Male or female protagonists?

Do you usually have a male lead or a female lead? Why? Does your own gender affect your decision?

Very curious.

Stairway and the other story I'm soon to start work on both have male protagonists. That being said the deutoragonists in both are female. Really I'm perfectly comfortable writing a male or female character, it doesn't matter much to me. This is just how these characters have worked out.

Since shattered crests has many prot. to be considered, I do have both male and female prot. I will say I'm probably better at writing the male aspect, but I do want to experiment with a female lead some time in a singular story.

I too have no trouble writing male or female characters, I just go with the flow. With that said, I have no say on the character's gender if they're from another source material and go by how they're portrayed. My shorter stories is a mixed bag while my longer works tend to go more towards the POV of male protagonists.

Females used to be my jam up until this year. I've always been drawn to them, and especially when they're placed in Rey-esque stories. Then I experimented with male characters and things clicked much better, and I had a lot more freedom with fight scenes because men can take more physical flak without becoming hideous or getting badly injured. And without training, they can still do a lot of damage. Women are fantastic fighters, but that typically requires training and sometimes that isn't compatible with one's plot. Weapons, sure. Fists, nope. I'm very big on hand-to-hand combat in my writing.

I think I'll keep on keeping on in terms of male protagonists. It feels more natural. More seamless. That's not to say I won't keep a solid female presence in my narratives. Girls are epic.