Opposite Sex Authenticity?

Black Swan

OK, I am attempting to write a first novel. I would like for it to appeal to both female and male readers. How in the world does a creative writer establish authenticity in the development of the opposite sex characters in their novels? Sure, I listen, observe, date, play, and interact with the opposite sex in my personal life all the time, but I anticipate that my viewpoint of these relationships may in some way be influenced by my gender?

I also read novels written by female and male authors, observing how they develop their characters of the opposite sex, but there seems to be a definite difference in character development by sex, almost a bias? And because of this bias, that women (in general) prefer to read novels by females authors, and males (in general) prefer male authors?

I also plan to seek input from the opposite sex during the early drafts, but am uncertain how effective this may be? Female-male interactions are sometimes loaded by more than just critical review faculties?

Any suggestions? Any sources you would recommend (books, or magazine articles that you have read that specifically deal with this problem)?

smcgiff

Hi Blue,

First of all good luck.

What type/genre book are you going to write? Depending on whether it’s literary or Sci-fi will depend on how well you need to develop your characters. Not that Sci-fi doesn’t need well developed characters…

Insect Overlord

I'd recommend you base your characters on the characteristics of real people you know well. When you can keep a clear image of a realistic person in your head, it helps in making that character realistic in print. You can also pick and choose different personality traits from several different individuals and amalgamate them into one character.

Black Swan

smcgiff wrote:

Hi Blue,

First of all good luck.

What type/genre book are you going to write? Depending on whether it’s literary or Sci-fi will depend on how well you need to develop your characters. Not that Sci-fi doesn’t need well developed characters…

Contemporary mystery thriller about three main characters that meet on the web, slowly disclosing themselves, with a love triangle that goes wrong and ends in violence.

Black Swan

An Fhile wrote:

I'd recommend you base your characters on the characteristics of real people you know well. When you can keep a clear image of a realistic person in your head, it helps in making that character realistic in print. You can also pick and choose different personality traits from several different individuals and amalgamate them into one character.

So An Fhile, are you volunteering? The plot calls for meeting first on the web, with gradual disclosure of the characters, followed by something much more. But who will you be in the love triangle? The lad that gets the girl in the end, or the one that gets killed? Oooooo, I can see a disclaimer on the back of the title page! Something about "coincidental" whatever?

Now to be a little bit more serious, I see what you are saying about learning from the behaviours of opposite sex people you know and adopting those things for character development. The only thing that worries me about this approach is that I might "go native" and lose my objectivity as Hortense Powdermaker cautions in her book, A Stranger and a Friend. For example, I could be caught up in the emotion of the relationship and not see the other person clearly. Rose shaded glasses come to mind?

smcgiff

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

Contemporary mystery thriller about three main characters that meet on the web, slowly disclosing themselves, with a love triangle that goes wrong and ends in violence.

Interesting Blue,

Therefore it depends on the POV. If you write it from the POV of a particular person then you'll have to "reveal" the other characters to the reader over time, but if you're going for something like 3rd person omnipresent then you can fully reveal your characters to the reader from the get go.

I don’t know how to suggest character development of the opposite sex though. Perhaps you could watch some football some Saturday with your hand on your crotch while shouting obscenities at the screen for some role emersion?!?

I suppose if there’s some advice I could give then it would be to try to avoid caricatures (see above!).

Black Swan

Hi smcgiff!
Was originally planning third person. Will have to rethink my POV. First may allow for more bias in viewpoint? Then again, I don't want to lose half my readership by gender.

Earlier I was thinking about coauthoring with a male to solve the problem of authenticity, but then scanned the shelves of best sellers at a Barnes & Noble bookstore and realised that it's rare to see successful coauthors of novels.

I laughed at your suggestion of role playing, but it started me thinking. Since my characters begin on the web, I am now giving some thought (only "what if" at this stage) to impersonating a male character on a board in either the USA or UK. If I tried this, I am uncertain I would be convincing, or if there might be consequences? What if a girl falls for my "male" character on another board? Yikes! This reminds me of a story about a dog that used to chase cars down the street. Woof, woof, woof! What if the dog caught the car?

smcgiff

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

What if a girl falls for my "male" character on another board? Yikes!

Nah! Chances are you'll be talking to a 50 year old truck driver pretending to be an 18 year old debutante!

But, if you want to trust to an internet relationship you could PM me some of your "male" (Grrrrrr - I'm a man!) paragraphs or other parts for that matter. As long as there's no poetry in it!

metaoblivia

One thing I would keep in mind is your character's motivation. I'm writing a mystery novel for children, and my main character is a male (and a cat). I am female, and a human, so getting his voice down was a challenge.
I think roleplaying is a great idea. I also think observation is key. I had to watch the way male cats held themselves and infuse a kind of personality into that. Don't be afraid to ask questions either. A friend of mine is writing a novel, and he called me up one time to get a feminine perspective on some things that one of his female characters was going through.
Again though, I think knowing your character thoroughly, and knowing their motivations - why they make the choices they make - is central. My main character didn't become complete until I understood exactly why he made the decisions he made. I eventually came to a point where writing in his voice was easy because it came so naturally.

Black Swan

metaoblivia wrote:

Don't be afraid to ask questions either. A friend of mine is writing a novel, and he called me up one time to get a feminine perspective on some things that one of his female characters was going through.

This happened the other night in the hot tub in my flat complex(California is big on them as gathering places). I tossed out the same question as featured on this thread while in the tub. Quite a discussion followed from a group that was my generation and mixed fairly evenly (mostly students from the uni across the street). The only downside was that some had drank a bit too much, and a couple of lads were grandstanding for the coeds.

brianthebard

Personally I think part of the appeal of reading a novel written by a person of the opposite gender of myself is seeing how they interpret masculinity as a woman, or how they feel about feminity. In that sense, trying to imitate a man's feelings on masculinity is counter-productive. However when I'm writing I tend to concentrate on the male characters because I don't feel confident yet about speaking for a character of the opposite gender. What I'm trying to say is that it comes down to personal experience, how one feels about the opposite gender and indeed one's own gender.

Black Swan

smcgiff wrote:

Nah! Chances are you'll be talking to a 50 year old truck driver pretending to be an 18 year old debutante!

Ooooooo, you are giving me ideas for a secondary web character! Might add a little comic relief to an otherwise serious story line?

McGinty

Hi

I think some authors can really step across the whole gender thing very well, two come to mind initially, first George Eliot in the "Lifted Veil" she wrote under a male name and she has a masculine robust and very linear style in that novel (many may argue with me but I stand by it) and James Joyce's Ulysses, just read the Penelope episode (the final chapter) it is unreal how well he portrays a woman. Having said that we each of us have a masculine/feminine side and we can tap into that and release it through our work. Personally I don't believe in overthinking the gender issue, just trying to express and release that other side within. I did a short story and the man character was a mysoginistoc old man who saw all women as nags, it was an okay story but when I read it a creative class I managed to offend all the women in the class, they did not like my character (Harold) as he was a nasty woman hating character. I should add I am a woman myself, at the time I was suprised by their anger and changed the story (I softened him) and since I deeply regret that because at least the story created a reaction. Good luck

Robert ninja

I know many, many women. In fact, my entire life has been spent with more women than men. I am also friends with many girls who like to write. I even know a woman who likes to write plays. They do write very differently. I think I can get them to see the feminine side of my writing by creating the female characters out of people I know. Not totally based but usually have a very human trait in them that makes them seem like real female women.

Just like my life, the things I write have many women in them. Sometimes you just have to try and think like a woman (as gay as that may be) and begin writing a part that you think needs a woman's touch. I also only take advice from women and my editor is a girl around my age. I think it keeps the balance in what I write pretty well.

Black Swan

Just finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha written by a male author. The POV was first person female and a coming of age novel. It was a best seller and a film, so his audience seemed to buy it. My only issue was not gender authenticity, but rather age authenticity. It was as if the little girl speaking about her life at the beginning of the novel never really matured as her life progressed and she got older. Then again, it could have been a gender authenticity issue if the male author thought of women as little girls inside? Not sure...

MojoMaker

Have a quick look at www.paperbackhero.com - perhaps even pick up a dvd copy of the 1999 Hugh Jackman version. May not be a huge amount of help, but it could serve as a humorous distraction between long tracts of plot development.

Black Swan

I'll check it out. Thanks!

Johnny Meagher

First off you are not doing so bad so far. I thought you were a man when I read the first post. Why? First of all because you put "female and male readers" in that order which is what a gender-conscious man would do. Secondly because you avoided using Man/Woman, and used the word "gender" which again suggests gender consciousness, again a male trait. A woman once responded to an angst-ridden man about the door-opening dilemma with "It's not my problem" Well I think maybe you were trying not to identify your sex.
Second as another posted pointed out your understanding and treatment of men in narrative is interesting from the What do women think of men? point of view.
I find myself with the same problem, I have a female character and I am having trouble getting into her head. I don't see a way around it but to show it to women. I'd suggest fire away with general stuff, men and women can be very similar but if you feel you are being insightful into the male psyche show it to a man. I wrote a bit about my character's attitude to her body. That's really dangerous!!! That's where I'd go get help for example. Be careful of equivalents. For example the set of feelings a man has when he is dumped by his girlfriend may not be the same set of feelings a woman has, the equivalent set of feelings for a woman may be when she is fired from her job. So when you are trying to understand how a man feels when he is dumped, you might ask yourself how do I feel when I am fired? I'm not saying that equivalent is valid, but just to be wary of equivalents.

Black Swan

Johnny Meagher wrote:

I find myself with the same problem, I have a female character and I am having trouble getting into her head. I don't see a way around it but to show it to women. I'd suggest fire away with general stuff, men and women can be very similar but if you feel you are being insightful into the male psyche show it to a man.

Yes, I am using this approach, but show it to more than one lad, cause I've found that views differ. Also, as suggested earlier, I think I will go with my female lead character's first person POV of males she interacts with. To ensure that I don't lose the male audience, she will be a bit of an action character, which seems to be popular, although not to the Laura Croft or Mrs. Smith extremes (Sorry Angelina!)... That would be too cliche' indeed!