Male to Female Ratios (Page 1 of 4)

I would suggest writing the story with the characters that belong there regardless of gender. If your story calls for all female, why change it just to throw in a male. However, if you do decide it actually does call for a male character, then write him with whatever characteristics apply. You can always use someone you know to base a new character on or even better use a composite of several people you know. My novel uses many composite characters; I take the details of several people I grew up with and combine them into one even more exciting person, male or female. Hope that helps. Take care. Vern

That makes sense. I've been pretty much "going with the flow" as far as my writing goes, but I wondered if others might have a different opinion. Sometimes, when I read a novel, I get annoyed by the lack of variety in characters, but I think that has more to do with their personalities than their physical features.

-Elisheva

You've received some good advice.

Personally I like to maintain a high ratio of female characters within my writing.  I feel this gives the writer far more scope within the plot for characters to be irrational, illogical and emotionally flawed. You can have them distracted from key aspects of the plot by; say a new handbag or damage to their hair-do. There is the opportunity for humourist sub-plots where they’ll get lost by reading a map upside-down or baffled by (or fumbling with) technological devices. The image of a female character running in high-heeled shoes is also great imagery as is the inability to park a car without gross inefficiency and episodic behaviour.

LOL. Take care. Vern

I fear it is more of a gender based affliction than stereotypical trait Mariana. My wife once exclaimed (of the car) that 'if it were invented by a woman then it'd be a far better machine."

I remember we contemplated that for a while and then burst out laughing as we simultaneously realised that no woman has ever invented anything.

Not true.  The invention of the circular saw is attributed to a Shaker woman who was spinning and watching the wheel when she looked out at the men sawing wood.  I'm sure she wasn't the one to build it, though.

Stereotypes wouldn't exist if there were no basis for them--but sometimes the basis is no longer true, or never quite was, or is ironic falsehood.  And even the truest of stereotypes has exceptions.  I've met Wrench Wenches.  One of them was an automobile service manager.

Only in the USA though. In Europe the circular saw was invented by a Greek called Archimedes (287-212 BC). It was reintroduced and used extensively throughout the Roman Empire  between 27 BC and 264 AD. In China variants of the circular saw have been around since pre-history, but the one preserved in the Chongqing Science and Technology Museum dates from 97 BC

Haha, well I see this discussion has taken off.

To be honest, I myself do not fit many of those stereotypes. I am literally the only female in my department (Technical Support) and one of two females in the office. While I may not be up to par with, say, a professional stunt driver, I do believe I am a decent driver and I have changed both the oil and tires on my truck.

That's not to say that I don't yell at my boyfriend every time he leaves the toilet seat up, but hey! The stereotypes have to start somewhere.

-Elisheva

That'd be handy for blokes tea and coffee breaks. Do you know your male colleagues by their names or do you identify them as 'milk, no sugar' and 'black with two please.'

Of course you do. Most women believe they a good drivers (or singers, dancers, or cooks etc.) but as we know, belief is a substitute for fact (here I'd cite religion as an example, any one them).

Do you think you could break out of your stereotypical conditioning and consider for once just how annoying and inconsiderate it is when women persistently leave the toilet-seat down?

So not true too. I have binders full of inventions by women to choose from. You can keep your stupid circular saw because it is a well known fact (well, to most of the population in any case) that the bicycle has been invented by a woman. Which one do you think saved more lives?

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to point out here? The yachts that I work on generally have anywhere from a dozen to a hundred computers on board, in addition to gaming systems, audio/video systems, servers, network devices, storage systems, etc.

-Elisheva