I was wondering about people’s thoughts on stories with Male MC’s.
I find there are so few of them on the app, but When I find one (and a good one) I’m delighted as it seems fresh. Seeing things from a different perspective.
I’ve written a story with a choice of gender and found I enjoyed writing the Male branch so much, that my next story is going to have a Male MC. I find it interesting as a reader and as an author.
Two of my favourite stories on the app actually have Male MC’s, “Mysterious: The Cardboard House” by @Echo_D and “Cupids Arrow: Curmudgeon” by @KateIsland so I wanted to see what other users thought and what great Male MC stories you have found?
If you enjoy them, what is it about them that you enjoy? If you don’t, why not? Is that why there aren’t many?
I also think that male mcs should be more on EPISODE! However, I think that the writer to reader or female to male ratio for writing stories is like 78-22, females outweighing males. So maybe that’s why there’s not a lot of male mcs, but fear not! I am writing one as we speak with a male main character!
my favourite stories with male MCs off the top of my head would probably be “Maledicta Magick” and “The Love Scam” by Layla Vex! Also “Killer Instincts” by Maddie V!
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that of the few stories with male MC’s, a majority are very, very good. I feel like that’s the case with any kind of real diversity displayed in stories. When the author is aware of/makes a conscious effort to incorporate meaningful examples of diversity, they are probably pretty smart and skilled individuals that know how to make a killer story.
It’s frustrating that “thoughtfully incorporating diversity” is more of a advanced skill than a fundamental element of storytelling, but that’s a whole other issue…
I agree, and on top of that, I would like to read LGBT+ stories with male MCs as well, because the opposite-sex stories on Episode are growing stale and repetitive at this point.
I mean, I sure as hell would love to read even a bad boy romance with a male MC because why not? lol The advantage with such a story would be that, the protagonist would have less of a hard time understading his love interest because their ages, minds and societal positions (as boys, I’m not talking about socio-economic places, which is another story) are more or less the same. Their relationship would be less complicated compared to the same story with a female MC.
An oldie but a goodie for male MC plus queer (a more fitting umbrella term than gay, IMO) romance Episode story is “Bruise Me” by Miss Piranha. The author has last mentioned that she is revamping it, but her IG page (@starfey) has recently got deleted, so maybe it will unfortunately remain an unfinished story.
Many suggest “Fragile Bonds” by Human Bean as well, but I personally don’t like it, for the characters frustrate me and the themes (rape by blackmail, love (?) born out of a Stockholm/Lima Syndromes hybrid) make me uncomfortable, but aside from that, it’s an admittedly well-written story. Perhaps it’s my age (I’m only 22, damnit) but I honestly have no patience anymore for under-18 characters (cue flashbacks of high school horror years).
I would also like to give a massive shoutout of love for Episode authors who give us options on how we want to play our MC and their love interests: you’re all the real MVPs. These are a few of such stories with male MC and queer romance options:
Fugue by Alvar M.
Feening & Mr. or Mrs. Right by M. Black (HUGE RECOMMENDATIONS)
Senior Design by Andrea Elle
Equality by Amanda Michele (not romance-centric, more of an adventure and social commentary story)
Spotlight: A Selkie’s Kiss by Human Bean (very short, but still pretty good)
Treasure Hunt by TORIAH (I would die for you, @toriah)
Lost to the painted city by MEA (unfortunately on hold for now)
I’m all for male MCs, and I’m actually writing a story with one right now.
But I also like that Episode is a place filled with mostly women, writing about mostly women, for readers who are mostly women.
With the awful track record the world has for representation of women in the media, it’s kind of an oasis.
aw, thank you for mentioning Treasure Hunt ! Your post also reminded me of “Bad Boy In Town” by Lillith Hills which is a comedy with a male MC with a queer romance storyline as well!
That is true, but an oasis is supposed to be bountiful, it’s supposed to be a haven for those in need of it, but it’s not. It’s not an oasis for all. There is still a very severe lack of meaningful stories written with queer women, women of color, and women of different religious beliefs in mind.
I literally know of One (1) story that features a Muslim character as the protagonist, and although I am not a practicioner (I was born and raised as Sunni Muslim, and I am culturally one, but I don’t believe in or practice it) it certainly would still make me happy to see a Muslim protagonist.
I definitely agree with you on that. Also despite the overwhelming majority of stories with female MCs, many don’t even pass the Bechdel test and a lot of the interaction between female characters is really catty and negative.
One thing about female-centric stories that bothers me is how easily friends and family turn on one another. Friends, I could accept to a certain point, because let’s face it, teenagers can be terrible, and they are known for horrible decision making skills due to their youth. But when your characters are friends since diapers, it’s hard to swallow their fickle loyalty to one another over a boy that is essentially stranger to you.
And sisters! God, do I hate stories where sisters fight over a boy. Why on earth would you do that?? Like, you are sisters, growing up together, knowing each other inside out, and you destroy that for the sake of a relationship that might not even work in the first place? I mean, sure, as an only child, I don’t know much about sibling dynamics, but still.
(This sure is getting out of hand here, we can PM if you would like so we don’t clog up this page?)
I really want to read a story of a straight male mc with two girl love interest and one male love interest. like they do with the girl mc when they have two male love interest then one girl is later introduced. I also like killer instincts.
Because of my origins dabbling in actual writing books, it’s more of a visual novel styled EPISODE than a normal one lol. I just published it! You can check it out if you want!
! Your post also reminded me of “Bad Boy In Town” by Lillith Hills which is a comedy with a male MC with a queer romance storyline as well!
like they do with the girl mc when they have two male love interest then one girl is later introduced. I also like killer instincts.