Writing Male Characters

I have written a couple of short stories and have found that I write about what I know more than having to think too deeply about who the characters are. I think I have fallen into the same trap that you have FoxPaw and have avoided the obvious.

No one knows what our characters are about more than us. we are their creators, so we should be able to make them feel and do whatever we wish. Men can cry at emotinal things as much as women and women can be as violent as men in some situations. it just depends on what suits the plot and how you want your character, male or female, to react.

Thanks everyone for some very helpful tips.

 

I like to break things down to something very basic. So here it is:

Just remember that, like most men, I have a massive ego. Exploit it and have fun! The best part is that we know we do...there is your conflict. Enjoy!

 

_Some_ women don't. I won't say that you're wrong, because many women use indirect speech. But I'm a woman who doesn't, and I find indirect speech incredibly annoying. I know that it's supposed to be more polite and diplomatic, and I can follow the logical argument for that belief, but in my gut it seems rude and manipulative.

I think that the stereotypical man often uses indirect speech as well, but he may hide it behind what looks like _direct_ speech. For example, if a man's mother is annoyed with that man's wife, that man may lay down the law to his wife with a lot of direct statements about how rude the wife was to his mother, whether he really thinks she was rude or not. What he's not saying is, "When my Mom is mad at me I feel really guilty and sort of scared, like I'm still a little boy who's in trouble, so please keep my Mom happy so I can feel better."

The woman is supposed to hide aggressive feelings. The man is supposed to hide vulnerable feelings. They both use indirect speech to try to get what they want while trying to hide what they see as inappropriate feelings. But the woman's indirect speech annoys me more all the same.

ChickenFreak