The one post on this blog that gets more hits than any other is not a blogfest entry. They’re near the top, but this one continues to trump them all. It’s about gender and writing and how the two are connected. A bit of background for anyone who doesn’t know me, we don’t have traditional gender roles in our house. We’re about as non-traditional as it gets. So I have different views on how gender impacts our communication and am frequently pondering it.
Yesterday’s post got me thinking about this even more. Go read the comments. Go ahead, it won’t take but a minute or two…
Done?
Did you notice any patterns in the comments? I had the unique privilege of continuing one of those conversations offline yesterday, because one of those commenters is also my reader. Also the only person who commented who’s read the story. They pointed out something interesting, and while this wasn’t their point it got me thinking…
All of you wonderful women who commented were amazing and encouraging. You all told me it was a great idea and reinforced the concept of the kind of freedom this would open up in my universe. You also pretty much all agreed with the post as a part of that encouragement. Thank you all for this, you made my day and helped me get past some serious character mourning.
All of you amazing men who commented were wonderful and encouraging. Except…you all told me this wasn’t a valid reason to make a change, and (I’m paraphrasing here), I should write what I want regardless of whether or not something similar is already a part of popular media.
I’ve belonged to my fair share of critique groups before. I’ve had male critique partners and female. My favorites are always the honest ones, but there’s different ways of delivering honesty, right? As a blanket, gross over-generalization, men critique work differently than women do. This isn’t always the case. But…
This has all made me wonder. Is the gender split in the types of encouragement from yesterday coincidence or is there more to it? And taking it a step further, if there is an inkling of it that’s gender driven, how does that one little chromosome impact how we read and process stories? And how does it impact the way we offer encouragement to our fellow writers?
Or does it? If it is all just coincidence, is it an environmental impact instead? Or, is this all just the way the cards fell yesterday because there will always be some people who vote one way and some who vote another? (especially when both choices are logical. I can tell you right now, the offline discussion took place because I was still struggling with which option I preferred.)
Thoughts?
I’m going to throw off your conclusions by being a woman who encourages you to NOT CHANGE your work. I think from the few details you shared, your work sounds intriguing. I personally love re-imaginings as long as they are still respectful to the source material, which I’m sure yours is. Greek heroes, Norse gods and angels all in the same universe? Sounds fascinating to me. I love to see when authors take multiple mythological elements from many cultures and find new and interesting ways to make them fit in the same universe. Don’t give up on your interpretation! I’d love to read your Loki. 🙂
I’m with the not-changers. I love the way you bring an existing mythology into your world and make it your own. I think it’s what makes your book unique. You don’t have to be 100% true to previous incarnations of the characters. They’re characters, not real people, and you have a right to interpret them as you wish. And in your book, they’re your characters.
Don’t change it.
FWIW, I would have said to stick with your character as he is. Hollywood got something right — statistically speaking, it was bound to happen sooner or later. No reason to get one’s panties in a twist.
I haven’t had a chance to comment lately because of being sick. I was going to say that I didn’t think you really needed to change the story because of the movie’s use of mythology. I mean, if you really want to do it then go ahead but I don’t think people will claim you took your characters from them. It is interesting about the divide in genders on the topic. Then again, we saw even my writing tends to be “male”. *shrugs* Gender interpretation is always interesting though with most topics there are exceptions. 😉
I think you’re confusing gender and sex. Chromosomes have to do with your sex. Gender has to do with cultural constructs on what is “male” and what is “female.” It could be that men are more including to sticking with their opinions because of societal expectation. And likewise, it could be that women are more likely to do something else to avoid future confrontation.
Or really it could just be a coincidence. In one way, they were ALL encouraging you to do what you wanted. You expressed in your post that you WANTED to change it, but at the same time, it was pretty obvious with your wording (you “swore” to yourself you’d never make the decision to change this part of your story) that you really didn’t want to change it. So some people encouraged you one way and some people encouraged you another 🙂 That’s just life.