In this 5th wave of internet alpha bro culture, I'm so happy to finally see men telling other men that the true blueprint of an "alpha male" is Aragorn from LotR. He's respectful to everyone, including women, he's patient, kind, confident, and what sets him on his arc is his desire to protect the people who can't protect themselves.
Thank God. The true Alpha Male was with us all along. A less Marty Stu example from my youth was Cameron Majere from the original Dragonlance Novels. He's dumb and strong but he cares deeply about his loved ones.
Alpha just means leader, and not even that, cuz it turned out it was just adult wolves leading juveniles. You probably already knew that. I just think it's funny. It's so weird how that term exploded on the internet. Aragorn is a great example of a strong leader with a good heart.
@@TheSecretsOfSorsa Why is that weird? According to David Mack "a wolf must constantly assert its position" within their packs, which in turn leads to social stability as everyone finds their niche in the social order. Humans aren't much different, although our methods are. We just consider it impolite to say so out loud, which is why young men (who often enjoy being impolite) like the term alpha so much. It annoys all the right people.
@@Nizzet Humans are very different from wolves, but I see your point. Wolves and humans constantly fight for their positions, except a lot of humans don't. I'd say most people are pretty comfortable where they're at and aren't involved in much direct competition with other people. We are a very cooperative species. It's probably our greatest strength. Sure, we have better memories and imaginations and sweet apposable thumbs, but without each other, we'd be like clever but wimpy apes. The existence of selfish people who hoard wealth and knowledge for themselves to create an imbalanced system is a weakness in the species and causes nothing but problems. Without these parasites we wouldn't have the kinds of wars we do. We might still have violence in many forms, but it would be different and on a smaller scale. Thieves and manipulators have no useful place in society. They're just a nuisance. Good leaders who help others and make the world a better place don't gloat about their status or call themselves alphas. They humbly and joyfully serve others and improve life for everyone.
I don't think Bilbo Baggins gets enough credit as a well-rounded male MC. He's happy with his comfortable life but not immune to adventure, will geek out about maps and poetry if given time, is clever and witty as well as very brave, can be petty and sassy, and can think he knows best on slim evidence. Multidimensional, in other words. On your tangent of epic fantasy by women, Elizabeth Haydon and Juliet E. McKenna are ones I haven't seen talked about on Booktube. Both series, maybe not coincidentally, start with a focus on a female main character, but expand as they go. For epic fantasy by a woman that centers male main characters, Carol Berg is a favorite of mine.
Nope, Bilbo doesn’t get enough credit as a great MMC. He’s fantastic and he goes through so many different experiences and emotions. He learns to go beyond his limits.
Interesting that the male love interest in mistborn era 1 is often criticised as being a weak character. I always thought he was compelling precisely because he was different from your classic, cliché alpha male romantic lead. Really enjoyed this video! ❤
He was an intellectual and an idealist. Best kind of man you could ask for, and he learned to be a very strong leader to an awe inspiring degree. I love mistborn so much.
I hated Elend, but it was so nice to have a romantic lead in that wasn't the AI generated dark and misterious 1 foot dick 8 pack abs 7 feet tall macho man
Possessive behaviour just translates as insecurity to me, whether the person is a man or a woman. Someone like your typical alpha male love interest just seem like he has some attachment issues, maybe separation anxiety, I would love to see a story exploring that for once, the guy recognizes he has some deep issues and strives to be better instead of all the women around him romanticizing his possessiveness.
I'm glad you made this video. For as funny and true as the whole "men writing women" thing often is, I really don't think the opposite has much of a leg to stand on.
Elo in Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, was a great baker and a great warrior. The story also involves his love for his male friend and his willingness to sacrifice for his friend. These videos are such a great idea, thanks.
Check out The Hexoligist by Josiah Bancroft. It has a middle-aged married couple as the main characters. They are happily married and are a detective team solving magical mysteries. Loved seeing a different age and dynamic in a fantasy story.
@@mischaroweGlamourist series by Mary Robinette Kowal. Fantasy set in a type of Regency period. Relationships are dominant. I don't want to give it away! I love the audio version, read by the author, who is a professional narrator already.
Yeah one of my biggest problems is I love young adult/teen contemporary fantasy or paranormal fiction since I was a teenager and yet there's rarely any male protagonists or perspectives.
This! Exactly! I read so much YA before finally swapping over to adult in these last few years and I got very tired of female leads only. I mostly read fairy tale retellings or anything with Asian mythology. Elle is right about fairy tale retellings having this feminist spin on them. And then Asian myth based YA usually follows a girl because it’s like shonen but for girls (Shadow of the Fox, Six Crimson Cranes, or Strike the Zither for example).
I think it's because much of YA[ just in the last 2 to 3 decades or so] was an overcorrection/response to women growing up hardly ever seeing female lead fiction/fantasy of just about any kind, who didn't want future generations to grow up with the same deficit but also knew that it wouldn't sell as well of marketed toward adult readers who were already quite set in their ways. Over time, hopefully we will start to see both YA as well as adult fiction even out much more; after gals finish in some ways kind of making up for lost time a bit, or whatever. 🙂 Plus, for a while writing/reading often enough used to be done primarily by men-but then men had all these new-fangled inventions to play around with and started making movies and tv series and such instead, so I think to a certain point women gradually kind of just quietly took over[ or began to take over] writing/reading in their place. (Although of course there are still plenty of men into writing and/or reading as well as women in movies and tv and such too.) But, again, hopefully this too will also even out given enough time-and maybe then it will matter a little less to people if or when something is or isn't written by or about a male or female person/character.🙂
@@EotuaDawnwalkerI do wonder if it’s a case of women like YA more so we get more female YA protagonists, or more female YA protagonists where written so women enjoy it more
A story you might enjoy is the Sunrider series by Rafael Hohmann. It's an epic fantasy that features a teen boy as the main character. Another is Two Masters by Thomas Fawkes. The MC is a teen boy who struggles with all the typical teen boy things but still takes the hero role we've all come to love. Plus, it's set in a world with dinosaurs and robots, so it has a very fresh setting (I thought so, anyway). Two Masters is on Royal Road, and Sunrider is on Amazon.
Agreed! Except I also set it from a Black male protagonist lense. I can literally name like 7 books with a Black female protagonist right now but maybe 2 for male. Not saying a didn't like the female heroes but I also noticed so many make side characters are essentially useless in such books.
For fantasy stories with male main characters, look to the classics: The Chronicles of Amber, Lord of the Rings, the Wizard of Earthsea, American Gods, Three Hearts and Three Lions, Thieves World (has both male and female characters), the Witcher, the Belgariad, most of Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, Conan the Barbarian, Silverlock, the Elric Saga, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser, The Way of Shadows, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dark is Rising, The Shadow of the Torturer, Thomas Covenant, to name just a few. Look for fantasy books published before the year 2000 and you'll find predominantly male characters.
@@johnnyritenbaugh1214 There was no pendulum swing. Only an increase in female MCs - which hasn't reduced the number of male MCs. Both are everywhere now.
I personally dont know what the commenter is talkin about. There are TONS of books out there with great MMCs! I mean...how hard are you looking? Romance though, the writers write for the audience here...and the perspectives will reflect that. Its interesting to wonder how many Romance-o-philes are male, though.
On the topic of the gender of publishing, its well studied that men don't read books written by women about women. They have a much stronger preference for books written by men about men than women do for books written by women about women. This is why you'll see lots of women use gender neutral names (Robin Hobb, V E Schwab, J K Rowling), and write about male characters. "Vicious by Victoria Schwab" about Vicky Vale and Ellie Cardale does not sell as well as "Vicious by V E Schwab" about Victor and Eli. "Harriet Potter by Joanne Rowling" would never have had the success of "Harry Potter by J K Rowling". It's a trend that shows up across media. Men watch shows and movies about men far more than women watch shows and movies about women. Both men and women prefer listening to music of the same sex as them, but for women it's far closer to 50-50, and men almost exclusively listen to music by men.
Which explains the Andrew-Tate-Newsletter-Subscriber at 22:35 an his "It's always wOmEn perspective these days (TM) [...] what I want is MORE MALE perspectives" And poor Elliot had to read it as if it was a valid question an not just a poorly veiled hate on women perspective. I am a man, btw., if that's relevant.
@@WafflyNimbI interpreted it more as wanting more male perspectives in BookTok/Romantacy books which, understandably, are dominated by female perspectives. Though obviously fantasy and literature in general have lots of male perspectives.
One statistic i found super interesting was provided by author Pirateaba about her webserial The Wandering Inn (portal fantasy with multiple PoVs). She did a poll a few months back about her readership demographics and it came in something extreme like 85% male. I was honestly stunned by that as I had been sure that if any web serial would have a decent female audience it would be The Wandering Inn. Anyways, it has made me rather curious about the demographics of fantasy in general. I am well aware that women read fantasy... I just dont know what the ratio is to male readers
Regarding happy characters who want to do the right thing: I really enjoyed the way they did it with Lucy in the Fallout TV show, having a very positive character with strong morals but from a very sheltered place that allows them to be this way, then having those principles and attitude tested as they face obstacles during the adventure. It's essentially the opposite of the jaded anti-hero who needs to learn to trust people etc. but also not as 'bland' as a self-insert.
I recently rewatched Legend of Korra (the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender), and one thing that stood out to me was how many dads are in the show! And these dads are really involved in their kids' lives and grow as characters throughout the series. Tenzin, Hiroshi, Tonraq, and a few others (no spoilers here!) give us different perspectives of fatherhood. The show also puts a lot of focus on how parents' relationships with their own parents shape how they raise their kids. It's all about parents making mistakes and learning from them, which is pretty rare in fantasy.
I seem to have missed this community tab, but what I'd like to add to what you touched upon in the video regarding male friendships is that I'd love to see more close friendships between men. I don't know if 'physical' is the right word, but with female friends you see it all the time how they hug each other, hold hands, even kiss and it's purely platonic still. It'd be cool to see this more with men as well instead of viewing it as 'unmanly' or whatever
100%. In my family I hugged my grandfathers and my uncles whenever I saw them. I hug my father, if I had one I'd hug my son. It always strikes me as laughably stilted when supposedly close male characters can only look at each other, nod and grunt. That's the relationship I have with the guys on the company soccer team not my friends and family.
What?? You want to see men hold hands in fiction and it not be called gay? Am I reading this right? Because no that isn't possible. If you mean like Sam and Frodo from LOTR. Then yes I'm all for that. I bet military fiction is the closest you'll get. Or even biographies or podcasts from vets.
@@VinnieSajan No, they never said anything about specifically holding hands. But, honestly, why not? Maybe they're holding hands so they don't get separated during an evacuation scene in a crisis or literally just because they're navigating their way through a big crowd of people for some other reason. Maybe it's a father and a son(or an older friend/older brother and a younger friend/younger brother) crossing the street together, making sure the son(or younger person) gets across safely without lagging behind and getting struck by an unexpected vehicle coming around the corner or something. What the heck exactly is so wrong with the idea of normalize physical contact as not always being exclusively and inherently s*x*al or romantic at all? We should not continue feeding into this harmful stereotype that if someone is male they somehow always have to be super independent and self-sufficient and doing literally everything all on their own all by themselves or whatever, it should be okay for guys to lean on or uplift each other too, not only gals or opposite-gender persons[ and pretty much regardless of ages and not only in military settings too].
I like how the reply guffaws at the idea of platonic affection between male friends, but then immediately references an iconic example and then an enormous population that spans all of time as exceptions. Another example of physical love between male characters is The Brothers Lionheart. As a child I felt so moved by the brothers’ displays of affection, because I had already noticed that boys stopped hugging each other when we were still pretty small and thought it seemed too bad.
I actually just went to a soap shop and started looking for tree scents last week because all these fantasy men smell like trees and I wanted to smell more heroic. (I also wanted to describe scents better in my writing and thought they might have info on terminology) I only found one in the whole store. They had lots of flowers, potpourri and spicy scents though.
To the point of "men are always described as smelling of trees", another tree that often gets mentioned in regards to how the guy in the story smells is sandalwood. I've read that so many times...
@@Gruzbee Oh I know that it's a very popular "men's" fragrance ingredient. It just kinda gets old to read that over and over as if there's nothing else, you know?
@@regenorakel Admittedly, I do kind of cringe at the lack of vocabulary. I don't like smells personally. LOL When someone describes a guy as "musky" just makes me imagine, "stinky." I don't like writing smells, I like using visuals, and very sparingly.
“Men can write romance too” as a 90s kid, that reminded me how we must have a very short collective memory because I remember when every romance film coming out was a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. Where did he go? I’ve seen maybe one of his films but I remember his name being thrown around like dodge balls on a wipe out course for a while there.
I have a male friend who writes romance novels for a living. I find it unfortunate that he has to do it under a female pseudonym--his publishing house requires it as they believe people won't buy romance novels written by men.
Men are not animals. Some people don't seem to understand that. We have free will, scruples, and some of us even have self-control. We even have motivations beyond our libido and trauma. A book I just binge-listened over the last couple days is The Phoenix Conspiracy (highly recommend-free audiobook/e-book, first in a series). It portrays a few different male "types" quite well, and the main character is complex. His interactions with the female lead (non-romantic in the book) are particularly fascinating because they both have equivalent agency, highly contradictory/complementary personalities, conflicting motivations, and equal respect from the author. (It's always a breath of fresh air when an author clearly respects both the men and women in the book; I just finished reading another book where that was clearly NOT the case.) In particular, there's a scene where she seduces him in order to knock him out and gather incriminating evidence, but she does so by breaking down his emotional defenses-showing him compassion and getting him to open up-not just by batting her eyelashes. In the scene, they both have standards, but she violates her conscience and manipulates him into violating his. It felt incredibly real and human.
First sentence is already wrong. Human beings are animals. And that's not bad or good. With just slightly opened eyes most of our behaviour can easily be explained with our animalistic being. Some of my fellow animal human beings seem to be ashamed of that background. My dog behaves more directly, humans have a psyhological blockade, but it's all there.
@@Tortuosit I was about to say that. Human beings are animals. The other options are being a plant or being a mineral. There's only 3 categories. There's a lot of differences between a human and a dog, true, but there's also a lot of differences between a dog and a clam and everyone is ok to say that both are animals... I don't understand why people think humans are their own category, that's pretty arrogant... (But the book still looks interesting 🙂)
@@Tortuosit we clearly have startlingly different and irreconcilable understandings of humanity. Even if you want to make the most basic and irrelevant argument of biological classification, the fact that we are communicating in a written language-of which there are many-over the internet, about the nature of being, is proof enough that humans are more than animals. A human who behaves as an animal is not exhibiting his nature, he is rejecting it.
@@p-47thunderbolt57 Yeah, sure, we know a lot, but still a lot of our behaviour can and should be explained by very basic elements, our core. Mostly: Survival... of the individuum and humans as a whole.
@@Tortuosit yes, humans share many basic drives with animals (food, shelter, procreation, etc.), but there are fundamental differences. Humans are thinking, reasoning, moral beings, capable of good and of evil. Animals are capable of neither because they lack the knowledge of good and evil.
28:48 Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman immediately come to mind. They have many many books in their world and many male characters that are definitely complex. Even one character who is the stereotypical large muscular fighting guy, so strong he accidentally hurts people but in the next book, whoops, gets depressed and drinks himself fat and has to get back into shape.
Beautiful perspective and very appreciated. As a bi guy it's hard not to see the similarities between straight men obsessing over simplistic stereotypes of the very woman they're obsessed with and straight women projecting their stereotypical male fantasies onto men
There is some bias regarding the name on the cover and the genre. There are gender trends among authors and readers for different genres. That's one of the things that an author should consider when picking a genre for their work. For example, anything Romance tends to sell better with a female name on the cover. More action-oriented genres show a male preference. I don't like it, but it is what it is.
Then again, authors should also feel free to disregard or even wilfully defy that if they feel like it too. If more people did so, maybe the biases would lessen eventually, who knows.😊😅🤔🤷🤷♀️🤷🏻♂️🤣
@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 Bucking trends more often leads to failure rather than being cool, edgy, and a unique unicorn that somehow manages to be successful.
@@PetrolJunkie I just meant, if somebody has something that they really want to write, they shouldn't let the fact that it's unconventional stop them from doing it. Even if they might find more success or make more money by doing something else. And sometimes that leads to even more people doing it, which in turn sometimes leads to that very thing itself eventually finding more success someday than it might have otherwise or initially found. (And it's okay if sometimes people just want to write what they feel like writing, not always worrying how well it will succeed or not; it's okay if simply having created it and out it out there alone was their only goal or its own reward, they don't always have to make large-scale success or popularity or whatever specifically their primary goal or most ideal reward.)
I think a great example of a long-term redemption arc like Zuko that does the exact opposite of Elantris is in the Drizz Do'urden series of the Forgotten Realms (DnD) by R. A. Salvatore with Artemis Entreri. Unfortunately, the series is like 37 books long and it takes a super long time to see Artemis's redemption. (not to spoil anything even though I kinda did). You'll hate him initially, but he grows on you a lot.
I’ve been waiting for this video for 2 weeks!! Thank you! Love this series! Can we also do ‘fav scenes’, ‘supporting characters’, ‘friendships’, non romantic relationships e.g. parent relations, siblings, etc.
Love this series! I want to shout out A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross for two refreshing male character POVs: one’s a soft and sensitive bard and the other is a flawed widowed father. There’s also a POV from a stepmother 🌺
I JUST finished The Lost Metal this morning. So as soon as you started talking about getting into the love-interest’s perspective and being presented with actual characterisation, my head went straight to Mistborn Era 2, hoping you’d use it as an example. And then you DID 😂
So, I'm writing a dark historical fantasy with a male main character. There is romance, but it isn't really the point and isn't really a sub plot even (but it is there). My main character basically doesn't have parents and doesn't have kids. Him and the male lead do have a close relationship but its platonic (father son like, but they are not father and son and meet for the first time at the beginning of the story). He is a healer and isn't legally allowed out much. He is smart and (I think) good looking, but his looks don't really matter in the story. Here's a blurb on what he is like. He isn't allowed to see his adoptive parents in the story, which is why I said what I said, but they are kind of a driving force in what he does and what his goal is. As selfish as he is generous. A genius, he learns to make medicine at a young age from his adoptive mother. Being the friendly sort, his main weapons are his intellect and his smile. A bit of a brat, he is not above whining if he doesn’t get his way. Also enjoys decorating but is lazy and bad at math.
@Kleptocracy154 he wants to gain his freedom. Since his ability makes him sick all the time, he's never allowed to leave the temple he works at (he also lives there if that wasn't clear) and isn't allowed to interact with anyone (he can't see them face to face and no one can hear him speak but letters are ok in some cases) except for a slim handful including the ML that also work at the temple. Selling medicine is his means to attempt to gain freedom. If he can make people feel better, then others won't be forced to be sick 24/7 and can go out and occasionally do things like get food at a good restaurant. Maybe he won't even have to live at the temple where he works (gasp!). His dream in modern day would basically be to commute to work and get McDonald's sometimes lol.
My current hero is a thin, bookish and introspective scholarly type. He also carries a five foot long two handed saber. He will be facing off with the dark sorceress, who turns out to be his long lost older sister. I expect a very exciting family reunion.
I don’t know if it’s worth a whole video but I’d love authors of adult fiction to write better children characters lol. So many kids in scifi or fantasy are so weird or annoying and not very realistic.
22:35 I appreciate that you spent so long addressing this person's comment and giving them advice, but I genuinely think this was a troll comment. Nobody could be so stupid as to think that there aren't many many /many/ books out there with male main characters. This seemed like a ragebait comment with some sort of agenda to push
I had the same thought as that comment was read. Maybe we've all been pushed into cynicism by the massive over-exposure of the internet age. Maybe that person was genuine and just formed a snap opinion based on limited experience ... but I doubt it. Either way, the best response almost certainly was the one given; but I'm not sure I would have managed it myself. El is probably a better person me.
Long story short, I was either going to type one funny sentence or a huge rant so I typed the one funny sentence and said I’d come back to it later. I did not, in fact, come back later. So I did that in this video’s comments. My bad lol. Sorry for the confusion everybody. I’m just a forgetful idiot sometimes
@@EotuaDawnwalker Fair enough, I read your response and I'm glad to know that you weren't totally trolling. :3 I hope El's response helped you find some new book recs then! I also know that the majority of genre fiction readers tend to be women, so it might just be that new books are trying to appeal to the majority audience? Whereas in the past most fiction was male-focused perspectives. Might've just been a gap that needed filling, and hopefully will balance out in the future. Also totally agree about needing more NB male characters as well.
I have definitely noticed that most epic fantasies are written by men with a focus on telling men's stories. There are some great male authors out there who are writing wonderful female characters, but I just wish it was more common. I have been struggling to find Epic fantasy centering on female characters, or with multiple POVs. The one I keep returning to lately are Robin Hobb's books, specifically the Liveship Trader and Rainwild Chronicle series.
Robin Hobb is one of the greatest. I've tried to find more epic fantasy female authors, but they all seem to be writing romantasy. Seriously, they absolutely DOMINATE this genre. Which is also annoying as someone who likes romance, because it's never relatable for me (a man) since it's so obviously intended for a female audience. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy it, but I wish I could identify with the characters a bit more.
It's weird when they smell like pine when they're from the desert or some island beach culture. It's more like the problem is that it's a default setting smell for men.
Not to be that person, but I legitimately laughed at the “this guy smells like a tree” talking point. And if anyone cares, my husband does smell like pine because his body soap is pine scented 😂😂😂
I guess I agree. I am writing a warrior character who has an extroverted, bubbly, and jovial personality; and yet he is also a healthy level of dangerous (to antagonists and villains). I have a prince character in another story who feels 'realistic' to me; he has soft spots and sore points, strengths and weaknesses, confidence and concerns. I love writing him. A detective character from a series I am writing is about 40 or so, not from the young or old side of the spectrum. Another story I am writing has a father as a secondary character; he is ultimately the cause of most of the main character's problems, but how and why is understandable as well as totally unintentional. All my stories have an emotional thread running through them, it is why I connect with them so much. (You can tell that I wrote these in order as the video progressed) Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley is a story that handles fantasy romance well.
Some recs for different points: - Good and active father - Raven's Shadow duology by Patricia Briggs - married couple with 3 kids - mum and dad are the protagonists - Decent guy - Cradle by Will Wight - Lindon is humble and polite and nice and stays that way even after he goes from ultimate underdog to crazy powerful - Men talking about their feelings - Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard and sequel - mostly focused on male friendships, lots of emotions. The protagonist also has female friends and colleagues and lots of family, and those relationships are featured as well. - Villains having to work at being better - Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews is the improbable redemption story of a villain from their Kate Daniels series, who is very clearly a villain there. However now he's out of a job and has to forge a new path and a new life ... _
I agree with some of these points, the same things are being discussed in the gaming community. But i use books like i use video games, as an escape. So i don’t want some joe schmoe as the main character, i want the hot badass who has never loved or trusted anyone before me! 😆 maybe that’s just me! PS i want to play ghosts of tsushima so bad! But haven’t got the chance!
A fair point and one that shouldn't be overlooked. I'm not looking to step on anyone's fantasy. If there were books out there that presented anthropomorphic squid men as the most desirable love interest and that worked for some reader, then that's great. I don't think many (any?) are advocating for the existing hot badass archetypes to all be purged. Some folks would just like to see other kinds of men be presented as plausibly attractive. I can only speak for myself and thus can't speak directly to the topic at hand; but in a somewhat analogous situation I would certainly appreciate more stories with a wider variety of female characters framed as potential love interests. There's a huge variety of women (and qualities) in the real world that I find attractive; but only a few are regularly presented in fiction.
Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy--many interesting male characters, especially the main character Morgan, who is so nOt the typical brooding burly beefcake guy. . And Hawkeye, of the Marvel universe: husband, father, comrade. His relationships with his wife and with Black Widow are a study in how to be a family man and how to be a loving friend without sex. We can use more of that.
22:50 No male main characters or few? Honestly the only genre I can think of with no male main characters is not a genre itself, sapphic romances. Is for obvious reason 😅
A sci-fi recommendation would be Dark Matter in which you follow the main character Jason, who is a family man. He has a wife and 15 year old son. These relationships are crucial to the plot throughout.
Writing about people with family and friends is a bit harder than a lone wolf. For example, in my life, I had an exciting job with travel and some mild adventure, but I gave it up because I had two young kids and needed to be home. You really have to push someone who has family into a corner to have them go off on an adventure while they have people depending on them. Otherwise, morally they're kinda garbage. Like Buck says "Not a great husband or father, but a darn good friend."
27:35 The almost default assumption when people see disparities like this is to think the cause lies with some kind of internal bias on the part of readers or publishers. While there is always an element of this in everything, I think the evidence shows in our culture today that the cause primarily is in self selection on the part of the writers themselves. Men are probably generally more interested in writing epic fantasy and women are probably generally more interested in the personal or relationship focus in fantasy, as you say. This is true almost across the board in other fields, so it's highly likely true here as well. I wouldn't be surprised if publishers were bending themselves over backwards looking for more women writers of things like epic fantasy, just like those running STEM programs or law firms are trying very hard to get more women into their fields and just not finding enough to even the disparity. The divide probably doesn't even have to be that stark. Even a 60/40 split in interest can lead to a lot of these disparities. So if your a woman who wants to write epic fantasy, you might have an inherent advantage on that front, although you will still have to contend with the disadvantages all writers today face that make it hard to be published, like oversaturation of writers and books in the market. Bottom line is I don't think disparity alone is a bad thing. It's what causes the disparity that is the problem. In this cause, I don't think the cause is problematic.
Currently shifting away from epic/grim/dark fantasy to cozy fantasy. I encountered the wonderfully frivolous Wendell Bambleby in the Emily Wilde series. Didn’t realize how refreshing it would be to read about a prissy, slightly overdramatic, non brooding, non possessive male character.
Ooh! Ooh! I have recommendations (just like everyone else 😂)! The Sunrider Series by Rafael Hohmann. The MC is a teen boy and very well-rounded. It features multiple perspectives between him and the villain, who is also a man. I don't recall any chapters written from the POV of the female characters (it's been a while since I've read it, though), but the ladies are all well-written, too. Two Masters by Thomas Fawkes. Another teen boy MC. He deals with all the frustrations of a teen boy growing up in a highly religious society, but he still takes up the hero role. Plus, it's set on an island with robots and dinosaurs, so it feels very fresh. It's available on Royal Road. The Shadows of Cro series by L.R. Bergquist. It's an epic fantasy written by a woman featuring both male and female perspectives (no romance, though). The characters start young and get older with every book. There's magic and combat and cannibals. Lastly, Once Lost by J. Arden Scott. Another epic fantasy. This one is written by a man, but the two POVs are both teen girls. The girls are so cute and so brave and such teenagers. He really captured (in my experience) what it's like to be a 16-year-old girl with her head in the clouds, but he still gives them conflicts and opportunities for growth. They're both very naïve at first, but become courageous fighters through the journey they're thrust into.
Maybe to explain why some people would be interested in those storylines (like true crime watchers), it may be a study of personalities. As a writer, I will be drawn into some dark topics to be able to analyze personalities I may not be exposed to, in order to try to understand the psychology of that character.
I'm probably going to get a LOT of heat for this, but I recently read the Nightborn Duology, and I absolutely fefll in love with the way Oraya and Vincent's relationship was written. Yeah, he was more on the villainous/toxic side of, like, parenting failures. But what I say to that is he's a centuries' old vampire king, and was raised a certain way that didn't include healthy familial love, or any love. Did I mention that he's a vampire? So, his perceptions of fatherly love are kind of skewed. But you see hints of him wanting to try to be the best for her. It's really one of the only books I've read where the father figure has been a presence throughout.
19:30 As probably a disproportionate number of male writers would say, I have no experience with having a healthy and non-abusive relationship with my father.
40:41 - I mean... it could just be because it's fun and different, or it could be because the top and bottom buns kinda do tend to have completely different feels and flavors to them so you may still prefer the taste or feel of it in your hands that way or on your tongue or on the roof of your mouth, or maybe you just think it looks better that way or you're really just a huge rebel when it comes to bun eating. Who knows! Lol
Other well-known and aclaimed fantasy series with male-only perspective: most of Discworld (Terry Pratchett), anything from Raymond E. Feist or David Gemmell. The Belgariad and Mallorean series by David Edding, The Lord of the Rings and The Witcher. The list goes on and on (I've just pulled examples from my bookshelves) - it was extremely difficult to find any fantasy with a female perspective 20 years ago.
I don't mind a possessive character, even though I also completely agree that real people shouldn't be particularly [at all] possessive of other people, but especially not if it's in a Dark Romance novel specifically or if the character is literally not entirely human(so you can explain it by them not necessarily having completely the same cultural morals or conventions or such as we humans do)-but when it's not a dark romance and/or if the character is entirely human and the character is still incredibly possessive and it's treated in the book like some kind of swoony ideal or it's not even acknowledged as possessiveness and gets called some other dumb thing like "he's just super 'protective' of his loved ones" or something, especially in contemporary fiction, I'm just like nope no thanks.🙃😅😅😐
47:45 wow, I hope the novel I entered into SPFBO X somehow gets on your radar, because literally everything you’re saying you’d like throughout this entire thing, (woman characters as well) is how I wrote my characters. 👀 it’s kinda scary. lol
7:17 let's be real, most women don't see the marshmallow man as attractive. He's usually relegated to little brother status. The amount of Avatar fanfic involving Zuko and Katara pretty much proves this 🤷🏾♂️
I love that you had the nuanced of reading topics but not really wanting to experience them. I mean we all love reading about great battles and fantasy but would any of us really want the PTSD inducing experience of running on a field fighting for our lives.... I don't think so. This goes for abuse and horror novels. Also, I would love more variety in male characters. I need my class clown, my sweet stoics, and my golden retriever men with the brooding bad boy.
I’ve not finished the video yet but for me we need more Male to male relationships that have depth . Be that platonic or romantic. There appears to be a reluctance for men to show emotions and affection towards other men. Even the lgbtq+ books stay away from male relationships
Damon Salvatore. Damon is dark, good, bad. He screws up a lot but loves those close to him AND owns up to who he is. He has a moral compass, its broken sometimes but he finds his way back. By far, my favorite main character.
About the toxic/abusive/bad male love interest, I've been watching a couple of adaptations for the same source material a decade apart and it's glaring how it evolved. The source material is a manga and the Korean adaptation from 2009 has the guy be a huge bully, jerk, selfish, and the girl is not helpless but softer and cries a lot and I'm having a hard time rooting for them to be together, whereas the Chinese adaptation from 2019 still has the guy be a bully and a jerk in the beginning, and even violent toward her, but the girl actually takes no bullshit from him and he has a much better development arc in general, not only towards her but his friends and other random people as well.
My quirk: I like balance... sometimes. If I take a bite of something and chew it with the left side of my mouth, I MUST chew the next bite with the right side of my mouth. Lollipops must be equally sucked inside both cheeks, drinks must be slurped from one side and then the other. And yet I like to sit stand or lie down asymmetrically. Don't ask me why.
9:24 - This is a fine request, for fiction that is aiming to tell realistic/relatable type stories and or stories about realistic/relatable type characters. HOWEVER it is actually _okay_ for people to write /indulgent/unrealistic fantasies sometimes too, especially as temporary escapes that they get to occasionally dip into just for funsiez on the side of real life and or more realistic/relatable fiction, and people really need to stop trying to minimize or belittle or shame that, too. Like....I think the answer is 'both'; Both, are good. 😊💖💖
Wow, I don't think I do any of these things with any of my characters, and I've written three and a half novels of my fantasy series and I have a lot of characters. My toughest male character has to face and deal with his trauma before he can become the hero he's meant to be, and that wasn't done to tick a box. It just happened that way. I don't fully plan anything in advance. Shit happens to my characters that changes them, and the story changes with them.
Have you ever read the Licanius trilogy by James Islington? You mentioned Will of the Many, his new release which I’m stoked to read but was curious. I thought it was a very solid trilogy-and with great male characters.
When you talked about the Mistborn Era 2 protagonist being bland, it made me realize he seems to invert the trope of a character becoming one-dimensional when gaining a love interest. I find Wax to be more interesting to read when he interacts with his lady
Awe, breaks my heart there's no notice of the Friends quote in this video in these comments. I hope it was intentional. It's so specific to not be, right?
@ebnovels sooo what „certain series“ is the comment at 52:02 about? I would love to read it but couldn‘t figure out the name from the context. 😅 Maybe it‘s not much of a spoiler if you don‘t name the characters. 🙈
I loved the last dragon chronicles and David is the main character of that series. mo ran from 2ha has incredible growth and change, but be warned, that story is disturbingly dark. Tantai Jin from Black Moonlight holds the BE script is another one-- he does end up dying/being reborn, but he changes a lot before hand; be warned if you seek out the fan translation, that story is also absurdly dark, and you will spend a lot of time hating both main characters. i have read a lot of crappy men and women. i'm absurdly picky about character descriptions and have legit DNF'd so many books because one or the other bothered me; i do the same with fanfiction when someone turns a character i love into an abusive ass, dont do that carp. for romantasy, i recommend the sisters of salt series by Erin A. Craig, or scarlet alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker, i loved Alexander and Li Hong a lot.
I hate the trope where the very competitive, sore loser male mc walks into a male-dominated space and suddenly becomes super chill about losing and goes all "losing to such a great warrior is not a tragedy, it's an honor". I mean I know this kind of behavior would be ideal for any competition but come on, I've seen this so many times and it looks so unrealistic
I have been seeing the Red Rising series recommended by a lot of creators and I want to share my thoughts. I might be in the minority on this but I think it important to speak up. I found that the writing in Red Rising is very misogynistic. Not only is Darrow misogynistic, but there is a difference between writing a misogynistic main character and overall misogynistic undertone. For ex, the way Darrow treats his wife, how he speaks about her and how he compares women’s appearances (breasts). Darrow is “crude” but there is a way to do this without putting women down. Other characters use anti-women and anti-lgbtq language as well :(
The first book has misogynistic writing. I JUST read the second one and it’s undoubtably better about letting female characters shine, but this isn’t the most amazing character writing ever so they shine in almost the most cliche ways.
Generally the chief reason that men don't show vulnerability when women are around is that they are so often punished for it. Within any relationship there will be conflict, sooner or later, and when there is the woman will be sorely tempted to zero in on that point of vulnerability. Most men know this intuitively or are taught it through experience.
these are kind of ironically the same characters he criticizes, dude is thinking from a pure perspective non-violence ideal character, not realizing that boys grow into teenagers and young men...
@@jurnikovah7453 Spier-Man is probably the best example of that. When he was first created, he is a teenager and we get to see him grow up and eventually get married. Not all the writers have done a great job with the character, and the more recent runs have been.... terrible, but overall he is a great study in seeing this type of character mature and grow.
Can someone spell out the video game she's talking about? Cause I tried to find it by typing in how I thought it might be spelled and I couldn't find it lol.
46:01 - I mean.. have you checked out the majority of musks and bodywash and shampoo out other things with actual scents "for men" lately? 😅😅 🙃👀😅 Lolll (Many of them DO tend to be "pine" or "sandalwood" and such. We really need to start breaking some gendered stereotypes about who can or can't smell like what if they want to a whole lot more than do or have, honestly.😁🤭🤣🤣) 😊
For all the bad rep male authors get for writing 2D women, female authors really need to up their game with male characters. It's normally easy to tell when a fantasy story was written by a woman, just by the character roster: - Female protagonist who becomes important without really doing much to earn it, then proceeding to high road everyone until they get proven right. God forbid they develop a personality beyond telling everyone they're wrong. - Love interest #1, the intelligent and powerful man who shows her new, interesting things, but turns out to be toxic. - Love interest #2, the unassuming friend who spends the whole story simping hard for her, waiting until she's shagged the other guy enough to realise she actually loved him after all.
When it comes to genre and the sex of the author, I think there are two main factors that feed into each other: 1. Men and women will trend towards different skills or interests. 2. People will infer from a book's association with a man or a woman which style the book falls into.
In this 5th wave of internet alpha bro culture, I'm so happy to finally see men telling other men that the true blueprint of an "alpha male" is Aragorn from LotR. He's respectful to everyone, including women, he's patient, kind, confident, and what sets him on his arc is his desire to protect the people who can't protect themselves.
Gayyyy
Thank God. The true Alpha Male was with us all along.
A less Marty Stu example from my youth was Cameron Majere from the original Dragonlance Novels. He's dumb and strong but he cares deeply about his loved ones.
Alpha just means leader, and not even that, cuz it turned out it was just adult wolves leading juveniles. You probably already knew that. I just think it's funny. It's so weird how that term exploded on the internet. Aragorn is a great example of a strong leader with a good heart.
@@TheSecretsOfSorsa Why is that weird? According to David Mack "a wolf must constantly assert its position" within their packs, which in turn leads to social stability as everyone finds their niche in the social order. Humans aren't much different, although our methods are. We just consider it impolite to say so out loud, which is why young men (who often enjoy being impolite) like the term alpha so much. It annoys all the right people.
@@Nizzet Humans are very different from wolves, but I see your point. Wolves and humans constantly fight for their positions, except a lot of humans don't. I'd say most people are pretty comfortable where they're at and aren't involved in much direct competition with other people. We are a very cooperative species. It's probably our greatest strength. Sure, we have better memories and imaginations and sweet apposable thumbs, but without each other, we'd be like clever but wimpy apes. The existence of selfish people who hoard wealth and knowledge for themselves to create an imbalanced system is a weakness in the species and causes nothing but problems. Without these parasites we wouldn't have the kinds of wars we do. We might still have violence in many forms, but it would be different and on a smaller scale. Thieves and manipulators have no useful place in society. They're just a nuisance. Good leaders who help others and make the world a better place don't gloat about their status or call themselves alphas. They humbly and joyfully serve others and improve life for everyone.
male characters peaked with Kronk from Emperor's New Groove /j
Hard agree. All three main men in that story are creme de la creme. 😂
I don't think Bilbo Baggins gets enough credit as a well-rounded male MC. He's happy with his comfortable life but not immune to adventure, will geek out about maps and poetry if given time, is clever and witty as well as very brave, can be petty and sassy, and can think he knows best on slim evidence. Multidimensional, in other words.
On your tangent of epic fantasy by women, Elizabeth Haydon and Juliet E. McKenna are ones I haven't seen talked about on Booktube. Both series, maybe not coincidentally, start with a focus on a female main character, but expand as they go. For epic fantasy by a woman that centers male main characters, Carol Berg is a favorite of mine.
I'd say that being a hobbit plays a part here. I believe that these characteristics you are describing are less found in human MCs
Nope, Bilbo doesn’t get enough credit as a great MMC. He’s fantastic and he goes through so many different experiences and emotions. He learns to go beyond his limits.
Interesting that the male love interest in mistborn era 1 is often criticised as being a weak character. I always thought he was compelling precisely because he was different from your classic, cliché alpha male romantic lead. Really enjoyed this video! ❤
Me too. I found him very charming and that is rare these days
He was an intellectual and an idealist. Best kind of man you could ask for, and he learned to be a very strong leader to an awe inspiring degree. I love mistborn so much.
I loved his character. He shows decent growth and a moral complexity that I find compelling.
Which is strange to say because he becomes one of the strongest characters by book 3.
I hated Elend, but it was so nice to have a romantic lead in that wasn't the AI generated dark and misterious 1 foot dick 8 pack abs 7 feet tall macho man
Possessive behaviour just translates as insecurity to me, whether the person is a man or a woman. Someone like your typical alpha male love interest just seem like he has some attachment issues, maybe separation anxiety, I would love to see a story exploring that for once, the guy recognizes he has some deep issues and strives to be better instead of all the women around him romanticizing his possessiveness.
I'm glad you made this video. For as funny and true as the whole "men writing women" thing often is, I really don't think the opposite has much of a leg to stand on.
Elo in Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, was a great baker and a great warrior. The story also involves his love for his male friend and his willingness to sacrifice for his friend. These videos are such a great idea, thanks.
Check out The Hexoligist by Josiah Bancroft. It has a middle-aged married couple as the main characters. They are happily married and are a detective team solving magical mysteries. Loved seeing a different age and dynamic in a fantasy story.
Yes! I just finished it and I likee the couple's dynamic and especially the goodies the husband made (thinking for the dragon).
Thank you for recommending this book, i'll check it out !
Know any fantasy books like that?
I'm writing a series where the love interests will eventually get married while the story goes on to show a different stage of their life
@@mischaroweGlamourist series by Mary Robinette Kowal. Fantasy set in a type of Regency period. Relationships are dominant. I don't want to give it away! I love the audio version, read by the author, who is a professional narrator already.
Yeah one of my biggest problems is I love young adult/teen contemporary fantasy or paranormal fiction since I was a teenager and yet there's rarely any male protagonists or perspectives.
This! Exactly! I read so much YA before finally swapping over to adult in these last few years and I got very tired of female leads only. I mostly read fairy tale retellings or anything with Asian mythology. Elle is right about fairy tale retellings having this feminist spin on them. And then Asian myth based YA usually follows a girl because it’s like shonen but for girls (Shadow of the Fox, Six Crimson Cranes, or Strike the Zither for example).
I think it's because much of YA[ just in the last 2 to 3 decades or so] was an overcorrection/response to women growing up hardly ever seeing female lead fiction/fantasy of just about any kind, who didn't want future generations to grow up with the same deficit but also knew that it wouldn't sell as well of marketed toward adult readers who were already quite set in their ways.
Over time, hopefully we will start to see both YA as well as adult fiction even out much more; after gals finish in some ways kind of making up for lost time a bit, or whatever. 🙂
Plus, for a while writing/reading often enough used to be done primarily by men-but then men had all these new-fangled inventions to play around with and started making movies and tv series and such instead, so I think to a certain point women gradually kind of just quietly took over[ or began to take over] writing/reading in their place. (Although of course there are still plenty of men into writing and/or reading as well as women in movies and tv and such too.) But, again, hopefully this too will also even out given enough time-and maybe then it will matter a little less to people if or when something is or isn't written by or about a male or female person/character.🙂
@@EotuaDawnwalkerI do wonder if it’s a case of women like YA more so we get more female YA protagonists, or more female YA protagonists where written so women enjoy it more
A story you might enjoy is the Sunrider series by Rafael Hohmann. It's an epic fantasy that features a teen boy as the main character. Another is Two Masters by Thomas Fawkes. The MC is a teen boy who struggles with all the typical teen boy things but still takes the hero role we've all come to love. Plus, it's set in a world with dinosaurs and robots, so it has a very fresh setting (I thought so, anyway). Two Masters is on Royal Road, and Sunrider is on Amazon.
Agreed! Except I also set it from a Black male protagonist lense. I can literally name like 7 books with a Black female protagonist right now but maybe 2 for male. Not saying a didn't like the female heroes but I also noticed so many make side characters are essentially useless in such books.
For fantasy stories with male main characters, look to the classics: The Chronicles of Amber, Lord of the Rings, the Wizard of Earthsea, American Gods, Three Hearts and Three Lions, Thieves World (has both male and female characters), the Witcher, the Belgariad, most of Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, Conan the Barbarian, Silverlock, the Elric Saga, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser, The Way of Shadows, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dark is Rising, The Shadow of the Torturer, Thomas Covenant, to name just a few. Look for fantasy books published before the year 2000 and you'll find predominantly male characters.
I have recommended Wizard of Earthsea series to so many people because it really is an incredible and nuanced tale that ANYONE could learn from.
Yeah, you see. I don't believe the person who said it's always women's perspectives. I think they were either trolling or venting their personal woes.
@@johnnyritenbaugh1214 There was no pendulum swing. Only an increase in female MCs - which hasn't reduced the number of male MCs.
Both are everywhere now.
I personally dont know what the commenter is talkin about. There are TONS of books out there with great MMCs! I mean...how hard are you looking? Romance though, the writers write for the audience here...and the perspectives will reflect that. Its interesting to wonder how many Romance-o-philes are male, though.
On the topic of the gender of publishing, its well studied that men don't read books written by women about women. They have a much stronger preference for books written by men about men than women do for books written by women about women.
This is why you'll see lots of women use gender neutral names (Robin Hobb, V E Schwab, J K Rowling), and write about male characters. "Vicious by Victoria Schwab" about Vicky Vale and Ellie Cardale does not sell as well as "Vicious by V E Schwab" about Victor and Eli. "Harriet Potter by Joanne Rowling" would never have had the success of "Harry Potter by J K Rowling".
It's a trend that shows up across media. Men watch shows and movies about men far more than women watch shows and movies about women. Both men and women prefer listening to music of the same sex as them, but for women it's far closer to 50-50, and men almost exclusively listen to music by men.
Which explains the Andrew-Tate-Newsletter-Subscriber at 22:35 an his "It's always wOmEn perspective these days (TM) [...] what I want is MORE MALE perspectives"
And poor Elliot had to read it as if it was a valid question an not just a poorly veiled hate on women perspective.
I am a man, btw., if that's relevant.
@@WafflyNimbI interpreted it more as wanting more male perspectives in BookTok/Romantacy books which, understandably, are dominated by female perspectives. Though obviously fantasy and literature in general have lots of male perspectives.
As a woman who wants to write an epic fantasy, this is discouraging. :(
@@Aeras89don't let it discourage you, queen! I was having the same thoughts, but then I was like "nah, forget that, I'm writing my stories anyway!"
@@Aeras89 You shouldn't be discouraged. Plenty of women have contributed to the fantasy genre, Ursula Le Guin being the greatest of them.
One statistic i found super interesting was provided by author Pirateaba about her webserial The Wandering Inn (portal fantasy with multiple PoVs). She did a poll a few months back about her readership demographics and it came in something extreme like 85% male. I was honestly stunned by that as I had been sure that if any web serial would have a decent female audience it would be The Wandering Inn.
Anyways, it has made me rather curious about the demographics of fantasy in general. I am well aware that women read fantasy... I just dont know what the ratio is to male readers
Regarding happy characters who want to do the right thing: I really enjoyed the way they did it with Lucy in the Fallout TV show, having a very positive character with strong morals but from a very sheltered place that allows them to be this way, then having those principles and attitude tested as they face obstacles during the adventure. It's essentially the opposite of the jaded anti-hero who needs to learn to trust people etc. but also not as 'bland' as a self-insert.
I recently rewatched Legend of Korra (the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender), and one thing that stood out to me was how many dads are in the show! And these dads are really involved in their kids' lives and grow as characters throughout the series. Tenzin, Hiroshi, Tonraq, and a few others (no spoilers here!) give us different perspectives of fatherhood. The show also puts a lot of focus on how parents' relationships with their own parents shape how they raise their kids. It's all about parents making mistakes and learning from them, which is pretty rare in fantasy.
Well, all except for Aang.
@@briesullivan883 😭 they did him so dirty!
That was great. I like how people participate in these discussions. Awesome series.
I seem to have missed this community tab, but what I'd like to add to what you touched upon in the video regarding male friendships is that I'd love to see more close friendships between men. I don't know if 'physical' is the right word, but with female friends you see it all the time how they hug each other, hold hands, even kiss and it's purely platonic still. It'd be cool to see this more with men as well instead of viewing it as 'unmanly' or whatever
100%. In my family I hugged my grandfathers and my uncles whenever I saw them. I hug my father, if I had one I'd hug my son. It always strikes me as laughably stilted when supposedly close male characters can only look at each other, nod and grunt. That's the relationship I have with the guys on the company soccer team not my friends and family.
What?? You want to see men hold hands in fiction and it not be called gay? Am I reading this right? Because no that isn't possible.
If you mean like Sam and Frodo from LOTR. Then yes I'm all for that. I bet military fiction is the closest you'll get. Or even biographies or podcasts from vets.
@@VinnieSajan No, they never said anything about specifically holding hands. But, honestly, why not? Maybe they're holding hands so they don't get separated during an evacuation scene in a crisis or literally just because they're navigating their way through a big crowd of people for some other reason. Maybe it's a father and a son(or an older friend/older brother and a younger friend/younger brother) crossing the street together, making sure the son(or younger person) gets across safely without lagging behind and getting struck by an unexpected vehicle coming around the corner or something. What the heck exactly is so wrong with the idea of normalize physical contact as not always being exclusively and inherently s*x*al or romantic at all? We should not continue feeding into this harmful stereotype that if someone is male they somehow always have to be super independent and self-sufficient and doing literally everything all on their own all by themselves or whatever, it should be okay for guys to lean on or uplift each other too, not only gals or opposite-gender persons[ and pretty much regardless of ages and not only in military settings too].
I like how the reply guffaws at the idea of platonic affection between male friends, but then immediately references an iconic example and then an enormous population that spans all of time as exceptions. Another example of physical love between male characters is The Brothers Lionheart. As a child I felt so moved by the brothers’ displays of affection, because I had already noticed that boys stopped hugging each other when we were still pretty small and thought it seemed too bad.
Men and women are different. Men don't really do that kind of thing.
I actually just went to a soap shop and started looking for tree scents last week because all these fantasy men smell like trees and I wanted to smell more heroic. (I also wanted to describe scents better in my writing and thought they might have info on terminology)
I only found one in the whole store. They had lots of flowers, potpourri and spicy scents though.
To the point of "men are always described as smelling of trees", another tree that often gets mentioned in regards to how the guy in the story smells is sandalwood. I've read that so many times...
Because I actually use sandalwood scented shaving lotion.
@@Gruzbee Oh I know that it's a very popular "men's" fragrance ingredient. It just kinda gets old to read that over and over as if there's nothing else, you know?
And leather. Don't forget leather.
@@regenorakel Admittedly, I do kind of cringe at the lack of vocabulary. I don't like smells personally. LOL When someone describes a guy as "musky" just makes me imagine, "stinky." I don't like writing smells, I like using visuals, and very sparingly.
@@Gruzbee Yes! To me, musky = does not bathe.
“Men can write romance too” as a 90s kid, that reminded me how we must have a very short collective memory because I remember when every romance film coming out was a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. Where did he go? I’ve seen maybe one of his films but I remember his name being thrown around like dodge balls on a wipe out course for a while there.
I have a male friend who writes romance novels for a living. I find it unfortunate that he has to do it under a female pseudonym--his publishing house requires it as they believe people won't buy romance novels written by men.
@@martialartess That’s a shame! I hope his sales are going well, and that he can write under his real name at some point.
Men are not animals. Some people don't seem to understand that. We have free will, scruples, and some of us even have self-control. We even have motivations beyond our libido and trauma.
A book I just binge-listened over the last couple days is The Phoenix Conspiracy (highly recommend-free audiobook/e-book, first in a series). It portrays a few different male "types" quite well, and the main character is complex. His interactions with the female lead (non-romantic in the book) are particularly fascinating because they both have equivalent agency, highly contradictory/complementary personalities, conflicting motivations, and equal respect from the author.
(It's always a breath of fresh air when an author clearly respects both the men and women in the book; I just finished reading another book where that was clearly NOT the case.)
In particular, there's a scene where she seduces him in order to knock him out and gather incriminating evidence, but she does so by breaking down his emotional defenses-showing him compassion and getting him to open up-not just by batting her eyelashes. In the scene, they both have standards, but she violates her conscience and manipulates him into violating his. It felt incredibly real and human.
First sentence is already wrong. Human beings are animals. And that's not bad or good. With just slightly opened eyes most of our behaviour can easily be explained with our animalistic being.
Some of my fellow animal human beings seem to be ashamed of that background.
My dog behaves more directly, humans have a psyhological blockade, but it's all there.
@@Tortuosit I was about to say that. Human beings are animals. The other options are being a plant or being a mineral. There's only 3 categories.
There's a lot of differences between a human and a dog, true, but there's also a lot of differences between a dog and a clam and everyone is ok to say that both are animals... I don't understand why people think humans are their own category, that's pretty arrogant...
(But the book still looks interesting 🙂)
@@Tortuosit we clearly have startlingly different and irreconcilable understandings of humanity. Even if you want to make the most basic and irrelevant argument of biological classification, the fact that we are communicating in a written language-of which there are many-over the internet, about the nature of being, is proof enough that humans are more than animals. A human who behaves as an animal is not exhibiting his nature, he is rejecting it.
@@p-47thunderbolt57 Yeah, sure, we know a lot, but still a lot of our behaviour can and should be explained by very basic elements, our core. Mostly: Survival... of the individuum and humans as a whole.
@@Tortuosit yes, humans share many basic drives with animals (food, shelter, procreation, etc.), but there are fundamental differences. Humans are thinking, reasoning, moral beings, capable of good and of evil. Animals are capable of neither because they lack the knowledge of good and evil.
28:48 Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman immediately come to mind. They have many many books in their world and many male characters that are definitely complex. Even one character who is the stereotypical large muscular fighting guy, so strong he accidentally hurts people but in the next book, whoops, gets depressed and drinks himself fat and has to get back into shape.
Beautiful perspective and very appreciated. As a bi guy it's hard not to see the similarities between straight men obsessing over simplistic stereotypes of the very woman they're obsessed with and straight women projecting their stereotypical male fantasies onto men
as another bi man, i think you're completely right.
As a bi woman, I agree
There is some bias regarding the name on the cover and the genre. There are gender trends among authors and readers for different genres. That's one of the things that an author should consider when picking a genre for their work.
For example, anything Romance tends to sell better with a female name on the cover. More action-oriented genres show a male preference. I don't like it, but it is what it is.
Then again, authors should also feel free to disregard or even wilfully defy that if they feel like it too. If more people did so, maybe the biases would lessen eventually, who knows.😊😅🤔🤷🤷♀️🤷🏻♂️🤣
@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 Bucking trends more often leads to failure rather than being cool, edgy, and a unique unicorn that somehow manages to be successful.
@@PetrolJunkie I just meant, if somebody has something that they really want to write, they shouldn't let the fact that it's unconventional stop them from doing it. Even if they might find more success or make more money by doing something else. And sometimes that leads to even more people doing it, which in turn sometimes leads to that very thing itself eventually finding more success someday than it might have otherwise or initially found.
(And it's okay if sometimes people just want to write what they feel like writing, not always worrying how well it will succeed or not; it's okay if simply having created it and out it out there alone was their only goal or its own reward, they don't always have to make large-scale success or popularity or whatever specifically their primary goal or most ideal reward.)
I think a great example of a long-term redemption arc like Zuko that does the exact opposite of Elantris is in the Drizz Do'urden series of the Forgotten Realms (DnD) by R. A. Salvatore with Artemis Entreri. Unfortunately, the series is like 37 books long and it takes a super long time to see Artemis's redemption. (not to spoil anything even though I kinda did). You'll hate him initially, but he grows on you a lot.
I’ve been waiting for this video for 2 weeks!! Thank you!
Love this series! Can we also do ‘fav scenes’, ‘supporting characters’, ‘friendships’, non romantic relationships e.g. parent relations, siblings, etc.
Love this series! I want to shout out A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross for two refreshing male character POVs: one’s a soft and sensitive bard and the other is a flawed widowed father. There’s also a POV from a stepmother 🌺
I JUST finished The Lost Metal this morning. So as soon as you started talking about getting into the love-interest’s perspective and being presented with actual characterisation, my head went straight to Mistborn Era 2, hoping you’d use it as an example. And then you DID 😂
For male POV romance, any TJ Klune, Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh, and Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai.
So, I'm writing a dark historical fantasy with a male main character. There is romance, but it isn't really the point and isn't really a sub plot even (but it is there). My main character basically doesn't have parents and doesn't have kids. Him and the male lead do have a close relationship but its platonic (father son like, but they are not father and son and meet for the first time at the beginning of the story). He is a healer and isn't legally allowed out much. He is smart and (I think) good looking, but his looks don't really matter in the story. Here's a blurb on what he is like. He isn't allowed to see his adoptive parents in the story, which is why I said what I said, but they are kind of a driving force in what he does and what his goal is.
As selfish as he is generous. A genius, he learns to make medicine at a young age from his adoptive mother. Being the friendly sort, his main weapons are his intellect and his smile. A bit of a brat, he is not above whining if he doesn’t get his way. Also enjoys decorating but is lazy and bad at math.
What do you all think?
I like it so far. What's his main goal in the story?
@Kleptocracy154 he wants to gain his freedom. Since his ability makes him sick all the time, he's never allowed to leave the temple he works at (he also lives there if that wasn't clear) and isn't allowed to interact with anyone (he can't see them face to face and no one can hear him speak but letters are ok in some cases) except for a slim handful including the ML that also work at the temple.
Selling medicine is his means to attempt to gain freedom. If he can make people feel better, then others won't be forced to be sick 24/7 and can go out and occasionally do things like get food at a good restaurant. Maybe he won't even have to live at the temple where he works (gasp!). His dream in modern day would basically be to commute to work and get McDonald's sometimes lol.
Anyone else zooming in on her bookshelf for books to read? Just me? 😂❤
always :)
My current hero is a thin, bookish and introspective scholarly type. He also carries a five foot long two handed saber.
He will be facing off with the dark sorceress, who turns out to be his long lost older sister.
I expect a very exciting family reunion.
I want to read this, genuinely.
I genuinely want to read this too. My current story is Beauty and the Beast retelling with a transman as the main "Beauty" character.
drop the book link
@@joshuagregoire9504 I will once there is one. Right now I'm about half way through writing it, so it may be awhile.
I don’t know if it’s worth a whole video but I’d love authors of adult fiction to write better children characters lol. So many kids in scifi or fantasy are so weird or annoying and not very realistic.
22:35 I appreciate that you spent so long addressing this person's comment and giving them advice, but I genuinely think this was a troll comment. Nobody could be so stupid as to think that there aren't many many /many/ books out there with male main characters. This seemed like a ragebait comment with some sort of agenda to push
I had the same thought as that comment was read. Maybe we've all been pushed into cynicism by the massive over-exposure of the internet age. Maybe that person was genuine and just formed a snap opinion based on limited experience ... but I doubt it. Either way, the best response almost certainly was the one given; but I'm not sure I would have managed it myself. El is probably a better person me.
Hello :3
Long story short, I was either going to type one funny sentence or a huge rant so I typed the one funny sentence and said I’d come back to it later. I did not, in fact, come back later. So I did that in this video’s comments. My bad lol. Sorry for the confusion everybody. I’m just a forgetful idiot sometimes
@@EotuaDawnwalker Fair enough, I read your response and I'm glad to know that you weren't totally trolling. :3 I hope El's response helped you find some new book recs then! I also know that the majority of genre fiction readers tend to be women, so it might just be that new books are trying to appeal to the majority audience? Whereas in the past most fiction was male-focused perspectives. Might've just been a gap that needed filling, and hopefully will balance out in the future. Also totally agree about needing more NB male characters as well.
I have definitely noticed that most epic fantasies are written by men with a focus on telling men's stories. There are some great male authors out there who are writing wonderful female characters, but I just wish it was more common.
I have been struggling to find Epic fantasy centering on female characters, or with multiple POVs. The one I keep returning to lately are Robin Hobb's books, specifically the Liveship Trader and Rainwild Chronicle series.
Robin Hobb is one of the greatest. I've tried to find more epic fantasy female authors, but they all seem to be writing romantasy. Seriously, they absolutely DOMINATE this genre. Which is also annoying as someone who likes romance, because it's never relatable for me (a man) since it's so obviously intended for a female audience. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy it, but I wish I could identify with the characters a bit more.
A fantastic series with a good father character is the Inkheart Trilogy (Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath).
YESSS! I love that series so much!
What the hell is wrong with smelling like a tree? Trees are awesome
It's weird when they smell like pine when they're from the desert or some island beach culture. It's more like the problem is that it's a default setting smell for men.
Not to be that person, but I legitimately laughed at the “this guy smells like a tree” talking point. And if anyone cares, my husband does smell like pine because his body soap is pine scented 😂😂😂
The male character described 47min into the video is the kind of man I would write as my main character. Agree with that one, completely.
I love this series :’) thank you
I guess I agree.
I am writing a warrior character who has an extroverted, bubbly, and jovial personality; and yet he is also a healthy level of dangerous (to antagonists and villains).
I have a prince character in another story who feels 'realistic' to me; he has soft spots and sore points, strengths and weaknesses, confidence and concerns. I love writing him.
A detective character from a series I am writing is about 40 or so, not from the young or old side of the spectrum.
Another story I am writing has a father as a secondary character; he is ultimately the cause of most of the main character's problems, but how and why is understandable as well as totally unintentional.
All my stories have an emotional thread running through them, it is why I connect with them so much.
(You can tell that I wrote these in order as the video progressed)
Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley is a story that handles fantasy romance well.
Some recs for different points:
- Good and active father - Raven's Shadow duology by Patricia Briggs - married couple with 3 kids - mum and dad are the protagonists
- Decent guy - Cradle by Will Wight - Lindon is humble and polite and nice and stays that way even after he goes from ultimate underdog to crazy powerful
- Men talking about their feelings - Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard and sequel - mostly focused on male friendships, lots of emotions. The protagonist also has female friends and colleagues and lots of family, and those relationships are featured as well.
- Villains having to work at being better - Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews is the improbable redemption story of a villain from their Kate Daniels series, who is very clearly a villain there. However now he's out of a job and has to forge a new path and a new life ...
_
I agree with some of these points, the same things are being discussed in the gaming community. But i use books like i use video games, as an escape. So i don’t want some joe schmoe as the main character, i want the hot badass who has never loved or trusted anyone before me! 😆 maybe that’s just me!
PS i want to play ghosts of tsushima so bad! But haven’t got the chance!
A fair point and one that shouldn't be overlooked. I'm not looking to step on anyone's fantasy. If there were books out there that presented anthropomorphic squid men as the most desirable love interest and that worked for some reader, then that's great. I don't think many (any?) are advocating for the existing hot badass archetypes to all be purged. Some folks would just like to see other kinds of men be presented as plausibly attractive.
I can only speak for myself and thus can't speak directly to the topic at hand; but in a somewhat analogous situation I would certainly appreciate more stories with a wider variety of female characters framed as potential love interests. There's a huge variety of women (and qualities) in the real world that I find attractive; but only a few are regularly presented in fiction.
@@Psittacus_erithacus well said, my friend.
18:21 - THIS, about parents and parenting, tthhooo! YAASS!!!! 🤭🤭😊🤭💖🤣
Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy--many interesting male characters, especially the main character Morgan, who is so nOt the typical brooding burly beefcake guy. . And Hawkeye, of the Marvel universe: husband, father, comrade. His relationships with his wife and with Black Widow are a study in how to be a family man and how to be a loving friend without sex. We can use more of that.
22:50 No male main characters or few? Honestly the only genre I can think of with no male main characters is not a genre itself, sapphic romances. Is for obvious reason 😅
A sci-fi recommendation would be Dark Matter in which you follow the main character Jason, who is a family man. He has a wife and 15 year old son. These relationships are crucial to the plot throughout.
Writing about people with family and friends is a bit harder than a lone wolf. For example, in my life, I had an exciting job with travel and some mild adventure, but I gave it up because I had two young kids and needed to be home.
You really have to push someone who has family into a corner to have them go off on an adventure while they have people depending on them. Otherwise, morally they're kinda garbage.
Like Buck says "Not a great husband or father, but a darn good friend."
27:35 The almost default assumption when people see disparities like this is to think the cause lies with some kind of internal bias on the part of readers or publishers. While there is always an element of this in everything, I think the evidence shows in our culture today that the cause primarily is in self selection on the part of the writers themselves. Men are probably generally more interested in writing epic fantasy and women are probably generally more interested in the personal or relationship focus in fantasy, as you say. This is true almost across the board in other fields, so it's highly likely true here as well. I wouldn't be surprised if publishers were bending themselves over backwards looking for more women writers of things like epic fantasy, just like those running STEM programs or law firms are trying very hard to get more women into their fields and just not finding enough to even the disparity. The divide probably doesn't even have to be that stark. Even a 60/40 split in interest can lead to a lot of these disparities. So if your a woman who wants to write epic fantasy, you might have an inherent advantage on that front, although you will still have to contend with the disadvantages all writers today face that make it hard to be published, like oversaturation of writers and books in the market. Bottom line is I don't think disparity alone is a bad thing. It's what causes the disparity that is the problem. In this cause, I don't think the cause is problematic.
Currently shifting away from epic/grim/dark fantasy to cozy fantasy. I encountered the wonderfully frivolous Wendell Bambleby in the Emily Wilde series. Didn’t realize how refreshing it would be to read about a prissy, slightly overdramatic, non brooding, non possessive male character.
Ooh! Ooh! I have recommendations (just like everyone else 😂)!
The Sunrider Series by Rafael Hohmann. The MC is a teen boy and very well-rounded. It features multiple perspectives between him and the villain, who is also a man. I don't recall any chapters written from the POV of the female characters (it's been a while since I've read it, though), but the ladies are all well-written, too.
Two Masters by Thomas Fawkes. Another teen boy MC. He deals with all the frustrations of a teen boy growing up in a highly religious society, but he still takes up the hero role. Plus, it's set on an island with robots and dinosaurs, so it feels very fresh. It's available on Royal Road.
The Shadows of Cro series by L.R. Bergquist. It's an epic fantasy written by a woman featuring both male and female perspectives (no romance, though). The characters start young and get older with every book. There's magic and combat and cannibals.
Lastly, Once Lost by J. Arden Scott. Another epic fantasy. This one is written by a man, but the two POVs are both teen girls. The girls are so cute and so brave and such teenagers. He really captured (in my experience) what it's like to be a 16-year-old girl with her head in the clouds, but he still gives them conflicts and opportunities for growth. They're both very naïve at first, but become courageous fighters through the journey they're thrust into.
i agree with the comment read just before 22:51 about the need for more leading male main characters
that is exactly why i am writing that myself
27:37 Young Adult/Children's book Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Percy is the main voice and it's first person.
Maybe to explain why some people would be interested in those storylines (like true crime watchers), it may be a study of personalities. As a writer, I will be drawn into some dark topics to be able to analyze personalities I may not be exposed to, in order to try to understand the psychology of that character.
One of the best flawed father characters I've read is the main character of Kings of the Wyld by Nicolas Eames 🙂
I'm probably going to get a LOT of heat for this, but I recently read the Nightborn Duology, and I absolutely fefll in love with the way Oraya and Vincent's relationship was written. Yeah, he was more on the villainous/toxic side of, like, parenting failures. But what I say to that is he's a centuries' old vampire king, and was raised a certain way that didn't include healthy familial love, or any love. Did I mention that he's a vampire? So, his perceptions of fatherly love are kind of skewed. But you see hints of him wanting to try to be the best for her. It's really one of the only books I've read where the father figure has been a presence throughout.
19:30 As probably a disproportionate number of male writers would say, I have no experience with having a healthy and non-abusive relationship with my father.
50:00 - Yep! Once again~ 😊 👏🏻👏🏻💖 🙂
40:41 - I mean... it could just be because it's fun and different, or it could be because the top and bottom buns kinda do tend to have completely different feels and flavors to them so you may still prefer the taste or feel of it in your hands that way or on your tongue or on the roof of your mouth, or maybe you just think it looks better that way or you're really just a huge rebel when it comes to bun eating. Who knows! Lol
Other well-known and aclaimed fantasy series with male-only perspective: most of Discworld (Terry Pratchett), anything from Raymond E. Feist or David Gemmell. The Belgariad and Mallorean series by David Edding, The Lord of the Rings and The Witcher. The list goes on and on (I've just pulled examples from my bookshelves) - it was extremely difficult to find any fantasy with a female perspective 20 years ago.
"Less possessive men."
Fewer.
*laughs in Stannis*
I don't mind a possessive character, even though I also completely agree that real people shouldn't be particularly [at all] possessive of other people, but especially not if it's in a Dark Romance novel specifically or if the character is literally not entirely human(so you can explain it by them not necessarily having completely the same cultural morals or conventions or such as we humans do)-but when it's not a dark romance and/or if the character is entirely human and the character is still incredibly possessive and it's treated in the book like some kind of swoony ideal or it's not even acknowledged as possessiveness and gets called some other dumb thing like "he's just super 'protective' of his loved ones" or something, especially in contemporary fiction, I'm just like nope no thanks.🙃😅😅😐
47:33 - Just... YES, thousands of times over, Yes.💖👏🏻💖🙂
While i like to follow this series you are making; as a writer, i only writes what comes to me - not what other people want to see more or less of.
47:45 wow, I hope the novel I entered into SPFBO X somehow gets on your radar, because literally everything you’re saying you’d like throughout this entire thing, (woman characters as well) is how I wrote my characters. 👀 it’s kinda scary. lol
7:17 let's be real, most women don't see the marshmallow man as attractive. He's usually relegated to little brother status. The amount of Avatar fanfic involving Zuko and Katara pretty much proves this 🤷🏾♂️
I love that you had the nuanced of reading topics but not really wanting to experience them. I mean we all love reading about great battles and fantasy but would any of us really want the PTSD inducing experience of running on a field fighting for our lives.... I don't think so. This goes for abuse and horror novels.
Also, I would love more variety in male characters. I need my class clown, my sweet stoics, and my golden retriever men with the brooding bad boy.
I’ve not finished the video yet but for me we need more Male to male relationships that have depth . Be that platonic or romantic. There appears to be a reluctance for men to show emotions and affection towards other men. Even the lgbtq+ books stay away from male relationships
Damon Salvatore. Damon is dark, good, bad. He screws up a lot but loves those close to him AND owns up to who he is. He has a moral compass, its broken sometimes but he finds his way back. By far, my favorite main character.
About the toxic/abusive/bad male love interest, I've been watching a couple of adaptations for the same source material a decade apart and it's glaring how it evolved. The source material is a manga and the Korean adaptation from 2009 has the guy be a huge bully, jerk, selfish, and the girl is not helpless but softer and cries a lot and I'm having a hard time rooting for them to be together, whereas the Chinese adaptation from 2019 still has the guy be a bully and a jerk in the beginning, and even violent toward her, but the girl actually takes no bullshit from him and he has a much better development arc in general, not only towards her but his friends and other random people as well.
No comments about Male characters. Just here to affirm my love for the Dominion card game.
38:30 - YES! So would I, too~ 😊💖💖
My quirk:
I like balance... sometimes.
If I take a bite of something and chew it with the left side of my mouth, I MUST chew the next bite with the right side of my mouth. Lollipops must be equally sucked inside both cheeks, drinks must be slurped from one side and then the other.
And yet I like to sit stand or lie down asymmetrically.
Don't ask me why.
9:24 - This is a fine request, for fiction that is aiming to tell realistic/relatable type stories and or stories about realistic/relatable type characters. HOWEVER it is actually _okay_ for people to write /indulgent/unrealistic fantasies sometimes too, especially as temporary escapes that they get to occasionally dip into just for funsiez on the side of real life and or more realistic/relatable fiction, and people really need to stop trying to minimize or belittle or shame that, too. Like....I think the answer is 'both'; Both, are good. 😊💖💖
(But, yeah, more well-rounded realistic representation overall is much much needed-even for men and male characters.^-^)
Wow, I don't think I do any of these things with any of my characters, and I've written three and a half novels of my fantasy series and I have a lot of characters. My toughest male character has to face and deal with his trauma before he can become the hero he's meant to be, and that wasn't done to tick a box. It just happened that way. I don't fully plan anything in advance. Shit happens to my characters that changes them, and the story changes with them.
Fantasy romance with male perspective= A Game of Fate
Great Video!
Have you ever read the Licanius trilogy by James Islington? You mentioned Will of the Many, his new release which I’m stoked to read but was curious. I thought it was a very solid trilogy-and with great male characters.
When you talked about the Mistborn Era 2 protagonist being bland, it made me realize he seems to invert the trope of a character becoming one-dimensional when gaining a love interest. I find Wax to be more interesting to read when he interacts with his lady
Random side note, id love to see a reading vlog from you! Or any kind of vlog ❤ if youre comfortable with that, id love to see your reading life
42:13 - 😂 Yes!
Awe, breaks my heart there's no notice of the Friends quote in this video in these comments. I hope it was intentional. It's so specific to not be, right?
@ebnovels sooo what „certain series“ is the comment at 52:02 about? I would love to read it but couldn‘t figure out the name from the context. 😅
Maybe it‘s not much of a spoiler if you don‘t name the characters. 🙈
I loved the last dragon chronicles and David is the main character of that series.
mo ran from 2ha has incredible growth and change, but be warned, that story is disturbingly dark. Tantai Jin from Black Moonlight holds the BE script is another one-- he does end up dying/being reborn, but he changes a lot before hand; be warned if you seek out the fan translation, that story is also absurdly dark, and you will spend a lot of time hating both main characters.
i have read a lot of crappy men and women. i'm absurdly picky about character descriptions and have legit DNF'd so many books because one or the other bothered me; i do the same with fanfiction when someone turns a character i love into an abusive ass, dont do that carp.
for romantasy, i recommend the sisters of salt series by Erin A. Craig, or scarlet alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker, i loved Alexander and Li Hong a lot.
The guy looking for Male lead books - Odd Thomas, Iron Druid, Warm Bodies, & Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz
what happens if food haas no clear top and bottomm?
Ghost of Tsushima is such an amazing game. It really hits you in the feels too. Worth playing or watch for sure!
I hate the trope where the very competitive, sore loser male mc walks into a male-dominated space and suddenly becomes super chill about losing and goes all "losing to such a great warrior is not a tragedy, it's an honor". I mean I know this kind of behavior would be ideal for any competition but come on, I've seen this so many times and it looks so unrealistic
year of the reaper by Makiia Lucier is a ya fantasy with a single male pov. I read it a few years ago and it was very good
Will there be another to reader from to readers?
Since one of my favorite authors of a high fantasy epic isa woman, Elizabeth Moon, I would say she is an outlier as the majority are male authors.
54:04 - Also, Yes. 🙂 🤭😂💖💖💖
I have been seeing the Red Rising series recommended by a lot of creators and I want to share my thoughts. I might be in the minority on this but I think it important to speak up. I found that the writing in Red Rising is very misogynistic. Not only is Darrow misogynistic, but there is a difference between writing a misogynistic main character and overall misogynistic undertone. For ex, the way Darrow treats his wife, how he speaks about her and how he compares women’s appearances (breasts). Darrow is “crude” but there is a way to do this without putting women down. Other characters use anti-women and anti-lgbtq language as well :(
Its funny you say that as a friend of mine who is very feminist and hates men loves that series.
The first book has misogynistic writing. I JUST read the second one and it’s undoubtably better about letting female characters shine, but this isn’t the most amazing character writing ever so they shine in almost the most cliche ways.
@@tonkabeanicecream5698that’s because the series evolves and the writer seems to be making a point about the Reds and their misogyny
Generally the chief reason that men don't show vulnerability when women are around is that they are so often punished for it. Within any relationship there will be conflict, sooner or later, and when there is the woman will be sorely tempted to zero in on that point of vulnerability. Most men know this intuitively or are taught it through experience.
Good examples of the happy, uplifting, protective characters: Spider-Man, Superman, Captain America.
these are kind of ironically the same characters he criticizes, dude is thinking from a pure perspective non-violence ideal character, not realizing that boys grow into teenagers and young men...
@@jurnikovah7453 Spier-Man is probably the best example of that. When he was first created, he is a teenager and we get to see him grow up and eventually get married. Not all the writers have done a great job with the character, and the more recent runs have been.... terrible, but overall he is a great study in seeing this type of character mature and grow.
Can someone spell out the video game she's talking about? Cause I tried to find it by typing in how I thought it might be spelled and I couldn't find it lol.
Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima
Thank you!
Bob from HR *is* the worst. Can confirm. 😂
46:01 - I mean.. have you checked out the majority of musks and bodywash and shampoo out other things with actual scents "for men" lately? 😅😅 🙃👀😅 Lolll (Many of them DO tend to be "pine" or "sandalwood" and such. We really need to start breaking some gendered stereotypes about who can or can't smell like what if they want to a whole lot more than do or have, honestly.😁🤭🤣🤣) 😊
For all the bad rep male authors get for writing 2D women, female authors really need to up their game with male characters.
It's normally easy to tell when a fantasy story was written by a woman, just by the character roster:
- Female protagonist who becomes important without really doing much to earn it, then proceeding to high road everyone until they get proven right. God forbid they develop a personality beyond telling everyone they're wrong.
- Love interest #1, the intelligent and powerful man who shows her new, interesting things, but turns out to be toxic.
- Love interest #2, the unassuming friend who spends the whole story simping hard for her, waiting until she's shagged the other guy enough to realise she actually loved him after all.
When it comes to genre and the sex of the author, I think there are two main factors that feed into each other:
1. Men and women will trend towards different skills or interests.
2. People will infer from a book's association with a man or a woman which style the book falls into.
👍🏻
Eat your pizza upside-down. Thank me later
You mean crust first? Or you being upside down?🤣