Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Character Gender and Multiple Writings

This is topic Character Gender and Multiple Writings in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by abby (Member # 2681) on :

I have two questions today.

Fisrt, one of the books I am writing is going to be from the male point of view. What do I need to remember as a female writer to make it read in a manner that seems correct? It is more a fantasy than my others, so it may not matter as much.

Second, my first and even second books I am working on are extremely emotional for me. They are adventure stories with some basis in fact. Sometimes I find myself wanting to literally jump up and run after a few hard sentences, or paragraphs. When I am laying in bed, I have no problem dealing with the upcoming sections, it is merely the actual writing. In this vein of thinking, should I maybe offset writing these tough feelings when I need a break with the fantasy story I want to write? Or would they end up tripping over each other? Has anyone ever tried to work on two at once like this?

Thanks for all suggestions,
Abby

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

Abby, there aren't really any easy answers to that.

For one thing, you say you're writing fantasy - so what are the typical gender roles in the culture you're creating? The way your character accepts or resists or redefines those roles can tell us a lot about the character.

But for another thing, remember that you're writing about a unique character, with his own unique traits and perspectives. If you try to write him as a generic stereotypical Guy with generic stereotypical Guy reactions and mannerisms, it won't come out the way you want it to. Don't ask yourself "what would a man do in this situation?"; ask yourself "What would Reginald do in this situation?"

You need to think through the culture of the world you're creating, and you need to think through your character, and write something that's true to both.

I'm not sure I understand your second question. If working on two projects at once works for you, go for it.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

Abby, men and women are both people. You know how people react because you are one.

Posted by hopekeeper (Member # 2701) on :

I agree. I don't think you can necessarily define a character by gender--there is always an exception in life that would take effect. Not all men are the same, and neither are women. Therefore if you try to make him the general male, as Beth said, you will get the boring, unexciting majority of people in the world.

Do what Beth said. See the character, not where they fall in certain categories.
By the way, this was also a question I was going to ask about female characters, but I see now that they are all people, as Spaceman said.

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

Or work a trade with Abby. She can write your female characters, and you can write her male characters!

[This message has been edited by Beth (edited July 10, 2005).]

Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :

Well, I've heard that men and women are different . . . yet I think we're pretty familiar with both, and often men can write about women and the reverse. I think the best thing, abby, is to run what you wrote past readers and see if it works.

I can relate to some issues being really powerful to write about, even too powerful. What a wonderful thing to stumble across!

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

If you get emotionally involved in a scene as you are writing, you're probably creating something very good.

Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :

Abby, clarify for me. Why are these stories emotionally difficult to write? It sounds a little to me as if you're using your writing as therapy. And that's OK.

However, while some good things can be gleaned from such stories, IMO it is best to get them written, then let them sit. Mostly because it's difficult (remember, this is my opinion, but one that comes from experience) to think logically about the many aspects of skilled writing when all you can think about is the emotions that are stirred up by your own tragedies and trials. So write it. Get it out of your system. Then, when you can detach yourself emotionally from the event that caused these feelings, go back and revise.

Writers, by the way, ALWAYS work on multiple projects. Otherwise it would be two to three years between new books instead of 8 to 12 months.

The key, for me, is to work on what I'm most passionate about at the moment. And if I'm finding myself having a hard time finding any passion, I start something new. Right now I have a couple of novels in the works, three or four shorts stories, and I bounce around between them at will.

But generally if I'm writing about something that's bothering me in one way or another, I can't write ANYTHING else until I get it out of my system. Just me. Writing as therapy. Great for my psyche, but doesn't often make a good story on the first go-round. I found that out thanks to the good folks here at Hatrack.

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

quote:
Writers, by the way, ALWAYS work on multiple projects.

Not always true. My WIP has been my only project for two years (except a couple of non-fiction pieces here and there.) I work on different facets of it, but it's basically the same project.

I prefer to work on one thing at a time - I get more immersed in the story that way. But I eat my dinner, one component at a time, too. I guess it's a tendency to tackle one job, finish it, then move on to the next.

Posted by Ransom (Member # 2712) on :

I agree with dakota. The novel I'm writing now began after I'd been moved by a piece of music, and thoughts and emotions flooded me, so I ran for my laptop and wrote a couple pages. It wasn't long afterward, though, that I revisited the writing and discovered that while it moved me very much by how it related to my own life, other people would find it melodramatic, almost soap-operatic. I trashed what I wrote, but the ideas I came up with are still there, and now I have an entire world existing in my head, and a plotline I truly enjoy. The writing I did under emotion's influence was more than worth it.

So write what you feel, and as you go along, always look at it in a new light, and if you see something to make perfect, make it perfect. Sean Connery displayed it best in the movie Finding Forrester: "Don't think. Just write."

Posted by dpatridge (Member # 2208) on :

I don't know about that, actually. SOMETIMES emotional writing can be bad, but sometimes it can also work out quite well.

And some people do have difficulty with writing out the emotion, they get drained and need a break. I've been having that same problem in my own WIP that will probably be a WIP for a long time to come...

I too tend to stick mainly to the same thing, or at least the same characters, at a time. While working on my WIP I've participated in a text RPG using the two brothers in it, I've written one short story that occurs prior to the events in the first book of my WIP, and I've began planning another series of novels in which the deity in my current WIP is the MC. I've also come up with this crazy idea for a story that takes place at the same time as my WIP, but the devil in it has decided, from the future, to try to eliminate the brothers BEFORE they become a threat. The brothers, also from the future, set out to thwart his attempts. Although fun, I doubt it'd be acceptable in any of todays markets...

I HAVE attempted to plan a completely unrelated story based on a nightmare that used to plague me when I was much younger, one about a haunted amusement park, but it's just not getting anywhere...

That said, some people are perfectly able to write completely unrelated things at the same time, and those that are, DO SO! Do not squander such a wonderful ability. As for myself and those like me... We'll just have to take it how we can.

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

What everyone has said about male characters is quite true -- remember that like women, they are each a character, individual and unique.

BUT...that doesn't mean that they can't come across badly from a female point of view. When men write women, I often find that they are either too much like men in women's bodies or else such stereotypes that I hate them. When women write about men, I sometimes find that they seem like women in men's bodies or else such stereotypes that I hate them.

What's the difference? Search me. I just know that when I write I don't think about it too hard. I try to write the character and what he would be most likely to do (I've used a number of male viewponit characters). Afterwards, I give the stuff to my father who comments on all things, but two or three times he's said, "A man wouldn't do that." and I take him seriously.

So that's my added advice -- write it naturally, taking character into account, and then show it to several men to make sure it sounds real.

Posted by dpatridge (Member # 2208) on :

Or the other way around if you're a man writing women.

Even if the story is about a woman I always try to stick to a male POV... Even if I have to create a male character just to fill that male POV, I do it. I will write ABOUT women, but I refuse to go inside their heads. It's just far too circly in there.