For a counter example, doesn't Jim repeatedly have Harry call Thomas beautiful at points in the story?

Historically, it was very common for males to be described as beautiful (or the local language's equivalent thereof), particularly if the person in question was a youth or the setting was one in which the male form was accepted as the pinnacle of beauty.  (I'm looking at you, Greece).

Contemporary Renaissance era men (if they were lucky  ) would be described with having a 'long, shapely leg, shown to great advantage in their hose.' By other men. In Europe, before and after that time period, men's fashion was much more involved and complicated - moreso than women's, in fact, since a woman's fashion choices were limited not only by her social class, but by her marital status. Men wore heels. In ancient Egypt and Rome, they wore eye liner.

Heck, I know guys who wear eye liner now, though obviously this depends on a lot - frex, I would not see a factory worker in eye liner. I might very well see a punk rock musician in it, though.

But that's all just background stuff. At the end of the day, the author (male or female) probably uses the word 'beautiful' to describe a man because that is precisely the word they need to convey an aspect of that character. What cultural connotations are attached to the word depend on the setting. *shrug*

If it's like that, then just handwave the sex scene or fade to black. Use one line to say it happened, then another line highlighting whether it worked or not. You don't need to detail it out. "They walked into the room" and "When they were done, X stared at the ceiling, blah blah blah." If the point of the scene is to show a lack of intimacy, then don't show the intimate parts. Focus on the numb feeling at the end, or the isolation, or what have you.

It's easier for men to pass the bechdel test because they are far, far more likely to get parts other than 'love interest' or 'competing love interest.'

i bet it dose sound quite annoying

(ps thanks for the correct spelling of annoying that is helpful )

lol, you're welcome. 

In simple terms, a story passes the Bechdel Test if three conditions are met:

- there are at least two women
- who talk to each other at any point in the story
- about something other than a guy

And that's it. 90% of movies and genre novels fail, which is pretty sad when you remember that half the population of the world is made up of women. 


It's not impossible for a first person male POV to pass the Bechdel (DF manages it, though not every book), but it can definitely be finicky, particularly if the story occurs in a male dominated setting. Sometimes passing the Bechdel is just not possible depending on the story you're trying to tell. But those instances are a lot rarer than Hollywood would have it. (50% of the population)

And there are definitely cases where I'd say a book passes the Bechdel in spirit, if not by letter. (I'm thinking of The Name Of The Wind and the first half of The Lies Of Locke Lamora.) And there are cases where a story passes the Bechdel by letter, but not in spirit (like Changes, with Susan and Molly).

What's ridiculous is when you've got a door stopper fantasy trilogy with a major female POV and it still doesn't pass the Bechdel Test. That's just sad. (and perplexing? like, how is that even possible?)

Miles has disabilities, yeah, but it becomes a plot point in later books that most of them are corrected. Even the bi-polarness settles down once he *spoilers*. There's another disability that pops up later, but that one gets controlled with, er, medication.

Not that this is a bad thing as far as the books go (in fact it make sense that the disabilities are corrected, given Vorkosigan's particular ambitions and the level of technology in his world), but I know that a lot of people side-eye books that focus mostly on 'curing' disabled people so that they can become normal. The Vorkosigan books, though not specifically about Miles' disabilities or the curing thereof, still fall under that pattern. Just something to keep in mind.


Random Vorkosigan quote:

"Schizoid or no, not even you could compartmentalize yourself to that extent."
"I am not schizoid," Miles bit off. "A little manic-depressive, maybe," he admitted in afterthought.
Galeni's lips twitched. "Know thyself."
"We try, sir."

Personally I feel like Urban Fantasy has stagnated itself the same way High Fantasy did.

Fantasy in general seems like it's turning over a new leaf with authors like Rothfuss, Lynch, Abercrombie, etc. No trolls or elves to be found in that lot.

Also, I think all the paranormal YA that's out there flooding the markets has had an affect, too. Publishing runs in cycles and it kind of looks like UF's cycle is slowing down. (and given that YA has been trending more toward dystopias and the like for a while now, I wonder if we won't see a surge of similiar 'low scifi' stuff in the main genres soon.)

http://www.marthawells.com/writingguide.htm

^That's a good resource for beginning writers who are thinking about breaking into publishing.

But as for writing...it's the Ass in Chair method that will get you a novel. Brainstorm until you come up with an idea you love, then park your rear in your chair and see where your idea takes you. There's a popular saying that your first mumbletythousand words will be crap, which is true, so just keep plugging away and eventually you'll get to the good stuff. (another rule of thumb - your first draft is NEVER good. revise, revise, revise.)