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Writing for the opposite gender
JFSurvivor
Posted: Monday, October 5, 2015 12:43 PM
Joined: 10/2/2015
Posts: 34


I am a girl and I  always have a hard time writing from the perspective of my male characters. Any advice?
Atthys Gage
Posted: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 1:29 PM
Joined: 6/7/2011
Posts: 467


JF;

 

This is a difficult question. As an old man who more often than not writes from the perspective of young females, I can relate. The best advice I can give is don't try too hard. All personality types can occur in any of the various genders, so you shouldn't sweat it too much. Lock in on what your character would say, would do, and let the gender thing take care of itself.  If you try too hard to make a character seem male, you run the risk of falling back on stereotypical tropes of maleness.

 

Trying to understand and write from the perspective of others is a great and necessary thing, but make your character a person first. If you tell the reader that he's male, well, they'll probably believe you. And characters are always more interesting when they don't fit into the preformed norms.

 

Best of luck on the longest journey.

 

AJG


 

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