The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life

This book is a barrage of questions to think about when writing characters. Some are useful, but overall their point of view betrays a conventional and gender-biased approach to characters and plots.

For example, the author asks questions of female characters that he doesn't ask of male characters.

From the beginning, the author focuses on female bodies: “Let's say the murderer is a woman. Some other questions might arise: Does she have large or small breasts? Her waist? Hips? Legs?” He doesn't also say, “Let's say the murderer is a man. Does he have a large or small package? His chest? Hips? Legs?”

And when he asks, “Are her clothes revealing?” he doesn't also ask, “Are his clothes revealing?” Or, for the non-binary, “Are their clothes revealing?”

Again and again, the centrality of straight, male characters is assumed. For example, “Let's take a scene where a man and his wife are having lunch.” It's implied that a straight man is the protagonist, just as a straight woman would be the assumed protagonist if he had also written, “Let's take a scene where a woman and her husband are having lunch.”

He often describes women as “girls,” as in, “A poor girl marrying a rich man...” (No, he's not describing the custom of child brides.) “A poor woman marrying a rich man...” would've been more accurate.

Again and again, the author makes cultural assumptions—the main character is male, has a nine-to-five job, has a boss, is middle class, is straight, is married—that give the whole book an oppressive conventionality—not something I want in a book that's supposed to be about creativity!