Comments on: Workshop Submission #3

By: Fun Feature Friday: First Chapters « Typing with My Toes

Fun Feature Friday: First Chapters « Typing with My Toes — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:46:20 +0000

[...] Submission #1 Workshop Submission #2 Workshop Submission #3 Workshop Submission #4 Workshop Submission #5 Workshop Submission #6 Workshop Submission #7 [...]

By: Cat Woods

Cat Woods — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:39:30 +0000

Tiffany,

Thanks so much for your courage. It is far easier to critique someone else’s writing than to put our writing out there for others to judge. Chin up, you have an interesting start that is simply getting lost because of the voice.

Boys are such different creatures in the way they talk, think and act. I always have my Oldest Son read my boy POV works because he’s honest about it. “Hey, Mom, we would never say it like that.”

Find a good male reader who can help you find your male voice and get cracking about the death. I was completely intrigued about how the MC knew about the death before Mom came up to explain it.

Best~

By: shelley

shelley — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:33:25 +0000

Barry Lyga is a favorite of mine! Boy Toy=Wow! A.M. Jenkins does a pretty good job of female writing male POV. Breaking Boxes comes to mind, and she has others.
Tiffany, thank you for being so brave and willing to learn.
FLASH BURNOUT=another Wow!

By: Bane

Bane — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:37:04 +0000

“I wonder whether it’s because there’s more interesting stuff going on in teenage females’ minds?”

There’s certainly a lot more crazy.

By: Bongo

Bongo — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:16:30 +0000

Bongo will elucidate the matters of the genders.

Sure, the formula “grunt, grunt, thought, grunt, scratch private parts, sigh, grunt, thought, grunt” might seem easy to duplicate, but the formula must be varied as in “grunt, grunt, thought, scratch private parts, sigh, grunt, scratch, sigh, grunt, thought, grunt” in order to feel natural and unscripted.

It is much easier for a man to write as a woman. The formula is much simpler: “complain, complain, get offended, complain, shrill something incomprehensible, withhold sex, complain.” Or for minimalists: “complain, complain, withhold sex, complain.”

By: Franziska Green

Franziska Green — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:35:17 +0000

I wonder whether it’s because there’s more interesting stuff going on in teenage females’ minds?! (Ducking, as I see tomatoes sailing through the virtual air at my head.)

Siski (aka Franz, Franziska and the Sisko Kid – my dad calls me that)

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:46:38 +0000

Yes, YA readership is mostly female, so there’s a pressure on us men to tone down the motorcycle maintenance and beer, and to wash occasionally.

By: Bane

Bane — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:58:01 +0000

Probably b/c there tend to be more female readers, or b/c it’s our way of trying to figure you crazy women out

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:24:42 +0000

To add something to the gender debate… It’s actually more common (looking at shelves) to write a female POV if you’re a male writer than to have a female writer writing in a male POV. BEAUTIFUL CREATURES and L.K. Madigan’s FLASH BURNOUT (she’s an ABLit client and won this year’s Morris Award!) are two titles that come to mind where male POV from female writers comes across well.

I can’t say WHY it is more common to see a female POV from a male writer, but that certainly seems to be the case. If you want an example of great female POV from a male writer, try GOTH GIRL RISING by Barry Lyga.

By: Allison

Allison — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:22:14 +0000

Hey Tiffany, thanks for sharing! You’re braver than I am, trying to write from the POV of a different gender. I have to agree with what else has been said here. I’m not really feeling that first paragraph at all. It seems out of place to me too, considering the death you reveal later on. That’s what caught my attention and made me want to read more.