Um, I beg to differ. Although I think this is a bit weird, in a way this could be a good thing. There has been some discussion in the blogosphere (See Tawna's post) on writing to a specific audience. Since she writes romance, she wondered if any of her male blog readers would be reading her debut novel. I simply wonder if I'll be able to sell my book in a predominantly male science fiction world.Words: 84232
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 103938Male Score: 110220The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
I'll mention here what I did on her blog. I do not believe it when they say mostly men read sci fi. I've always read sci-fi and I'm sure there are lots of other women out there who love it as much as I do. My goal with my writing has always been to write a book that will be appealing to all kinds of readers. Yeah, I know, not a good marketing plan in that statement. The real goal sounds even worse--write science fiction that my friends would fall in love with because none of them like sci fi.
The truth is that I never think about the author when I read a good book, or care if they are male or female. I don't want my readers thinking about me while they read my book.
Wait, I think I wondered off task. Anyway, my score is only slightly toward the male side. Perhaps that means my work WILL appeal to both sexes? Yeah, that's how I choose to look at that.
*wanders off to investigate something shiny that smells like chocolate*
I agree completely that gender doesn't matter when it comes to reading sci-fi. I LOVE sci-fi and I'm a girl! I'm with you on not caring if the author is male or female too. Most times I don't notice.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of women who read science fiction, although when I read it, I admit I tend to read male authors.
ReplyDeleteAnd I did that test and my work was definitely male. Which is a good thing!
I just posted a blogfest last nite. Link is here, if you're interested in signing up...
ReplyDeletehttp://elenasolodow.blogspot.com/2010/12/100-words-for-100-dollars-blogfest.html
I tried that on several passages I wrote. Anything non-fiction (like an article) was deemed written by a male. (So women can't write lean, objective pieces?)
ReplyDeleteAny chapter I put in from a female character POV was deemed female. So, good, I guess.
What made me smile in a good way was that any chapter I put in that's from a male POV character came out as a male author.
I felt kinda good that a male POV, at least to this computer program, "felt" male.
AH! Fun! Great links too! Thanks for sharing. I agree with you. I don't want people thinking about me when they read either.
ReplyDeleteI got female. Womp Womp. But it was really close!
Thanks for all of the great links! =)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the mark of a skilled writer is to remove the concept that the book was written by a anyone, male or female. The story should just naturally unfold.
I read a bit of sci-fi, but I'd like to read more in that genre.
ReplyDeleteI don't think about gender when reading a great book. Even though some authors and publishers have gender in mind, there are so many books out there that would appeal to everyone.