Writing Wednesday: Will You Ever Write Books for Boys?
11 November 2009
In short, no.
I wish I could. Moms are always saying to me, “I can find lots of stuff for my girls, but it’s much harder for my boys.” And when I’m at school visits, it’s usually about 50% boys in the audience. I don’t feel like I have anything to offer them, though my experience at Shawnee Mission Northwest was that the guys asked way more questions. And a lot of them asked if I’ll ever write books for guys.
I don’t feel like I could accurately portray a guy when writing in first person. I know how guys interact with girls, and I know how they interact with other guys when girls are present, but the rest is really a mystery to me. I’m afraid any attempts I made at a guy-focused YA novel would make guys say, “This is clearly written by a girl who thinks this is how we think.” (When I said this at SMNW, one guy said, “I think that’d be funny! Do it.”)
For the foreseeable future, I’ll stick with writing for chicks and deal with being lopsided at school visits.
Happy Wednesday everyone!
Comments
Writing third person from the Male POV is hard enough!
Though I think boys might be surprised at how they would relate to your characters. Some struggles people have are universal.
Posted by Erica Vetsch on 11 November 2009
Love the reaction of the guy from SMNW! ;-) Do it, do it! LOL
Posted by Roseanna White on 11 November 2009