More realistic women?

[EmilyMiller]

I definitely do this, but I don't know if it enhances realism or not. If I draw a young man character I imagine myself as a young man and add a few twists here and there. I don't know how realistic it seems. I never went through a wild, angry phase as a young person. I never acted that much like the stereotypical teenager.

I guess it’s more advanced to have each character’s dialog reflect stuff about them. I’ll get to that once I have the basics better sorted out

When I create a female character I try to imagine how I would act as a woman, minus the "My God, I have breasts!" reaction.

Maybe you should write that line in a new story - Kafka’s Metamorphosis

Emily

 

[SimonDoom]

Maybe you should write that line in a new story - Kafka’s Metamorphosis

Emily

I've thought about writing a transformation story. Man waking up as a woman. It could be interesting to add the age angle: middle-aged man wakes up as a young, hot woman.

 

[samhasstories]

I've thought about writing a transformation story. Man waking up as a woman. It could be interesting to add the age angle: middle-aged man wakes up as a young, hot woman.

They did the reverse in that Jumanji movie.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've thought about writing a transformation story. Man waking up as a woman. It could be interesting to add the age angle: middle-aged man wakes up as a young, hot woman.

I wrote young woman wakes up with an extra male appendage - and in bed next to a similarly endowed female friend.

It wasn’t exactly Kafka though

Emily

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'll just echo my friend @EmilyMiller (she so loves when I come in after her to say the same exact thing she just said)

It needed a man to properly explain what I meant of course

Emily

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

They did the reverse in that Jumanji movie.

How did Jack Black NOT get an Academy Award for that performance?

 

[Djmac1031]

It needed a man to properly explain what I meant of course

Emily

See? I knew you'd get it.

 

[Trionyx]

It is possible for a male to write a female character but there is no one simple method. I try to listen to women & read what women have written. It can pay off as in a comment noted below: (btw, I did not have any help.)

“Wow. Just, wow. You are either a woman or you had help. That was the best female character lead story I have read on here. Sweet Jesus.”

 

[EmilyMiller]

See? I knew you'd get it.

I benefit so much from your wisdom and experience (insert swoon emoji here)

Emily

 

[EmilyMiller]

It is possible for a male to write a female character but there is no one simple method. I try to listen to women & read what women have written. It can pay off as in a comment noted below: (btw, I did not have any help.)

“Wow. Just, wow. You are either a woman or you had help. That was the best female character lead story I have read on here. Sweet Jesus.”

Now was the comment from a man or a woman?

Emily

 

[countdowntolov3]

I've seen several men say, "I've never been told I write women the wrong way". But is that the kind of thing likely to be commented on, unless it is over the top ridiculous?

I'm wondering, because I am in the same boat. I have a few stories up here from a female POV, and have never been told I got it wrong, but I don't take that to mean I'm not getting it wrong.

Look, sometimes I'm reading along and I hit something that makes me stop, roll my eyes, and say, "Clearly, a man wrote this." Sometimes its's a weird way of describing a common women's lived experience. Sometimes is the sense that I'm watching the story through The Male Gaze. To be honest, I don't really know how accurate my man-detector is. It feels accurate. But, of course it does.

The point I want to make, though, is that it's the narration that reads "man" to me. Rarely the characters. When a female character does something unexpected in a story I don't think, "oh, a woman wouldn't walk home alone." What I instead think is, "oh, she's the kind of person who isn't afraid to walk home alone."

The observations in this thread that women and men think/act differently are correct... on average. But when writing a story with 5 characters in it, you are not writing the average women, you're writing a woman.

Hell, some women are Marines. I assure you I have less in common with any of them than I do with my coworker sitting in the cube across from me--even though he has something different between his legs.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Hell, some women are Marines. I assure you I have less in common with any of them than I do with my coworker sitting in the cube across from me--even though he has something different between his legs.

I think this is a very salient point.

Thanks for making it.

Emily

 

[nice90sguy]

Possession of a womb not something easily imagined by the wombless.

 

[Omenainen]

Possession of a womb not something easily imagined by the wombless.

It’s no harder than imagining a spleen.

What I find a little tedious is that oftentimes, the same people who say “oh I couldn’t possibly imagine what it is to be a woman!” are all okay writing about aliens, succubi, historical pieces, private detectives, whatever. And even women, because not many of them write exclusively gay male. Not that it was you, or the OP. Just something that contributes to my eye roll reaction when seeing these threads.

 

[SimonDoom]

It’s no harder than imagining a spleen.

What I find a little tedious is that oftentimes, the same people who say “oh I couldn’t possibly imagine what it is to be a woman!” are all okay writing about aliens, succubi, historical pieces, private detectives, whatever. And even women, because not many of them write exclusively gay male. Not that it was you, or the OP. Just something that contributes to my eye roll reaction when seeing these threads.

I could not agree more. There's no limit to the imagination.

I'm pissed at myself, by the way, for not getting a story submitted for the Pink Orchid event. I really wanted to. I was having a lot of fun inventing the two main female characters. But I've been a slug at writing lately. Late, I guess.

 

[nice90sguy]

It’s no harder than imagining a spleen

How many people do you know who are spleenless? Maybe you faiiled to see my point, presumably due to the eye-rolling.

 

[Omenainen]

How many people do you know who are spleenless? Maybe you faiiled to see my point, presumably due to the eye-rolling.

Why would you need to imagine a womb? If you’re going to write something in the vein of “my womb was aching for his seed” then it’s the sort of nonsense you can write whether you have one or not. It’s an internal organ. It doesn’t feel like anything.

 

[Omenainen]

I could not agree more. There's no limit to the imagination.

I'm pissed at myself, by the way, for not getting a story submitted for the Pink Orchid event. I really wanted to. I was having a lot of fun inventing the two main female characters. But I've been a slug at writing lately. Late, I guess.

There’s always next year. And it’s not like it’s against the site rules to post stories featuring sensical women outside the event

 

[nice90sguy]

Obviously, there's a massive overlap between genders. Men and women are obviously all people.
In a large number of stories, one can search/replace "John" with "Jane", and, aside from the physiological differnces, the behaviour and motivation of the character won't necessarily require a big rewrite.

But I think those stories aren't particularly interesting.

 

[Djmac1031]

And it’s not like it’s against the site rules to post stories featuring sensical women outside the event

I think in the majority of my stories the women characters are far more sensical than most of the men lol

 

[SimonDoom]

There’s always next year. And it’s not like it’s against the site rules to post stories featuring sensical women outside the event

Touche.

 

[nice90sguy]

Why would you need to imagine a womb? If you’re going to write something in the vein of “my womb was aching for his seed” then it’s the sort of nonsense you can write whether you have one or not. It’s an internal organ. It doesn’t feel like anything.

Ok. I was not making a point about wombs. I was making one about somthing else. I keep forgetting to spell things out.

How and why women cooperate, and converse, vs how men cooperate and converse. Not what they talk about, but how they talk. That's very gendered.
How women and men see danger, risk, security, approval, success. That's gendered too.
How women and men see commitment, threat, rivalry, affection, power. So is that.

The fact that procreation is, in some places, and among some cultures, no longer a prime directive, doesn't make those differnces go away.

Put simply, it comes down to sperm vs eggs.

 

[jehoram]

If any women would take some time to help the dudes here become better writers, I would personally appreciate that and I might not be the only one.

I agree with your premise and actually wrote an essay about that:

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-right-editor

I've had the enormous pleasure of having a female editor who gives me reality checks in my writing and lets me know when I'm on the right track emotionally. If you don't have one of those, at least have some literate beta readers that can do the same.

And it might help to put a post-script on your stories asking for comments from female readers.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

I've thought about writing a transformation story. Man waking up as a woman. It could be interesting to add the age angle: middle-aged man wakes up as a young, hot woman.

That would be awesome! An idea I'm sure nobody had before.

 

[Omenainen]

Ok. I was not making a point about wombs. I was making one about somthing else. I keep forgetting to spell things out.

How and why women cooperate, and converse, vs how men cooperate and converse. Not what they talk about, but how they talk. That's very gendered.
How women and men see danger, risk, security, approval, success. That's gendered too.
How women and men see commitment, threat, rivalry, affection, power. So is that.

The fact that procreation is, in some places, and among some cultures, no longer a prime directive, doesn't make those differnces go away.

Put simply, it comes down to sperm vs eggs.

And people who are older, younger, richer, poorer, more or less educated, more or less traveled, from different cultures, different ages, are different from you. Either you can imagine people who aren’t similar to you or you can’t. If you can, different gender isn’t that different. If you can’t, you can’t, and no “female helping hand” isn’t gonna change that.

There’s a whole lot of wish fulfillment stories here where people basically write themselves on the receiving end of their sexual fantasies. Nothing wrong with that.