by Niki Chanel
I promised a few of my writer friends some ‘film at eleven’ regarding my last couple of days.
I have re-realized that men and women are different.
It didn’t help that I had just read Leigh Anne Jasheway’s article “How to Write Intriguing Male and Female Characters”.
She thinks men and women are different, too.
Leigh demonstrates how women use pronouns – “I”, “you” and “we”, while men use articles – “a”, “the” and “that”. Zeroing in on this point gave me inner 
sight. I got it! To me it often sounds like men are condescending and that they do anything not to own blame. Laying it out so simply, Leigh helped me realize I am looking at them like a woman! *Duh* Using articles in speech does make ‘it’ impersonal. A woman may say “we had a flat tire” when a man would say “the tire blew”. Eureka! For the first time I understand why it sounds like women seem to take the blame for something they are NOT responsible for, while men shuck the blame off as though they had nothing to do with it - and they were probably driving!
Kidding aside, I like men. I am aware that when we say men and women are equal, it means we can do our jobs equally well. Evolution has made us perfect for our part in the great screenplay that is life. We need each other, and with knowledge like this I believe we can learn to get along better and enjoy our differences. We, as authors can also write smarter dialogue once we get a handle on the fundamental differences of how men and women think.
I have to add that my Honey and I have a great relationship and get along quite well. However, this insight will allow me to ‘move on’ quicker when we have an upset. Our choice of words should go into my manuscript, not my inner world.
To illustrate and keep my promise of footage, I share a YouTube video from the latinoseattle collection that expresses this perfectly:
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Truer words were never said. :-)
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