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I showed my mother a few of my (original) stories lately, both to get her opinion as an english teacher, and to show her that I don't spend all my time on the internet reading pr0n. And her first reaction kind surprised me. She asked why I always seemed to write as a man. As in, my POV character was usually male, and usually an older male, too. This surprised me because I hadn't really noticed it before, but it does seem to be true.
So I'm wondering why that might be, and I got thinking. Musing under cut:
Thinking about it, my initial forays into writing were fanfiction, and it occurs to me that most things I write fanfic on, the real meaty characters were usually male. The likes of Bruce, Alfred, Snape, Vegeta, Javert, etc. So maybe that has something to do with it. Even the really cool female characters, like Lois or Selina, I tend to write about through the eyes of a man. I wonder if maybe that's because I wanted to show their worth to a man. I mean, I can write from a female POV. And I adore the female characters. But my baseline POV seems to be masculine. I think it just got to be a habit, one that carried over into my original fic.
On the other hand ... the role I fit into easiest, the mindset I find easiest to slip into, is that of the outsider, the alien. And in fiction, and popular perception, that seems to be a more masculine role than feminine. Women are perceived to be more social creatures, understanding instinctively social and emotional rules and cues, while men seem to be either more expected or more allowed to be clueless in this regard. (Except J'onn, but he cheats with telepathy). And I kinda feel for them, because all those bloody rules confuse the hell out of me. Going to an all-girl school, the way women seem to run things, if left to their own devices, just boggles me. And while I get that school is a unique environment and one that's hard for everyone, and that society is kinda necessary, I still think that being the outsider is both easier and harder, and the excuse of being a man might have come in handy. Any men in the audience, feel free to hit and/or re-educate me at this point.
The age thing is easier to understand. I've always gotten on better with adults that people my own age, and teenagers especially drive me wrong. I can't write or even read teenagers, usually. I like the roundness age gives to a character, the experience and realitive ease within themselves that older characters tend to have. It gives me a more stable base to look out of, to build on. Of course, that means I have to be able to fake actually having experience, but generally I can fake anything if it's not looked at too closely. Being an outsider is handy that way because looking in lets you see a lot of the patterns, and combining observation with personal experience and some imagination gives a reasonable facsimile of most things, I think.
What about you guys, those of you who write? What kind of POV do you find yourselves gravitating to, and why?
So I'm wondering why that might be, and I got thinking. Musing under cut:
Thinking about it, my initial forays into writing were fanfiction, and it occurs to me that most things I write fanfic on, the real meaty characters were usually male. The likes of Bruce, Alfred, Snape, Vegeta, Javert, etc. So maybe that has something to do with it. Even the really cool female characters, like Lois or Selina, I tend to write about through the eyes of a man. I wonder if maybe that's because I wanted to show their worth to a man. I mean, I can write from a female POV. And I adore the female characters. But my baseline POV seems to be masculine. I think it just got to be a habit, one that carried over into my original fic.
On the other hand ... the role I fit into easiest, the mindset I find easiest to slip into, is that of the outsider, the alien. And in fiction, and popular perception, that seems to be a more masculine role than feminine. Women are perceived to be more social creatures, understanding instinctively social and emotional rules and cues, while men seem to be either more expected or more allowed to be clueless in this regard. (Except J'onn, but he cheats with telepathy). And I kinda feel for them, because all those bloody rules confuse the hell out of me. Going to an all-girl school, the way women seem to run things, if left to their own devices, just boggles me. And while I get that school is a unique environment and one that's hard for everyone, and that society is kinda necessary, I still think that being the outsider is both easier and harder, and the excuse of being a man might have come in handy. Any men in the audience, feel free to hit and/or re-educate me at this point.
The age thing is easier to understand. I've always gotten on better with adults that people my own age, and teenagers especially drive me wrong. I can't write or even read teenagers, usually. I like the roundness age gives to a character, the experience and realitive ease within themselves that older characters tend to have. It gives me a more stable base to look out of, to build on. Of course, that means I have to be able to fake actually having experience, but generally I can fake anything if it's not looked at too closely. Being an outsider is handy that way because looking in lets you see a lot of the patterns, and combining observation with personal experience and some imagination gives a reasonable facsimile of most things, I think.
What about you guys, those of you who write? What kind of POV do you find yourselves gravitating to, and why?
