A thought

[joisbishmyoga]

How to write a woman:

Begin with a man
Set the world against him
Sharpen his edges
Turn them inward
When he's finished his growth
And is weary and hardened
Slash his age in two
Cover him in lace and velvet
Change the pronouns
Set her to start her story

Comments

[vesca_viridian]

Is it odd that in some ways I agree with this? Because more often I like characterization of the male characters, but when genderbent they can be the most badass female characters ever and I stop and wonder why not just write a female character like that from the start and feel...sad?...that it doesn't usually work that way. Also, yay, genderbent Saguru. :D

[joisbishmyoga]

It has to be a good genderbend, though. Far too often I see "oh a girl version just has long hair and boobs, and drools over the remaining boys", which is exactly the problem in writing female characters from scratch. Apparently no one can see past the inexplicable need to be focused on boys, in order to give a female character agency and personality of her own. You know?

[vesca_viridian]

I do. -_- The ones where a character is genderbent just to make a pairing straight are really uncomfortable. Whole cast genderbends can be interesting though. Dynamics do change some when you swap genders for characters,but if it's changing the character's personality to something it wouldn't be in the original, it's being done wrong. >_< (And there is always the issue of, when you genderbend in drawings, think about the character's body type before just being all BOOBS. >_> Not every character is chesty. In face most likely wouldn't be.)

[joisbishmyoga]

Uncomfortable and obvious. You've got like a 95% chance of spotting them in the summaries.

I googled for pics of muscular not-bodybuilder women when I was writing Reciprocal. Hakuba's got a muscular build, a lot of upper body strength, and small breasts, much to her grandmother's eternal dismay. Mormor wasn't expecting dainty -- she herself is tall and intimidating -- but there's a vast difference between statuesque and Amazonian.

[loki_lee]

I... I want to read this so much it sounds so good.