I don't see why it would be so difficult to describe a pregnant woman standing in the kitchen without shoes, thinking about what she should make her man.
Sorry... I forgot. Let me try again. I don't see why it would be so difficult to describe a pregnant woman standing in the kitchen without shoes, thinking about what she should make her man.
Wow, that sounds just freaking nice of that individual. Not like preggers needs to be off her feet you jerk.
Have you read that book? It made me cry and laugh at the same time. You need to read it I personally didn't have an issue with the realism of it. You can't expect any book to be universally loved, so to say it's bad because someone picked a flaw in it is..... flawed
No I have not read it, as it is not a type that I would read. I know that there is no book that is universally loved, there is no way to get the opinions of any being out side of humans. So by default your argument is moot considering that no one outside of our little blue ball has access to it. Perhaps the part I find hard to work with is the 'unrealistic teenager'. Not that I really know in what context you are meaning when it comes down to this detail. I hope it is not in the same fashion as the whole Christian Grey fiasco, as being completely in the realm of impossibility to the point of being unbelievable as a character. Not really up for finding out considering I have my suspicions it will be putting the character on a pedestal of ridiculous standards and then told to love them. So that is great it held to realism on multiple levels, but fell short on it's MC. That is where my concern falls into questioning the validity of how realistic can it be if the character is nothing like what would be in real life. And on that note I am going to stop questioning a book I have not, nor will read because I lack the need or interest to do so. Seeing as I am on the run from reality in search of something better and more interesting (and maybe just a bit happier).
@Oscar Leigh - cancer kids fall in love. One of them dies. It's not original in that sense, no. But shit it was not. I don't think i have the stomach to read it again though, it was heart-wrenching! @Cave Troll - that sounds like a lot of negative presumptions on a book you have not and will not read. Now i am not saying you have to or even should read it, but perhaps have a bit more of an open mind and at least don't pass judgement on a book you have not read. Although as for something a little happier, yeah this book is anything but happy but that means chick lit should have been right up your alley
Oh do tell. As a 29 year old man, what books in the chick lit section would you recommend? BTW I loved P.S. I Love You as a movie (not that I think it was a book), I found it to be a really cool way to help someone deal with the death of a spouse. However you are correct making presumptions about books I have never read/will read, but I have my opinions anyway (and I am usually too harsh or unfair and I am sorry for that ). There is a soft squishy lovable human being inside of me, you just have to get past the insanity and the cold a bitter parts to find it. That being said, are you trying to say that chick lit is meant for people who like depressing sagas of romantic disrepair? I am not sure I follow your thought and how it pertains to me. I am open to suggestions as long as it is not that particular book (or anything that Jennifer Cruise has touched).
I have absolutely no difficulty writing male characters. Boys are like us girls, really - yet weighed down by their external genitals. Understand how a man sits on his balls - balanced, but like a woman still - elevated an extra inch before the screen, the dust gathered along the monitor's edge, never quite seen before by women. Men see these things sitting on their balls, a mere physical fact. Also, when writing the writing of a sexual nature compare a man's orgasm to a volcano in the room, or a pressure hose washer upon a beautiful vehicle, 'collector's item,' he cried, 'my Ferrari Ferrairy,' - original dialogue for authenticity. Writing women or writers of women must also be satisfied sexually, but of course we are caught in a tsunami, or our tsunamis of pleasure which we ride on our surfboards during intercourse, all at sea, or the millpond with the wrong chap, perhaps a dirty farm labourer?
I haven't written an entire book solely from a male first person perspective, but I certainly have had POV-characters of the opposite gender in third person. I also know of male writers who write females very well, although the ones I can recall right now used third person. Is it important for you to use first person perspective? Otherwise probably third would be suitable as well.
@matwoolf Epic! So when are you going to run the world? We need somebody of your caliber! Matwoolf 2016
You know, you're very Jackson Pollock with words. Lots of random splatterings and disjointed phrases, but at the end you're left with a distinct feeling of understanding. I love it.
One of my biggest works (in progress) ever revolves around a female protagonist. To be honest, I just tried to make her as human as possible. At first I was worried that I wasn't really mature enough to handle it respectfully, but the way she's written, her personality wouldn't change if she were male. She is opposite a male protag & love interest who is written in a similarly realistic way; they could swap genders and they would still be well-written, lovable, human characters.
I think men and women don't see things that differently, and if they do, it's very minor details. I'm a girl and I actually have an easier time writing from the point of view of male characters, so it could also just depend on the writer.
In my experience, readers (maybe especially in romance?) are much more tolerant of male characters than female. "I just couldn't connect to a heroine who doesn't love children" vs "Well, yes, the hero killed an entire village of innocents, but you have to understand the trauma of his childhood!"
I've been wondering that, but I didn't want to dismiss it as reader bias. I feel like my female characters as just as well-rounded (maybe moreso?) than the male, and should be just as likable, so maybe it isn't really in my control...
It's no different, really, from writing any scene from any perspective that isn't yours. You have to step back and imagine what it would be like for your character. If you're writing about a male farmer and you've never been on a farm in your life, you'll do research to get the facts right, and you'll try to put yourself in his shoes (without stereotypes) as to how he feels about what he's doing. I don't imagine all farmers feel the same every time they get onto a tractor or buy a cow at an auction, so you can feel free to imagine what YOU would feel like in this farmer's place. There are many books out there that can teach you the mechanics of sex from the POV of the opposite sex from yours. Just work this in, but stay with emotions and thoughts. How would your character feel and think while having sex in your scene? Stick to that and you really can't go wrong.
I don't really understand wanting to write in first person from the opposite sex. It just seems like it would be terribly hard to pull off. That said, there are many examples where writers pull it off. And The Fault in Our Stars is a wonderful book! I think gender does play a large part into who someone is whether it be the gender they were born with or the one they identify with. Sure we've all written characters of the opposite sex, but to narrate a story from that point of view is something I don't think I could do. I've been amazed by some writers who can do it, but it's not something I have any plans to attempt, not in first person anyway.
I am male but I tend to gravitate much more to female characters, as I tend to gravitate more to women than men in my life anyway. That said I would pick my topic. I don't think I can talk very authentically about the merits of push up bars or how to alleviate period pains so hopefully my characters won't want to talk about these things either.
You can just do research if you have to, combined with imagination and trial and error with female test readers.
Which famous author was it, who when asked how he writes women so well, said something like, "I don't write them as women, I write them as people." ?
