I’m sort of a disaster at writing girls. Not that I can’t write them, I just… don’t. I think the default character in my head is male. It’s weird actually, because my head certainly doesn’t default when it comes to race* or sexuality**.
Anyway. Boys. Maybe it’s because in my formative years (well, formative writing years) I was surrounded by adolescent boys (for whatever reason most of my friends are guys), so that’s just what ends up on the page. Or maybe it’s because writing girls feels like I’m writing about myself. Or maybe it’s because I’m afraid that I might have ridiculous stereotypes about girls in my head and I do not want to perpetuate them in fiction.
I don’t think it’s actually any of those (although the first is most likely). But then, I don’t have a better explanation. Maybe I just think boys are interesting because I’m not one.
I feel kind of badly about the whole thing though because there are so many more books about boys than there are about girls. Shouldn’t I be sticking up for my gender by writing kick-ass girls? I mean, I think the girls I do write are kind of fabulous. There just aren’t enough of them.
Maybe when I’m creating characters I should flip a coin to determine their gender. Although now I think of it, a coin seems kind of limiting. Roll a die? So… it’s a four and they’re a cisgendered boy who likes girls but enjoys checking out guys at the beach? Maybe it should be a D20. Or a random number generator. Or a deck of cards.
I wrote a story based on a deck of cards once. It was a high stakes romance melodrama. And it was entirely ludicrous. Now I’m wondering about my propensity for writing melodrama whenever I’m pushed into a corner by something.
Perhaps I should just stop analysing my writing, it is only making me question my sanity and that rarely ends well.
* Although, because I tend not to describe my characters and fantasy race/culture is different I don’t think that fact is apparent anywhere but in my head.
** Well, maybe I default a bit with sexuality. I think I tend to think everyone is pansexual until I find out differently. Is that weird?
Kandace Mavrick
Paul McLaughlan
djkeyserv140
22/08/2012
I am sure everyone has a ‘default’ when it comes to characterising. A lot of the stuff I have drafted or what goes through my head for the characters seems extremely formal… whether that was the case in the real world situation is another story.
Maybe I should dedicate one of my strong leading ladies to you?
Kandace Mavrick
23/08/2012
Well I’m all for more strong leading ladies 🙂
djkeyserv140
23/08/2012
Good stuff. Do you have a preference for one of the ‘good’ leading ladies, or one of the ‘bad’ ones?
Kandace Mavrick
23/08/2012
Oh that’s a hard question. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ are such definitive terms. I tend to prefer my characters a murky grey 😛 Got anything in morally dubious?
djkeyserv140
23/08/2012
The ‘good’ girls are plain old goody-2-shoes, but the ‘bad’ girls are ambiguous. The guys on both sides are ambiguous, because it’s easier for them to be =)
Kandace Mavrick
23/08/2012
Ahh. Bad girls for the win, then 🙂
djkeyserv140
23/08/2012
Very well. The main ‘bad’ girl will be dedicated to the wife, so you can have my second ‘bad’ girl. Her introductory chapter got rave reviews from everyon =)
Kandace Mavrick
24/08/2012
Awesome 🙂
Sassamifrass (@sassamifrass)
23/08/2012
This is why my new job is confusing me. I’m used to socialising and working with 90% male groups, but this new place is 90% female! Turns out, girls are pretty cool, I have discovered!
Kandace Mavrick
23/08/2012
I have noticed this about girls too! I’ve also been told that we outnumber guys on the planet. You could not prove this by looking at my social circles though…
Terios
11/09/2012
I would ask what pansexual is but suspect I shouldn’t for some reason. I supppose I’ll look it up on wikipedia
Kandace Mavrick
11/09/2012
Pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender. And there’s no reason I can think of that you shouldn’t ask questions like that.