I’ll probably catch hell for this post, but I am interested in knowing if others have an opinion. I just completed reading a novel by a female author (though I keep saying I would not anymore and end up picking up another one again), and once again I saw many of the same tendencies that women writers seem to have. The main question here is:
Is there an obvious difference in the writing style of male and female authors of fiction? – I would say, yes.
It seems to me that women put way too much emphasis on love relationships, intimacy and sex (and I’m not referring to romance novels; it could be a book about basket-weaving, or anything). For instance, a male writer would have a couple getting into the sack and in the very next sentence they are having breakfast, whereas a female writer seems to add an exorbitant amount of unnecessary detail—often an entire page or two—of what takes place in the bed. Also, it seems to me that many women writers don’t create dialogue between characters in the way that people actually speak, with one character often—far too often—referring to the other by name. For example:
(A phone rings)
“Mary, please answer the phone.”
“No, John, I’d rather not.”
“You should, Mary, it might be important.”
“But, John, I’m busy doing my hair.”
“Fine, Mary, I’ll get it. But you need to hurry, Mary, or we’ll be late.”
“I know, John.”
People just don’t talk like that, calling the other by name so often when speaking, and it drives me batty every time I see it.
~RA~
Is there an obvious difference in the writing style of male and female authors of fiction? – I would say, yes.
It seems to me that women put way too much emphasis on love relationships, intimacy and sex (and I’m not referring to romance novels; it could be a book about basket-weaving, or anything). For instance, a male writer would have a couple getting into the sack and in the very next sentence they are having breakfast, whereas a female writer seems to add an exorbitant amount of unnecessary detail—often an entire page or two—of what takes place in the bed. Also, it seems to me that many women writers don’t create dialogue between characters in the way that people actually speak, with one character often—far too often—referring to the other by name. For example:
(A phone rings)
“Mary, please answer the phone.”
“No, John, I’d rather not.”
“You should, Mary, it might be important.”
“But, John, I’m busy doing my hair.”
“Fine, Mary, I’ll get it. But you need to hurry, Mary, or we’ll be late.”
“I know, John.”
People just don’t talk like that, calling the other by name so often when speaking, and it drives me batty every time I see it.
~RA~
