Ntozake Shange–poet, playwright, performance artist, and novelist–said,
“Women’s novels are more like breathing, and men’s more like running.”
This statement by Ntozake Shange is provacative and a tad loaded. (Of course, we don’t know the context with which she said it.) Who wouldn’t prefer breathing over running, right? But I find it intriguing. Anything Ntozake Shange does I find intriguing.
If we’re going to talk about women’s novels versus men’s novels, we can also open up the whole controversy out there about whether men can write authentic female characters, and women writers can write authentic male characters. And what about grownups writing children’s books? Can adults write authentic kids characters?
I love her analogy that women’s novels are more like breathing. The books that I love go deep and sustain me for a long time. They have a slower rhythm than a thriller. I don’t read to get my adrenaline pumping but to get in touch with my heart. So in that aspect, I totally agree. But sometimes men can write those deep, fulfilling passages, too. Can’t they?
What do you think? Is there a difference between fiction written by women and fiction written by men? I don’t think there are any right or wrong answers, simply opinions. As always, I’d love to hear from you.
P.S. I’m an ex-shrink who writes award-winning novels. Check out my books here.
I think the differences are vanishing and have become small in literary fiction. In genre fiction, there’s a bit more distinction but even here it’s becoming blurred. (Nick Sparks may be the most successful writer of chic lit to date, and more and more women, though I don’t know their names offhand, are writing these ghastly “torture-porn” crime books where women are abducted, tortured and mutilated. I think in almost all areas gender differences have passed. Women love monster truck races and sadomasochistic movies these days passionately, and men go antiquing and decorate. Geeks are cool. Playing chess is suddenly hip—among girls. And men are cooking and gardening like never before.
Oh, except me. I don’t care much for cooking and don’t garden either.
Hi John,
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I like to think that things are blending more and more, too, and that our hunter/gathering days aren’t totally driving us as a species. We are all hunters these days, and gatherers. (Especially in this economy!)
I had never heard of “torture porn.” Yuck. Why would anybody of any gender want to write it or read it??
By the way, I don’t care much for cooking or gardening, either. Though I love to be outside in Nature and, of course, I love to eat!
From one of our lovely email subscribers:
“Hi Susan, When I want to be touched and enveloped in a story, I will choose a book written by a woman. When my interests are more varied, like, mysteries, ghost stories or war stories it doesn’t matter if the writer is a man or a woman. This is a sexist point of view, I guess, but it is mine. Deep feelings are best captured by the female soul. Thank you for the great question. Mary”
Dear Mary: Even though I have the XY chromosome set, I hope when my novel is done you will give it a shot at touching and enveloping you.
I think there’s a difference because men and women are raised differently in our society. Women are taught to focus on their feelings and emotions, while men are encouraged to speak up and be opinionated. Obviously each individual takes these guidelines and incorporates them into their life in different ways, but I think any differences in writing styles on a gender basis is more learned then it is innate.
I think that books written by men tend to have more of an external focus, even if the external focus is really a stand-in for an internal dilemma and/or growth. Take Spartina by John Casey. It’s about who his main character, Dick, is as a person, what he wants for his life, and his relationships with two women in his life, but all of this sort of gets told around the story of him building his boat and then (of course!) a battle with the sea.
Books written by women tend to have an internal focus. Let’s take Red Hook Road, written by Ayelet Waldman which also has a boat being built and a big storm at sea, but at its core, it’s all about the processing of the death of a child, and the boat stuff is definitely on the periphery.
This is obviously a generalization, and you can find books written by men that have their focus firmly on the internal and books by women with a focus on the external, but what do people say? Ah yes, those are the exceptions that prove the rule.
Wow. Very thoughtful comments.
Elissa and Sonje, thanks for joining the conversation. I love the whole external/internal focus idea. It makes a lot of sense, as does the different ways society teaches women and men to relate. Toss in a bit of introversion vs. extraversion and different personality types, as well as writing styles and levels of craft and everything gets really interesting.
No matter which gender the writer, I really appreciate character-driven novels where the characters are drawn in-depth and have an inner life–thoughts, feelings, memories, motivations. That’s what adds richness for me.
More thoughts?
Hello Susan, thanks for dropping by my Mountain Woman blog. I’m so glad that you like “My First Memory.” That poem still resonates for me; I go back to that afternoon by the woodstove and feel that there’s more I could write about it.
Now, as for the man/woman issue, I can’t make any throughtful comment at this point. Most the poets I loved and still love have been men. I do agree that the borders between the genders of writers is blurring. I’ll have to give this topic more thought.
Happy All Hallow’s Eve! Kathryn
Oops, sorry about the subj/verb disagreement re borders. I’m sitting in a hospital lobby right now, waiting for my sister-in-law to come out of surgery, and the tv is right over my head blaring the Michael Jackson trial over and over. I’ll take that as my excuse!
> The Difference Between Novels Written by Men and Women
Men’s button on the other side…