This is an interesting topic.

I don't go after books for the protagonist, unless it is part of a series I enjoy. But, if picking up a new book, I don't really care if it is a male or female lead. However, many of the books I've read recently have a very strong female as one of the main adversaries. Generally, in the books I read there is a team of both protagonists and antagonists, so it is hard to say if the "lead" is male or female.

First off, as others have mentioned, I detest cliches, and I am not a fan of romances at all. I prefer to have a plot centered around something else, and if romance gets in the way, it better be handled well.

I do like to read fantasy which has a lot of male protagonists in it, but Mercedes Lackey has done a good job of making some non-cliche female protagonists. I also think that Terry Goodkind did well for the first part of the Sword of Truth series for both male and female protagonists.

I personally did not enjoy Goodkind's world or his portrayal of women. Even though his main female character is seemingly all-powerful, she acts like a big baby and completely helpless in way too many instances, while Richard can do no wrong, seemingly, and he has sex with everything that moves or doesn't...all the while being in love with Kahlan. seems so cliche. Now George RR Martin portrays EXCELLENT character glimpses of women as varied and real individuals in his ice and fire series. Circe is a great protagonist in that no one likes her and she does horrible things, but you can understand why given the deep character development that is done. Matter of fact, all of the characters in that series run from being good to bad to ambiguous, just like real life.

Can you accept a female protagonist who is brilliant but vain about her looks and sometimes is an uncertain crowd pleaser?

I always become more fascinated with unlikable characters and had to read more to find out why the hell do they irritated me rather than read about the Happy Hollisters types of novels.

I personally read both, I think there are many authors out there that can portray both male or female, no matter what their own sex is, in a honest and interesting way. But since I often am reading young adult literature I find every so often you run into a male author who portrays the young girl as needing help (usually a boys) to solve the problems that arise. Though thankfully now there are more books out there were authors seem to make it a point to not have the girl need help. Terry Prachett even goes as far as to point this idea out in the Tiffany Aching part of his Discworld series. Yet, though same authors that seem to dumb down their female leads often manage to write an interesting and able boy protagonist.

ObsideoErro wrote:Men, do you read novels with female protagonists? What genres? What do you look for in the female leads? The male supporting characters? What turns you off, and/or irritates you?

Women, what genres do you read? What do you look for in a female protagonist? In male supporting characters? What turns you off, and/or irritates you?

I have just finished reading "The Staff of Destiny" the first book in the Witch of Zandor series and the lead is a female with excellent story full of fun, intrigue, deceit and adventure.I like the novel.As you said there nothing irritate like female lead if materials are good that gives you pleasure of reading.

Whether a main character is male or female does not so much matter to me. It is the story and the writing. I often hear a woman say, "I have read this great book, but you wouldn't like it, it isn't a man's type of reading." Huh? Ok, I am a man, but I feel, see, think, smell, experience in all the ways a woman does...and so the tale of another's experience resonates with me.

If I am going to read a story with a female lead (or watch a film) I need to be entertained, challenged, educated, and my disbelief must be suspended. Things have to make sense--yes, the way they sometimes don't in real life. Twists that come out of nowhere, and then make no real sense based on story content, don't work for me. I like to be completely surprised, but then when I think about it I see the signs, however subtle.

I don't care if a woman is pretty, I want to know about her heart, her strengths, her weaknesses, her goals and needs, and I want to see how she changes or the world around her does according to her influence.

While I love a little action--I have read slice of life books that really kept me engrossed, because it showed me the inside of another's life in a way I rarely get to see it. Make me feel for that person, or about that person. Stories that are failures to me leave me cool toward main characters...I don't really feel about them or the story.

I have to agree with Paca. If the novel is well-written, or at least has an interesting story to tell, it shouldn't matter what gender the protagonist is. I wrote both my Iron Sights:Dance for Me and Wavering novels from a first person perspective and with a female protagonist, and I've had men say they enjoyed the books even though they were originally marketed toward women readers.

I'm a guy. I don't think I've come across many books with female protagonists. However, State of Fear has a female sidekick that is fairly important/powerful (more than just the girlfriend character). One of my favorite books is To Kill a Mockingbird, and it has a female protagonist. I wouldn't say I avoid books that have them; they're just rare in my interest area.

I believe men and women are different on a very basic level. Their motivations are quite different. I question when a man can write a story with a woman as the protagonist and get the motivation believable.