A Woman's Point Of View

“I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate.” ― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

I've found it very interesting, having a woman as my antagonist in my book. I used to think I knew women. I mean, I married a women so I know all about them, right?

...

Well, as you've probably guessed, my shortsightedness shone through very quickly when I started writing through the eyes of Jennifer Newberry. Strong willed, independent, focused, career-driven -- I've come to realize the person I created was secretly the person I longed to be. She is a woman who had a rough time growing up, but worked through it all to become a fast-rising star in her field of expertise. She views the world as interesting, challenging and exciting -- and, perhaps, a bit beneath her. Although her arrogance doesn't show when she is 'on the job,' her colleagues notice it, and hate her for it. The must respect her as well, but mostly they hate her.

I asked two friends of mine to read my book as it stands now, one male, one female. I felt like my Jennifer was feeling stale, stiff -- like a cardboard cutout of an actual human being. From a direct view, she looked real and you could touch her and experience her. But if you approached her from a different angle, you saw her for the literary fraud she was. I wasn't really understanding why, until my female friend pointed out the obvious: Jennifer looked one-dimensional, because up to this point in my book I have only explored one dimension of her. "You haven't shown her sensitive, caring side" my friend opined. "She's a professional, tough bitch, but she's also a woman, and that means she needs to love and be loved."

Whoa.

So now I'm looking more closely at Jennifer's love life. In my novel she has a love interest - Two, in fact. They are treated as a side treat to the main meal. I'm now looking at making them a part of the entree. This is quite a challenge for me. Being male, how can I know the way a woman feels when it comes to loving and being loved? My next week or two will be filled with discovering this. I'll be talking with women in my life, getting their ideas on this as much as possible. I hope they will be candid. I'm confident they will -- they want Jennifer to be the protagonist of protagonists! Jennifer is on a great journey to discover some amazing things. And so shall I.