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Girl Blog
WHAT a treat I have for you today. But before I hand you over to someone far more capable than I of entertaining you, I have to share a picture I got the other day…..it’s my absolute-favorite-bar-none shot from Istanbul….and the only proof I have of just how spectacular the Bosphorus is at night, viewed from the rear deck of a ferry. Check it out here. That’s the Dolmabahçe Palace behind me with the lights of the city in the background.
Sigh.
Can I just go back now?
Apparently not. So thank heavens that I can at least fall back on the ever-charming Dave White, who’s here to make you glad that for another week you don’t have to listen to me ramble. Without further ado, here he is:
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Maybe I’m whipped.
Here I am writing for a blog entitled “The Good Girls Who Kill For Money” because the rather attractive Tasha Alexander asked me to. I mean I barely hesitated.
So, maybe I am whipped by women.
I mean always listen to them, I always end up honoring their requests.
“Hey Dave, I’m gonna go shoot this guy and try to get away with it. Want to help?”
Sure.
“Hey, Dave, I’m going to sleep with this clearly bad man and then wake up and be upset about it. Do me a favor and set it up, okay?”
Of course.
“Dave, I’m going to go visit my mother, who’s in the hospital. My brother’s not around, and my mom’s talking crazy. Someone needs to be there for her. Get me there, will you?”
Not a problem.
Oh. Did you think I was talking about real women? Nope, I’m talking about writing women.
It’s one of those age old questions for guys. How do you write women? How do we make them seem like real human beings and not fall back on the stereotypes of having them go shopping, make dinner, and worry about the children?
I find that I have to put them in extreme situations and find out how they act. And most of the women I write about react pretty strongly. They fight back, they don’t cry, and they don’t worry about whether or not their make-up got smeared.
Because what I find is humans basically want the same thing, when it comes down to it. They want to survive, and they want to be reasonably happy. And most people will do whatever it takes to get to those points.
So, I try not to think about women characters any differently then men characters, in terms of desire. How do you make a strong woman in a novel a strong woman? It comes down to the details. They may worry about the pleat of their dress like a man worries about the knot of his tie before a big meeting.
Do I pull it off? I don’t know. That’s up to the reader.
What I do know is, I rarely sit down to write about a damsel in distress. If the damsel is in distress when I write, she has to at least attempt to fight back. It’s important that the women in my books aren’t helpless.
What do the rest of you guys out there think about writing women?
And, in reverse, what do you gals think about writing men? Do you think all we want are a beer, a steak, good sex, and to catch the second half of the Rutgers Seton Hall game? Or is there more to it than that? Do you do whatever your male characters tell you to do in a story?
Yeesh, I hope so.
I don’t want to be the only one who’s whipped.
Dave White is the author of WHEN ONE MAN DIES and the upcoming THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, both released by Crown/Three Rivers Press. He lives in New Jersey. All he wants right now is a beer, steak, good sex, and to catch the last few innings of the Yankees game.
