Verago

Right to the point:
It seems like when I write, I never end up having any female characters.
I think this is partially due to the detail that I have little to no idea how to effectively write them.
All my characters end up being men, usually, and then I feel vaguely sexist and guilty.

How do I write about the womenfolk?
I daresay this is the only problem I really have with writing. Hopefully it can be resolved before it becomes an actual problem (like when/if I try to publish, and the publisher's like, "Uh, there are no female characters in this book..." and I'll be stuck and embarrassed).

Thanks a ton.

-Ethan

Kanood

Watch Oprah or The View or chick flicks (with chicks if you can) and observe them. I'm serious, it'll help.

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Verago

That's an interesting, good idea...
I'll have to try that.

Thanks.

-Ethan

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Syren

I think you can gain a lot from reading a few books where women are drawn well. Such a list, would include works by:

(Fantasy)
Margaret Weis
David Eddings
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Rice
Tracy Hickman
Mercedes Lackey
Juliet Marillier
GRR Martin

I reference fantasy, cause that's what I'm into... perhaps others can offer another genre.

Cheers, good luck mate,

//Sy

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Verago

Another thing I have a problem with, more than actually writing them, is the lack of women characters in my fantasy writing.

Maybe it's because of the war-environment that the writing tends to take place in, but there just, generally, aren't any women around. And I don't know, really, how to put women characters in there without it looking like I put women characters in there just for the sake of having women characters, when seemingly all of the major characters are male.

I don't know...
This might just be one of those things I have to work through.

Thanks.
-Ethan

dwellerofthedeep

If you have all the characters for your current story then maybe it'd be better just to leave women out of it until you're done. If you like writing then there will be other stories and other characters you can put them where they fit then. Using a TV example; Band of Brothers is a war story, nobody complains that there are few to no female characters because it's just not about them.

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Verago

<Accidental doublepost.>

Verago

Mmm...I suppose so.

I just hope there's little to no chance that when/if (more than likely 'when', though...) I try to publish this, the publisher doesn't turn me down for lack of female characters, logic being that it doesn't appeal to a wide enough audience, or something like that.

cbrmale

My stories tend to have more and stronger female characters than male characters, although the main narrator of my works is generally a male. Unfortunately I cannot offer advice, because the reason that women feature in my work is because I have been married for just over twenty years, and have had many other women share my life as well. Being intimate with women, and sharing their intimacies, is what has made the difference.

I would suspect that many published male writers who produce good and realistic female characters will be sufficiently experienced with women to understand the feminine well enough to comfortably make women feature strongly in their works.

starslight

I had this problem, too, and I worked through it by reading books about women that were written by women (after discovering the only one I could remember reading was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Yikes!). So I started with Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

Jane Eyre was a little dry for my tastes, but it's a good story that covers a long period of time, so you can see how her childhood shaped who she was as an adult.

If you've already read those three, you could always try re-reading them, or at least parts of them, for insight. Or there are lots of others out there, of course. Worked pretty well for me, since vicarious experience is about the best I can do at this point.

TornBlackWings

I'm a female and try to write male characters as best as I can. All I did was ask my dad how men think and then applied that to my story. That's really all I can tell you.

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Krim

So, basically, you write a male character using the same formula?

Male = buff + likes to make babies + envy car mechanics

You do know people are diverse, even though if you watch a male long enough you'll notice distinct manly things, such as the usual ego and a differing way of speech. You can't get a realistic male from a formula your father told you, you have to observe people.

And Ethan, would you lose anything by making a main character into a female or adding a new one? Maybe one of the characters goes back to his hometown after being a corrupt general and encounters his mother, who is ashamed at what he has become? I doubt many people go 'WOW, THERE'S A GIRL THERE BECAUSE THE AUTHOR PUT ONE THERE'. It's more like a fleeting glance with secondary characters, no one does that unless it's obvious and she goes around saying

"I am a girl. I am a girl. I am in this story because I am a girl. Female power!"

Verago

Rhetoric?

I concur.

It might, but I'm not sure. That's one of the things I'm being cautious with.

That's actually something I had been considering.


-Ethan

Glen1

I don't use many female characters in my stories either. I've had to research things such as female perfume, cooking stuff,female bath soap and many other things dealing with females. This information I'm going to use in a book about life in Colonial America.

I've also had to look up the stuff that males wore and how they dressed for work etc. Maybe if you would do some research just on females it would help you.

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