Steph, I had the old style c-section, vertical line down the tummy. My doctor insisted my second be delivered also by c-section. The newer ways of cutting open for c-section (bikini cut) allows for VBAC. Something to do about the way the tummy muscles run and the stresses on them.

It's more the uterine walls, from what my doc told me. I could try VBAC, but the way my PA put it, "You already know the route to grandma's house. Don't put tire ruts in her lawn."

Since we're already talking about men versus women (in a vague sense, not adversarial sense) I finished up chapter 12 of my book last night. I was nervous about it, because it switches back and forth between the POV of two of the female characters in the book (My protagonist doesn't actually appear in the chapter at all) and I was worried about falling into the old writing women as "men with breasts" trap a lot of male authors succumb to.

So far the reaction has been positive, but I sent out a second e-mail asking my (primarily female, coincidentally) beta-readers to feel free to tear me apart on any points where the characterization reads false.

I guess my question is, how does one write good POV on characters of a different gender (or even sexuality) of the author? Does anyone find it particularly difficult or easy?

I tried to concentrate on keeping it in tune with the character in question, and not think about the male/female thing too much. There was only one point where I went back and changed something specifically because of gender, and that was because I realized a woman was not as likely to strike a solid surface out of anger as a man would.

I don't know, y'all, how are my men? Better than they used to be, I think.

I realized a woman was not as likely to strike a solid surface out of anger as a man would.

I would. But I can be dumb when I'm furious.

Shorter sentences.(And no, this is not some kind of "dumb man" gag.) The men in my acquaintance seem to speak with less words being exchanged.

I find I have a harder time writing people of a different age than I am rather than a different gender. The college-age kids around now don't have the burning desire to get the fuck away from Mom and Dad that we did at that age (and I liked my parents), for example. I also saw people in screenwriting groups having a hard time writing elderly folks--as if getting older somehow drained you of a personality.

A number of my creative writing teachers have said the same, Robin.

Don't you know, Robin? Older people exist only to dispense wisdom to younger people. Occasionally, plot points, but mostly wisdom.

I don't really grasp a gender differential in viewpoint except for certain specific stumbling blocks. There are ways to reinforce gender, make me say, "Yes, this captures a female experience," like that dense feeling when you're wearing control-top pantyhose, but putting in reinforcers is less important to me than avoiding stumbling blocks.

The "hit something when I'm mad" thing is a reasonable stumbling block to avoid. One female fanficcers often get wrong is, they write from a male viewpoint and describe in detail what each person is wearing, with fashion terminology (e.g. "ruched" and "blend").

One female fanficcers often get wrong is, they write from a male viewpoint and describe in detail what each person is wearing, with fashion terminology (e.g. "ruched" and "blend").

Hee. My clothing descriptions are pretty vague. Thankfully I didn't introduce any new characters during the female POV chapter, since I guess the genericness might have rung false there.