Guest Post: Men Writing with a Female Voice, by author of SUZANNE, Michael Betcherman

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Denise Alicea

This blog was created by Denise in September 2008 to blog about writing, book reviews, and technology. Slowly, but surely this blog expanded to what it has become now, a central for book reviews of all kinds interviews, contests, and of course promotional venue for authors, etc

MEN WRITING WITH A FEMALE VOICE

 

As a male who has written a romantic comedy with a female protagonist, and a mystery with a female sleuth, I’m often asked—well, twice—why my main characters are women. The main reason is that I find women more interesting than men. It’s not that I don’t like men. I do. I played in a basketball league for years, until my body said “no mas”, and what I miss most isn’t the game itself, it’s the guys—the horseplay in the locker room, the physicality, the way they smell…. oops, wrong column…

 

My background has been a major influence. I grew up with strong, witty women—a mother and an older sister, both published authors who had opinions and weren’t afraid to express them—the kind of characters who make good protagonists.

 

Another reason why I like to write in female voices is because men are easier to make fun of than women. And they’re even funnier when they’re seen through a woman’s eyes. Plus, if I need source material, I don’t have to leave home.

 

Case in point: Last month I decided to replace the toilet by myself, ignoring my wife’s entreaties to call a plumber. “Why would I pay a plumber to do something “Home Improvements for Dummies” says a complete novice can do in 90 minutes?” I asked. “I plead the fifth,” she replied.

 

Following the instructions to the letter, I shut off the water, removed the old toilet, and then stuffed a wad of newspaper into the drain to stop the sewer gases from backing up. Next, I took the new toilet out of the box and put in place. Then I turned the water back on. No leaks.

 

I called my wife so she could witness my triumph, and then eat crow. I flushed the toilet. It immediately started backing up. “I’ll go call the plumber,” my wife said wearily. I stared into the toilet bowl, wondering how a never-used toilet could possibly be plugged. The village idiot who stared back didn’t have any answers. Then I realized I hadn’t removed the newspaper from the drain before I installed the toilet.

 

There is plenty of female insight into the vagaries of the male of the species in my latest story, a romantic comedy called Suzanne, and it was particularly gratifying when a number of readers commented that I had done a good job portraying the female characters. So I’ll take the liberty of passing along two pieces of advice for male writers who want to write in a female voice.

 

First of all—and it may be a cliché to say so but if there wasn’t some truth to it, it wouldn’t be a cliché—you have to understand that men and women have a different view of relationships. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what a male character is thinking when he sees a beautiful woman doing the downward dog. Pay a penny for those thoughts and you’ve been overcharged. But most women don’t divorce feelings from sex and if you don’t know that, you’re not going to come up with a very convincing female character.

 

And secondly, get in touch with your own feelings. To state the obvious, how can you write about someone else’s feelings if you’re oblivious to your own? It all comes down to getting in touch with your feminine side. I’ve worked hard on developing that aspect of my character—and I’m not referring to the time my mother-in-law caught me in my wife’s lingerie—and I think it’s paid off, both as a person and a writer.

 

What do I mean about getting in touch with your feminine side? Here’s an example from my own life. When I first asked my wife out – after yoga class – she made it clear that we wouldn’t be having sex any time soon. If ever. A lot of men would have headed for the hills, but when she explained that she was sick and tired of men who were only interested in getting her into bed, well, that really touched me. She was so honest.

 

I told her that I wouldn’t put any pressure on her, that we would move ahead at a pace she was comfortable with. “I’m not sex-obsessed like those other guys,” I assured her. “I want to get to know you too.” That surprised her. Then I surprised her some more by suggesting we see Terms of Endearment. At the end, when Debra Winger died, I started sobbing uncontrollably. That really surprised her. An hour later, we were in the sack.

 

That’s what I mean about getting in touch with your feminine side.

 

As usual, my wife was one step ahead of me. “I’ve never seen one that big,” she murmured when I stripped down. Years later she told me she was referring to my ego.

 

 

Michael Betcherman is a writer living in Toronto. He is the author of two young adult novels, Breakaway and Face-Off, both published by Penguin. He is also the co-author, along with David Diamond, of The Daughters of Freya, a mystery about a journalist investigating a cult in California. He is also a screenwriter with numerous credits in both dramatic and documentary television.

 

 

GIRL ON BEACH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

on amazon for Kindle:

 

Suzanne had it all. Then she lost it. Now she wants it back.

 

Suzanne Braun had it all – beauty, status and money. Then her husband died – but not before making a series of foolish investments that squandered her inheritance. When a promising relationship with a wealthy and aging suitor founders during prenuptial negotiations, Suzanne finds herself a social pariah, universally regarded as an unscrupulous golddigger.

 

Her prospects look bleak until her late husband’s brother, Douglas, invites her to spend the summer at Inglewood, the family cottage on Lake Joseph, a playground for Toronto’s uber-rich. Suzanne packs her bag, deposits her wayward daughter at summer camp and, armed only with her wits and her sex appeal, heads north with one goal in mind: to return home at summer’s end with a wealthy fiancé in tow.

 

Douglas’ frumpy wife Catherine dreads Suzanne’s arrival. Years earlier she went out with Suzanne’s late husband before he dumped her for Suzanne, but there is more than a summer in the company of a hated rival at stake. Catherine, and her status-conscious mother, Arlene, fear that the sexy widow will set her sights on her brother Mark, a successful businessman who is returning to Canada after 14 years in Japan. The notion that the social climbing opportunist might penetrate the family circle is too horrible to contemplate, and Catherine and Arlene will stop at nothing to prevent it.

 

An irresistible force is about to meet an immovable object.

 

 

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