Paul Whybrow
Full Member
The title of this thread isn't meant to imply that any Colonists have pen names which conceal their true gender. Rather, I'm referring to creating the fictional thoughts of a character in the first person, though a second or third person viewpoint could require adopting a different way of expressing their behaviour if they're of the opposite gender.
I've written fifteen short stories and novellas, one novel and about 500 poems and song lyrics. Five of the stories are seen though the eyes of my female protagonist, and there are multiple viewpoints too, including those of women. I try to avoid any of my characters behaving in stereotypical ways that are meant to show their gender - men who can't cook, women who don't know how to top-up the oil of their car engine, that sort of thing. I dislike this hackneyed and sexist shorthand, which is lazy, demeaning and doesn't work anyway.
I think that I've done OK in representing my female characters well, and my beta-readers who are mainly women, have commented that they found them believable. I may have an advantage from my upbringing, which was primarily in female company - sisters, mother, aunts and grandmothers. I've also worked in jobs that are dominated by women - teaching, librarianship and counselling. I have eight close friends, and seven of them are women. From all of this, I may have picked up on female attitudes, strengths, worries and, for want of a catch-all term, traits, better than some male writers.
I can't say that I noticed inhabiting my female character's persona affected me greatly, though it certainly altered novelist Elizabeth Day's writing and behaviour, when she penned a novel, Paradise City, that had an alpha-male as the protagonist.
https://www.the-pool.com/life/life-...ail&utm_term=0_fa8feddc14-1325450cdb-61069721
Have any Colonists had problems in shifting genders while writing?
I've written fifteen short stories and novellas, one novel and about 500 poems and song lyrics. Five of the stories are seen though the eyes of my female protagonist, and there are multiple viewpoints too, including those of women. I try to avoid any of my characters behaving in stereotypical ways that are meant to show their gender - men who can't cook, women who don't know how to top-up the oil of their car engine, that sort of thing. I dislike this hackneyed and sexist shorthand, which is lazy, demeaning and doesn't work anyway.
I think that I've done OK in representing my female characters well, and my beta-readers who are mainly women, have commented that they found them believable. I may have an advantage from my upbringing, which was primarily in female company - sisters, mother, aunts and grandmothers. I've also worked in jobs that are dominated by women - teaching, librarianship and counselling. I have eight close friends, and seven of them are women. From all of this, I may have picked up on female attitudes, strengths, worries and, for want of a catch-all term, traits, better than some male writers.
I can't say that I noticed inhabiting my female character's persona affected me greatly, though it certainly altered novelist Elizabeth Day's writing and behaviour, when she penned a novel, Paradise City, that had an alpha-male as the protagonist.
https://www.the-pool.com/life/life-...ail&utm_term=0_fa8feddc14-1325450cdb-61069721
Have any Colonists had problems in shifting genders while writing?
Not unless he was gay, she said, which he isn't. As for sex...there's nothing graphic, but he's no monk so it can't be ignored. Interesting.
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