Who's a better writer, men or women?

[ashley_r]

What a weird question! I'm completely split down the middle. The gender of the writer is so unimportant to me that I will often forget if they are male or female unless someone else brings it up.

[kittyrdb]

I think we should read some books, without knowing who the authors are beforehand, and then try to guess whether the author is male or female. That way we can really tell how men and women write differently, or if they do at all.

[miatem1]

No, not sexist just giving my own opinion. Im not living in the 1940s with regard to my views on women and equality, im just saying that of all the books that i have read from crime to horror (i HATE fantasy!!) to thrillers etc, i have personally found that men make the superior author in these genres. They tend to just stick to logical facts and develop the character in such a way that they dont pause to describe their inner emotional turmoil every 5 seconds which a lot of female authors do. That way you can relate to and care about the character when his motivations and feelings are doled out in small quantities rather than wearing you down with constant mumbo jumbo about "This feels wrong, i love my wife (X200) etc etc. Its quality of character development not quantity.

Women authors tend to excel in romantic novels because they are more attuned to their feelings than men are and this helps them with their descriptive talent to writing novels. Not at all am i saying that they are inferior authors i am just saying that personally i find men can write better thrillers and horror.

In all honesty, some of the posts here are slightly offensive. Authors are human beings and their skill is independent of gender. I think women have been writing romance novels because it is a subconscious ideal society thrusts upon it. Even if they are better at it, it doesn't make them any less of a writer. In fact, good writing should be able to make the writer FEEL something and love is often a good emotion to evoke a response from the reader. Also, writing is an EXPRESSION OF FEELINGS!
The idea that women are always be complaining about their inner emotional turmoil is a 1940's ideal: it was used by men for CENTURIES as reasons why women were inferior. So please, next time you're at a book store I recommend picking up a Marie Christie or Mary Shelley book to start.

[scuba_steves]

Really, just like all aspects of the human mind, neither is better than the other and both blend together. Each person is his or her own self, so for example Orspn Scott Card tends to pull a lot of showing and emotion into his work while Mary Shelley, as pointed out, has fairly well tackled horror. Just as feminine and masculine are fluid terms, so is a discussion on which might possibly be better. (Quick post. Phone is dying.)

[Ibanezakame]

It matters the kind of book, although I think there is no contest needed.

[AbsolutelyKate]

The answer,
depends on
the words.

~ Absolutely*Kate, author
believing in believers

-- 09 Oct 2013, 01:20 --

[TD Matzenik]

The question should read "Who are better writers . . ." and the person who understands that, will be the better writer.

[marissa_in]

Why not ask: who writes better, blondes or brunettes?
Gender has nothing to do with how well the writer is. It's based solely on the person.

[jsinard42]

I could straddle the fence and say that both are equal but when I look at my shelves I see a pattern. Most of my fantasy/science fiction books are written by men and the majority of my young adult and romance novels are written by women.

[sugarbearmama]

I think it depends on the story it self. Women do have a better direction toward feeling and I side the head and hearts of her characters but that's not to say men are incapable of this either. I do think men have a really great knack for writing stronger characters in body and mind. However if a woman and the pseudonym of a man's name would that change the opinion of the reading thinking it was a man?in any case I don't discriminate by gender when choosing a book

[Gloriannes]

It depends on the writers ability to express detail. some women have a frightening ability to make a reader feel the emotion as the character is, Harry Potter. I've also read some books by men that do the same. So it depends on the writers ability.

Glori

[richieg1981]

I honestly don't believe there is a right answer to this question as there are truly fantastic authors of both genders, Patricia cornwell is one of the best crime writers ever in my opinion and Mary shelly wrote some of the best thrillers ever and then there is JK Rowling regardless of what you think of the harry potter series they are fantastically descriptive books but in the male genre terry pratchet is the master of descriptive writing then for horror thriller you king and koontz. So as i said there are fantastically talented writers across the genres it all boils down to what you like

[gipps]

I think that the question is slightly off the mark. I think the question would be who makes the better reader.

And the answer is women, because (and especially judging from some of the posts on this thread) women have a greater tendency to read both male and female authors. There seem few enough female readers who would never read a male author. But there are many men who would balk at reading a single female author. The fact is that women are expected to read male writing and identify with it but for men to identify with female writing is somehow...un-masculine? But obviously both genders write well, so the better reader is the person who is willing to read as many different voices as possible. And that, again, means that women are better readers (and better readers make better writers, right?).

[gali]

Personally I don't see a difference and I think it doesn't matter.

[dea0045]

Personaly, I believe man are better in describing situations, women describing feelings.

I think this is defiantly accurate. I dont know if I could stay one sex is better an another because I think it really depends on the writer but I will say that I think most female writers write female leads better and the same with men and male leads. Maybe it is just because that is how they think and can identify with those charters.. I dont know. but I tend to find that women writers often make male leads into cheesy, stereotypical male leads... but what do I know. Im a female. Maybe men are actually like that.