Monique- These are great questions. And I like your questions on whether the parameters can be “too broad.” For me, it’s always a matter of scale. When women are written to only be very strong or very weak, or very complex or very plain, it becomes problematic. The same is true for men for sure. But seemingly, the problem seems more obvious when depicting female characters. Either way, when the scale tips from one side to the other without detailed illustrations of how, when, and why the female characters tip to the other side of the scale, that’s when they lost me. Great thought journey! Hope you’re well this week?
“either way, when the scale tips from one side to the other without detailed illustrations of how, when and why the female characters tip to the other side of the scale, that’s when they lost me.”
This is such an excellent insight and I agree completely. I think there are stories where the focus - across the board - is on plot more than character development. These tend to be more adventure or mystery based, but of course there are well written adventures and mysteries that also weave in character development. But yes, I think you hit on something important here. That character growth and complexity is extremely important, i can’t help but wonder if this is especially true when writing a character of the opposite gender? It’s hard to imagine an experience so foreign to your own, it’s easy to reduce the opposite sex to a plot device rather than to imagine a complex person.
I don’t read a lot outside of romance and non fiction, so I think my own exposure to poorly written female characters is limited to those written by women. While women can write women poorly, there is still a sense of personhood involved. Whereas they tend to write men as a plot device or fantasy.
But I have heard solid concerns about men writing women poorly (again - I don’t often read male fiction authors) and I think your point is an excellent antidote to that!
So true here, Monique. To your point: the female being used as a plot device is when the plot itself starts to lose its meaning. Curious, what led to not reading male fiction authors much, Monica? Any author/ event/ fiction in particular that tended you towards drawing a line? 🙏
Oh, that is a good question. I don’t know that it was a conscious decision. I used to read a fair number of classical authors as a young girl. Then I stopped reading much of anything outside of parenting books in my twenties. When I picked fiction back up again I found that I preferred love stories, particularly Romance since the plot of the Romance genre requires the two characters be together for most of the story. I’ve tried reading some male fiction authors but just found that their focus isn’t really what I’m looking for and the few romances are side-side plots, you can go nearly the whole book without the love interest being involved in the plot itself. Same for non-romance female authors. I’ve read books where the male love interest disappears for huge chunks. Again, it’s fine, but not what I want to read for fun.
But I do constantly catch myself projecting my experience on to the publishing world at large, which is not helpful.
How about you? Do you have reading preferences? Authors you seek out or those you avoid?
For some reason my preferences seem to be tied to time/ mood. Towards the end of the week I veer towards female authors. In the middle I read largely male. You’re right on the female v. male authors, though! do wonder why that might be?
Monique- These are great questions. And I like your questions on whether the parameters can be “too broad.” For me, it’s always a matter of scale. When women are written to only be very strong or very weak, or very complex or very plain, it becomes problematic. The same is true for men for sure. But seemingly, the problem seems more obvious when depicting female characters. Either way, when the scale tips from one side to the other without detailed illustrations of how, when, and why the female characters tip to the other side of the scale, that’s when they lost me. Great thought journey! Hope you’re well this week?
“either way, when the scale tips from one side to the other without detailed illustrations of how, when and why the female characters tip to the other side of the scale, that’s when they lost me.”
This is such an excellent insight and I agree completely. I think there are stories where the focus - across the board - is on plot more than character development. These tend to be more adventure or mystery based, but of course there are well written adventures and mysteries that also weave in character development. But yes, I think you hit on something important here. That character growth and complexity is extremely important, i can’t help but wonder if this is especially true when writing a character of the opposite gender? It’s hard to imagine an experience so foreign to your own, it’s easy to reduce the opposite sex to a plot device rather than to imagine a complex person.
I don’t read a lot outside of romance and non fiction, so I think my own exposure to poorly written female characters is limited to those written by women. While women can write women poorly, there is still a sense of personhood involved. Whereas they tend to write men as a plot device or fantasy.
But I have heard solid concerns about men writing women poorly (again - I don’t often read male fiction authors) and I think your point is an excellent antidote to that!
So true here, Monique. To your point: the female being used as a plot device is when the plot itself starts to lose its meaning. Curious, what led to not reading male fiction authors much, Monica? Any author/ event/ fiction in particular that tended you towards drawing a line? 🙏
Oh, that is a good question. I don’t know that it was a conscious decision. I used to read a fair number of classical authors as a young girl. Then I stopped reading much of anything outside of parenting books in my twenties. When I picked fiction back up again I found that I preferred love stories, particularly Romance since the plot of the Romance genre requires the two characters be together for most of the story. I’ve tried reading some male fiction authors but just found that their focus isn’t really what I’m looking for and the few romances are side-side plots, you can go nearly the whole book without the love interest being involved in the plot itself. Same for non-romance female authors. I’ve read books where the male love interest disappears for huge chunks. Again, it’s fine, but not what I want to read for fun.
But I do constantly catch myself projecting my experience on to the publishing world at large, which is not helpful.
How about you? Do you have reading preferences? Authors you seek out or those you avoid?
For some reason my preferences seem to be tied to time/ mood. Towards the end of the week I veer towards female authors. In the middle I read largely male. You’re right on the female v. male authors, though! do wonder why that might be?
It's so interesting that there's a consistent pattern of when you are drawn to female vs. male authors.
You know, I'm not sure why - it would be interesting to know!
Great article, I'm very glad you expanded on that note! Thank you for the mention as well.
Thank you! It was a lot of fun to write, got to pull my sister in on the action for some feedback which was great. And of course!