Dear Slashers,

[stranj100]

I'm sorry, but this has been building for sometime and I have to get this off my chest.

When you are writing, please be aware of gender tone. I know something like 80-90% of slashers are female, but that is no excuse to write a guy like a bad facsimile of a female.  Men are doers not talkers. A recent study has shown men talk about 40-60% less then

Comments

[tmelange]

LMAO! You are fighting a losing battle. As a person who writes slash, I can say that I have no need for my stories to approximate reality, and I enjoy writing for my audience, which distinctly does *not* include males. LOL

But I found this really funny. There are some stories that do make me cringe -- my own included! *vbg* That's likely one of the reasons I don't like to interact with guys over the net. I always feel that I'll get EXACTLY this reaction, and it's so embarrassing. ;)

[stranj100]

It's not really about that. It's about OOC'ness and endless talking heads with know action. It urks me a lot. It doesn't take a lot of effort just more awareness. A little tweak here and there and suddenly the fic is more rounded. Personally, I think your fics are some of the best balanced fics around. You write a good mix of dialog, action and monologue.

[tmelange]

LOL, I really wasn't fishing for affirmation of my characterizations, though I really appreciate it and *try* to write halfway decent guys. But to tell you the truth, sometimes I read my own stuff (often, in fact) and say to myself, "No guy that I've ever known would do/say/think this." But I always let it go, because I know that I'm really just indulging myself in a fantasy.

In fact, I almost never write in a way that addresses the actual reality of being gay in today's society. I find that having to go through all the "coming out" stuff and the persecution and irrational hatred depresses me. I almost always write as if the option to be in a same sex relationship is a norm and a given.

So...I always write fantasy. And to the extent that I *try* to write decent, manly men, I also try to make them girl-friendly. LOL I let them scratch their balls on their own time. LOL

[stranj100]

Trust me it depresses me too. I'm all for a little male refinement that is why I firmly endorse the metrosexual movement. LOL

[tmelange]

Oh, what is PDA?

[wachey]

Public Displays of Affection

[tmelange]

Aha. And here I thought it meant Personal Data Assistant. Doh. ;)

[wachey]

Lol! It means that too! But not in this case :3

[wachey]

This is exactly what I'm worried about with my smm fic! Is there anything in particular I did wrong with the characters? Is there too much or too little of anything?

*worries*

[tmelange]

Amanda, I wouldn't worry too much about this. Are you *really* trying to write a story about two real life guys? We're talking guys in costumes, here, and isn't one preggers? Doh. How can you worry about what would happen in RL if two people were holding hands in public? I don't know about you, but I assume a unreal world in my fics -- and I'm happy about that.

[wachey]

Good point, I'm just worried I made Dick girly :3 but seeing as he's the one preggers, I can throw it off as hormones.

[stranj100]

That's what I did in my only mpreg fic. As a male, I'm strangely fascinated by mpreg.

[damos]

Hiya Stranj,

As a communication guy, I wanted to pop in and say that 99% of research (not that much of an exaggeration) shows that men actually do talk as much (if not more than) women. It is simply that men think that women talk more

[stranj100]

I was referring to an article I read a month or two back. There are probably qualifiers involved. I hadn't read the actual study. You know how news agencies like to generalize. It just goes to show, you find six studies saying one thing you'll find half a dozen refuting it.

[damos]

It just goes to show, you find six studies saying one thing you'll find half a dozen refuting it.
True, but in this case, it is something on the order of 63 or so studies showing men talking as much or more than women and 1 or 2 showing that men talk slightly less.

At any rate, individual differences are much more a predictor of talking habits than sex or gender (and a hurricane is just arriving at my house) so I'll stop there.

[cmar_wingnut]

I agree with just about all of this. To me, it's largely a matter of OOC - if a character, male or female, becomes unrecognizable, that's bad writing. I just want to see them doing things I can relate to the character.

Not that slash, or any romance, should be 100% realistic - but it should at least be believable. That's what I try to make my slash - it's certainly idealized, but hopefully still believably in character.

[stranj100]

My point exactly. When you start feminizing a male character you changing who they were when came to care for them. I try not change a character without reason, then when I try to use acts or events to help make it believable.