Hi.
So I've had this idea in my mind for a long time and after doing some research I decided that it was time to write it down. I was a little hesitant in the beginning because I had no clue whether to select a male or female lead but after some thought I decided to go with a female one.
The problem is that the story that I want to write has nothing in common with those that you usually get recommend under the female section (mostly romance...etc) and I don't know whether to proceed or move on.
I kinda want to write this story with a female lead because I think it would give me more options... But I also want it to fit the "likes" of the people that apparently read these kind of stories.
¿What do you think? Thank you!
Help writing an unusual story
Ferrarius That's a pretty good question. In my mind, what it comes down to is which will have more of an impact. Would it leave a bigger impression on someone if it were a male or female lead?
The typical male lead story normally has a more relaxed, cool, nonchalant, or on rare occasions, cowardly vibes. The story often centers on their reactions to certain events.
On the other hand (not trying to sound sexist, it just is what it is), female leads tend to be more reserved. While the story centers on their reactions as well, it's often more subdued.
At least, that is my impression of how the different leads work.
But for many people, the preconception of females being the weaker of the genders will give a story with, say, horror elements, a darker vibe as compared to that of a male lead.
Anyway, that's about all the advice I can give. Hope that helped.
ShoeInk Thanks for your comment. I never saw it that way, but after reading your point it kinda made sense. I will keep it in mind.
Regarding my MC. I was thinking of a not necessarily powerful character but extremely cunning and resourceful.
In my opinion it kinda fits with female leads but the issue resides in the lack of romance in the story.
I'm extremely conflicted with this last point. Because I can more or less change other aspects like personality. But I don't want my story to move around the "perfect guy". Much less a harem of them.
Thanks.
- Edited
Ferrarius A story doesn't have to have romance just because there's a female lead. It MAY be expected of you by your audience, of course, but it doesn't have to be. That's where I believe a lot of writers lose their way. They can take their story in any direction they want, and yet they get lost in an endless cycle of "What would be popular?"
I personally would love to see a female lead that is calculating/scheming. It's different than what most writers would try to go for, after all, it's a lot more challenging than trying to make a male lead with the same traits. If you don't pull it off well, readers may not take the female lead's personality seriously. So there's a big risk/gain ratio with the whole idea.
One way that comes to mind (with regard to breaking a reader's preconceptions) is to make her do something that screams seriousness. Maybe cold-blooded murder? Or perhaps a sequence of calculated moves to pin someone into a corner that they can't escape from (maybe the classic pin a bully into a corner, or put down a criminal in a cunning way)? Who knows, be creative with it.
On the note of romance again, as I said, it isn't really necessary. But if you DID want to add it in, then perhaps you could say, over the course of the story, make her open her heart to someone. Like, at first, the female-lead was indifferent to romance, as she was more concerned about bettering herself at college, improving her standing, or some other reason. However, after interacting with the people around her, she softens, or something cliched like that.
I would write it the way you want to. If you don’t like the story, then it will be hard to find the motivation to keep writing. My general thought process is always to write what you want and the readers that think it is a good idea will be attracted to it. There is no way to write a story that everyone likes so there is no need to try.
Personally, I think female leads that are smart, cunning, and not romance genre are good. There is a lot of different types of male lead stories, so why should female leads be limited to one type of character? If you character is well planned and well written, then you shouldn’t have any issues. Poorly written character will be problematic no matter what, so really focus on making your character shine.
I saw some of the posts above about should there be a romance element. My opinion is that this is also up to you. Romance can appear in any type of story and in many ways. For example, your cunning character could pretend to be in love with men to get them to do things for her, then she could just disappear once she is done with them. That would be an interesting character if done well. If it doesn’t fit in with your story idea, or if you want to focus on other elements, then it is not needed.
Ferrarius
Its a difficult one and I feel it could go wrong either way depending on what you want as an outcome.
If you put it under FL and it doesn't have any of the things expected from FL like say romance/ backstabbing step sisters etc. Your story may bomb hard, but thats not always the case and there's some exceptions.
At the same time if you put it under ML, you'll get those readers that ask you why your MC is female and will refuse to read your book or leave you bad comments/ reviews simply for that reason. I wish someone would explain to me what the hang up is between FL or ML, because I don't get it 
Anyway, I switched from FL to ML because it had the things that I wanted, like say action, antihero mc, manipulative assholes etc, because it was more accurate to my story, so I feel you should do whatever works best for you and don't bend over backwards to fit into something (like making a romance where none exsists) just because.
It will be draining and you don't want to look back and hate/not recognise your own story because you made so many weird changes. You're the one writing it, you know what works best, so just do you.
Ferrarius Hello. In my experience, it is better to write the way you are interested and the way you see fit. If you write for reasons of what is now "on the crest of a wave", then you will surely get another "soap" from the series "read, yawned and forgot". Question- is a man or a woman more suitable for the main role? If you don't have romance, but, let's say, action with fighting and severe physical trials, then a man is more suitable for the main role. On average, men are much stronger than women physically and more stable psychologically. But if you want to put a woman in the main role in the action genre, you need to competently and logically justify her abilities so that they do not seem like cheats from computer games. If the main character in the "combat" genre is a woman, then it is desirable that she defeat enemies not by force and onslaught, but by intelligence, cunning, dexterity, traps, use the effect of surprise, distraction and other dishonest techniques. The preferred weapon is remote or capable of changing its length. A female hero in the fighting genre should be similar in behavior to a ninja. Then her victories over stronger enemies will not seem illogical and the writer's desire to make his heroine strong at any cost. In short, the main character should be natural in his environment, and who he is, a man or a woman, is not so important. Don't try to please everyone at once, it's impossible. Write the way you like, and then other people will like your book. It is better to have a small but constant audience of readers than to follow what is happening "on the crest of a wave".
While I agree with some of this, in particular having a logical character, I think you are oversimplifying the male vs female aspect. Writing an atypical story has a lot of advantages, which you state. If a story has a female action hero, then I think it would be more memorable and different than another male leading story with an overpowered MC. While I hate the overpowered MC trope, why can’t the overpowered MC be female?
EternalNightLotus It might be a little late.... (To be honest I didn't expect someone else to reply) But I think you portrayed most of my worries perfectly.
What do you mean with "Bomb hard"? And thanks for the final message.
I think the stigma of using female leads is something that has a lot to do with the algorithm that Webnovels applies to our 'preferences'. If you choose 'male lead', you get power fantasy. If you choose 'female', your feed immediately fills with romance stories. It is a limiting approach. Why not subvert the tropes? If you want to use a female lead but do not want to focus on the romantic aspect of the plot, then state so in the description: "a grimdark fantasy with elements of tragedy or a litRPG with elements of mystery or something like that". Romance is not a 'must-have'. Not everyone expects it even if they choose 'female lead' as their preference. (It's a pity you can't choose both). I am not sure how this impacts the visibility of the story, but I think it is worth a try. If you really want to have a female lead, why would you resort to a different choice just to blend in? Or vice-versa.
Alternatively, you can have romance (even if you have a male lead or two leads), but not make it part of the main plotline. Such an approach made sense to me since I wanted to focus on...complicated character dynamics first.