McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Classic Blunders and how to easily spot a female author writing a male charater

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The Deposed King:
-Deleted-

Galvatron:
I always thought the first classic blunder was getting involved in a land war in Asia =P

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: The Deposed King on February 09, 2013, 03:56:43 AM ---1) A man will almost never describe himself or another man as 'pretty, beautiful or gorgeous' its just not done... and by that I mean unless he's gay or works in some kind of field I'm unaware of that requires such lingo.  Hot is also extremely questionable, unless he's bragging about himself to a woman and he's low on the class radar.
   a: Exception - may describe a 'gay' character as pretty or beautiful with varying levels of snorting, sarcasm or scorn.
   b: FYI For female authors - Handsome (or good looking) is the approved descriptor, when a man would describe himself or other men, its doubtful a man would verbalize, even in the privacy of his own head either his or the other guy's level of attractiveness to the extent most female authors go to.  He might focusing instead on his winning features such as body shape, muscle mass, height, or detractive features such as a scar or broken nose possibly describing it as a face that only a mother could love.  Possibly he might even remark how he seemed to have the kind of features that attracted the opposite sex.

--- End quote ---

This is a very culture-specific, setting-specific and time-specific thing.  If you're writing about a culture or setting other than the ones you grew up in or the one you currently live in, research whether it's different.  Particularly with reference to the inherent attitude to homosexuality implied by your exception a; ask me to believe that in a novel about Spartans and I will point at you and laugh unkindly.

I also suspect that if you think female authors are overly focused on descriping their characters in terms of physical attractiveness, you are reading a narrower range of them than I am.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: Galvatron on February 09, 2013, 05:02:17 AM ---I always thought the first classic blunder was getting involved in a land war in Asia =P

--- End quote ---

Unless your name is Alexander or Genghis, yes.

LizW65:

--- Quote from: Galvatron on February 09, 2013, 05:02:17 AM ---I always thought the first classic blunder was getting involved in a land war in Asia =P

--- End quote ---
Or going up against a Sicilian when death is on the line. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha h-

FWIW, I recall reading years ago--probably in the Seventies--that a male writer will always forget to have his female character complain about her feet, and a woman will forget to have a man shave. (As for the physical descriptors in the OP, I suspect the book's target audience is the primary influence rather than the sex of the author.)

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