terminator2589 Yeah, and we are so fundamentally the same, which is why women hate men so much nowadays, which sometimes drives them to homosexuality because they can relate to their partner more easily. Why men can't fathom why women do A thru Z. Why it's so hard for guys to approach girls to ask them out, or why girls cry into their pillow when their guy dumps them for a girl that could never compare to her. In other words why guys are always the player, and women always seem to get played; because we're all the same. If we are "fundamentally allthe same" then we should understand each other down to the bone, and never scratch our heads and think "huh?" We (different sexes) are so alike which is why you can tell when a woman commits a lover's murder opposed to a man, because one will shoot the face and the other the heart. but anybody can know that little tidbit factòid, because I'm talking about the nuance details of the emotional state leading up to the murder, where a reader can say "I see myself in this character because it FEELS right.I'm not talking about sympathizing with a character but seeing yourself as the character and thinking "this is how someone of my sex acts."
No. Sorry, but I disagree. Shallow characters; everybody acts the same, but given depth? Aha!
However, don't put words in my mouth. I said guys can write girls, and vice-versa, but to use your analogy, Not every roleplayer is JK Rowling. Arrogance in thinking "it doesn't matter, because I just have to be myself" is likely to have material that is either 'lifeless' or to use your words the roleplayer/writer "screws up their content."
Now, my mom used to maintain that male writers were more capable of writing the emotional side of female characters more capably than female writers writing the emotional side of male characters. I might disagree with that because her favorite author was Agatha Christie who wrote rather well, and while I've only read one or two of her books, it's tough to say how well she wrote opposite gender characters. She didn't write characters that were very passionate but more stone faced, in my opinion. Very British 'stiff upper lip' so it's difficult to say if she got the emotional state expressed correctly (agaìn, I'm talking about nuance details that go to believability). I mean, everyone may be capable of expressing anger, but then it goes to motivations. To mè, a male reader is the only capable judge to read a female writer's portrayal of male characters emotional state; to say "I can see myself reacting in that way."
Then again, some writers take the cheaters approach to writing characters, by simply borrowing characterizations of friends, family, or random people they see on the street to build their characters emotional state. Again, sometimes they might get it right by sheer dumb luck, until you get to a point where you think "dude, honestly?" JK Rowling accordingly said she was thinking of Evanna Lynch (her daughter's friend) when she wrote that character, which makes me think she "cheated."
In my opinion. Then again, most writers can write and never get their characters in an emotional state, unlike SEXUAL ROLEPLAY which is more likely to require emotional states to be involved. Or, their characterizations are stiff and lifeless.
Let's erase the sexual part away, hmm? You and me are both Americans, right? (it says you are but are you up-front???) How many non-American writers have you read, who tried to write about American personas and you thought "uh, that's close, but you get 'E' for effort, 'T' for trying, but 'F' for failing"? I'm talking about believability where you'd think "this writer is a gen-u-wine American!" but they're not. I'm from Brooklyn NY. Now in the movie Capt America, when I see Chris Evan and Sebastian Stan portraying two guys from Brooklyn saying: Don't do anything stupid. How can I, when you're taking all the stupid with you? Jerk. Punk. I think "the writers and actors may have gotten the words and sound right, but their facial state is all wrong." Why, because Chris is from the midwest (?), and Sebastian Stan is from Russia. Actually, Stan was more believably Brooklyn, but that's besides the point. Turn that sideways, and you'll understand what I mean about roleplayers portraying the opposite sex, or men that think by putting on a dress makes you a woman. |