What mistakes female writers make writing male characters? And how do I avoid them?
From some conversations with male friends that I’ve had there are a few things that I’ve been told:
- Apparently, girls seem to notice the relative attractiveness of other girls more than guys notice it in guys, unless they’re gay, bi or pan.
-Guys tend to internalize things a lot more than girls do, even to their friends.
- A lot of female writers have them not notice pretty things or landscapes. They’re just as capable of acknowledging and appreciating aesthetic beauty.
-Female writers often write guys a lot more obsessed with sex then they necessarily are. Guys are like everyone else in that they have different sex drives.
- I’ve noticed that a lot of writers tend to write their male characters as their ‘ideal’ of what a man should be, much like how a lot of male writers write female characters, and completely ignore what the reality would be. Generating characters who are ridiculously suave and cool rather than a mix like everyone else.
-I think the biggest mistake that female writers make is that they decide that ‘men’ are some unified group who all think and act alike. Men are no different from women. There are trends that can be looked at (I’ve seen some interesting studies on the differences between the sexes, there are physical differences in the brain as well as psychological differences), but trends are just that.
-The last big mistake is ideological. Some ‘feminist’ writers tend to want to prove their point that all men are pigs by breaking out every sexist stereotype possible (like the Cast ladies). Or, you get writers like Meyer who decide that they’re going to prove how great their love interest is by making every other male a sexist stereotype and having the lead be moderately better.
I think if you avoid this, I think you’re off to a good start.
