Writing Gender

I would never dream of writing from a man’s point of view. As a nonfiction writer, it’s hard for me to imagine writing from anyone’s point of view but my own.

William Faulkner’s novels include POVs from male and female characters alike. One of Flannery O’Connor’s most memorable characters is a very disturbed young man named Hazel Motes. When I taught English to teenaged boys, they were all surprised to learn that the author of The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton, is a woman. Memoirs of a Geisha was written by a white man.

I’ve been reading a great escapist series called the Thursday Next Novels by Jasper Fforde (check out www.thursdaynext.com). Fforde reimagines 1980s England where the world revolves around books. The hero of the novels is Thursday Next, a woman.

So how convincingly does this man write from a woman’s POV? He must have done something right, because I was well into the third novel before I even thought about the gender difference. But then I suddenly realized that Fforde’s female character was decidedly androgynous in my mind. I can picture some of the minor characters better than I can picture the heroine—and all of the characters I can easily picture are men. Thursday Next is a bit of a blank character in my mind, as much as I enjoy reading about her traveling in and out of beloved classic novels such as Jane Eyre.

That fact doesn’t really bother me. It’s only begun to trouble me now that Thursday is pregnant—and she continues to place herself in harm’s way through her job in defending literature. I may not have noticed this fact before I was ever pregnant. But as a pregnant woman, I was considerably more concerned for my safety even though the most dangerous activity I engaged in was driving a car.

I’m still going to finish the novels. They give me a great escape from real life. And I’ve long enjoyed many works of fiction that require a much stronger suspension of disbelief.

What do you think? Can a man write a convincing woman or vice versa? Have you ever tried to write a character of the opposite sex?

Celebrate Banned Books Week

“…the freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and reading is among our greatest freedoms…” from “Banned Books Week Proclamation”

Banned Books Week 2009 is September 26 – October 3. Celebrate by reading a banned book. Or just take a minute to consider why so many people try to dictate what you or I are allowed to read.

If you’ve never looked at any of the lists, you might be surprised to learn that some of the greatest books ever written have been banned or burned somewhere. One of my favorites, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is one of the most frequently banned books. Classics by Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Orwell, and Vonnegut, to name a few, also grace this list. You may choose not to read these authors because they bore you, but no one should try to stop you from reading them. (Go ahead, read some Faulkner—I dare you.)

There are many books out there that I don’t want to read because they’re dull or poorly written, or even because the content offends me. But I appreciate the freedom to read or not read whatever I choose. As a new mother, I will decide what I feel is appropriate for my daughter to read at a young age, and I will teach her to make informed decisions about what she reads as she grows older. She’ll probably read some things I wish she hadn’t, just as I’ve read some things I regret. But better to teach her to make decisions for herself than to try to decide for her the rest of her life.

And truly, the best way to get rid of something is to ignore it. You forbid something, and it becomes a sought out curiosity for both children and adults. You try to ban a book or a movie, and it gets a lot more media attention. The first time Huckleberry Finn was censored, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch printed: "The directors of the Concord Public Library have joined in the general scheme to advertise MARK TWAIN’S new book, 'Huckleberry Finn.' They have placed it on the Index Expurgatorius, and this will compel every citizen of Concord to read the book in order to see why the guardians of his morals prohibited it."

Our world is full of ideas and people and even words that can offend. But I believe everyone should have the freedom to write what they want to write—and in the freedom to read it or not as I choose. So celebrate Banned Books Week: read whatever you want.

http://www.ala.org/bbooks

Introduction

Once upon a time my life revolved around words. Before I could read, I pretended to read. My dearest childhood friends were books. I have a bachelor's in English Literature and a master's in Publishing. As a young adult, I wouldn't leave the house without a book to read and a notebook to write in.

These days I won't leave the house without diapers and a burp rag. Much as I'd hoped to be an exception, during my pregnancy my brain was in a fog. Not only could I not write, I rarely even read any more. As I slowly emerge from that fog, I have begun reading again and this is one of my first attempts to write again.

This blog is a place for me to write about reading and writing and words. If no one but me reads it, then it is no worse than most of the things I write. I'm just happy to be reading and writing again.