Right then, let’s have a proper chat about something that’s been rattling around my head for a while now, how us blokes write women in books.
Now, I’m no Shakespeare, but I’ve read enough to know that some male authors are proper struggling when it comes to putting a female character on the page. It’s like they’ve never actually talked to a woman before, which is a bit daft, isn't it?
First off, the biggest mistake lasses always point out is when a writer gets obsessed with body parts. You’ve probably seen the jokes online about women "breasting boobily" down the stairs—which is a real line someone actually wrote, believe it or not. It’s cringy stuff. Most women aren't walking around fascinated by their own anatomy or thinking about their chests during a normal conversation. If you wouldn't describe a lad by his love truncheon size the minute he walks in, you probably don’t need to do it for a woman either.
Another thing to watch out for is making 'em helpless. You don't want every woman in your story to be a "damsel in distress" who can’t do owt for herself. A lot of writers use women just as props to help the male lead find himself, which is a bit of a waste. George R.R. Martin, who wrote those Game of Thrones books, was once asked how he writes women so well, and he just said he writes them as people. Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many forget it. Give 'em a job they’re actually good at and let 'em make choices that actually move the plot along.
Now, some clever folks over at NYU did a study on this "male gaze" thing, and they found that in older novels, male authors were way more likely to focus on how a woman looks than what she’s actually doing. But here’s the kicker: research from Cornell shows that men are perfectly happy reading stories with a female lead. The publishers might think we only want to read about blokes, but that’s just not true—we just want a good story.
So, how do you get it right?
- Don't substitute looks for personality. Just because she's got "black and long and silken hair" doesn't mean she's an interesting character.
- Avoid the "perky" best friend or "femme fatale" tropes. They're a bit tired now, aren't they?
- Write the human first. We've all felt love, grief, and anger by the time we're ten years old.
- Get a "sensitivity reader" or a female beta reader. If you’re not sure if you’ve written something daft about how a woman thinks or how her body works, just ask one. My own wife is usually the first to tell me when I'm talking rubbish, and it’s the same with writing.
There are plenty of men who’ve done a cracking job. Folks mention Tolstoy or even DH Lawrence (a local lad, mind you!) as being underrated for how they write women. More recently, authors like Kazuo Ishiguro or Roddy Doyle have been praised for getting the female perspective right.
The long and short of it is: stop worrying about "lady things" and just write a complex, three-dimensional human being. If she feels like a real person with her own goals and flaws, you’re probably on the right track.
Anyway, that’s my two penn’orth. What do you lot think? Any male authors you reckon actually get it right, or are they all still "breasting boobily" about? Let me know in the comments.
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