Last week, there was a great “Gender in YA” discussion going on over at Twitter (spearheaded by the talented Maureen Johnson, who them promptly disappeared so she could make her deadline). One of the things that came up quite quickly in the discussion is that many female writers feel uncomfortable writing a book from a male point of view. Women YA authors tend to stick with girls as their main characters because they understand girls better and can get into a girl’s perspective better.
What I am about to tell you may come as a shock: boys and girls have the same emotions. I think that when we remember this, we are set to write from either perspective. Sure, there is a fundamental difference in how boys and girls are hardwired, but when we strip each of us down to the core, we are the same.
Everyone knows what love feels like. Everyone knows what fear feels like. Hope, anger, frustration, anxiety, loneliness, despair, happiness, embarrassment, joy, nervousness, peace, contentment, betrayal, calm. We know what these things feel like, and when we grasp those emotions, we can write whomever we want.
While it is important to remember that boys have the same emotions as girls, it is equally important that they respond differently. That is where the difference in our writing needs to come in. But even more important to remember is that each boy will respond differently, just as each individual girl would respond differently to the same situation.
So while we need to remember that certain differences exist (ie: society has taught boys that it is not okay to cry in the movie theatre, so they probably won’t, while girls just might), we need to write each individual character as a separate entity, not just boy or girl. Frank might react much more violently to an oppressive father than Jim would, because they are different characters who have had different experiences.
So whether you are writing boys, girls, or rainbow-spotted unicorns, remember that they are people first (well, except for maybe the unicorn). Think of your characters as people first, regardless of gender, and you will write a more full character. And that’s what we want – great, full characters, regardless of their sex.
4 Comments
Very astute perception. I agree wholeheartedly. Although I have cried in a theatre before… then promptly found something raw and bloody to ingest to regain maleness. Nothing like feasting on the flesh of lesser beasts to re-institute manhood.
Is this also why we used to eat lesser beasts after we about peed ourself during horror movies? You had to regain maleness after being suck a wuss?
Fair enough. Though I will defend myself by saying manliness is not defined by being fearless, but by facing fear and overcoming it. So there :p
Touche’!