Serious Question TIme: Can guys write otome games?

[Carassaurat]

I think I'd personally have more problems writing the men in an otome game than the protagonist girl. For some reason otome players will always go for the jerk with a heart of gold, which boggles my y-chromosomed mind, and I can't really see such types as plausible characters either.

I mean, if I genuinely knew what girls found irresistibly attractive I'd have other things to do than write visual novels .

[papillon]

For some reason otome players will always go for the jerk with a heart of gold, which boggles my y-chromosomed mind

Considering the immense popularity of tsunderes with male players, I don't see what your chromosomes have to do with failing to understand the appeal. It's a similar spectrum.

[Semienigma]

I would think so. Men can write women and women can write men. Like others have said, just let the character be a person instead of a gender and that would be more awesome! I find now that I"m older I don't care much for self-insertion and want the female lead (if there is on) to have a personality and I wan to like her too. But its up to you though when it comes to something like that.

And personally my favorite kind of Male character is that fun one that is never boring, hyper and the like.

[Boomsickle]

It is very possible for a man to write an otome game because it is usually still GXB. I'd honestly rather write romance stories and im a guy.

[Hikari Beldrich]

Wow this got a lot of attention very quickly.

Let me start by saying thank you to everyone who is giving me feedback on this. I think I have isolated a few reoccurring themes in your responses that I'll be able to put to good use when the time comes.

A little more about me: I am pretty confident in my writing ability so I'm too afraid of writing female characters. That said, I think my concern was rightly identified by many of use and being uncertain of my audience and my audiences expectations. Honestly I've never thought about writing an otome game with a male based audience so I think I'll focus my aim on a female audience (that said, there are probably a good number of guys who'll like it i think). I think so long as I keep at least one foot in reality I should be able to keep and accurate picture of my audience's viewpoint and expectations (all the better to twist and break them with >:D).

I'm also very happy to see a number of opinions on the self-insertion matter. I will take those into consideration when the time comes as well. It is nice to know there is a demographic out there that wouldn't mind a little more characterization.

In terms of finding a few women to keep my idea's in check, I may just bring that to the forums later. I don't want to give my story away before release so I will probably only ask what I need to a few, but I'm happy to see the forums may be a good source for a final check and balances before I finish drafting.

And Finally, I noticed a few people posting about male archetypes in otome games. If I keep half of the ideas I have so far I can assure you that none of these guys will be pure gold. Everyone has some color of dirt on their hands. Be it brown, black, or red. I intend to keep with the suspense/horror/mystery type of story that I did in my last VN. If anyone has any favorite male archetypes that they like then feel free to post those too!

Thanks for all your opinions! Just remember it'll be awhile before I make this 'cause I have a few other kinetic novels I want to make before I get to this one.