Random Nano thoughts
or 'I'm a boy I'm a boy I'm a boy I wish I was dead I'm a boy.'
You know how people, OK, male writers, say 'how do you write convincing female characters'? How the hell do you write convincing male characters?
Leaving aside the fact that I write male characters all the time, even straight ones (which is an issue for another time) without worrying about it. I have a male lead, in White City, and I didn't worry about him, although the fact that he was the Angel Gabriel did give me somewhere relatively solid to start.
And yet, I am worrying about this one. I'm worrying that there are parts of Being A Man that I ought to think about. Like he's going to be the opposite of the Man With Boobs. He's going to be a Woman Without Boobs. I feel like I ought to read up on and rewatch things with good male characters in. I do live in my culture and I know about the enormous gender imbalance in much of my cultural consumption, and it sounds totally ridiculous, but that's what I feel like I ought to do.
This entire thought is stupid. Partly because I know that the question is not worth answering. And not least because not being male, I wouldn't know what I was looking for. *facepalm*
So yes, I have finally decided that my Nanowrimo MC is male. It just sidesteps a whole load of issues I would've had to deal with if he had been female. Frinstance: would her femaleness have been part of what was wrong with her that meant she didn't fulfil the prophecy? What does that say about the cosmos' attitude to femaleness? Incidentally, it would've said absolutely nothing except that it was a handy, physical distinction where I can say at a glance this person has been born female, not male. Like eye colour and birthmarks and all the other things. But it looks like there's an issue there even to me even though it's my bloody cosmos, and if I'd done that I would've felt like I had to address it, and I can't be bothered, because it isn't about that.
All of which suggests that she damn well should be female and I should just not address it because it isn't about that and if making her female is going to be problematic I should do it rather than escape into having him be male instead, and I've been thinking about this too hard so I am putting my foot down and he is a boy, because I say so.
It would probably help if he had a name. It might help if I made a decision about the culture he's been born in so I can make an informed decision about his name.
Or, I could just wait until the first of November, toss a coin for the gender and see what the first name that comes to mind is. That would probably work just as well.
You know how people, OK, male writers, say 'how do you write convincing female characters'? How the hell do you write convincing male characters?
Leaving aside the fact that I write male characters all the time, even straight ones (which is an issue for another time) without worrying about it. I have a male lead, in White City, and I didn't worry about him, although the fact that he was the Angel Gabriel did give me somewhere relatively solid to start.
And yet, I am worrying about this one. I'm worrying that there are parts of Being A Man that I ought to think about. Like he's going to be the opposite of the Man With Boobs. He's going to be a Woman Without Boobs. I feel like I ought to read up on and rewatch things with good male characters in. I do live in my culture and I know about the enormous gender imbalance in much of my cultural consumption, and it sounds totally ridiculous, but that's what I feel like I ought to do.
This entire thought is stupid. Partly because I know that the question is not worth answering. And not least because not being male, I wouldn't know what I was looking for. *facepalm*
So yes, I have finally decided that my Nanowrimo MC is male. It just sidesteps a whole load of issues I would've had to deal with if he had been female. Frinstance: would her femaleness have been part of what was wrong with her that meant she didn't fulfil the prophecy? What does that say about the cosmos' attitude to femaleness? Incidentally, it would've said absolutely nothing except that it was a handy, physical distinction where I can say at a glance this person has been born female, not male. Like eye colour and birthmarks and all the other things. But it looks like there's an issue there even to me even though it's my bloody cosmos, and if I'd done that I would've felt like I had to address it, and I can't be bothered, because it isn't about that.
All of which suggests that she damn well should be female and I should just not address it because it isn't about that and if making her female is going to be problematic I should do it rather than escape into having him be male instead, and I've been thinking about this too hard so I am putting my foot down and he is a boy, because I say so.
It would probably help if he had a name. It might help if I made a decision about the culture he's been born in so I can make an informed decision about his name.
Or, I could just wait until the first of November, toss a coin for the gender and see what the first name that comes to mind is. That would probably work just as well.