This is going to sound terrible, and will probably throw a few crusaders into a bit of a rage D), but I (yes, a female) am actually more likely to pick up a book written by a male than a female. This is possibly because of long tradition of women not being allowed to keep professions as men have in society; most of the novels that I read come from an era when women had to use pen names to continue writing. This is not to say that I do not like women-writers; Jane Austen, George Eliot, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and so many more women-authors have contributed gloriously to my bookshelves. Still, there are many more men-writers on my shelves, and I can't help but think that women authors have tendencies towards weak sympathy (Louisa May Alcott). And I hope that no person who argues this will bring in Ayn Rand or Joyce Carol Oates; their writing is just awful, and not because they are women. Anywhoodles, my bottom line is a resounding hope for female writers of the future (go us!).
This one has me chuckling what a terrible terrible subject I love it. Ok first: "My name is Sam, and I'm a man," he said. The pressure was too much he sat down in a fit of tears. hahahah Ok seriously, gosh if as Mam, says truly there is a gender bias that sucks. When it comes down to it, we each must chose our own, and it is up to us to continue to push or not to push stigma's that exist. Sex of the author has little bearing on me, with a few exceptions. I don't read romance, I don't care WHO wrote it. I read sci-fi/fantasy, and again I don't care the sex of the author, though some of my favorites are female, I'm split probably nearly half and half on who I'd recommend in fantasy. Erotica, if I'm tempted to read erotic tales, likely I will lean toward a woman's sensuous touch vs. the heavy hand men tend to have. There are tendencies in writing that women and men have, there are as noted exceptions but those tendencies can steer us. The one place as a whole I prefer a woman to a man, is in the MC. As whole I prefer a heroine over a hero. But maybe I'm just odd.
Oooh, controversy. Well I, being an open-minded 13-year-old, really don't care about the gender of an author. I've written brilliant novels by both men and women authors. Both genders are capable of writing well. However, I know that the world doesn't actually work that way. I know where stereotypes are getting at. Are readers (particularly males) more likely to pick up a book written by a man than by a woman? There's no straight answer to this; or at least, there's no straight answer that I have for you. It's probably leaning towards "yes", though, because many women write romance novels (and yes, I know that women write in all other genres) and I have yet to meet a man who enjoys reading romance novels...or at least, I have yet to meet a man who claims to enjoy reading romance novels. Depends on the genre usually. In other words, should female authors use only their first two initials, as JK Rowling did, as their name on books? Doesn't matter. If a female author wants to use her initials, whether it's to hide her gender or whatever, then that's her choice, and there's nothing I can do about it. And should publishers ask female authors to use only their initials and surname? In my opinion, no, they shouldn't, unless they have an excellent reason behind their request. Other than that, it's up to the author. I would think that the publishers would sound almost ashamed of representing someone with a particular name if they asked a woman author to change her name -- I don't think that the market is so extreme nowadays in the sense that female authors have to use their initials and surname in order to sell more books. Just my 2 cents :]
I have a strong affinity toward's character-driven stories. In today's culture, there is still a perception that women are more about feelings, and men more about actions. Whether or not this stereotype has any validity, main characters who are women are more likely to be developed along emotional lines. To me, this often makes women MC's more interesting. On the other hand, I'm not above defying that stereotype in my own writing.
great point cog, maybe that is part of my preference for women MC. I really like, characters that are tangible, that have real feelings, prefernces... the gunghoe, wooohooo lob off a head, next fight, swing swing swing hack hack, chop chop, "he chopped off another arm with a grin, knowing he was gods gift to the sword. The heroine jumped into his arms and he laughed as he bedded her after the battle" is just um... well yeah you know. I guess the most poignant example to me is the Kushiel series, Mrs. Carrey, writes an amazing female lead. When her books move on to follow the foster son, she writes of Imriel, and honestly as a man myself she has captured the struggles of a maturing male, and the thoughts and emotions that are provoked through various activities far better than i've seen any man write it. /shrug
Slightly off topic, but I have to comment on JanesLife's sig. Not only does it stand well as a poem, pictorially it resembles a bowl of rice. I love it.
and did he shape it like that?... one of mine, titled, 'death sentences' is shaped like a funeral urn... http://saysmom.com/maia/content.asp?Writing=193
I didn't know that Percy Shelley was a man until after I read his work. I don't like to know much about the author until after I read the piece, because I don't want to be thinking about stereotypes and the author's motives and such while I'm reading.
Ah that is what we call the feminazi, you see there is a big difference. Feminists work for women's rights, and though there isn't much to fight for this day an age in this country, they find it wherever its hidden and I think thats great. Feminazis work for the death of all men and an all female world where boys born into it are slaughtered after there semen has been extracted. They think men are sapping their "goddess powers" and that their "vibrant and powerful voices" are being silenced by the "evil devil men who run this stolen world." And that was a joke, in all seriousness, a feminazi is a feminist gone too far, which sounds like your friends. People who have jumped the hurdle of equality and found a new thing to campaign for, turning men into second class citizens. They make things like Lifetime, where everything they show on their is male bashing garbage about how we have no souls and hurt children. Now back to on topic, I could honestly care less for any particular genre, its just that each genre is typically dominated by certain writers, ex soldiers run the military and counter terrorism genre, nerd run the scifi genre, I'd say that men hold a slight majority in the horror genre, a favorite of mine, and in the action drama its mostly men again, but we get to fantasy and again we have a fair mix. Those are the genres I read mostly, that and politics, so I read mostly male authors, not on purpose, but because they are writing the things I enjoy reading, and then you get the occasional women, not so far and in between though, just not as much, who comes along and writes a book which I read regardless of their gender.
That may be true in most cases, but does that mean we readers don't love the action filled male characters just as much as we'd love any other. Take for example the fantasy icon that is Drizzt Do Urden from the forgotten realms universe, taking center stage in a trilogy that took me on one wild ride in my youth. There wasn't much emotional development in the beginning, but he was always the one to slash open orc's throats and cut apart the stomach of a giant with his twin scimitars of doom. He grew on you, made you love him for one reason, and then he grew on you in a new way, through the relationships with the other characters he became more than a slashing dark elf, kicking ass and taking names, he became an icon that has stood out in the industry for many, many years.
In my experience, male authors have written stories more to my liking. Examples: Stephen Baxter (hard sci-fi) C.S. Lewis Mark Twain Robert Charles Wilson Maybe I'm taking out my frustration on female authors because of the Bronte sisters. Gaahhhhh!!!! Oh, well, J.K. Rowling scores so many points for them.
The gender of the author never affects my decision to buy a book, because half the time I don't even look at the author's name until the second day after I buy it! That being said, the gender of said author doesn't affect how much I enjoy the book, either. (Though Anne McCaffrey does bore me to death sometimes. ) I've never really read anything where I could tell whether a man or a woman wrote it.
Personally I am not bothered who has written the book, male or female. However, my dad has said that he is less likely to pick up a book written by a female, and almost never from a femalo prespective. I have read more childrens books written by women, and loads more fiction and action by males, but again, I am not bothered, it is just what I am bought/pick up. If I were to be published I would not use my initials. My name would be going on it with full pride.
I thought Ayn Rand writes like a man, and acutally is a very good read when philosophy isn't involved. Unfortunatly, it generally is. I remember reading Anthem all in one day, and I consider it the best of her works, because it's the shortest--but even then I can't stand the final two chapters. I find that the writers I like best are women, but also the writers I like least are women. The writers I like least tend towards melodrama. The writers I like best show humanity in all its vibrant colors...I say melodramatically. Although I just realized that I equate bad male writers with preachiness--Goodkind and his Ayn-Rand-Fantasy-Without-The-Goodness, Paolini and his purple prose and naked athiest elves, R.A. Salvatore and his pesudo-philosophic ramblings before each section of the book. Good figure.
Though I am a girl, I feel like I am more aware of whether the book is about a man or a woman than whether it was written by a man or a woman. I have found that there is no gap between male or female talent; there are so many writers with such distinct styles and abilities.
i am a sexist pig i personally held a grudge against female writers for a long time. after a few run-in's with ann rice ('Blackwood Farm' being the worst) and corny romance novels i just decided that women were incapable of catering to men's sensibilities. most of the books i read just put too much emphasis on details i didn't care about. A page and a half about how beautiful Louie thought le-stat's eyes are... cmon... i 'get it,' Miss Rice... let's move on. But after accidentally reading a couple of good sue grafton books i've decided to give women another chance.
Interesting - I had no idea Lian Hearn and Andre Norton were female until I read this thread. I think I tend to be pretty evenly split between both genders - I don't generally think about the author's gender when picking a book up. When I was younger, I probably read more books by women (I read Nancy Drew, not the Hardy Boys... ), but I think that's evened out since my tastes tend towards philosophical, political, and often action-based fantasy. Most of my current favorite authors, however (Tad Williams and Orson Scott Card, to name a couple) are male. I was amused recently to see a sign in a local bookstore about female science fiction writers including Kim Stanley Robinson (who is a man) on the list. It's particularly interesting given that most of Robinson's novels are very hard science fiction, not what I think would stereotypically be labeled female writing. I've considered using my initials before, but I'm not sure what I would do were I to actually become published. I don't think I would feel restricted to using my initials, at least, but there is something nice in that kind of gender anonymity. I would consider it somewhat of a compliment to have someone think I was male - not because I think men are any better writers, but because that would mean I had portrayed the male characters in my book well and realistically enough for them to be on par with the female characters.
I am a female and it does not make any difference to me if the author is male or female. I have read great and wonderful works from both genders. However, my husband is the exact opposite and prefers male authors over female, though I don't think he'd ever given female authors a chance. Recently, he was injured and confined to the house and little movement for nearly three months. Having read all the books in the house written by men, he was desperate for something to read so I gave him ten of my favorite female authored books and he read every one of them and, shock and surprise, he admitted to liking them all.
I'm a guy, and yet my favorite book series is Harry Potter. Rowling's stories can hold my interest like no other. I will admit I usually pick up books by men, but that's just because they tend to write more about what interests me.
In general, I'd say that male and female authors do write differently. Obviously there are exceptions, and it does happen sometimes that an author isn't the gender I wouldn't guessed. I wouldn't say that it's completely unfounded when people say that they prefer one gender to another. So, I can understand it when female authors in particular prefer to leave their name ambiguous, to avoid any prejudice and allow whatever has been written to be judged instead.
I know my husband prefers to read books written by a man. I'll read either myself, but I find I usually like a book written by a woman more. I enjoy the sorts of details and emotional information women often emphasize more in their writing, while my husband likes other informational areas (that I often find dry) to be highlighted more. I'm not saying I never like a man's writing(Robert Jordan, for instance, was a great writer in my book). It's only that I usually identify more with a woman's writing. Because of this, I'll probably go by a psuedonym with my fantasy writing, but I'll stick to my real name for my paranormal romance novels. People generally expect a romance writer to be a woman, and most of the people picking up my books in that genre will be women anyway. Fantasy is a different story. Besides, I want to differentiate between my two writing styles in the different genres, and going by two names is a good way to let readers know what they're in for. Of course, even when you go by your initials, sooner or later, people are gonna look at your picture on the back flap of a book and find out whether you're really male or female. So I wouldn't say it makes a huge difference whether you have an obviously feminine name or not.
Whichever writes the best story in my opinion. My two favourite series are "Lord of the Rings" & "Harry Potter" one written by a male, and another by a female.
