maestrowork said:
My other question is: What makes writing "masculine" or "feminine"? Granted, it depends on the genres -- mystery, for example, seem to always lean toward "masculine" writing and romance/love story seem to have feminine quality.
This is an interesting discussion. I'm co-writing a book for women readers in a traditionally male-oriented genre--thriller. I think there are women out there who would like a action-adventure thriller written for them. Over the course of it, I've really learned a lot about the differences in how it plays out in the story--particularly since I have an all male critique group.
The biggest difference between the two types of books is that the women's book is strongly focused on the relationships. Romance is a natural fit since that's what the story is about. Mystery, however, has a number of books that are obviously for women. There's a small town series that's about the amateur detective's relationships with all the people and that's how she solves the crimes; a needlepoint mystery series where they have socializing in the needlepoint store. There's also a fantasy series where the heroine cares greatly for her people, enough to sacrifice her own success to help--and never consummate a love relationship for the same reason. The men's books seem to focus more on the events or the "toys." The ones I see in my genre are about politics or the military or technology.
Structure also varies. In a lot of the guy books in my genre, it starts out with the hero going into fix something. In a lot of the women-oriented books, something happens and the women gets involved. I look at suspense, and nearly all of those books start out with a woman character who gets sucked into a situation because of something that happens to her. In a serial killer book, she might get involved because she's the next victim. In a more traditional male-oriented book, the hero is a detective trying to catch the guy--fix the problem.
Even word choices make a difference for the genders. Our book is set during the Civil War. If we use a male POV, we do mention the type of gun when appropriate and whether it's a pistol or revolver. But if it's the heroine's POV, it's a gun, plain and simple. The women readers we're targeting aren't going to care if it's a Pinfire, a Pettingill, a pistol, or a revolver--it looks like a gun and acts like a gun, so it's a gun. The word choices haven't worked well for all of the male members. Some of the wording specifically for women particularly offended one guy, and he reacted very hostilely (this was a person who huffed about why anyone would write a book for women).
Since it is during the Civil War, we talk about the clothes because those readers will expect it. "Dress-o-Babble." Not a lot (it's referenced maybe twice), but the readers will expect it. We even work the uniforms the soldiers wear for the same reason. I've seen very few male-oriented books that don't mention the characters were even wearing clothes.
Someone else mentioned Sue Grafton's books as crossing between the genders. I've always found her character far too masculine, as are the stories. But recently, a male reviewer declared that the latest book had gone to the girls--it seems Ms. Grafton mentioned make-up and clothes in the book (given how the books are, it's probably one or two lines with Kinsey's wry humor). Laurell K. Hamilton took flak on her books for mentioning the clothes, too.
