Writing: Men Writing Women
Feb. 27th, 2009 10:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneThe first panel I was on at Boskone was about Men Writing Women. Of course I was on this panel because I'm a man and yet the main character in my Throne of Amenkor series, Varis, is a woman. I did not take any notes on this panel, but figured I'd mention a few of my thoughts that were brought up (if not necessarily discussed in depth) at the panel and see what you guys have to say.
It's one of the most common questions I get during reading and Q&A sessions: Why did I decide to write from a female perspective and how do I go about doing that when I'm male?
I honestly think it's a fairly bizarre question, mostly because I honestly never even thought about it in such terms while I was writing. I still don't. Let me explain how my stories come to me:
They always come initially as a very powerful, visual image. For The Skewed Throne this was the image of the White Fire appearing on the horizon and bearing down on a port city. A young girl was on a boat in the harbor when the Fire arrived and it touched her and changed her as it passed over and through her.
That was the image. With that image, I already had a main character, Varis, and by that I mean I already knew a little about who she was. That image wasn't enough to make an entire book, but after the initial image, other images come to me, slowly, and eventually I have enough of them that I start to see the essential outline of the book. That's when I start writing in an attempt to fill in the blanks between the scenes and see who the characters are and what their story is.
What you should pick up from this regarding the Men Writing Women topic is that I have never, in my entire writing career, ever sat down and asked myself whether a character will be male or female for the purposes of the story. The characters just . . . are. They're already there, in my head, partially formed, before I sit down to write. The same is true for the story. So for me, I'm not building or creating a character; they already exist and such basic things as their gender is already there.
So that's how the characters come to me. The actual writing of the story is how I find out about the characters and (hopefully) make them come to life for the reader as well. Things change during the course of the writing, as I find out more about them. For example, that initial scene I described above doesn't actually happen that way in the book. All of the elements of it are there, but not precisely in the same way. But that's how it started.
So that answers the question of why I "chose" to write a female character: I didn't. The character chose to have me write about them, in some sense, instead.
Now, what about how I go about writing female characters when I am so obviously male? Again, the answer is likely disappointing: I didn't really think about it. When I'm writing, I don't consciously think "Oh, this is a female character, I better alter my thought process radically so I capture the essence of the female brain better." No, no, no. In fact, I don't think of writing male or female characters any differently at all. Because I don't think of the characters as BEING male or female, I think of them as just people. They're there, in a particular situation, and I ask myself what they would do in that situation, and that's what I write. Oh, sure, some things have to taken into account for different scenes. For example, at one point I have Varis crawling through a fairly narrow window in The Skewed Throne. At this point, I had to consider the fact that her breasts might become a problem. That probably wouldn't present a problem if it had been a male character. Things like that come into play while writing, but for the most part I just sink myself into their heads and write them as if they were just people, regardless of gender.
In fact, the only thing I can think of that I consciously do while writing female characters is that in a given situation I might ask myself something like WWMD? "What would my mom do here?" Or perhaps a female friend, such as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pbray or something. And then I'm only asking myself that question to see if the answer is any different from what I might do.
In any case, that's the extent of my thought process on writing "against my gender". I don't think about it much. Not to the extent that (apparently) many people do anyway. What about you guys? Any thoughts on writing against gender? What about female writers writing men? Is there a significant difference either way?
It's one of the most common questions I get during reading and Q&A sessions: Why did I decide to write from a female perspective and how do I go about doing that when I'm male?
I honestly think it's a fairly bizarre question, mostly because I honestly never even thought about it in such terms while I was writing. I still don't. Let me explain how my stories come to me:
They always come initially as a very powerful, visual image. For The Skewed Throne this was the image of the White Fire appearing on the horizon and bearing down on a port city. A young girl was on a boat in the harbor when the Fire arrived and it touched her and changed her as it passed over and through her.
That was the image. With that image, I already had a main character, Varis, and by that I mean I already knew a little about who she was. That image wasn't enough to make an entire book, but after the initial image, other images come to me, slowly, and eventually I have enough of them that I start to see the essential outline of the book. That's when I start writing in an attempt to fill in the blanks between the scenes and see who the characters are and what their story is.
What you should pick up from this regarding the Men Writing Women topic is that I have never, in my entire writing career, ever sat down and asked myself whether a character will be male or female for the purposes of the story. The characters just . . . are. They're already there, in my head, partially formed, before I sit down to write. The same is true for the story. So for me, I'm not building or creating a character; they already exist and such basic things as their gender is already there.
So that's how the characters come to me. The actual writing of the story is how I find out about the characters and (hopefully) make them come to life for the reader as well. Things change during the course of the writing, as I find out more about them. For example, that initial scene I described above doesn't actually happen that way in the book. All of the elements of it are there, but not precisely in the same way. But that's how it started.
So that answers the question of why I "chose" to write a female character: I didn't. The character chose to have me write about them, in some sense, instead.
Now, what about how I go about writing female characters when I am so obviously male? Again, the answer is likely disappointing: I didn't really think about it. When I'm writing, I don't consciously think "Oh, this is a female character, I better alter my thought process radically so I capture the essence of the female brain better." No, no, no. In fact, I don't think of writing male or female characters any differently at all. Because I don't think of the characters as BEING male or female, I think of them as just people. They're there, in a particular situation, and I ask myself what they would do in that situation, and that's what I write. Oh, sure, some things have to taken into account for different scenes. For example, at one point I have Varis crawling through a fairly narrow window in The Skewed Throne. At this point, I had to consider the fact that her breasts might become a problem. That probably wouldn't present a problem if it had been a male character. Things like that come into play while writing, but for the most part I just sink myself into their heads and write them as if they were just people, regardless of gender.
In fact, the only thing I can think of that I consciously do while writing female characters is that in a given situation I might ask myself something like WWMD? "What would my mom do here?" Or perhaps a female friend, such as
pbray or something. And then I'm only asking myself that question to see if the answer is any different from what I might do.In any case, that's the extent of my thought process on writing "against my gender". I don't think about it much. Not to the extent that (apparently) many people do anyway. What about you guys? Any thoughts on writing against gender? What about female writers writing men? Is there a significant difference either way?
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Date: 2009-02-27 05:16 pm (UTC)Like you, my characters just are. They show up with personalities, a history and a story that needs telling. I see them as fully formed humans, with flaws and good points, wishes and fears. I know them as people and gender never comes into it. The characters have that all sorted out before they arrive. I don't have an issue writing against gender, men are as easy as women.
There are a lot of writers who don't write the way you and I do. They sit down and decide they need a certain type of character to fill a role in a novel, and then pick gender, personality traits, etc. and make them fit. I've known writers who have long lists of hair and eye color, likes and dislikes on character sheets and fit their characters together like a puzzle.
My guess is that some of those writers, not all!, might have more difficulty writing against gender because they view their characters as constructs to fill a role, not as people.