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I dont know but im doing it. I just hope I dont come off sounding stupid. I've written male character leads and thats fine. Male to female transgender characters is iffy but I figure if they spent most of their lives being male then its ok if they come off that way during the transition. Perhaps even a forcibly transformed male to female. They will still keep their male identity even as females. But, im questioning myself in this, a form genetic woman, born and raised as a girl. Im trying to write in first person as her so Im asking, how do I not sound stupid. Or like a guy attempting it, badly. Ive read articles from editors that pointed out a few mistakes men make when trying this
Do your best...
It is YOUR story! Write it the way you feel it sounds best. If you get feed-back, decide if that feed-back is valid and make any changes YOU think will make the story better.
DO NOT - let fear of what others say stop you from letting your literary muse inspire your imagination.
Ok, I'll quit now.
with love,
Hope
Once in a while I bare my soul, more often my soles bear me.
Give it a try
I agree with Hope. If it works, it works. If people offer constructive criticism, you can revise. But please don't get hung up on this. Is there anyone whose opinions you respect who can read it and offer advice?
kandijayne
a thought
Well, if it bugs you, one thing you could try is reading a lot of books written from the female perspective that are written by female authors. Pay attention to the way the author expresses her character's thoughts, and the way they word things. May or may not help.
I will try that
thank you
The Public Transportation System...
...and crowded restaurants are the writer's friends. Eavesdrop on every conversation you can and pay close attention. Be sure not to get caught. Other writers may help, but one never knows exactly who they were listening to...
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Listening in on Conversations
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/26381/what-did-you-get...
This story came out of just that very thing.
why not
women do it all the time.
the question really is... do you have it in you to be a woman? In spirit at least.
Dayna.
You will learn so much.
And why would you think that you need permission to use a feminine voice in writing a female character. Lots of us have done so. Were you a sniper in Afghanistan? Did you drive bulldozers in a coal mine? Geeze, I was a damned construction Electrician. But, one day I had a profound revelation about life, and realized that I was being what everyone else wanted me to be. Please do not fear being your self, your whole self.
Well lets see, what will you learn?
Women don't talk about their trucks, guns, or who is the um Alpha Woman. Women just work things out collaboratively. And, sorry if I am being conceited, I do a great job of writing female in first person. And several other authors here do also.
Women tend to use around three times the words that a male does. And it is only partially about the facts. The rest is about feelings, other people, and relational issues.
You will have lots of company. Some of the great authors wrote with a feminine voice. E.M. Forster is one of my favorites. And, of all things, "50 Shades of Grey" was written by a woman !
And, who gains the most from trying to get inside a woman's head? You do.
Gwen
Re: You will learn so much.
And the epilogue contains some chapters written in the viewpoint of Christian Grey.
Don't worry, be happy :-)
As long as you are happy with the story, then everything will be fine. By all means listen to criticism, but you don't have to do what they suggest. It is your story.
There is a huge amount of literature where the gender of the 1st person character is different from the author. I have a link to an blog post by a female author who writes M/M erotic literature. It has some tips on how she makes her characters appear more masculine Yaoi Writers: Are your Male characters MASCULINE? it should be easy to use that as a checklist on how to your character appear more feminine.
Remember the blog post is about stereotypes and generalizations, something which is always controversial. Personally my biggest pet peewee is her example with specific vs. general. I'm not - as a stereotype - disagreeing with the specific vs. general stereotype, only her example: "She'll tell you a dress is robin’s egg or teal or aqua or periwinkle. He'll say it’s blue." Generally women perceive colors slightly different from men, e.g. Men, Women, And Two Thousand Color Names.
Also remember, gender is a continuum not black and white. There is nothing wrong with a female character who likes guns and football (both US/ROV kind).
If you're afraid
your character is going to present as too masculine, don't worry, as long as her presentation fits the story. I knew a woman that worked in my mother-in-law's piece shop (contract sewing), and when business tapered off at the end of the bathing suit buying season (their main contract was with Catalina), the woman quit and went back to her old employer, welding mufflers and tail pipes in a Midas Muffler shop. She was large and muscular, gruff, had a scratchy voice and tended to wear bib overalls. If you walked up behind her, you wouldn't know she was female unless she turned around. I doubt I could write her into a story because I couldn't make her convincingly masculine enough.
I think your biggest challenge might be to make your character feminine enough but not too girly.
Snowdrop suggested that women tend to have a wider and more discrete palate for colors, scents, sounds, and overall sensual awareness. Because most younger genetic women tend to be thinner, their bodies are also much more sensitive in even minute changes in temperature, humidity, and even air pressure. They are also more aware of their surroundings, kind of a heightened defensive awareness.
For descriptive color names, one good source is an online embroidery thread conversion listing, say from Brother, Sulky, Floriani, or Madeira to another brand such as Isacord. You can see the color and name together on the chart and most flat screen computer monitors do a fair job of rendering the shades. For scents, a good source is to look at the scents for womens body wash. Use descriptive language for sounds; instead of saying "there was a screech outside the window," you might write "I awoke to the calling of seagulls on the beach, then realized how unlikely that was here in Tucson."
I'm not a great writer, but over the years I've picked up some great tips. I hope this helps.
Hugs
Carla Ann
Awareness of surroundings
"They are also more aware of their surroundings, kind of a heightened defensive awareness."
Hmm, it might be just me but I can give a data point which proves the exception. My (female) partner couldn't walk a sidewalk on her own without bumping into people all the time. I'm the one with the awareness, I know where everybody is and will often try to encourage her to move to one side to let someone faster by. She is completely clueless.
In stores it is no better. She'll walk past several rails with things I know she's interested in, almost as if she didn't see them at all. I, of course, will have figured out the whole layout of the store within two minutes.
So one can't always make hard and fast rules, as also demonstrated by the welder anecdote above. There is a great variation within each gender and those variations inevitably overlap into the other gender's abilities and limitations. I would suggest one just writes without trying to force particular behaviors on the characters other than those one needs to make the story work. The rest should come naturally.
Penny
Like all things. One has to do research first.
Men writing about women, and women writing about men has been going since the dawn of the written word.
Some people of either gender can pull it off.
Some cannot.
For example, Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse) has been writing successfully, about women's point of views for years.
And from what I understand, the writers of Sex in the City were a group of homosexual men.
Also, doing research beforehand will help you.
When writing, keep in mind, like men, no two women are alike. Never write two characters the same way.
The question "What do women want?" is an oxymoron. Because, no two women want the same things.
The key is to come up with a good back story for the characterization. Good characterize, and plot motivations.
Now, if you are looking for example of a series that show a grand mosaic of strong women. Each one different, but interesting. I suggest you check out the Black Lagoon anime/mange series. Also, the series I mention above are good places of reference.
I hope this helps.
Did I do a good job
I hope people realize why I posted this question. Its in reference to my kidnapped story, written from the mothers point of view. Did I do a good job of fleshing her out? Her dialog, how she sees the situation and interacts with her son?