Flip the script!

[VerbalAbuse]

The 3p narrator doesn't seem to be gendered, but the story certainly follows the male protag's POV and presents his experience.

yes, I've read the story. As I said, I sensed no gender identity in the text -- it's quite neutral.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I did not get any male voice/perspective in this one. Most of it is 3P, and lacking gender distinctness.
Is that a word?

Try this one, it’s male first person:

Trussed & Trustability

 

[VerbalAbuse]

Try this one, it’s male first person:

Trussed & Trustability

The OP was asking about writing in the voice or perspective of the other gender, but it’s not entirely clear whether, according to the OP, that voice has to be believable or authentic. Maybe the OP was simply asking whether it’s done at all, no matter how badly.

The story you have here is fairly short.

If the only issue is whether females do actually or occasionally write male POVs, then the answer must be yes -- we’ll take the author’s claim to be female at face value.

Whether the voice in the story is believably masculine is harder to answer. The story is short and does not tackle a broad range of situations, which makes it difficult to decide.

Yes, there are plenty of strange word choices. Yes, the voice is not convincingly masculine. I’d say it’s neutral -- maybe?

After a first read, I would not presume to know the gender of the writer. That might change with subsequent reads.
Right now, if somebody claimed the story was written by a male, I would not want to argue against it. I’d just leave it at that.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The story you have here is fairly short.

Yeah - I think I’ve only written relatively short stories in male voice (or chapters in longer stories).

For example, in While There is Hope (over 30,000 words), there are three different narrators. One female (Hope) one male (Bill) and a flashback chapter written 3P but focusing on the experience of a second woman. Bill narrates more than anyone else though.

 

[Britva415]

yes, I've read the story. As I said, I sensed no gender identity in the text -- it's quite neutral.

You didn't perceive the protagonist as male/masculine? I'm not trying to play "gotcha," I'm genuinely not sure whether you mean this or something else.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The 3p narrator doesn't seem to be gendered, but the story certainly follows the male protag's POV and presents his experience.

Both were my intent, FWIW.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

You didn't perceive the protagonist as male/masculine? I'm not trying to play "gotcha," I'm genuinely not sure whether you mean this or something else.

that's what I said.

 

[Husky_Embrace]

Is it very masculine of me to ask the question; how much does it matter?

I was writing a story where the female protagonist is trying to have the mental upper hand. The talks, the flirtations and the sex are all just the places where they do battle. Although we don't see his perspective, the guy is playing the same game.

Obviously there's some differences between a male and a female approach. We can approach it from a very feminine or masculine perspective, but in my experience this isn't necessity. If the person has certain well defined motives, you don't need much of a male or female perspective to colour in the details. Either side might struggle for power, or recognition. Those are easily fulfilled by ideas where gender doesn't or hardly features.

Is that a masculine thought? I'm truly asking.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I'm a cishet male, and my most recent story is 1P, male narrator. I received this anonymous comment:

Why are both characters written like women, and all their dialogue sounds like two women talking?

So, y' know. Ooops, I guess? Is that a script-flip, or a counter-flip?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm a cishet male, and my most recent story is 1P, male narrator. I received this anonymous comment:

So, y' know. Ooops, I guess? Is that a script-flip, or a counter-flip?

It’s almost as if writers can create characters - even first person narrators - who have their own ‘life.’ I mean I’m the queen of authorial insertion, but I can write people who are not at all like me (personality, gender, sexuality, nationality) if I try. That’s what we do as writers, right?

 

[EmilyMiller]

It’s almost as if writers can create characters - even first person narrators - who have their own ‘life.’ I mean I’m the queen of authorial insertion, but I can write people who are not at all like me (personality, gender, sexuality, nationality) if I try. That’s what we do as writers, right?

For example, @Djmac1031 created the delightful Cozbi the human turned she-demon. She’s has a very distinctive personality that is nothing like mine, but I can and have written her with DJ saying that I did it almost as well as him. Same for her ex-boss and arch-nemesis Asmodeus. It’s almost like we have abilities with the written word.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Thinking more about this, and returning to a point I made at the beginning. One of my most memorable characters is a telepathic, shape-shifting, male space-octopus. Imagination and empathy and observation are your friends.

 

[Djmac1031]

She’s has a very distinctive personality that is nothing like mine,

She's nothing like me, either. And yet I've never had a reader say she didn't "sound female."

Im a little lost / confused on what the debate is here, really. Men write from a woman's perspective sometimes. Women write from a man's perspective sometimes.

Ive seen plenty of authors do it well. Maybe the numbers are skewed here because I'd bet there's more male authors here than female. But that says nothing about whether women can write men realistically.

I suppose its really just a story by story judgement. You cant just make some blanket statement about who writes a different gender better IMO.

 

[EmilyMiller]

She's nothing like me, either. And yet I've never had a reader say she didn't "sound female."

You mean male writers don’t get people questioning them about shit like that ?

 

[Djmac1031]

You mean male writers don’t get people questioning them about shit like that ?

Hmm, wonder why that could be?

 

[YmaOHyd]

You mean male writers don’t get people questioning them about shit like that ?

No, they just get "oh look she's breasting boobily" whenever they write a female character

 

[Djmac1031]

oh look she's breasting boobily

"Just see those big breasts boobiling,
tube top tightily too
(nipple ring a-ling-a ding-dong-ding!)
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a stretched out sweater on you..."

 

[pink_silk_glove]

You mean male writers don’t get people questioning them about shit like that

You see this in chat every few weeks. Someone (on a female account) will drop into a room and spout of some totally slutty idea, fantasy or 'real life' story about themself and it's OBVIOUSLY a complete blatant male fantasy. Certainly there's 1% chance that this is a girl actually wanting something that usually only guys lust after, but I've seen this several times and 99% of several means that these are a bunch of guys pretending to be women online, spouting their male fantasies. And every time, 3 or 4 or 5 guys eat it up hook line and sinker. "Yea?? So hot!! Tell me more!!" and if I do an eyeroll in the room (which I've only done once or twice), or if I ask the "girl" to please respect the chat rules and take the story to PM and not spam the room with scroll, I get attacked - not only by the "girl" but the 3 or 4 or 5 horny lap dogs that have fallen for "her". And not once do I ever blow "her cover". I never say, "You guys do realize that this is a dude, right?" I just politely ask to stop the spam and then I get jumped on.

On the other hand, over the years there have been a half-dozen times where I have turned down a guy's request to chat play with me and then have him accuse me of being a guy. (eyeroll) It's like a guy hitting on a girl in a bar and when she says no he convinces himself that she's a dyke.

Guys can been reeeaaalllly stoopid when all the blood leaves their brains for their penises. I'm not trying to bash men, just speaking from experience.

 

[SimonDoom]

I wouldn't say flipping the script is "more rewarding" than writing from one's own perspective, or reading a story written from the author's own gender perspective, but it is rewarding, on both fronts, and I strongly encourage every author to try it. I've done this a few times, and I've been satisfied by the results and for the most part my readers have as well.

I don't think you need any special insight as an author to write from the perspective of another gender. Just some empathy and imagination, starting from the principle that we're all people.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I wouldn't say flipping the script is "more rewarding" than writing from one's own perspective, or reading a story written from the author's own gender perspective, but it is rewarding, on both fronts, and I strongly encourage every author to try it. I've done this a few times, and I've been satisfied by the results and for the most part my readers have as well.

I don't think you need any special insight as an author to write from the perspective of another gender. Just some empathy and imagination, starting from the principle that we're all people.

For sure. I'm working on a story now from the POV of a woman who's an addict and near-suicidal. Writing her as a woman doesn't... I dunno, it doesn't seem that bad. I mean, writing about what it feels like when something goes in 'my' vagina isn't easy because I ain't got one of those, but that's fine. Writing her as an addict, writing her as someone who's teetering on the raggedy edge of ending it -- that shit's hard, and it would be whether she was a white male from a big city in the eastern US or a Japanese woman from a rural town on Hokkaido or a Klingon enby manifestation of Kahless or a half-dwarf-half-elf raised by gnomes to be a healer in the Four Lands.

 

[Husky_Embrace]

You see this in chat every few weeks. Someone (on a female account) will drop into a room and spout of some totally slutty idea, fantasy or 'real life' story about themself and it's OBVIOUSLY a complete blatant male fantasy.

What!? No way that free use woman that has now convinced her friends, family and female roommates, everyone smoking hot with big boobs, to also become free use is actually a man!

That woman who just told of her sexual encounter with the male stand in of how a male hopes they are physically and in bed must be right!

How can she be fake if she's offering to message her, give her likes, and hints that she's open to fuck people on Lit?

If it is truly a man, which obviously it isn't, they must be incredibly in tune with how a woman are. Secretly sexually promiscuous and hot for me.

Guys can been reeeaaalllly stoopid when all the blood leaves their brains for their penises. I'm not trying to bash men, just speaking from experience.

For so little blood as it often is, it is surprising it makes a difference.