Apr 08 2007
Writing Authentic Male Characters
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This article will help female authors avoid some common pitfalls of writing male characters, perspectives and narrators.
Common Problems
The most obvious problem is relying on unrealistic stereotypes. Readers of both sexes loathe muscle-bound cavemen and sobby, helpless women. Don’t insult your readers’ intelligence.
Less obviously, many female authors shun stereotypes that are realistic. I’ll say much more about some realistic stereotypes later, but men do talk less about their feelings than women, particularly with other men.
Third, the author might not appreciate the differences between male and female perceptions. This is really crucial. Women writing male characters tend to linger on descriptions of scenery and what the character sees or feels. Generally speaking, male readers feel that it’s creepy when men describe something at length. Let me demonstrate.
One female classmate wrote a scene with a male narrator and his male roommate. The first characteristic the narrator mentioned about his roommate was his eye-color. That feels creepy because it suggests a level of closeness uncomfortable to most US guys. Later, the narrator focused on other weird details, like how buff the roommate was. It sounded like he ogling his roommate. The roommate says “stop staring at me” and the narrator asks “can I help it if I have such a sexy rommate?” The author meant that to sound sarcastic. But male readers assumed that the narrator really was gay. Try to keep your readers on your page.
Men are also more likely to offer details that are directly plot-relevant. For example, a male author wrote a story where a male narrator describes the passengers on the bus at some length. The narrator mentions some unusual details, like their ethnicities and the quality of their clothing. Virtually every male reader at the workshop readily concluded that the guy sounded creepy and sinister. The narrator turned out to be a terrorist. The guys weren’t surprised, but many female readers thought that it came out of nowhere because they thought that details like “I was sitting next to a suited white and a Hispanic in a coat” were just scenery.
Real males and females generally have different styles of tone, language, nonverbal communication and preferred subjects of conversation. Especially at younger ages, males and female sound very different. I’m reluctant to use myself as a baseline male, but I know that I talk a lot of smack– that is, when I’m playing something like bowling or fantasy football, I let my friends know how guilty I feel about their certain destruction.
In terms of subjects of conversation, I think that men are generally less likely to talk about people outside the conversation than most women. Men are also less likely to talk about their social status (how others view them). Men react to social status, of course, but I feel it’s something that they generally talk about less. They may be quietly resentful that someone less qualified got the corner office, for example.
This next one is a cheap stereotype, but I think it has enough validity to mention: sports! Many, many men are diehard fans of at least one team, usually from their college or hometown. I think that watching sports serves three main purposes for men: 1) it’s a nice way to socialize with other guys and 2) I love competing with my friends through March Madness pools and fantasy sports, even though I’m thoroughly unathletic, and 3) many men live vicariously through their teams, particularly college teams. Men really care that their school wins– a national championship says something! (What, exactly, is less clear). In fact, it’s hard for me to get through a job interview without a male consoling me about the plights of Notre Dame’s football program. (Don’t worry, Irish faithful! We’ll have a winning season next year).
I think that women generally appreciate that sports are important to men, but I think that women authors sometimes have problems with sports scenes because some women are unable to hide their contempt of the ritual. I think most men (and at least one woman!) are similarly contemptuous of Grey’s Anatomy and other luridly sexed-up dramas. If you treat either football or Grey’s Anatomy as an inherently frivolous activity that has no bearing on anything that matters, you may be missing the point. Of course they’re frivolous. But they are serious as far as men/women take them seriously and use them as socialization tools.
I’d also like to mention a quick psychological difference between men and women. Men more often think of things in absolute, rigid terms like weight and other measurements. Directions from men tend to sound like “turn left on Oak Street after driving a mile down Winchester.” Women are more likely to use landmarks, like “turn left at the orange house”.
Now I’d like to talk about stereotypes in general. Stereotypes are a major part of believability. For example, any Marine could be a pacifist, but everyone knows that Marines generally aren’t. Likewise, you can break any gender stereotype, but it gets harder with each character. If all of your guys act like women, that will probably bother readers.
Because everyone knows at least some males, we all have expectations (stereotypes) about what a male character should be like. So I would encourage any woman writing a novel or story about a male character to be bold. Don’t be afraid to show men acting or thinking differently than females… we’re not just women with short hair! The worst case scenario is that your guys are too stereotypically male, which is easy to fix. Beta reviewers can point that out for you. It’s much harder for a beta reviewer to circle a passage and say “this is too timid– I think this guy should be more masculine here.” So I urge you to paint in bold strokes , rather than worrying about offending men or looking unknowledgable.
ADDENDUM: Male Dialogue: Functional Conversation
I mentioned above that it would be unusual for a guy to describe another man in terms of his eye-color because that suggests intimacy. Generally, guys avoid physical descriptions unless they are directly relevant to the conversation. “Dunking on John is hard because he’s so damn tall.” Usually, men describe other guys in terms of what they do, even if what they do isn’t directly relevant to the conversation. I overheard this on campus.
Female: Is John a nice guy?
Male: I think so. He’s in my physics class.
Is John being in the guy’s physics class really relevant to whether John is nice? Probably not (although the guy might have seen John doing something polite in class, like holding the door for someone). I think that it’s better to interpret the physics detail as a functional definition of John: “I know John as my physics classmate.” The subtext is that he doesn’t feel very confident about his ability to assess whether John is nice. (NOTE: Perhaps even more so than women, men are dreadfully hesitant to use the phrase “I don’t know”).
My impression is that women are somewhat more likely than men to define people in terms of relationships, even if the relationship isn’t entirely relevant to the thrust of the conversation. For example, both of my parents hate Tom Brady. This is how they explained themselves.
Dad: Tom Brady learned real bad sportsmanship from Michigan. No real athlete would run up the score so much.
Mom: He’s treated his loved ones awfully. The mother of his children doesn’t want anything to do with him!
The functional-relational distinction gets blurry here. It would be far too simple to say that “women only think about relationships and men only care about impersonal considerations.” For example, Dad implicitly draws on his own relationship with Michigan and Mom’s objection relates to what Brady has done, been an ass to his family. But I think the distinction is somewhat useful because Mom focuses on actions in the context of Brady’s relationships and Dad focuses on his Michigan relationship in the context of an impersonal goal, like sportsmanship and chivalry.
Good luck! If you found this article helpful, you’d probably enjoy our other articles on writing. our other articles on writing here. If you would like beta-reviewing assistance, please drop us a line at SuperheroNation-at-gmail.com . Our waiting list is generally around a week.
[...] the title of one of my most popular articles from “Helping Girls Write Guys” to “Writing Male Characters” (I explained my reasoning here). I think that it’ll take 20 or so more days until I [...]
Thanks for this article, I find it really hard to write guys!
PS: I despise Grey’s Anatomy!
Grey’s Anatomy is despicable. Not even James Bond movies bend over backwards so shamelessly to shove sex into stories. And to be fair to James Bond, the romance in Casino Royale was a well-executed part of an extremely canny plot.
I watched the pilot episode of Grey’s Anatomy and swore never to sit down and endure such torture again. I’d rather be eaten alive by leeches.
Thanks for posting this! I’ve written girls all my life (except for one story when I was 7). I have to write guy in the book I’m writing now because the main character is currently busy dying. This and the super hero advice really helped. Thanks and God bless!
I love Grey’s Anatomy.
I don’t exactly see the appeal of the show, but to each their own. I’m more of a sci fi and cartoon viewer.
But I’m not a Trekkie. I’m a Whovian, as you can tell from my current pseudonym. Haha.
Doctor Who is the best. That and Firefly/Serenity.
That said, I’m not much for sci-fi outside of that, at least in film or TV. Oddly, neither do I watch much fantasy. But those two genres are probably my favourites to read.
I’ve never seen Doctor Who, but it sounds interesting.
I love cartoons and sci-fi stuff, but not Star Wars, or worse, Star Trek.
I like outfits that say “I care about my appearance” while also seeming casual. My favourite so far is Joshua’s outfit in The World Ends With You:
http://sdb.drshnaps.com/sheets/Misc/Square/Other/IAWW/MugshotsJoshua-ItsAWonderfulWorld.gif
His shirt makes me think he doesn’t like looking sloppy and his pants tone down the formal vibe. His hair looks like he got it cut to different lengths and then let it grow out a bit, but he leaves some parts unbrushed. I also like hair of about that length for male characters. Joshua’s clothes are also fairly simple compared to the other outfits in the game, which have heaps of zippers and buttons.
Interesting. I think his shirt is a bit too long to wear untucked and I am not fond of his hair at all, but OK. I love the simplicity. Excessively ornate costumes are distracting and, umm, expensive for me and laborious for my artists. (If your artist costs $10-20 per hour, do you want him to spend that time putting in the scales on Captain America’s costume or moving on to the next character? Christ, for $20 an hour I wouldn’t give Agent Orange scales and he’s a freaking reptile).
Also, to any comic book artists out there: I’d recommend sticking to accessories that either have a specific in-plot purpose (like Batman’s utility belt) or that will elicit a specific reaction from readers (Catastrophe has safety glasses and a lab-coat, so he looks like a scientist).
I watch Stargate and Firefly, and the occasional superhero movie (Dr. Horrible is my fave.) Thanks for the advice. Apparently, I’ve been doing pretty well!
I love extravagant outfits, but for my comic’s sake I’ll tone down the level of craziness.
I’m a big fan of Dr. Horrible.
Since we’re talking about clothes, I have a question. When writing a question or doing a comic, should heroes change clothes or stick to one outfit unless necessary to the plot (like a disguise or something)?
In a comic, changing outfits based on the situation is OK but I’d recommend being a little bit careful with extra versions of a superhero’s costume. Extra versions take a lot of work and sometimes they come off as goofy or otherwise unattractive. For example, Superman’s Kryptonite containment suit looks pretty bad. A few of the more exotic versions of the batsuit also look unappealing.
When else might it be a good idea to change a character’s clothes in a comic?
—To show that time has passed. If your plot progresses two weeks, the character shouldn’t be wearing the same shirt and pants unless he’s a horrible slob. (This is less of a problem if he’s in his costume; readers will just figure that he’s wearing a different copy of the same suit).
—To create a different impression of the character. For example, you could show that a character’s personality has changed by giving him new clothes. A character that has matured might wear clothes that are darker and more conservative, ie. Really sloppy clothes and hair could establish that a character is frantic in a particular scene.
—To create a different mood. If you wanted to create a mood full of romantic tension, you’d probably have the two lovers wear clothes that are more stylish and sensual and probably skimpier than normal. A really cheerful scene might have bright and casual clothes. Etc.
—To fit a different situation. If the characters are in a 5 star hotel, they should probably be wearing suits rather than t-shirts. This will help establish an ambiance (”this is a nice restaurant!”). If your characters are wearing t-shirts in a classy restaurant, it will look really weird and someone in the story should mention that. Likewise, you’d wear a different set of clothes to a basketball game or a first date or a business presentation or a Super Bowl party.
–Alternately, you can show that a character has clothes that are grossly inappropriate to the situation. For example, we might have Agent Orange address Congress in a trenchcoat to emphasize how casual he is. However, if you intend the character’s clothes to clash with the setting, try to have other characters mention it. For example, the Congressmen would probably feel that Orange was disrespecting them. His boss would feel upset that he made the agency seem unprofessional, etc.
In a novel…
In novels, I wouldn’t recommend spending very much time talking about the costumes unless it’s directly relevant to understanding what is going on. For example, it’d be helpful for readers to know whether the character is in disguise, whether he’s in his Clark Kent getup or his Superman costume and whether he’s using a modified version of his suit, etc. I’d recommend being careful with modified versions of the suit in novels, though. It’s hard for readers to keep track of the superhero’s powers and capabilities when they change based on the situation.
I get annoyed sometimes when characters wear the same thing over and over again. In things like the Simpsons, it shows that they have a wardrobe full of the same shirt, but that isn’t realistic at all. I have a bunch of different things in my wardrobe.
Arthur Dent can get away with it, because the world was destroyed when he was in his pyjamas and he was stuck in them.
Characters should have different outfits over time unless there is a genuine reason, such as the story taking place in a school with uniforms. (But only if the school is the ONE and ONLY setting. Characters should have different outfits on weekends or after hours). Another explanation could be that other clothes are inaccessible, as is the case with Arthur Dent.
In Jake Long, the main character wore the same street-clothes very frequently in season 1. I suppose that’s meant to keep their work down, but it gets pretty noticeable.
Did you notice the red-white-and-blue color scheme? I feel it’s a very subtle way to get a patriotic color scheme into a show that is, after all, about the “American dragon.” The yellow accents worked out pretty nicely too.
I can see what you mean. A lot of TV shows just use the same clothes over and over. For example, Teen Titans shows pretty much all the Titans sleeping in their clothes (although Raven at least takes off her cloak). In certain shows, like the Simpsons, they sometimes wear different outfits at fancy parties or church. In Naruto, they change outfits once in a while. People say it saves time to draw the same clothes again and again, and people like consistent characters, I guess. Am I right in this assessment?
It definitely does save time to avoid redesigning clothes. That’s probably most important to a cartoon show. (The design process is a little bit tedious, and you need to make sure that every outfit is passably good-looking). It also helps them avoid wasting work. For example, if the artists do a cool shot of Jake Long but decide they can’t use it in a particular episode, they can probably use it later because he wears his signature outfit in most episodes. In contrast, if his outfits changed every episode, it’d be harder to use that work.
I think that time-saving is a bit less of a problem for a comic book team, but one reason I’d be nervous is that each new outfit is a new piece of work for me, the team leader. The artist has to run the design past me and we’ll probably go back and forth on color/design/style adjustments. In contrast, I’m already pleased with the outfits that we’ve already used, so it would be easier to reuse them.
If I were ever to do character designs for a cartoon, I would change the characters’ clothes every episode, or maybe a few times an episode to show that time had passed. It would be easier if I made up a wardrobe for them and then combined a few of the same pieces for different looks. For example, a male character might wear a green jacket very often, but his pants, shirt and shoes would change.
I’m a fan of Kim Possible and Danny Phantom, but it annoys me when the characters only have one set of clothes for each purpose. For example, I’ve seen ten episodes so far, but I’ve only seen Danny in about five different outfits: his street clothes, a tux, his pyjamas, a tracksuit and his superhero costume. I’ve seen his friends Tucker and Sam in even less, they only change twice: Tucker from civilian into a tux and Sam from civilian into a dress.
http://www.foroswebgratis.com/imagenes_foros/3/1/9/7/0/465085DANNY%20FENTON%20(93).jpg (Civilian)
http://data.nickelodeon.nl/misc/dynimg/media/dannyphantom012.jpg (Superhero)
I like Danny Phantom. It was a gd. [Editor: ??] I like how his outfit appears and disappears. I used the same principle with Silence and her clothes.
A red white and blue colour scheme would also work for an Aussie or British hero, because those are the three colours on those flags. I think green and gold would be better for an Aussie, though, because those are our sporting colours.
That’s true, but I don’t think that it would resonate as much with Aussie or British readers. Compared to the residents of most industrialized democracies, I think Americans tend to be uniquely fond of flags and other visible signs of patriotic sentiment.
Anecdotally, according to one of my professors a US Marine visiting British Aerospace once had to politely point out that they were flying the UK flag upside down.
It’s quite an easy mistake to make if the person who puts the flag up is unobservant. It’s a simple matter of looking at the red X. The left part of the X should be in the bottom part of the white X, and the right should be in the top. I’d dare say that a few British people have made that mistake too.
http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/tom/skuki/images/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.png
There is a difference between the way Americans and the British think. That’s why a lot of British like my story the way it was the first time and why only a few Americans did.
“That’s why a lot of British people like my story the way it was the first time and why only a few Americans did.” David, I think that’s a really interesting hypothesis but I’m a bit skeptical. I agree there are a few important differences between US readers and British readers (particularly humor and style), but I’m not sure how much being British would have affected my observations about the piece (particularly the mechanics and plotline).
I suppose you could test your theory by sending a novel manuscript to a few UK publishers, but I don’t think they will bite yet. As for the comic book industry, I’m not sure what’s going on in the UK but I’ve heard that the English-language comic book industry is dominated by US companies. (If you’re already professionally fluent in Japanese, there are a few really strong anime/manga publishers in Japan).
Honestly, I wanna publish in both Britain and America so I’ll improve the story so I can get published in America.
With humor, America is more visual and Britain is more into slapstick humor (people getting hit or hurt in funny ways). If you want to see real British humor, go to Youtube and look up the Young Ones, Bottom and British comedians.
I’m very fond of Black Adder, Monty Python and the British version of The Office, but my writing is probably much more American. My grasp of British comedy isn’t so good that comic opportunities naturally unfold as I’m writing. In contrast, when I’m reviewing works it’s usually pretty easy for me to sense where a funny American-style joke could be added or honed. (I think I have an especially good comic rapport with Brett).
As far as the very best American comedy… right now, it’s got to be the first season of The Chapelle Show and The Onion. As far as superhero comedy goes, I enjoyed Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog greatly. The Justice League cartoons had some great one-liners and I also enjoyed The New Adventures of Lois and Clark.
thats cool hey where can i get one of your comics to have a look at?
Well, we have a really primitive webcomic here, but we didn’t have an artist or a letterer. It’s just a practice run for our eventual comic book. I wouldn’t really recommend it as a model. However, we’ll fix those problems to prepare it for publication.
—The backgrounds are pretty awful in the webcomic. For the comic book, Banu will be doing backgrounds and they look pretty cool so far.
—Because we were on an absolutely shoestring budget ($100) for our webcomic, our art was limited to 10 poses for each of 2 characters. We just reused those in our webcomic, which is wildly amateurish. For our comic book, we’ve budgeted about $75 a page for art that is surprisingly close to professional grade.
—The lettering only got decent and consistent around 15-20 issues in. We’ll have a letterer from page one to finish, so that should look smoother and more professional.
—The webcomic lacks a central plot, so it’s not a real story. It’s mostly just a rotating set of funny scenes. The comic book has funny scenes, but they actually advance a plot.
—The webcomic has no real character development. It’s more like one of those sitcoms where the characters are pretty flat (Seinfeld, The Simpsons, etc). In contrast, the main character (Agent Black) develops considerably over the comic book series.
—There’s no action in the webcomic, but Banu’s been antsy to do some fight scenes. In the first comic book issue, we’ll have a carbomb, a kickboxing match between a mutant alligator and a Navy SEAL, and possibly a minor fight with criminals at the end.
In all, it costs us about $4 per page to produce the webcomic. The sample I’m preparing for Dark Horse will cost about $90 per page ($75 for art, around $15 for lettering) and probably double that for the cover.
Well, I was thinking more of buying a copy of one of your better selling comics. I haven’t read a comic in ages.
Ah, it’s not quite ready to be sold yet. We’re still working on a draft issue of the first five pages of #1 for our query. After we send that in later this month, then we have to negotiate a contract, work with an editor, finish illustrating and lettering the last 19 pages, and then probably make minor adjustments to the first five pages. Also, our editor would probably want to flesh out precisely where the story is going long-term before we publish the first issue.
I’d be really pleased if it was ready in summer 2008, but I’m new to this industry so I don’t know if that’s realistic. I’ve been working on the first issue for several weeks and we’re still not close to sending off the query package.
That’s cool. So where did you come up with your ideas?
Well, I looked at a bunch of superhero-style stories and I tried to come up with a list of reasons they didn’t strike me as just right.
Spiderman is my favorite comic series because it’s very fun and lively. But I think its action sequences are sometimes lackluster and the hero often sounds corny.
Superman and Wonderwoman are boring characters. Their personalities aren’t conducive to interesting dialogue or engrossing plotlines. Also, Superman has some of the worst action sequences in the industry.
The Punisher is intensely violent and very hard to like. I don’t find his revenge motivation very compelling. There’s no chance that it will end happily.
Batman is also overwhelmingly somber and depressing. The villains are kickass, but Gotham City is so thoroughly screwed up that I almost don’t care if the villains blow it up.
X-Men is dominated by the theme that the US government is an evil persecutor. Again, there’s little prospect of a happy ending. I like Wolverine’s action sequences, but his personality is totally obnoxious. He’s the original Casual Psychopath.
The Hood has surprisingly funny writing but was gratuitously dark and depressing. I’d like my fights to be a bit more epic, as well.
I love the cartoony feel of the original TMNT cartoons, but they weren’t very well-written and the action is kind of forgettable. Also, I think the cartoony mood needs a bit of darkness or it will probably not appeal to older readers.
So, basically, we’re making a fun action-comedy that is fuelled by wacky humor with a dark streak. It’s kind of like a combination of 24, The Office, and Men in Black.
That sounds cool. I got my idea for a superhero team from the Teen Titans. I got the idea for Silence from a Teen Titan comic that had a character named Secret. I thought it was cool to use an everyday word as a name. So she’s named Silence because she’s mute and if I took that muteness away would not be Silence anymore, so I’m keeping her as is. :)
I actually went through alot of flip-flopping before I finally picked a character and story to do. Adrian was born from the remnants of my personality, that I don’t very outwardly express (kindness, warmness, materialism, and competitiveness). But I’ve got a bunch of characters and stoies sitting around in my literary salvage yard. I’m currently dreaming up a rock band superhero team.
I’m personally a big fan of the Arkham Asylum series, pretty much every villian is even more screwed up (Mad Hatter is a pedophile, Joker takes pill and is extremely more feminine, Two Face can even perform simple functions without consult his tarot cards, Clayface is rotting away, Maxie Zeus thinks he’s Jesus, the list goes on). I’m a big fan of dark stories.
I wonder would I be this way if not for my 8th grade “experiences”. I came out of middle school as the first black emo. I’m a big fan of Family Guy, most grownups hate it. They say it’s immoral, crude, and inappropriate, but its by far one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen.
I have a word of warning about Family Guy. Around once an episode, one of the characters will go off on a comic tangent by saying something like “remember that time when we [did something wacky].” I don’t recommend trying that in a novel or comic book. It’s not a good way to develop a coherent story.
Novels and comic books sometimes go off on comic tangents, but it helps to be a bit more subtle about it.
That’s probably the funniest part of Family Guy. To think of all the ridiculous things they’ve done in their past. “Around once an episode” that’s a little inaccurate, they do that quite frequently throughout a single episode. But, I understand why it would be annoying in a story. It’s also full of inconsistencies. Peter went to Prom with at least three different girls, so either he’s a through “playa” or he’s magic.
That, and I’m also annoyed how often things unhappen when Stewie does them. For example, occasionally he will shoot Lois. Oh wait, just kidding! It’s Stewie and he’s useless.
Victory is mine!
I’m collecting Family Guy DVDs.
Family Guy is a rolling disappointment, but it’s not as bad as King of Queens. And neither is as bad as the the interminably bad Two and a Half Men. For example, here’s a random excerpt from the start of an episode.
WUSSY BROTHER: When you moved in, I said it was vital to create a wholesome atmosphere for Jake [the failure son]. And you said you understand.
LOTHARIO: Now, listen to me. When I said understand, it doesn’t mean I agree. It doesn’t mean I understand. It doesn’t even mean I’m listening.
[OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD LAUGHTER]
WUSSY BROTHER: So why do you say it?
LOTHARIO: Because it makes people happy, and that’s what I’m all about.
[OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD LAUGHTER]
Sorry, but making the laugh track especially loud doesn’t disguise that that line is not remotely funny. Even the first one is a stretch, but at least it’s clearly intended as a joke.
I wouldn’t say it’s a disappointment. It’s not for everyone, granted, but it is still very good.
I agree, I think older audiences are harder to please, no offense. I respect our differences.
I’m quite into comedy, but I rarely find the comedy-sitcom shows funny. I prefer stand-up. I think Michael McIntyre is the funniest British comedian today, but a lot of his jokes are rooted in British culture, so I’m not sure if Americans would get them. Other favourites of mine include Dara O’Brian and Frankie Boyle.
The old British humour is great, too: Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and Only Fools And Horses are excellent.
I must admit there are some instances where I really wanna beat Peter up, but I guess that’s what they’re aiming for. Anyway, shouldn’t we get back to writing about authentic males? Also, shouldn’t we have authentic female characters?
And can we have a section on writing about teams please as a point of reference?
Ragged Boy said: “I think older audiences are harder to please…”
That’s definitely true, and generally I’m a really tough customer. However, I personally don’t feel that my standards for cartoon comedy are impossibly high. I’m extremely fond of the writers of a few cartoon shows for kids and tweens, notably Kim Possible, Justice League, Megas XLR, the first season of Jackie Chan Adventures, etc.
For more mature cartoons, Futurama is superb. I find South Park and the Simpsons fresher and easier to watch than Family Guy. The Peter schtick just gets very tiring. Homer and Fry and the entire cast of South Park are failures, but I don’t feel a strong repulsion to them.
That said, maybe it’s something I just don’t get. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been stumped at something that has found a definite market. I’ve always been stumped by the appeal of Grey’s Anatomy and most programming aimed exclusively at either women (Sex and the City) or men (Ultimate Fighting Championship).
Oh, yeah, on authentic male characters, how do you guys (uh, at least I think you’re all guys) feel about Victor?
I like Victor a lot. His reluctance to talk or think about his relationship seems very believable. I found the girl’s role a bit more awkward, just because she was pushing the issue so hard.
He seems like a pretty straight-forward masculine guy, not a mega-jock, but an athlete. He seems pretty authentic to me. If there is anyone with a more feminine male character, it’s me. I’m not sure why, I guess because he dresses a little more effemininately and he doesn’t play sports, he’s more of the artsy type, but I think I pretty much established him as straight.
I love Monty Python, Blackadder (I have a cunning plan! Best line ever!), The Young Ones, Red Dwarf and several others too numerous to name. There is a lot of good British stuff on TV here, because we get it imported directly.
There are some magnificent dramas, too. There was a brilliant show called Life On Mars, set in Manchester. You might have seen it, but that will have been the USA remake, which I suspect isn’t as good. Remakes rarely are.
In the UK version, there’s a DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) named Sam Tyler who is investigating a series of murders in 2006. He is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973, discovers that he is now only a DI (Detective Inspector) and works for Manchester police. He tries to figure out how to get back while solving crimes in the 1970’s with his 21st century police methods. Back then the police were really rough, they’d hit their suspects and threaten them, but Sam is strongly opposed to it, causing a lot of conflict.
DCI Hunt is the most funny character. “Drugs eh? What’s the point. They make you forget, make you talk funny, make you see things that aren’t there. My old grandma got all of that for free when she had a stroke!” “He’s got fingers in more pies than a leper on a cookery course.”
Even the short series are great. My two favourites are Torn and Like Father, Like Son.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torn_(TV_series)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_(TV_series)
What do you all think of Isaac? I hope I made him seem like a guy, instead of a girl in a guy’s body.
Heheh, I still find it difficult to put myself into a male POV when I’m female. At least I have plenty of references at for male behaviour at school, but they’re probably not good examples. Most of the guys I know swear like Marines.
As far as femininity goes, he’s a little more so than Victor, I feel. But, he’s still pretty masculine. He comes off as more sensitve than most guys, but that’s not much a problem. He still doesn’t top Adrian haha.
Plus, he’s a superhero. I think we can make some allowances for Isaac.
I so need to get some comics. Any ideas where I get some good ones apart from shops and the ones with characters that you’re talking about?
I don’t know any free comic sites, comic books can be expensive, too. Marvel and DC offer online subscriptions to their comics, but it costs, I don’t know what to tell you. The next best thing I can think of is that you read some comic book scripts, I have a great site.
http://www.comicbookscriptarchive.com/archive/?page_id=3
They have lots of links to articles about writing comics, I find it a considerably useful tool.
That’s what I was going for. I know a couple of more sensitive guys at school who served as my basis when I was creating Isaac. The personality type is about the only common feature, because they look nothing like Isaac and act differently in a lot of critical ways.
The characters that were talking about? Holliequ’s Victor, Whovian’s Isaac, and My Adrian? If you’re talking about them, Victor and Isaac are in novels, and Adrian is in my comic, but we don’t have anything published yet. I’m sure Holliequ or Whovian won’t be opposed to you looking in their forum and reading some of the chapter posts, feel free to look at what I’ve posted in my forum as well. I suggest you read the later works we did though. For example, in my forum it has the post when I was writing my story in novel form, but if you want to see my comic script you’ll have to scroll down.
If you’re talking about other characters, then I don’t know what to tell you.
“I so need to get some comics. Any ideas where I get some good ones apart from shops and the ones with characters that you’re talking about?”
I don’t know if you’re alluding to download sites, but I’d really recommend legal means. As a producer of comic books I can vouch that we suffer under massive design costs. I think on average it costs about $300-400 to design each page, and that doesn’t even factor in printing costs. If my issues don’t sell to enough paying customers, the series dies. Game Over.
If getting out to a store is a problem, I’d recommend buying an online subscription to Marvel or DC or hitting Amazon for backcopies.
If money is the main problem, I’d recommend turning on the TV or looking for back episodes on Hulu or Youtube.
I’m not opposed to anyone looking at mine, but I don’t have much there. I’ve written 56 chapters but only put two on my forum.
I’ve changed the story dozens of times since I first plotted it and there seem to be many different ways I could take the story, so whatever I’ve got there might become obsolete pretty soon.
“Shouldn’t we get back to writing about authentic males?”
–I wouldn’t worry too much about tangents here. I feel like a lot of the comments will be useful in other forums, so I’ll just move them around when I get a chance. For example, there were a few comments about costume design that don’t really pertain to authentic male characters but would fit in well on one of our articles on costume design.
“Shouldn’t we have authentic female characters too?”
–Yeah, but I don’t know enough on the subject to write an article on it. Our three contributors are men and we’re all a bit inept when it comes to female characters. (For book doctoring, Cadet Davis flat-out refuses to take on clients that have written romance with female leads because he doesn’t know how to make it work). I’m not sure exactly where to find helpful resources on female characters, though. The book 45 Master Characters has a brief section on female vs. male goals. That might help. You can probably find it at a well-stocked public library.
“And can we have a section on writing about teams please as a point of reference?”
You mean like where you have male and female characters, or just about how it’s different to write a team of superheroes vs. a single protagonist? Hmm. If you’re talking about having a team versus having a single protagonist, I might be able to help.
—On a team, it’s more important that characters have simple origin stories and simple, generic superpowers. There’s just not enough space to explain five separate radioactive lab accidents. Realistically, it’s probably best to focus on the origin story of just one character, or of the team as a whole. For example, Soon I Will Be Invincible focused on the origin story of just Fatale and skimmed over her teammates. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a team origin (they were all hit by mutagen at the same time).
—I recommend 3-4 characters. 5 is doable but usually means that at least 1-2 of the characters will be some variety of unsatisfying (underdeveloped, bland, redundant, etc). I wouldn’t recommend 5+ characters for a first-time author. I wouldn’t book-doctor a book if it had 7+, because I would take that as a sign that the author had unrealistic goals.
—Interesting relationships between the teammates are important. That usually means that you need a bit of tension, but it’s very tricky. There’s a fine line between a dramatic conflict and a wangsty soap opera. For example, I’d say that Justice League Unlimited handles the Green Lantern-Vixen-Hawkgirl love triangle pretty well. In contrast, I find the Robin-Cyborg and especially the Leonardo-Raphael catfights kind of annoying.
I think it helps to have a few guidelines that characters can’t break. For example, even if Agent Black thinks that Agent Orange is completely loony and unfit to be a government agent, he’s still contractually obliged to be Orange’s partner. He can’t just go off sulking whenever Orange is in the room. In contrast, there’s not much forcing Leonardo and Raphael together.
I’m going to do all I can to ensure that FIGHT doesn’t turn out like Home and Away.
There is a bit of conflict between Isaac and Tristram, but they have to get over it if they’re going to stop Cable from training his little squadron of evil.
I’ve made Tristram and Atalya a 100% faithful couple and I’ve given Olivia and Requiem a close Platonic friendship where she treats him like a brother.
Klemente is a childhood friend of Tristram, and they discovered their powers on the same day. (While Tristram has the same powers as Isaac, he rarely uses them because he is fatigued more easily, so he relies on his hacking skills rather than his psi-blasts or flight)
Kamari met Tristram when he hacked her laptop by accident in an attempt to break Libra Electronics’ firewall. He’s the one who gets her a ticket to Perth from Brisbane by breaking the airport’s security codes.
With their relationships mostly built up, there is little room for any “I hate you, go drop dead” type of drama.
well i know a few femles here that could help lol plus i know a bit myself if u want some input there as well
oh B.mac btw i was wanting to show you the comic pages i have done to get your input om them but for some reson my hotmail wont download the pics is there any other way can show you?
its ok i think this link will work i only have two comic pages this is just one
http://silverd1.deviantart.com/art/Comic-story-one-108630780