Here's something that has always fascinated me: authors writing from the perspective of the opposite sex. When you're a man, writing from the viewpoint of a woman takes a little work, and when you're a woman writing from the viewpoint of a man, the same thing applies. Rainy Kaye, author of Summoned - a New Adult paranormal adventure/romance - did exactly that. With her newest novel, she had to get inside the head of her male protagonist, Dimitri. Check out what Rainy had to say about penning tales from a male point of view, and make sure you add her book to your reading pile!
Rainy Kaye:
3 Tips on Writing From a Male POV as a Female Author
It never occurred to me that writing as a male character should be difficult until people asked about it. Then again, I do have a tendency to be pretty clueless.
Those people were usually female writers trying to figure out their own fictional guys. To be fair, my long time interest--and then career path--in IT probably laid the groundwork, and not just for insanity. I've worked in groups that they would have been less surprised for a unicorn to show up instead of a female tech.
We aren't such an anomaly anymore, but I do tend to have quite a few more male acquaintances than female.
Maybe there is some connection between that and why I don't stick to just female protagonists. So I set to work trying to narrow down how to write a male character without resorting to stock frat boys.
Observations. While I am by no means implying men only know primary colors, their box of crayons often end at sixteen instead of twenty-four. Same goes for other descriptions, such as scent. In SUMMONED, Dimitri mentions how Syd smells of coconut. It becomes part of her identity to him. If she changed it up, I would expect him to balk that she smells like flowers, but he probably wouldn't identify it as honeysuckle.
Women. I think women often look at other women differently than a man does--besides for the obvious reasons. Women notice how other women wear their hair, their makeup, their shoes. I've known a scary amount of women who discuss other women's pedicures from a safe, judgmental distance. Gross, right? Men, on the other hand, seem to go for the complete package: if she looks put together, high-maintenance, cracked out, etc. In SUMMONED, Dimitri spends some narrative time on describing Syd, but she intrigues him. The other females around him are analyzed on what their looks convey.
This
isn't to say all men are created the same. There certainly are men who upgraded
to the big set of crayons, and ones who like to pose what-if scenarios. Just
like with female characters, it's important to know who your fictional guy is
and what makes him tick, and that might include him being able to distinguish
patchouli and sandalwood incense.
But the
one aspect of writing male characters that I've been asked about the most is *love scenes. SUMMONED contains quite a few explicit scenes, all from Dimitri's
perspective. I can't say I approached it any differently than if he were
female, except being the fly instead of the fly trap.
Perhaps
the real difficulty in writing male characters stems not from understanding how
they are different from females, but by not acknowledging how much they are the
same.
Synopsis for Summoned:
Twenty-three year old Dimitri has to do what he is
told—literally. Controlled by a paranormal bond, he is forced to use his wits
to fulfill unlimited deadly wishes made by multimillionaire Karl Walker.
Dimitri has no idea how his family line became trapped in
the genie bond. He just knows resisting has never ended well. When he meets
Syd—assertive, sexy, intelligent Syd—he becomes determined to make her his own.
Except Karl has ensured Dimitri can't tell anyone about the bond, and Syd isn't
the type to tolerate secrets.
Then Karl starts sending him away on back-to-back wishes.
Unable to balance love and lies, Dimitri sets out to uncover Karl's ultimate
plan and put it to an end. But doing so forces him to confront the one wish he
never saw coming—the wish that will destroy him.
A dark twist on the genie folklore, SUMMONED follows a
reluctant criminal as he unravels the mystery of the paranormal bond
controlling him.
Summoned is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA.
Find out more HERE.
About the Author
Rainy Kaye is an aspiring overlord. In the mean time, she blogs at RainyoftheDark.com and writes paranormal novels from her lair somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona. When not plotting world domination, she enjoys getting lost around the globe, studying music so she can sing along with symphonic metal bands, and becoming distracted by Twitter (@rainyofthedark). She is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA.
Author Links:
Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Cover Design: Kris Wagner | Cover Model | Photographer | GoodReads | BookLikes | Website
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I'm currently writing an MG from a male POV and I agree that often female writers refuse to acknowledge the similarities between men and women. Jupiter has a crush, has friends, secrets, parents who care about him...these things are no different than what a female character in his place would have. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the male POV and your book which sounds awesome by the away. Also that cover is an amazing sight to behold.
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