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19 posts and counting... We haven't reach the climax yet.
Female books are better written than guys books.
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Veronica8 Uh, well...
Veronica8 she needs to level up to be a martial artist and some form of combatant. A skillset that goes against her values of being a woman and loving wife.
Why does being a martial artist/combatant go against her values of being a woman and loving wife? What does that have to do with anything? Why can't a woman be a martial artist/combatant?
Your story sounds pretty cool, but I will have to actually read it to see why it isn't popular. Inner self battles are pretty popular, and they have nothing to do with gender or "emotional complexity has no place in action" works. Many popular stories feature that kind of emotional complexity, whether the protagonist is male or female. Many popular stories have protagonists struggling against a moral dilemma, an inner darkness or inner monster, for example. Like, an ex-killer who's haunted by those he has murdered, or an ex-soldier who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. I'm thinking like Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Sidney Sheldon, John Grisham, to name a few. The Dark Knight trilogy is a great example of this - the emotional complexity of inner self battle is manifested in Bruce Wayne's attempt to overcome his fear (fear is a strong theme particularly in Batman Begins), his trauma of losing his parents to crime, and in The Dark Knight, it's the moral dilemma of not exposing his identity at the cost of people dying - people he's supposed to save. Iron Man too, the comic series sees Tony Stark battles against alcoholism while the movies have him struggle against his own hubris.
Popular action, male-orientated (and I'm using the term loosely) stories can be filled with emotional complexity. I wonder if it's not so much your inclusion of emotional complexity but rather your execution of it that might not appeal to the readers? I have to actually read the story to find out. From what I see, the premise is sound. It doesn't really subvert any tropes, to be honest. Only issue I can find is why can't a woman be a martial artist, or why can't a loving wife be a combatant? Is her idea of womanly values...pacifistic and nonviolent? But that's not inherently woman, is it?
Didn’t read all the posts, so I’m just spouting my opinion randomly. I think this depends on preferences and who the author is a lot. However, I’m not surprised that female authors are (on average) writing better and more relatable stories than men.
A lot of times guys are focused on the action and girls are focused on the thoughts/emotions in life. You know, a wife says, “Do the dishes.” Her husband does them and is shocked when she gets mad because he did them with a bad attitude. She ends up saying something like, “You can smile while you do the dishes!”
See, the husband thought all that mattered was the action of getting the dishes clean. The wife wanted her husband to want to (or be joyful about) helping her with chores around the house. She was concerned about his emotions towards her and their life.
Similar things happen in books. A guy writes an entire book where the whole thing reads like, “He punches this bad guy, and then he punches that bad guy!” He thinks it’s amazing, but his plot and characters are stale and emotionless.
A woman writes the same book, but it reads like, “He fights with this bad guy to save a woman he loves because she has these characteristics!” As a result, the whole thing feels different to a reader.
The male book might have better action, but it doesn’t connect with them. However, the female book touches them on an emotional level where they can say, “I want to be like that hero. When will I find a girl that makes me feel that way.”
Again, just my thoughts. It is possible for women to write books devoid of emotion and for men to write tear jerkers as well though. I think the emotions just come more naturally to females while writing. They already (on average) spend more time thinking about what actions mean in terms of what the person doing them feels or thinks.
Emotions will always trump actions in written stories in my opinion because (unlike movies where you can see it), it can be hard to make action scenes exciting on the page without an emotion tied to them.
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I also think where the writers started have something to contribute to their standard in quality. Most guys on here, at least to my knowledge, start in here—a place that has little to no semblance in quality control. They go and look at the badass, big-dicked McGee and go "Yo, this shit sells, what if I did it too?". The girls on the other hand come from Wattpad, where the algorithm is so little to non-existent that they have to at least think of what they type for a semblance of traction.
So much so that they often become verbose, though that's a topic for another time.
That's just how I see it, though.
As for my opinion: most of the context of the difference of both flavors are already explained above so not gonna repeat that and it's damn too long.
Gonna be honest here and blunt here, a hate feminist genres and face slapping harems and it was never a competition of gender equality.
And this thread itself is really worthless in my opinion. You really cannot make that perfect formula in writing since each writer and reader has different behaviours and tastes when it comes to it.
I read a book. MC faces the enemy and is unsure of what to do?
Male comment - problem = the enemy - kill him/special jail holding enemy for eternity -> problem solved
Female comment - Don't kill/hurt him back, even if the enemy will come back, it will affect MC emotionally and he will no longer be the same. (special jail holding enemy for eternity also exists here at times)
One solves the problem and prevent it from popping up in future, (problem-solving mentality as the priority),
Other makes sure that at the end of the day when there is no problem, MC can live with himself (emotional aspect as the priority).
The way I see it female books delve more into emotional and more often than not enemy is somewhat converted no violence (ruthlessness). Needs more detail and character analysis for the change to be effective (+magical fairy takes care of ruthless enemy's future plans and makes him easily accept the peaceful way) and leads to the desired ending.
Guys books deal with current and the future problem with violence first (most cases) (+ magical fairy fix the emotional aspects ) leads to the desired ending.
Hard to tell which path makes the better story, it is based on personal preference.
Ps, this is my opinion generalized based on limited reading...
Veronica8 This was one of the story premise I wrote that didn't test well.
How the heck did that no do well? That is soo interesting. Did you purposely hide most of the chapters while publishing it? Otherwise, it is impossible for that to not sell. Just that short excerpt is hella interesting in my opinion.
Fern_is_Plant Quite accurate, second to MotivatedSloth who never misses.
First off, the OP comes off as very um... disdainful?... of male-written books for reasons of their own.
Not gonna comment on that.
As for the difference between male-written and female-written novels on Webnovel specifically, they seem to be the same story.
Female novels are tearjerker melodrama that occurs almost never in real life and male novels are testosterone-fueled power fantasy that also never occurs in real life.
Can you guess why? Because this is called fiction. Things that occur there are meant to immerse a reader into the world of the media in question, and stating that one approach to achieving this goal is the 'objectively' better one shows that you need to google what makes a novel objectively good... cuz you have no clue lol.
Veronica8 Tropes aren't bad, think of them as guideposts. I would also research the trope so you know how to put your spin on it. There is a website called TVtropes, I would start there. Be warned... It's a time suck. I've lost a couple of hours reading about different character and setting tropes.
One issue I need to deal with in my novella is making sure my protagonist sounds female or at least has enough female traits to be realistic. But since it's a hot mess draft, right now I am just trying to get my story finished.
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LVTeacherman Yeah. Tropes are like that. Unfortunately, I've seen and written too many to have my brain muddled. So much so that I can't help write off rails. Call it rebellion of the writer's brain.
It's cool that you can adhere to a trope. Not a bad thing. Especially if you attempt scriptwriting, which is strongly recommended.
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Overlord_Venus Thank you. I published it to Wattpad a while back, but after a few months of not getting anything, I gave up. I also had it reviewed where it got a bad rating. So, It seems I stuffed up on the delivery. I was attempting to have a similar pace and tone as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
I might revisit after I finish my 7 other WIP. Hopefully, the world would be ready for that kind of story by then.
Veronica8 Try other platforms to publish it. Wattpad doesn't count. You can try it on scribblehub. Just make sure to paste an anime styled cover for it
Overlord_Venus Cool. Thanks!
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Gonna agree with you. Come to think of this, it is really seem so sexist and seems to have a hidden agenda to promote hate or a cult. It is like why men vs. women, which are more intelligent topic.
Women and men may be different but they are all call human. It is the author himself/herself that writes the book. How well it is written depends on individual tastes and preferences. Just because you like that author work and the author happens to be the same as sex as you are, doesn't mean he or she writes better than any opposing sex. Again, it is personal preferences.
It is too subjective to prove the female writers can write better than men. You can only prove you can write better than them irregardless of your sex by posting it and letting everyone compare you vs the individual author.
What I mean, rather than saying male or female writers which one is able to write better, it is better to ask yourself as a human (not male or female) if you can write better than them. Compare your own individual rather than your sex. Or else it shows a lack of maturity. Without reading your works, everyone can almost tell that you can't write well even if you think ur sex can write well because it shows a lack of maturity.
Kotario
I mean, seriously. Who just drops a toxic fart of an opener like that and then runs away from the topic altogether?
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I thought the OP was dissing about the genre type rather than the writer physicality? So how did this topic ended up being female vs male writers?
Because there are guys who do write romances and sappy stuff.
I re-read again. The OP isn't talking about genre type. Basically, it is how guy books are so badly written but woman books are all so well written, plus the OP hates guys books on romance, forced and harem BS.
It just boil down to personal preferences and not because of guy and woman books.
Imagine reading an Issac Asimov book and you hating the BS science fiction. And you hates Issac Asimov just because he is not a woman because he falls into the category of not writing good mainstream books for 'this particular' reader.