But I can't think like a boy!
Okay, a bit of an observation, a bit of a rant, and hell, if anyone wants to learn anything from me, maybe a bit of a lesson. Otherwise, well, don't look under the cut, because it's not for you.
In my experience, a lot of writers, male and female, balk at writing the opposite sex because they have this idea that they don't know how they think, or how they act when they're on their own. How can I write one?! The flip side of this is from readers who think, girls can't write about guys (I see this more often than the reverse, oddly); they end up writing girls with dicks! And all of this is premised on the idea that there is one set of behaviors and dynamics for women, one for men, and ne'er the twain shall meet.
I call bullshit.
Have you ever written a character who wasn't, more or less, you? Now, I know for some people the answer to this will be no. Whether or not they admit it, a lot of people more or less write themselves again and again and again--or at least, they write people they sympathize with, and so those people have aspects of themselves, and qualities that they respect in others. If you can't write someone who isn't you, and you have been conditioned culturally with a set of values and personality traits that, yes, culturally, you identify as masculine or feminine, then yes, other people from within your culture will probably feel that you are only writing women, or only writing men.
But this isn't an issue of hardware. Women and men are not mammoth blocs of homogeneous thought and emotion. Women are not all like other women. Men are not like other men. I would probably, personally, have a harder time writing a very religious, family minded, self-sacrificing older women than I would have an immature, snarky, repressive young man.
Three guesses why?
Ding ding ding! If you said, because I'm more comfortable thinking like an immature, repressive, snarky person than a religious, family oriented, altruistic person. Those personality traits come first, gender second. And gender, is always, always tied to culture. Just because I can write like an American woman, that doesn't mean I can write like a Japanese woman. The different experiences of our female roles in society are so vastly different, that our shared gender ain't bridgin' the gap. On the other hand, I could probably slip into an English or Australian woman with relative ease (once I picked up the speech foibles) because of our greatly shared anglophonic culture. Are there differences? Sure. But the affect my gender has had on me is substantially more similar than the Japanese woman would have experienced, or someone from South Africa would have experienced, or someone from Iran would have experienced.
Because if I'm doing that? I'm still... mostly writing myself.
If you can write a Japanese schoolgirl, or a Roman warrior, or an alien, or an elf, or a browncoat, or whatever, then you can get out of yourself enough to write the opposite sex. Now, you realize, you are writing a person who is not you, or a projection of what you like or sympathize with. You know, like a real person, your characters will probably (and definitely should) have some characteristics you like, some you don't like, and some you're indifferent to. But you're going to think about all of those things when you write them. Not just "I'm writing a guy" or "I'm writing a girl." What does this person do? What do they like? What do these things mean to them? What do they mean within that character's culture? What does gender mean to that character's culture--not your own.
If he traditionally masculine within his world? What does that mean? What traits make up masculinity on Europa? Do men on his world cry freely and wear togas? Or is a single tear a damning sign of weakness. Is stoicism valued in men? In women? In general?
And when you read, do you look at a culture and think, they're all women? They're all men? They're unbelievable to me because men have different dynamics or women have different emotional reactions, or hermaphrodites only masturbate after eating cheese on a Tuesday! And what do all these examples have in common? They're all projections of your own expectations, and they're all arbitrary. You might be right, if it's within the context of a world, or culture, or canon. They are not universal.
Also remember that even within a culture, there will be people who conform more or less well with the expected conformation of masculine or feminine.
So if you can't write a boy because you're a girl, then honestly, the problem isn't your biology. It's your creativity, and your commitment to writing someone who isn't you.
And if you disagree? Well, good for you. This is all based on my experience in fiction writing classes, and talking to other authors (in fandom and out) and the thing that all of the people who wrote cross gendered characters well in my humble opinion was that they didn't make the first line of definition of any character their gender. Because aren't characters much more than that?
In my experience, a lot of writers, male and female, balk at writing the opposite sex because they have this idea that they don't know how they think, or how they act when they're on their own. How can I write one?! The flip side of this is from readers who think, girls can't write about guys (I see this more often than the reverse, oddly); they end up writing girls with dicks! And all of this is premised on the idea that there is one set of behaviors and dynamics for women, one for men, and ne'er the twain shall meet.
I call bullshit.
Have you ever written a character who wasn't, more or less, you? Now, I know for some people the answer to this will be no. Whether or not they admit it, a lot of people more or less write themselves again and again and again--or at least, they write people they sympathize with, and so those people have aspects of themselves, and qualities that they respect in others. If you can't write someone who isn't you, and you have been conditioned culturally with a set of values and personality traits that, yes, culturally, you identify as masculine or feminine, then yes, other people from within your culture will probably feel that you are only writing women, or only writing men.
But this isn't an issue of hardware. Women and men are not mammoth blocs of homogeneous thought and emotion. Women are not all like other women. Men are not like other men. I would probably, personally, have a harder time writing a very religious, family minded, self-sacrificing older women than I would have an immature, snarky, repressive young man.
Three guesses why?
Ding ding ding! If you said, because I'm more comfortable thinking like an immature, repressive, snarky person than a religious, family oriented, altruistic person. Those personality traits come first, gender second. And gender, is always, always tied to culture. Just because I can write like an American woman, that doesn't mean I can write like a Japanese woman. The different experiences of our female roles in society are so vastly different, that our shared gender ain't bridgin' the gap. On the other hand, I could probably slip into an English or Australian woman with relative ease (once I picked up the speech foibles) because of our greatly shared anglophonic culture. Are there differences? Sure. But the affect my gender has had on me is substantially more similar than the Japanese woman would have experienced, or someone from South Africa would have experienced, or someone from Iran would have experienced.
Because if I'm doing that? I'm still... mostly writing myself.
If you can write a Japanese schoolgirl, or a Roman warrior, or an alien, or an elf, or a browncoat, or whatever, then you can get out of yourself enough to write the opposite sex. Now, you realize, you are writing a person who is not you, or a projection of what you like or sympathize with. You know, like a real person, your characters will probably (and definitely should) have some characteristics you like, some you don't like, and some you're indifferent to. But you're going to think about all of those things when you write them. Not just "I'm writing a guy" or "I'm writing a girl." What does this person do? What do they like? What do these things mean to them? What do they mean within that character's culture? What does gender mean to that character's culture--not your own.
If he traditionally masculine within his world? What does that mean? What traits make up masculinity on Europa? Do men on his world cry freely and wear togas? Or is a single tear a damning sign of weakness. Is stoicism valued in men? In women? In general?
And when you read, do you look at a culture and think, they're all women? They're all men? They're unbelievable to me because men have different dynamics or women have different emotional reactions, or hermaphrodites only masturbate after eating cheese on a Tuesday! And what do all these examples have in common? They're all projections of your own expectations, and they're all arbitrary. You might be right, if it's within the context of a world, or culture, or canon. They are not universal.
Also remember that even within a culture, there will be people who conform more or less well with the expected conformation of masculine or feminine.
So if you can't write a boy because you're a girl, then honestly, the problem isn't your biology. It's your creativity, and your commitment to writing someone who isn't you.
And if you disagree? Well, good for you. This is all based on my experience in fiction writing classes, and talking to other authors (in fandom and out) and the thing that all of the people who wrote cross gendered characters well in my humble opinion was that they didn't make the first line of definition of any character their gender. Because aren't characters much more than that?