This is going to be my day for questions (yipee, my Internet connection is back ). I have a short story which is in 1st person and set in a secondary world. I never considered it before, but how do you establish whether the main character is male or female? (before, I was lucky because the narrator had a wife, so that tends to solve the problem in a hurry).
Posted by RaymondJohn34 (Member # 2595) on :
Hey there, Silver. I never really thought of that before either.... But my first idea would be to make a comment about the opposite sex that would make the reader know what gender I was. I once started reading a story that was in first person and it was going ok, but during the reading, I got kinda lost because the narrator started talking about two lovers, both being men, so I believed that the narrator was a woman....I don't have the knack for reading between the lines, so you can guess my shock when I found out all the characters (Narrator, Lovers, Intimate Friends, Bosses with other than work on the mind...), were all men.... My suggestion is to like I said, a comment about the opposite sex, let the narrator describe him/herself a little bit.., maybe in some dialogue with another character with that character making a comment about the narrator's gender.... Whatever you do, do it soon. LOL Raymond John
[This message has been edited by RaymondJohn34 (edited July 08, 2005).]
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
It's going to be different in every story, but it is important so be sure not to overlook it. In fact, it will often drive a reader to distraction if they don't know up-front. What's the first thin people ask about a new baby? Boy or girl?
I can't really think of a list of suggestions to work from. Every story and sitaution and character is different. If you can squeeze their gender-specific names in there it helps. If you can mention an opposite-sexed wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/lover it can help. If they're gay, you're going to have to work extra hard because going, "Surprise, they were gay and now don't you feel the ass for making assumptions?" is a cheap, unworthy trick.
If you could give us a few more details about the specific situation it might help, but I've just about never seen this revelation happen the same way twice. If I know the author's gender, I start with that assumption, BTW.
Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :
> If I know the author's gender, I start > with that assumption, BTW.
I do, too. I think most readers do, so that gives you a little more leeway if the character is the same gender as people would assume from the name you're published under.
There was a good thread on this subject over a year ago, which can be foundhere.
Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :
The situation is the story "The Empath" in F&F. The main character is female but has no attachments (no boyfriend, no husband, no parents). She has a scene in which she speaks (for about three seconds) to another woman, the wife of the deceased, and then she goes to examine the corpse.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
Something ate my post. I'll try again.
This could be something to really have fun with. There are lots of ways. OK, you can't use name or pronouns.
* Stereotypically male or female behavior (foundry work, plowing with an ox, sewing, if it's a fantasy world) * Have him scratch his beard * Have her be mother or sister * Have him find a woman attractive * Have her think about being beautiful, or have him think about being handsome -- there are some words that mostly go with one sex * Have her think about the way men are. Or have him think about the way men are, and follow this with "We ..." Sort of like you can hint that a character's non-white by having him see a "white man" rather than just a "man." (If he's white, it might be "another white man.") * Have the character be in a group, or thinking about a group, that's all one sex; usually you won't have a group that's all one sex except one (and if so, s/he will be thinking about being different)
Most of these are stereotypical rather than 100% accurate, but if you don't correct the stereotype, I'll assume it's correct.
Posted by kkmmaacc (Member # 2643) on :
Maybe you could have her experience some sort of prejudice because of her gender: "I could see from his face he didn't approve of female empaths working murder cases."
-K.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
I always prefer that first person stories be framed as first person accounts, and a proper first person account always gives the relevant details about the narrator right up front. That's one reason I prefer them, but probably the most trivial, all things considered.
Sex isn't always a relevant issue. When it isn't, leave it alone. When it is, don't be coy. It's that simple. If your narrator is a woman, just have her say so. She knows that anyone reading the story won't know unless she tells them.
Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :
No, she knows they will know, because she has a first name that is clearly identified as female within the world she lives in. The readers, however, don't know this.
Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :
Actually, regarding the topic EJS directed me to...(thanks, it made for interesting reading, and gave me a whole load of new problems ) How long do I have to establish gender? I can insert a ref in the third scene, but the problem is that none of the activities in the first two scenes are characteristic of women. Is that too late?
Posted by HSO (Member # 2056) on :
One way to develop the gender is to have a conversation between two characters right away and have them use each other's names. This isn't always possible for every story, but having dialogue near the start helps a lot. My favorite thing to do is include subtle clues in the narrative, skewed towards a masucline or feminine viewpoint. Men and women really do view things differently.
And yet, as noted above, there are lots of ways to develop the gender. Survivor's idea of having the narrator introduce himself or herself is valid and a good one, and it was the preferred method of starting a first-person story during the Victorian era (I read a lot of books off Gutenberg).
Really, unless you're deliberately withholding the gender for a specific reason (Christine wrote a short story that did this and it worked brilliantly, for me anyway), then you should be telling us almost immediately nearly all of the relevant details about the narrator. We need to know who we are following along, and this will help us care for your character.
My advice is don't wait until the third scene, tell us in the first, and give us a clue or two on the first two manuscript pages.
Posted by MaryRobinette (Member # 1680) on :
I dropped a line in one of my shorts once in the first paragraph that was something like "No wonder my mamma always called me a silly girl." Otherwise there was nothing to tell you that my character was a woman.
Would something like that work?
Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :
Hum. it might work. Good point. That said, I went back to my books of short stories (mainly the anthologies of WOTF), and I checked. In most of the stories I saw, the gender was not specified or made clear in any way until the third or fourth page. One story even had no gender indication till the end, only the main character's name (which was not really indicative of the gender).
[This message has been edited by Silver3 (edited July 10, 2005).]
Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :
How many of them had a narrator of a different gender from the apparent gender of the author?
Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :
None as far as I can tell. (sigh). I guess the trouble is that since my name is French, most people won't associate a gender with it. Guess I'll just have to establish gender really quick.
[This message has been edited by Silver3 (edited July 10, 2005).]
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
Maybe using the word "she" would help.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
First person, remember?
If it matters, just say it. It's that simple.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
First person, right. They don't call me spaceman for nothing...
).
LOL