How Do You Write a Believable Male Protagonist?

NotaNuffian

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Use this as your template
 

Atramede

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I'm not sure what you really mean by your question. Are you a woman who isn't quite sure how men think and would therefore like to avoid an embarrassing situation like JK Rowling anthropomorphizing Harry Potter's teenage libido?

In that case my best advice would be this: ask the men in your life how they think, or how they'd react in whatever kind of situation you're thinking of. Writing a male character, protagonist or otherwise, is best done with a working understanding of basic male psychology. In my experience the worst male characters are often those written by women who don't really understand men, in the same way a lot of the worst female characters are often those written by men who don't really understand women.

Really, don't be afraid to just ask. I think most people wouldn't mind answering, and wouldn't think less of you for asking.
 

NotaNuffian

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I'm not sure what you really mean by your question. Are you a woman who isn't quite sure how men think and would therefore like to avoid an embarrassing situation like JK Rowling anthropomorphizing Harry Potter's teenage libido?

In that case my best advice would be this: ask the men in your life how they think, or how they'd react in whatever kind of situation you're thinking of. Writing a male character, protagonist or otherwise, is best done with a working understanding of basic male psychology. In my experience the worst male characters are often those written by women who don't really understand men, in the same way a lot of the worst female characters are often those written by men who don't really understand women.

Really, don't be afraid to just ask. I think most people wouldn't mind answering, and wouldn't think less of you for asking.
Which I think is what the OP is doing, but everyone here is a troll.
 

ArcadiaBlade

I'm a Lazy Writer, So What?
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Depends on what you want in a male protagonist.

Would it be a perfect protagonist? A good one or just a self-insert one?

The difference between a good one and a perfect one is that the good one fits into a novel which he becomes a character that fits in the story while the perfect protagonist is molded by his personality, develops into a character and reach the end into a mature protagonist that ends his path with the choices he made.

You can write him to good or evil but one cannot make a perfect protagonist unless you develop his entire being through how he handles life while developing, maturing and even molding himself into a person that has gone through so much and ends with a new self that either changes or not depending on the narative.

Only by carefully molding that character through trials, development and his relations with people would it make a perfect protagonist that changes himself or others.
 

NotaNuffian

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Depends on what you want in a male protagonist.

Would it be a perfect protagonist? A good one or just a self-insert one?

The difference between a good one and a perfect one is that the good one fits into a novel which he becomes a character that fits in the story while the perfect protagonist is molded by his personality, develops into a character and reach the end into a mature protagonist that ends his path with the choices he made.

You can write him to good or evil but one cannot make a perfect protagonist unless you develop his entire being through how he handles life while developing, maturing and even molding himself into a person that has gone through so much and ends with a new self that either changes or not depending on the narative.

Only by carefully molding that character through trials, development and his relations with people would it make a perfect protagonist that changes himself or others.
At this point, you are raising a son and a capable man worthy to be called as such.

I salute those who can do this, because seriously, this will provide an unflinching look at the author's experience of life and their capability of maturity.
 

LORD_SHAXX

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Honestly depends on what your going for really. This is such a broad topic it's Honestly hard to answer.

Best advice I can give is. Write an interesting character. And then make him a man. You can do this buy giving him some interests guys tend to have like

Guns
Movies
Video games
Music (go to genres guys tend to gravitate to)
History( Anything to do with war. Maybe this is me but I love my ww2/coldwar military history)
Sports (baseball, rugby, wrestling, football, American handegg)

And such and kinda go from there really. You could probably build the personality from one of thease alone.

F
 

Tsuru

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Go read the popular manhwas of Asura-scans
--------
And Anti-hero type is very popular
But in nutshell, imagine Deadpool or Kazuma (konosuba)
or the speed guy in X-men

Took years for it though, it was maddening when years ago there was only dumb goodie2shoes or evil MCs but i was a rare person that liked anti-hero MCs
 

Merrikk

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See Denji, conclude that we want simplistic things.

Then continue on seeing Denji's journey after Makima, conclude we are nuance beings that still want simplistic things.

Conclusion? We want boobs and a girl's lap to rest our head on, while also having that said girl to listen to our plights and dream without being called weak, the end.
 

Akaichi

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Right a female charachter and call her using a 'he' pronoune.
Make him a little impulsive too.
 

DiscoDream

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Men don't exist. They are a social construct.
Funny, I was going to ask what else is there besides men. Lots of female-believers around lately. Spouting about their stupid mythical beings.
Any ideas?
I need more to work off of. What type of traits do you want to attribute to them. What type of life have they lived up til now. What do they look like, and where were they born.
Unless you want really dumb answers you can't just ask a question as broad as that. It would be like me asking. "Any ideas on what to do about women?"

Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers.
 

KrisVFX

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Mention that he has a thing between his legs. And here you go. you just made a male mc
 
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