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No, not the act, but the gender.
I wonder how you find writing from the POV of the opposite sex?
I wouldn't know where to start, to me the other gender is a country largely unexplored...
This means you!
No, not the act, but the gender.
I wonder how you find writing from the POV of the opposite sex?
I wouldn't know where to start, to me the other gender is a country largely unexplored...
"I shall always feel respect for every one who has written a book, let it be what it may, for I had no idea of the trouble which trying to write common English could cost one—And alas there yet remains the worst part of all, correcting the press.' Charles Darwin
I've done it, several times, and successfully. You wanna know how? I had female beta readers. The first time was for a contest. I asked every woman I knew and could trust for an honest opinion (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), and did a lot of rewriting.
The second time, it was, um, embellished reality, and I made the lead character fall for me.
That's the great insight I have to share.
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"From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it." - Groucho Marx
The meaning of “opposite” is fairly clear. Not so much, “other”, in this context. One might wish to see things from the POV of a trannie.
Okay, let’s not muddy the water unnecessarily.
The answer to your question is just like the answer to every other writing-related question. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. There used to be a wee lassie on here who thought like a man, no femininity whatsoever, and it showed in her posts. Similarly, men come in varying degrees of heterosexuality and some of them would be perfectly capable, all other things being equal, of writing for Mills and Boone.
Additionally, one’s reading habits (choice of author by gender) could well help the writer in this regard. Although, having said that, I now realise those reading habits might to some extent be determined by the amount of lead in one’s pencil.
If you’re a typical red-blooded male and you really and truly want to write from the POV of a typical female – sheesh, what’s typical of either? – then maybe the only answer is to grit your teeth and do lots of reading.
Last edited by The Backward OX; 10-23-2011 at 08:42 AM.
No, that's not what I was asking - I wanted to know "I wonder how you find writing from the POV of the opposite sex?"
"I shall always feel respect for every one who has written a book, let it be what it may, for I had no idea of the trouble which trying to write common English could cost one—And alas there yet remains the worst part of all, correcting the press.' Charles Darwin
Sorry. The last line threw me. I thought you were looking for advice.
I'm not the right person to answer your question. I can't write from a woman's POV.
I've written from both POV and have written short stories with men and women as the central character. I don't particularly find it difficult at all really nor do I really think about it that much once I start.
Though I have read a lot of female writers/thrillers with female protagonists so maybe that helped?
Before I write my women characters, I put on a dress and a wig -- and just a touch of makeup. It really seems to help.
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"I am really only interested in a fiction of miracles."
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A similar thread had been set up that somehow is related to this topic. The link to that thread is here. This should help, I believe.
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Not really - I'm not looking for advice, I was just interested in how others find writing out of gender. As I explained to XOOriginally Posted by TheFuhrer02
A similar thread had been set up that somehow is related to this topic. The link to that thread is here. This should help, I believe.
Do you go the whole underwear route (stockings, suspender belt, corset, bustier...), or is that only when you are reading other people's work?
Last edited by TheFuhrer02; 10-23-2011 at 06:44 PM.
"I shall always feel respect for every one who has written a book, let it be what it may, for I had no idea of the trouble which trying to write common English could cost one—And alas there yet remains the worst part of all, correcting the press.' Charles Darwin
The link he gave is a question pretty much identical to yours.
Are you talking about writing in first person or third? I've never written a first-person story with a female as the protagonist, but I have written several third-person stories with female points-of-view.
I actually have an easier time thinking of and writing female MCs - somehow I just find them more interesting then the male ones. I can handle both, of course, but girls are more fun to write.
”But the best part is, he's alone one night and he feels a shadow overtake him from behind, and he knows that Conan is standing behind him with a large axe. And Conan tells him: 'Just stay there and write! And if you don't do exactly what I tell you, I'm going to cleave you down the middle.'”
-John Milius, on Robert E. Howard.
I don't find any difference between writing a female character or a male character.
To me they are just people, each with their own unique personalities. Some females can be masculine, some males can be feminine, and vice versa. It covers the whole spectrum.
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.
- Haruki Murakami
Some people might assume, when writing from the POV of a particular character, that there’s an absolute necessity to write in a way which is highly indicative of that character’s gender.
This is not necessarily so. There are other qualities a writer can bring to their writing. I can’t write from the POV of a woman, but my WIP has a few women in it who occasionally take centre stage, and people who’ve seen it think it’s okay.
This, to me, seems like the most logical course of action. I plan to do the same thing with language and speech patterns, etc. in the novel that I work on occasionally, since one of the characters is English.
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"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ~ E L Doctorow
"If you steal from one author, it's plaigiarism; if you steal from many, it's research." ~ Wilson Mizner
"When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer." ~ Isaac Singer
"People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them that I ahve the heart of a small boy - and I keep it in a jar on my desk." ~ Stephen King
First off, I adopt a simple rule. If my POV character is a woman, since I am a man, I just think of what I would do and then write the exact opposite.
From experience having grown up with three sisters and now being married for over 10 years, it seems to be sort of a universal law.
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