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Science Fiction Authors Who Are Gender Benders




Authors Who Are Gender Benders



Now, this doesn’t mean we’re talking about authors who are following the path of say, David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust days, or Boy George, or any others who so excelled at the androgynous idea, either professionally, or personally, but rather about those authors who write stories where the main character is of the opposite sex.

You may wonder why this is even a big enough deal to be a topic here. Do enough authors even create hero characters of the opposite sex to worry enough about how to do it, right? Is it that hard a thing to do?

Well, all writers create characters of both genders in their stories, sooner or later. And more and more of late, authors are creating characters of a sex different than their own to act as the main character(s) in stories and novels.

There is currently even an anthology with this as its topic. It’s becoming now, if it hasn’t already been for some time, a very common thing. So yes, it is a pertinent subject, since we all seem to be doing it, and doing it more of late.

For instance, my own story out recently with Sonar 4 Magazine, entitled Serpent’s Caravan, features a young adult female in the leading role. The story is told from her point of view throughout. And trust me, that wasn’t as easy to do as I thought it would be. The same holds true for my time travel romance, Lost Echoes, where the hero is a young woman in Elizabethan England.

The reverse is also true. Many great women writers will create male characters for their lead roles in both novels and short stories. P.M. Griffin is a perfect example of this. She writes space operas with a male character as the main one. She does it very well. Andre Norton often did this, as did many others.

But despite the great number of authors that try this, the results often have a varying success rate. Not everyone was an Andre Norton or P.M. Griffin, for example. Why? Well, part of that answer, at least, should be obvious--it’s not always easy looking inside the mind of a woman if you are a man, and I don’t believe it’s much easier for a woman author to delve into what makes a man tick (although some women say that nothing does). If it were a simple thing, there wouldn’t be an endless stream of books gushing forth on the subject of how different men and women are, such as Dr. John Grays’ book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.

Let’s face it; the so-called Battle of the Sexes just wouldn’t be an issue if this weren’t true to some degree. But it is, at least for a lot of us. It’s just hard to get inside the mind of a member of the opposite sex, to understand them, fully to comprehend what motivates them, or to use an old expression--to be in simpatico with them. Yes, some may find this an easy process, but I’m not one of them, and I’m betting there are many fellow authors out there, of both genders that have the same problem.

So, when creating a main character of the opposite sex, many of us are gender challenged. Male authors will often create female characters that seem to lack depth in certain respects, and often are given male-type motivations and emotional responses without thought given to how a woman might approach a problem differently; respond to it in another way. Now sometimes, this may actually apply, this male-like response for a gutsy space-opera heroine, say, but most often not.

And women authors can make the same mistake; they can create male characters that are just not what a typical male reader would expect or want such a main character to be, to behave like. Women writers, in turn, can create a male character who will attempt to resolve problems the way they personally would, rather than as a man might. And that’s the real issue here, isn’t it--that is, to write what our readers will want to read? Demographics, even for authors, are an unpleasant fact.

I remember reading a great short story written by a woman author who shall be nameless. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but there was a problem for me. The lead characters were male twins, one of each in their own parallel universe, and to me they came across as being indecisive, ineffective, and so very, overly SENSITIVE! Well one did, the other wasn’t, and so constantly had every female character in the story telling him that he needed to grow up, to become like his twin brother, I suppose. Well, he did need to do just that, because that’s the kind of character he was, how he was created by a woman author.

But my point is, from the male perspective, as a reader, I found the main male characters in this story to be insufficient, and a little too helpless and too pointless to be meaningful to me, personally. In fact, I found them rather annoying. From my personal perspective (the only one I have), most men simply don’t behave this way, at least not to that degree. And even if they do, it isn’t what I wanted from a fiction story with a man as the main character/hero. You see?

There are those demographics at play again! It's what the reader wants, not the author. Now, I’m not arguing that we need to cater as authors to sexist or chauvinistic individuals, but we do have to write what our readers want to read. Can we educate them to some degree, enlighten them as to the fact that their preconceived notions are wrong or insufficient? Of course, but we can only do this if we can first get them to finish reading our stories. Lose them, and you’ve lost the point; like it or not. Readers don’t want to be lectured when it’s fiction they’re reading, or they at least don’t want it to appear as a lecture. They want to be entertained and not stridently shouted at by the authors. If authors do this, readers will simply close the book and toss it away.

And are there, in truth, sensitive men out there? Certainly. Are there indecisive men? Yes. Are there men incapable of taking meaningful action? Oh, yeah.

And there are decisive, knowing, and sensitive women who do take action, many of them. That’s not my point. The point is that with the particular story mentioned above, I just couldn’t get over the sensation that I was reading about two women rather than two men. This was just the way I felt about it. So, although a very good story overall, this was a real stumbling point for me. Now for other men reading this tale, it may not have been a problem, but I’m betting that for the majority of males who read science fiction, it probably would be, because they expect certain things from it.

Now before all our women readers shout “sexist” at me, let me say that I think there is room in fiction for all sorts of types of characters. And all characters, given the circumstances of their particular plot, have to have certain attributes that the author wishes them to have to illustrate a point or promote their plot. That’s a given.

But let’s be honest here, certain demographic groups enjoy certain types of genres and subjects (this is a generality, I know, but still largely true), that the opposite sex doesn’t necessarily enjoy to the same degree. Hollywood, for example, gears its sci-fi “shoot-em-ups” to young adult males. Endless swordplay, laser battles, ships blowing up, armies clashing, are the main ingredients of such movies (think the Matrix, Star Wars, Die Hard With a Vengeance, Terminator, etc., etc., etc.). Why does Hollywood do this?

Because it makes them lots of money, that’s why! And do some women enjoy these movies? Of course, but Hollywood has geared the subjects quite deliberately for a young male audience, and that’s the majority that goes to see them, that is the majority that brings in the big bucks for those particular types of movies!

And the reverse holds true. Hollywood releases a steady stream of romances and romantic comedies, what many rather grossly insensitive men refer to as “chick flicks.” Examples of these movies are Bridges of Madison County, Notting Hill, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and a host of others. These movies are designed for a female audience, and they sell!

Do some men also enjoy them? Yes, but again, Hollywood has made them for a predominantly female audience who will pay good money to see them. So, you see, this stereotyping works both ways.

And that’s what we, as authors, have to live with, like it or not. There are demographics problems to deal with in writing for audiences. Now, I’m not saying there isn’t crossover, and that no books come along that can break these rules. The Harry Potter books are a good example, appealing to both males and females, young and old. However, Ms.Rowling only used her initials, because her publishers felt she was targeting a primarily young, and young-adult, male audience, hence "J.K." Rowling, so the "boys" wouldn't know she was a woman too easily. So, of course, there are always exceptions, good ones, fortunate­ly for all of us. But even she felt the need to target an audience, and hide her gender to some degree, at least, at first. Once she was successful, it was no longer a problem. She had transcended this.

But if you are a male author who decides to have a woman as your main character and you want women to believe that your character is believable, then you’d better be darn sure you do the job right! Women are discerning readers, perhaps more so than many male readers.

So, you had better research the subject thoroughly, create a character that acts in any way you choose, but does it believably, as most women would think she should do it. You can’t simply take a male character, give him a female name and physical characteristics, and expect your readership to buy into this. For the same reason, one can’t just easily convert a female main character to male just by changing the name and appearance, and let it go at that. There is more to it than that.

Many women write erotica, including gay erotica. As an editor, I've had to read it, and I am constantly struck with how female-like they often make their gay men characters, to the point where they are women, as far as I'm concerned. They assume, wrongly, that just because gay men prefer men, that they are really just women in disguise. Not all female authors do this, but again, as an editor, I've noticed a propensity for this. And, I have to correct them, tell them to give their characters more of a male motivation and approach to things, because gay men, contrary to some people's opinions, are not just women in disguise.

Gender just goes deeper than that. There is the question of motivation, how would the emotional, intellectual, and physical aspects of a different gender change the nature of the character, beyond just a gender change name.

My character, Aurea Pentrose, in my time-travel, romance novel, Lost Echoes, wasn’t easy to create. I wanted her to have spirit, be courageous, and be one to take positive action. But, I had to take into account that she was a woman of Elizabethan England. There were certain political, legal, moral, and cultural restrictions upon her. And these restrictions often were embedded in the people themselves. It wasn’t just my Aurea who had difficulty with the role she played in such times, because of a heavily dominated male society; it was she, herself, who also had absorbed certain belief systems common during the era. So in a sense, she was even a
greater hero than a male counterpart would have been, because she had not only to rise to the occasions, but she had to do it despite having been heavily indoctrinated by the male-dominated culture of the period, to overcome things she believed were true for women of the time.

So when, as an author, you choose a main character of the opposite sex to write about, make darn sure you’ve researched your subject, ascertain that you have a believable character that will come across to both genders as real, and three dimensional. Avoid the pitfalls of just attempting a simple name change and alteration of physical appearance. Remember that societies of any time will have their own standards, culturally and morally speaking, by which they will expect their men and women to behave and conduct themselves. And the people themselves, male and female, often believe this is the way it should be.

However, and this is a big caveat, with science fiction we really do have a chance to make a difference in this regard. Because our stories can be set in the future, often the far future, where we can create universes in which the genders can be free to be whoever or whatever they really want to be. As silly as the Star Wars sagas might seem in some respects, and often are described as glorified space operas, women often played strong roles in them, and not just as equals to men, but often superior. Prior to that, heroes were mainly male, as with Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, etc.

As I often say with these articles, science fiction writers, more than most, have the power to influence our current society by questioning existing belief systems, moral values, and things that perhaps have been too long taken for granted. We have the power to introduce new concepts in so many respects, including what roles each gender can and/or should play in societies.

We have the chance to enlighten, to inform, and to help people grow. But, and this is a big but, we have to take care that we create believable characters while doing it. And when choosing a main character of the opposite sex to play a role in our stories, we should do our best to create credible ones, ones that not only achieve what we personally want, but also ones that our readers can deem as being real, as well.

You’d be surprised what readers will accept if you write well enough! So, when creating characters of different genders, mold them, shape them, and create them with care. Even when done for shock value, as in gritty, in-your-face stories, your characters still have to be believable! But be careful not to fold, spindle, mutilate or “bender” them! Treat them, regardless of gender, as if they were real, thinking, caring individuals.

Do this, and you will have believable characters, characters that readers will identify with, wish to know more about, and no doubt, will want to read the sequel! And that, as an author, is exactly what you want them to do. Because if readers won't buy your books, you aren't going to have much of a career as an author. Trust me on this.

































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Comment by Rob Shelsky on March 11, 2010 at 5:19pm
Well, yes, that is what every author wants, but not what every author achieves. Men often make women heroines in Sci-Fi into "Babes," as the old space opera adage referred to them (yes, very demeaning, I know, and that's why I wrote this article). But also both genders, at times, and despite their best efforts, don't always portray the other correctly. As the article says, they sometimes tend to apply their own gender viewpoint too much to the other gender's actions. As for this ongoing controversy over who's out in front -- yes it's a problem, but it's also an opportunity. While there is chaos, there is opportunity! My advice? Make the most of it while they are in disarray, because it will settle out, eventually.

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