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Male POV "Hero" - Keeping male readers till middle?

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EnkelZ

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Current WIP has a male lead who is a sort of 'average' guy in the begining. He is never a wimp by any means. He's simply drifting in his life. By the end he's the manly hero who decides what he wants in life and goes for it.

My question is, will male readers stick with him till the middle of the book or do they need some sort of tank driving cop from the git-go?

Portions of the work are from his POV. He's just an average actor who's struggling with a troubled teen son from a prior marriage. He has a good relationship with his ex and is in a LTR with a woman who's hot (but the relationship is flat). In the first half there's a brief incident where the female lead doesn't realize he's there and she's running around in only a long denim shirt. There's also another male character and brief engine building talk.

I'm pretty sure that the women will stick with him through the character development phase (after all, he's smoking hot!).

I just started wondering if male readers will stick around until he man's up or do I need to throw something in to keep them interested?
 

Parametric

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Not all that thrilled with the gender stereotypes in this post, Enkel. I'm not sure whether I'm more weirded out by the idea that male readers have to be bribed with engines and women, or that female readers can be bought by the simple expedient of including attractive male characters.

This is just a crazy idea, mind you, but I hear that readers of all genders enjoy good writing, exciting scenes, compelling plots and well-drawn characters. I realise those are harder to write than half-naked women. :tongue
 

EnkelZ

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Not all that thrilled with the gender stereotypes in this post, Enkel. I'm not sure whether I'm more weirded out by the idea that male readers have to be bribed with engines and women, or that female readers can be bought by the simple expedient of including attractive male characters.

This is just a crazy idea, mind you, but I hear that readers of all genders enjoy good writing, exciting scenes, compelling plots and well-drawn characters. I realise those are harder to write than half-naked women. :tongue

I'll admit that the question is a product of my environment :)

I gew up in and live in an area where men don't actually read books. I can't say that I've ever known a man to be an avid reader (well, beyond techie programmer types who can delve into the guts of a programming language for days on end). I'm swaping chapters with a male author right now and the things he brings up have amazed me. Until then, I never really thought about differences between male and female readers before.

I can understand your objection. There is more to the book than described. The characters aren't stereotypical male/female roles and it is more dependent on characters/plot than cheap ploys. As an example, the engine building discussion was critical to the plot. First I wrote it to meet the plot needs, then I polished it up with details, but then I went over it again and tightened it up so that the eyes of non-mechanical types wouldn't glaze over.

My question about maintaining male readers came up while I was working on a scene where the male lead is dealing with his son's school and the idea of placing him into an alternative school system. It turned into an opportunity to explore both characters further... but then...

I started thinking about how all the male authors that I've read may have some similar types of character building.. their main male characters are always a cop or military hero to start with. That got me to wondering why that always happens. My guy's just an average struggling actor trying to be a good dad.

Finally, I have to admit that some male authors are very, very good authors who write very good books... but, I'll hit long sections that absolutely drag for me. Not because of bad writing, but because of the content.

But I appreciate your feedback :)
 

Lady Ice

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Just write an interesting character. Men aren't brain-dead.

If you want to read about manly men, read Mamet or Hemingway.
 

Jon Paul

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Enkelz,

Lady Ice's suggestion is a good one.

Male readers will follow an average guy, no matter how wimpy, if he acts like a guy. Make him believably male, even in the most unusual situations, and you won't lose readers.

By the way, a lot of us guys are "drifting through life," so you needn't worry about that being unrealistic. :D
 

gothicangel

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I'm pretty sure that the women will stick with him through the character development phase (after all, he's smoking hot!).

Not necessarily.

This girl needs a reason to keep reading, and being 'hot' isn't one of them. I need to be intrigued by a character. Does something happen in the 'character development phase?' Because if I don't find something to intrigue me in chapter one you've lost me.
 

Z0Marley

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Not necessarily.

This girl needs a reason to keep reading, and being 'hot' isn't one of them. I need to be intrigued by a character. Does something happen in the 'character development phase?' Because if I don't find something to intrigue me in chapter one you've lost me.
lol exactly.

He might be smoking hot, but this isn't a movie. It's a book. With words. I'd watch porn if I wanted a dull story with someone smoking hot, not read a book.
 

Madrye

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As long as the writing is great, the story is great and the characters are interesting and I care about them, then it doesn't matter if the guy is Rambo or not--unless I'm wanting to read an action-adventure type book. if that's not your genre, then men won't expect a macho MC. They'll just read it because they can relate and it's good.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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Just write me a good freakin story with interesting characters. They don't have to be macho, chest-pounding, testosterone dripping manly men.

And is the engine building talk necessary to the story? I think that would lose me. :)
 

Kalyke

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Are people as shallow as you seem to think? I have actually never considered whether "hotness" or knowing guy stuff is a pre-requisite for keeping an audience. I think the sorts of male characters I have enjoyed have been ones that are "regular guys" who are forced to behave dramatically or heroically. Indiana Jones types, or Black Hawk Down types. I was in the military among very macho characters, and frankly they were all fun and had their whimsical and even wimpy sides. I do know that males talk an awful lot about motors and things like cameras and computers, also sports. In building believable male characters, I tend to keep the rule to have them think often about either sex or neat-o electronic gadgets or whatever thing they are into.
 
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