Have you ever really stretched and written a story from the point of view of someone totally opposite of you, or from a background you were personally unfamiliar with? Did you research it, or wing it? Were you satisfied with it? More important, were your readers?

This week, I’m reading a book simply because I’m checking out the author and wanted to familiarize myself with his work. The story’s a bit unusual – setting, characters, etc. and I’m about a quarter of the way through. But I realize as I am reading that I’m studying technique more than absorbing the story.

The author is male – yet he tells a woman’s story. He chose to write the work in sections, like short tales, from the viewpoints of several characters, both male and female, in an area full of political, social, and religious conflict. His biography reveals extensive travel and experience in the lands he writes about, so he has firsthand knowledge of the environment, even if it isn’t one he grew up in. And he talks about wanting to tell things from a woman’s perspective. But, can a male truly understand how a female’s mind works and write it? Or vice versa?

Here’s the deal.  After I’ve read the book I’ll give it a full review.  I just wanted to share the questions I have about it. As a writer, I want to ask – How do you do that?  As a reader, I want to see if he does it well. Do you do that, too?  It’s funny – before I started writing, none of this would have occurred to me.  So, writing has changed my way of reading.

It seems to me that understanding sexual, social, or mental behavior in a foreign environment enough to create an entirely different person would require much more than personal experience. There’s got to be a LOT of research! Of course, a fictional character’s mind is easier to read than a real one – if you can create a character, you can create his/her own way of thinking of things. Can’t you?

To make it totally believable, though?  This will get interesting.

Am I over-thinking, or did I just cross into another zone and realize I’m not nearly ready to write that “great American novel”?

*****

When I have a story in mind it starts out telling itself and chooses the way it should be told. But I do always write from a female perspective. It might be first person, third person, or omniscient…but always female. And I choose backgrounds that I know about, through personal experience or from friends and family. Yeah, this requires less effort on my part.

Charlie’s story (that I wrote about last week) will require me to be true to the thoughts of a 10-year-old boy, and this is my first venture into thinking like a guy.  More of a kid, but…it will be a challenge. Small steps

Still, it’s probably easier to start with a 10-year-old than a 40-something male.