Some thoughts on perspective...

 I am very aware that the majority of characters in my most recent WIP are female. I didn’t plan it that way- it just sort of happened. The fighter, the thinker, the puzzle solver, the helper, the decision maker, the caregiver, the villain- all female and all perceptive, thoughtful and clever. I suppose that is good in terms of developing strong female leads in YA fiction, but part of me is wondering if I am writing these characters because they are the characters I am comfortable with, the characters I understand, have experienced and seen in my everyday life and actually, the reason why  I haven’t created a male version of them is because I don’t actually know what a male version of them would actually be like.  I can’t create an honest portrayal of them because I don’t really, accurately know what men think and feel, I don’t know their shared experiences, so I am subconsciously avoiding it entirely. 

Then it got me wondering, can we ever truly and successfully write from the perspective of the opposite sex without having experienced what it is like?

I thought back to books where I remember feeling distinctly irritated by a male writer’s portrayal of a female character (I am sorry George R.R. Martin but I am not always hyper aware of my breasts- they are just kind of there and I don’t think about them most of the time!), and when I tried to think about female writer’s portrayals of male characters or stories written from their point of view, I couldn’t remember if I questioned how realistic and true their thoughts and feelings were because, ultimately, I haven’t really got a clue how a man thinks. I can guess. I can use models of the men in my life and try to fit their reactions to things into the portrayals I am being given, but I have no idea if it matches their inner thoughts and desires, the parts of us we keep hidden. Maybe men do think that way, maybe they don’t. Maybe that is a typical experience for a man, maybe it isn’t. I wouldn’t know.

I write female characters because I can relate to them, and I guess there is nothing wrong with that, but I would love to hear of any novels or books where writers have written from the perspective of a member of the opposite sex and have done it in a relatable, believable and realistic way. Let me know of any suggestions you might have in the comment box below.