Male writers and female writers
Well, the Sisters in Crime Guppy group has been stalled on this topic for a while. Some interesting observations. One that men tend to write about characters more in an adolescent stage while women have characters in a more adult stage. Which really means that male writers tend to have characters who come onto the scene and have adventures then leave without developing any personal responsibility around the characters. Female writers tend to write about characters who have relationships and families and where the characters have to deal with the effect of their actions on those relationships. It’s not a bad generalization. But like most generalizations, I can think of many exceptions. But as a mystery writer, I’m not sure that the “adolescent” approach isn’t wiser for the writer. After all, your detective can come on the scene solve the mystery and leave. Later he or she solves a whole new mystery with new people. I’ve manage to write a mystery that would fall in the mature relationship category where my characters all know each other. Which means for a series, I keep having to figure out how to bring in and kill off new characters. From a mystery perspective, that’s a bit trickier. But on the other hand, it gives readers a cast of characters to grow fond of. Besides, I like my strange and wonderful characters.
