety and something to avoid boredom
Thank you Scrit Writer, thanks to your videos, I opened a document, set up the format I wanted and started writing the title.
I'm already done with the title so I think that's all for today. Series is back on indefinite hiatus.
BOOOOO! 👎
LETS GOOO 🔥🔥
Baby steps...
When it comes to writing male characters I believe most people write from the perspective of the fact that most cultures were male dominated and lead, so anything "uniquely male" to the average writer is just chauvinistic and prideful or wise and intelligent.
This is why some writers would write a male character who is old as wise and humble whilst younger ones could be portrayed as cowardly and clumsy or prideful and egotistical.
Men are usually so much more than base human flaws, they're combination of beliefs and perspectives and ideals, experiences mostly influence by things outside of their gender. When such isn't recognized you fail at writing compelling or realistic male characters, and end up producing uninspired sewage waste at worse or barely passable male characters at best.
Wait, how does a cowardly and clumdy character fit with the "uniquely male" theme ? Do you mean as a basic switch, as in, "Oh, I'd better make a character that is the complete opposite of what men are represented like." ?
I'm attempting to write a script for a webcomic I want to make. My two main characters are women (I am a woman) and I have been trying to write a supporting male character, but didn't know where to start. Thanks for making this video, I always see tips on how to write female characters and not male. I think people, both men and women, forget that a male character is not a "default" character, and have unique struggles that accomodate their gender identity as well.
Hey I'm a writer myself (male) and I'm writing a shonen manga right now, I'm hoping to have well written female characters in my story so perhaps we can bounce ideas off of eachother and help eachother write characters of the opposite gender? let me know if you wanna reach out.
@ sounds like a fair proposition, I’m down. How would you prefer to be contacted?
This convo thread has peaked my interest as I’m also writing a fantasy webcomic (I’m a gal)
3:50 honestly i blame the obsession with power scaling to this, people are more obsessed with feats that certain characters can do on combat, than what they do on the narrative, of course there's nothing wrong in power scaling for fun but some people completely disregard other purposes and strengths, that x character bring to thr table
@a_naotenhonome780 and this bleeds into other stories as well. I'm watching this show on RUclips called Mytstic Myths. As much as the show tries to hide it with weak story arcs, the characters are pretty much defined by their abilities.
@jamesjoe1690 it sucks because a lot of interesting characters, get thrown aside because they are not strong enough to the fans or even the ones that are the strong ones also suffers since people tend to overlook their personality, and story feats to focus solely on their powes
1:49
To anyone wondering why “stupid” wasn’t listed, it’s because it’s an inherently factual male fact(kinda, hear me out fellow dudes)
We, are all stupid. Because being a monkey, frankly, is fun
Of course, we aren’t monkey’s ALL the time
But generally, having your males be goofy himbos can be an accurate portrayal of males
Just… make them stupid on purpose… we aren’t babies with no concept of intelligence. We ACT stupid, we aren’t stupid
(An example would be having a guy do something really REALLY dumb, for the sake of it. Our stupid moments are INTENTIONAL. NOBODY, will drink water with chopsticks because they’re dumb. They’ll do it with intent. NOBODY, will use a mouse backwards because they’re dumb. They’ll do it with intent. The general rule of thumb, is intent with their stupidity)
TL;DR
Males are dumb because we want to be dumb, not because we are actually dumb. If you read through the whole thing and don’t understand the examples, go watch meme compilations(strike me down Zeus, you don’t have the ba-)
As a Professional regular male especimen i can confirm i do counter productive crazy shit all the time for the fun of it and charachters that do the same are soooo releatable and likeable to me
This was made for me since im a woman i have a hard time writing male characters to the point where my stories just had 1 to 3 men as relevant characterd, while it had like 25 relavant female characters lmao
I always find that confusing since both men and women are humans, so merely by trying to see things through the position they find themselves in life, you can already write them... I'm a man but I never had trouble writing female characters, it is always a matter of just giving them motivations, backstories and unique traits regardless of gender.
@Snormite on my case its not exactly that i have difficulty, im just scared of my characters coming off as badly written in the perspective of a man who may read my story, i just try to write them as same as i would do any character but i change a few things to suit to a masculine personality better
@@a_naotenhonome780 I don't blame you for having that fear, its perfectly reasonable. But you shouldn't worry too much about it. As long as your character is well-written, men will never not like him because he 'doesn't act the way men do.' That's not really a thing. I've read/watched plenty of stories with male characters written by women and never ONCE have I ever thought this, EVER. Only, 'wow, this character doesn't act like a human being'. It's hard to describe. I feel like men write bad female characters because they don't write women like people. If a woman ever messes up writing a man it might be because she tries to change an already fine character to add more traditionally 'masculine' traits, in fear the character is unrealistic to men. And those are usually traits like 'logic over emotion'. Or being goal-driven. Or something like that. Those traits don't apply to all men. And people who aren't men might have those traits, too. You know what I mean?
Its why I sort of dislike this video. He makes claims that men look up to strong male characters because they inspire them to go to the gym? That men prove themselves through action? Okay. But these are stereotypes about men. If you get in your own head with this advice you'll just write stereotypes.
@@bigmanontheinternet3824 He never said hit the gym, just be inspired to better. Which can come in many shapes.
And expressing through action doesn’t just mean fighting.
Hugging is an action, making a meal is an action, fixing something is an action, giving others time to be alone is an action.
None of which is inaccurate or negative stereotype that should be avoided.
This is a video on how to write a dude. NOT TO RELATE TO MY MENTAL PROBLEMS
HAHAHAHA YOU FOOL! IT WAS BOTH!
6:18 "a good male character is someone who has desire" I don't see how this is specific to men characters. A good female or no character is also someone who has desires
I usually make an idea for a character and for the gender and design I just choose what I feel best fits the personality and feel I'm trying to give off or what best fits the purpose.
I usually just end up getting ideas for characters pretty gender neutrally. At the same time, sometimes I wind up coming up with a design for a character FIRST and then not quite nail their characterization afterwards.
“In a world where we seek to prop up the oppressed and forgotten it is important we do not oppress and forget in exchange” THOSE ARE SOME REAL WORDS RIGHT THERE. We need to break the cycle!
im a woman and i watch you!! youre awesome man, this vid is very helpful :D
The mythical creature
As a woman writing two male main characters on my current story I needed this key takeaways:
-Motivations
-Desires
-Inner and outer self
My favourite tv show. Especially when it comes to non-romantic relationships is Elementary, because it gives us a modern version of Sherlock & Watson with a twist.
Both are exceptionally good examples of what Scrit has been talking. When he talks about the difference between women and men. Also because of them being companions without being romantically involved. It allows you to see how a woman would react to certain situations compared to how a man would.
Both are intelligent in their own way. Both call each other out on their flaws without being abusive and both have their own inner conflicts and support each through those problems as true friends more.
I honestly wish I could see more Anime do this. Especially Action anime because I honestly can’t think of a single female character in anime that has lots of fighting involved. That doesn’t lay hands on the male character and then proceed to treat them like garbage.
And no offence but sometimes I sit here and ask myself if part of the social problems between gender right now is because tv shows do things too often and therefore teach things that you shouldn’t be learning.
For example hitting a man is unacceptable. I totally understood that because you don’t hit someone. EVER.
See this where things get interesting, because even with that understanding. It still slipped through the cracks of my morality that sometimes it was acceptable and when I realized that I had such thoughts… it was like hitting a WALL of realization. Like… how the 🤬 did that get though.
It took me a bit to realize that a lot of my favourite shows. Especially the anime ones had female characters hitting men or treating them like garbage to the point where I had become immune to that behaviour without realizing it.
I don’t even blame the writers. It’s one of those unintended consequences of something being seen as the norm. Basically it’s normal for women to hit men. Even though it’s mostly supposed to be seen as nothing more than a joke.
Trying to figure out right & wrong gets harder as we get older. I hope to never slip into such opinions ever again and I hope all of you keep on your toes too.🧐
I don't really make a conscious difference in writing male and female characters.
I think besides their physical differences (strength, genitals) I don't make any distinction.
People love that in theory but still complain that female characters act like male characters and vice versa or when a female character isn't feminine enough and a male character isn't masculine enough.
Fair, I feel like that's sort of how I feel with my OCs as well since I'm usually not trying to make a point about gender. This extends to my queer and/or trans characters as well. I think I just see character traits or actions as largely gender neutral since different people can act the same way, and vice versa.
@@sugarzblossom8168 I mean most of my characters still fulfill some of the gender stereotypes.
But I also like to mix things up. Not every male/female has to fulfill every stereotype. I really like "androgynous" characters (femboys/tomboys).
I also often have women as the main characters of a story. I doubt it would make a huge difference if I used a male. Maybe when it comes to romance, female characters still prefer protectors, while males just want somebody who looks cute.
And maybe females are more cautious when walking around in some shady street.
@@sugarzblossom8168 So, basically do what they've been doing but also sprinkle some salt on top of it in form of femininity or masculinity?
@@DarthBiomech I personally would just keep doing what they are doing. Whether characters "act" like their gender or not to me isn't a bad or good thing. Plus the people who give such advice contradict themselves so might as well make the characters you want to make that are well written and complex or not if that's what you have decided on.
I’ve wanted to write a story or novel for a while now and your videos give me new perspectives that really help me to understand how characters and worlds should be established and portrayed. Thank you Scrit!!! 😁🥔 (Also a webnovel that I’ve finished reading recently called Omniscient Reader has really good male characters. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for something to read, but it is kinda long 😅)
I don’t know why but since I was a child and as I started creating my own ‘stories’ and characters (I draw mostly) I made them almost always centered around males. My favorite plushies were always boys, my favorite cartoon characters were men, my first animes were shonen; I feel like I was able to look at this perspective from other points of view (as the girl that I am) and become able to feel empathy for the ‘male’ “emotions”. I was always taught to look at men as what they are: human beings, so I often feel like encapsulating some emotions,fears and motivations as masculine or feminine might take away the main message or lessons from a story.
Great video 👍
Agreed 10/10 video couldn’t say it any better especially the solo leveling series I suggest checking out god of high school it’s how u do an overpowered mc right
Generally what i understand from male character.
They fight for their core principles
,it's rare for female characters to be motivated by something like that.
11:40 women, especially mothers and teachers do so at absurdly often rates, the reason for it is that there is no critique for being a bad or incompetent in their guidance. The only reason it's not ever present is because men aren't spoken to as much.
17:27 the problem is that, that reflects on literally everyone, not just men because the reality is that we aren't born with a detailed purpose that we can articulate with sufficient clarity.
20:14 this is a perfect example of a male character that defines the male ideal, a being of single minded determination. They sacrifice everything for their purpose to the point that everything can be used to serve that purpose... thought at times they will still express silly things as a harmless remnant of who they were before they cast aside everything they could.
I just think of the role that character is gonna be who they are their gender is usually last
So basically dont write characters around their gender
Unless the story is literally about gender or has heavy themes about it. Duh 😅.
@@upg5147 like togata from fire punch or ranma 1/2
@@JamPierreRow Exactly. To me the example in the video of Dandadan is not a good one because I think both characters could easily be gender bent and not much needs to change
This was an informative video! Glad you made it~
why did u add the '~' 😭
@@SirStarToonzy69 Cuz I'm just like that?
They're just built different I guess.
They be built freaky like that
@@meteorcat0730 based 🗿
Mom the bees are back!
I wonder what's this means everyday. :|
It's a reference to the movie "Bee Movie"
Damn bee stole my wife
THE SUKUNA RAGEBAIT SITUATION IS CRAZY🤯
i wish men were real smfh
EDIT: DANDADAN MY BELOVED
9:04 I remember watching westerns with my dad and to this day I still recall that one cowboy that strolled up and solved a problem and just walked away.
Men, women, and nonbinary people can all act in the same way. Its impossible to give tips on how to write each one in broad strokes.
Like, so much you say in this video doesnt just apply to men. "Male characters can also be a force of nature. Male characters dont always have a reason for their actions."
Youre absolutely right about how you shouldnt write a male character to embody being male. Like your goal shouldnt be "okay, time to write a male character... what are some male character traits?" Because when you write a character, you shouldnt be trying to write a stereotype.
Its true that gender and the way society treats it can affect your character. Some genders are expected to do certain things, and if you want to include that as a theme or story, go ahead! But remember that gender has no inherent effect on how people act or dress, and you can make a characters gender completely irrelevant to their character if need be.
The only time I think you really need to sit down and think "time to write a male/female character" is when the story is about gender in some way or if you really care about realism.
Whether we like it or not, gender stereotypes are what they are because they are true for a lot of people. The realism of the highschool jock could help make that character and their arc more potent to some.
I'm not saying it needs to be like that and I'm more on your side of just write a good character and make them either gender, but I do see why it's good to know when you want to make a gendered character.
"remember that gender has no inherent effect on how people act or dress" -- I mean that's just factually incorrect. Men are more action and things and rationality oriented, women are more people and emotion oriented. Men are more competitive. Women are more anxious and agreeable. Etc etc. And these things are scientifically proven and true across cultures.
Now sure you can always write a person who is a statistical outlier. Sure those people exist. But that doesn't mean that gender doesn't affect behavior.
@lightworker2956 these aren't products of gender, but of how society treats gender. Women aren't more emotional, they just feel more comfortable expressing their emotions because society says that's okay. Men aren't more competitive because they're men, they're competitive because that's what society tells them they should be.
You can write men and women like this, but this shouldn't be the only way you portray them, or even the norm.
Havn't women ever had a boyfriend or a father that they admire? Think about the way that they comfort and reassure you, the way they logically problem solve what you're going through.
Hell yeah, this video was made for me :)))
So it's the same as for female characters. Write a person, but take into account the pitfalls characters of that gender fall into, and be aware of the impacts their gender can have on their behaviour and outlook on life.
That is so true, 09:00 - 10:00 currently I am doing a big major project, and I have not asked for help 'Mainly because it's not needed'.
but for my project that has coding I thought of doing it myself but because I am so bad at it, I did ask for help.
and being heard is not going to happen, when I ask for about a problem, I expect an answer to it, in the next hour.
DANDADAN MENTIONED!!1! WHAT THE HELL ARE TESTICLES?!!!
I plan to give your book a read to hopefully learn to write my own story someday! I don't know if it is possible for you but I think it would also be fun if you reviewed viewer's short stories and give pointers on where to improve, just an idea I thought would be fun :p
I have that as a channel member's reward for the 10$+ tiers.
Majority of shonen MC's are super unrealistic there behaviour thoughts experience and growth all is unnatural
How so
As a woman, Scrit does in fact know exactly what women want.
Do you have to shout "SUCK" everytime you say it
YES
As a transwoman, this is fascinating.
Lol
Gojo is just cool he's not that deep or interesting like jjk also the best mc in all of anime is gintoki
At first glance that's true, but as the story unfolds and if you think about it, Gojo is more interesting than he first appears. For example: Gojo is powerful enough that he could just murder the old people in charge and implement any system that he wants, but he chooses not to do so, and chooses instead to teach the next generation. That's an interesting choice, and one that certainly not all characters would make.
Alternatively you can view Gojo as a warning against developing an excessive ego, even if you genuinely have reasons to think highly of yourself.
3 S's Sex, Sandwiches, Suffering (the silent is silent, implied not said, almost perhaps doesn't exist)
I was about to mention Dandadan, but oh well, you already did😂
Sukuna is not badly written
Exactly, Cause What Writing Even is There ??🤣
He isn't terribly written, but he definitely isn't greatly written either. He lacks a motivation for his actions for most of the story and has no depth or emotion outside of being evil. In the end of the story, the most important things we get on him is that nobody was there for him when he was young and that he just stuck to his sinister ideals because he was stubborn and nobody was strong enough to change his view. He definitely had the potential to be a great character, but since he wasnt involved in most of the story until the end, he wasn't given the time to be developed, like a lot of Gege's characters.
Lol
L
There are two schools of writing. One school is: the villain is just evil incarnate, and is evil just because. And this is fine, because the focus of the story is not on how secretly sympathetic the villain is, the focus of the story is on a somewhat normal person's struggle to overcome this evil incarnate villain. An example of this kind of storytelling is Lord of the Rings: Sauron is pure evil for no real reason. Yet, obviously Lord of the Rings is a great book.
The second school is: it's horrible writing to make villains evil incarnate, who are evil because they're evil. It's not realistic, and such villains are boring and flat characters. Villains need to have understandable motivations and quasi-realistic psychologies.
Boruto is badly written??? Lol.
I appreciate the insight, although I did more or less know a fair amount of what you said I will definitely rewatch this video in the future if I get stuck. Having several brothers definitely helps-one of the 3 gals I guess lol
Good video. Genuine question though, did you put Sukuna as pure clickbait, or do you genuinely think he isn't a good male character? I'm just wondering because he bassically covers all of your guidelines.
Finally someone talking about this
While I think that men's issues maybe overblown i do acknowledge their there.
I dont think its fair that guys are treated as monsters or as incompetent.
But at the same token i dont think you should prop up or negate another charecter.
I think its best to let the charecters simply shine through on their own accord.
Dont be afraid to give them flaws but also dont be afraid to give them virtues.
Dont be afraid to let your charecter fail but also dont be afraid to let them win.
I mean 80% of people ending their own lives are men. That suggests that men's issues are quite serious.
Unless we're going to make the argument that if any group struggles, that proves that this group is facing harsh societal conditions and needs help; but if men struggle that's just because men are making bad decisions.
6:21 Dandadan metnioned, less gooooo
This is my first time hearing about the Woman vs. Tree thing... but it is so very vindicating.
this was very helpful thank you
This the type of shit that got Andy Warhol shot
I fw it
Im a simple man I see sukuna hate on the thumbnail I click
Ryuji is written as the butt monkey who is always wrong.
The one time he stands up for himself against the cat who mocks him the most, he's treated as the bad guy.
Then he makes a bold move to save his friends, literally suffering from his injury, only to be beaten for daring to survive the maneuver.
I know the last one is played as a joke, but it's in poor taste when you add up the list of his mistreatment.
Boruto isn’t a bad character tho…
I would normally be iffed because you only focused on shonen but imo they are really good examples because they are very simple (no a criticism) Which makes it easy to scale.
Btw have you read Re:zero coz I gotta tell you not all isekai are shit at writing characters
0:21 That's a rather bold assumption that I have seen disproven many times lol
13:42 I strongly disagree. I tend to prefer the more reserved characters. I find over confidence very obnoxious. The only time it works is when the character is obviously in the wrong and is just making a fool of himself (think uncle ruckus)
It's less about over confidence and more about proper confidence.
Some characters can walk into a bar and shout "I'm the best here and y'all suck!" and that's over confidence where as a proper confident character will be insulted at the bar and either know how to stand up for themselves or realize it's not worth it because they have self confidence.
The two can overlap and usually the nuance of the second is lost due to people writing more the first way, but I believe the difference is there.
Idk, I kinda like the trope of "big, strong, loud guy who is also extremely delusional". When done properly those brief moments of vunerability hit alot harder (think Itto from Genshin Impact or or Handsome Jack from Borderlands)
Now make a video on " YOU SUCK AT WRITING QUEER CHARACTERS : HOW TO WRITE QUEER CHARACTERS"
Saw Boruto in the thumb nail and clicked yet didnt see any slander cause maybe the skimmed through? The comments to don't have time stamps for boruto
I am one of the three female viewers apparently xD
Guys, write a female character that just happens to be strong.
Thanks for your insights. i starting to get interested in starting to write any advice on how to start?
Open a document and write on the page like you're telling a story to your friend.
Hey I actually was wondering if you recommend any other channels about improving a story I love your videos but I just want to get other perspectives that are your standard writing criticism channels
Local script man is one of the best on the platform.
@upg5147 LSM mentioned 🗣🗣🗣 🔥🔥🔥 what is a bad youtuber?????
The best way to improve your story is to write it, reread it, and ask for trusted people's opinions. It's a far more effective way to get better at writing.
(one of) my favorite male characters is natsume from natsume's book of friends. hes very lovely and is my goat tbh. all of the characters in the show are very very good. you should watch it. or read it idk
(also was it too much to expect you to talk about shoujo after you talked about shounen,, especially when part of the video was talking about women writting men? yea prolly lol,,) ( watch natsume's book of friends pelsase
10:50 what site is this?
Reddit
@@upg5147 thanks
Assumed and never said is real
Goku and guts are the best anime characters ever
Thorfinn
Yuji Itadori, Subaru Natsuki, Agent Twilight their is way more than just two animies 🙏
You wrote Denji, Thorfinn, Mob, Eren, Aki and Reigen wrong, bud
@@MasterMike_weird way of typing Joe from Ashita No Joe, dyslexia possibly?
So you just put Boruto there as click bait got it i mean you got ne there tho 🤷🏻♀️
Yo scrit!, is everything ok? U haven’t uploaded in 2 weeks?
I never skipped a week, but man this month's been going by fast. I don't even remember what I was doing 7 days ago.
Cool vid
I’m sorry
Scrit is better like that
Lmao, I can only write good Male characters
HEY IT ME GOKU
What is with all this yappin bru😭
What was going through my mind when writing was "cool guy fights another cool guy but that other cool guy is evil"
brother fell off
I've stooped to talking about men I'm so desperate.
@@ScritRighter AHBABHBHABH
Im here because you put Sukuna, my favorite, on the left side of the thumbnail so i will say your video is corny and you lack media literacy without watching the video
Least surprising JJK fan reaction.
👍👍👍
It’s easy af
13:40 Miles!?!
Why unnecessarily drag Boruto using the thumbnail through the mad? Are we still back in 2017 where its cool to clown on Boruto? Oh well... you do you
That's the main reason I'm here... just seeing what he has to say about my 🐐
Fr 😂 I didn't want to watch the video or give him views so went through and couldn't see Boruto being slanderd the comments to don't have a time stamp
Ok but like what about nonbinary characters
Dandadan is so far amazing. Just want to say that.
Its animation and color pallet is perfect .... pls don't go the route of Chainsawman
Yo early
This video is very tonedeaf gimme my 12 minutes back 😭