Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Useful Procrastenation Link

Over on Calsitro's blog she found a fabulous link that tells you whether you write like a man or a woman. Try it here. I found it a useful tool even if it was procrastenation! I was pleased my chapters in the male pov came out as a man writing and my heroines female. What was deeply intriguing is that Serena's chapters come out male - I guess it's all that teenage angst! But then by the end of the book her chapters come out female............ I guess it shows she has changed at least verbally.

This whole thing leads me to where I am struggling today. I have reached page 150 in the rewrite - the first fifty pages I am much happier with and feel I know them well and have layered in some good emotion - which is good. I am learning my way through the rest. However I realize that I don't introduce Mark's pov until page 97 although he physically appears on page 6. Now it and the subsequent three chapters in his pov are good but here's the question.......is page 97 too late to intro a new pov? Does it dilute from the strong female thing going on? Can I get his pov across without being in his head?

Well, at least I know that when I am in his head I am writing like a man :-)

14 comments:

sheepish said...

Hi just to say thanks for the links on Saturdays blog, very informative. Just off for to waste a bit more time on todays link before doing anything remotely meaningful. Procrastinator me!!! never!!

Phillipa said...

Well, I did one of these tests and all my work came out as woman - even the inner POV of my most Alpha male, Will. Too late to worry now but it is a great distraction from writing...

Unknown said...

This week has been full of great stuff, Sheepish :-)

I can't believe will came out female, Phillipa!

Zinnia Cyclamen said...

I recently did a plot analysis of The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. She is a woman writer who also has a 'strong female thing going on'. She has a male character who first appears in person around page 10, but doesn't get a scene in his own POV until page 138. So there is precedent for this. Good precedent, too: The Stone Diaries won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. Having said that, it doesn't mean what you're doing with Mark is necessarily right for YOUR book - only you can decide that - but it does mean it's not necessarily wrong.

Unknown said...

Zinnia - you are a star! I am currently printing out the rest of the book to look at Mark's chapters and then make my decision.

I will put The Stone Diaries on my tbr pile :-)

Zinnia Cyclamen said...

Twinkle, twinkle!! Good plan re The Stone Diaries - it's an astonishing book. FYI the character in question is Magnus Flett.

Lisa said...

Wow! That Gender Genie is something. Everything I tried came out female, except a stand alone scene I wrote a few months ago that isn't part of any WIP. That one was definitely male.

Sounds like you got some good advice and a good precedent for your POV question.

Chris Stovell said...

Liz! I have time to do the gender thingy! I have finished FTT (well, I feel a bit nervouse about saying that - I've written 'the end' but wonder how soon it will before I'm back to the beginning with it!) Still, I'll make the most of it for now!

cs harris said...

I find it jarring when a character who's been around for 90 pages is suddenly given a pov. If I know I'm going to need a character's pov later (because he'll be the only person in a scene) I give him a pov scene either the first or second time he's introduced.

That said, there are many ways to portray a character's thoughts and feelings without giving him a pov. In fact, there are times it's actually EASIER to convey emotion from the outside, through another character's observations.

Unknown said...

Lisa - pleased you had fun with the genie! Yes, The Stone diaries look very good indeed.

Chrish - you go girl. I know it's been bl**dy hard work for you. Enjoy a well earned rest.

C.S. - what you are saying is what my insticts are saying and having looked at the whole manuscript now I think I will lose those scenes in Mark's head (only 21 pages worht so not a big cut). I think I can convey his part without those pages ( at least I will find out so if I can) :-)

Karen said...

My writing was all woman!!

I remember in the wonderful "The Memory Keeper's Daughter," by Kim Edwards, that new characters were introduced towards the end of the book, but they fitted in and blended really well, if that's any help :o)

Alyssa Goodnight said...

I don't think page 97 is too late...if you have significant happenings going on in the female POV (i.e., if the first part of the book is really all about her). Otherwise, I might try to sneak one in.

Sounds like you're making great progress!

Michelle Styles said...

Liz -- The only thing you should be thinking about is does it make sense for the story?
Do you for example change POV to other protagnists earlier on? If not, it might feel slightly jarring, BUT again IAITE.
Keep your eye on the doughnut (ie the story) and not the potential hole and you will be fine.
There is no hard andfast rule that says you must postiviely have done x or be forever damned to not include y's POV.

Annie Wicking said...

Hey I'm a male writer... Wow... I didn't know. I've known all my life that I wasn't a girly girl more of a tomboy, but then I am a gemini maybe it's my male side coming out in my writing. How cool is that...lol

Thank you for sharing.

Annie