IF Seal: Is it OK to write a male protagonist?
hi seal!! first of all what is your favourite seal? Im more of a sea lion guy myself. Ive been recently trying to write a gender-locked IF with a male MC. Ive been blocking myself from writing further as i feel that many readers would have negative opinions towards this writing choice. Yet i feel like i cant bring myself to add a female MC even though i want to appeal to a bigger audience! thank you for any help in advance!
Dear Male-MC-writing Friend,
I am a harbour seal so that is my favourite, not to toot my own horn... but my Antarctic pals the Weddell seals are some of my best friends.
Friend, I will start with one comment.
When you are writing long-form IF with a non-set player character, not including a choice of gender for the PC will reduce your audience. It would be foolish of me to pretend otherwise.However. Greater specificity in the PCs you're writing about can bring an enthusiastic audience who are excited about that specificity.
Besides, if you are intrigued and invested in writing this PC with this characteristic, why twist yourself into a sea-lion-esque pretzel doing something you do not want to do? This is a creative hobby, you are not running on a churn-writing treadmill. Write what you want to write, with this seal's blessing, and best of luck.