Last weekend a female friend of mine who’s currently querying her latest work asked me to glance over the first few pages of a follow-up story. It’s a typical romance, so of course there’s a man and a woman as typical romance novels have. At one point, the man does something completely out of character for most men (way out there on the anti-macho-meter). I had to blow the *unbelievable penalty * whistle. I talked to her about the character for probably 20 minutes and poof! – new understanding. Either she needed to write a bit more of why this character broke the stereotypical male or she needed to fix his thoughts and actions. I gave my suggestions, she did her thing, and illusion is believable again.

I do exactly the same for my female characters. In fact, to be sure I have it “right” I have 3 female critique partners who help go over the women in my stories.

Ya learn allot that way!

1. Your Mom
2. Your Aunt(s)
3. Your Grandma(s)
4. Your Sister(s)
5. Your Niece(s)
6. [e.g.] Your Class Teacher (if female)
7. Your Physician (if female)
8. Your Attorney (if female)
9. Your Pastor (if female) or your Pastor’s wife
10. [e.g.] Your Step-mother
11. And, of course, your wife or girlfriend!

. . . Gabriel, the list is endless.

Watch them every time you see them. Study them. Look beyond the facade of those lipsticks, those mascaras, those rouges, those eyeshadows, those eyeliners, etc., and you will see a lot through the eyes of your imagination. From them, you can build your female characters.

If Mr. Sheldon (of blessed memory) was able to do it, you must tell yourself that you CAN do it, too.

It is as simple as that.

Best wishes!

One might look up _Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus_ on Amazon. Electronics are available, at least as a CD. While the “philosophy” might not be “true”, it has enough workability to make gender switches a lot easier.

Maybe the most entertaining part of this for me is when I’ve created and written parts for a female character and I bounce my ideas off my wife. If I can pass her critical test, I know I’m on the right track. She’ll tell me right away if dialog, actions, mannerisms and so forth don’t feel quite right.

So I say, find someone who can guide you in the right direction - a writing group (like Lois and Richard noted, above), friend of said sex, nationality, religion, etc. and ask them about their ideas.

It might be tough to find a Martian to interview, but everyone has a creepy neighbor or co-worker they can model their Martian after, right?

I think that writing from the other gender can add more interest to the character anyway - giving a woman “male” characteristics isn’t necessarily bad. She could end up having more depth than a “normal” woman (whatever that is!) and that is the point of fiction! Escape from reality.

Once in a while I’ll ask my husband how a man would react in certain situation since I’m sure it would be different than a woman (like if a man receives really bad news, what would he feel? How does a man in shock differ from a woman in shock? How would his body respond? Stuff like that).

“Funny enough I find it easier to create male characters than female (I’m a woman by the way… I know Morgan can be a man’s name lol).”

I’ve encountered this problem myself and also heard similar stories from other female writers. I suppose the reason for that is that the mainstream media is bombarding us as casual viewers with well written male characters, while female characters are more often than not reduced to stereotypes. So naturally even we as women are or at least feel like we are more familiar with how men would react than it is with other women.