First Person Female

Unlike the author, I have never written fiction; my personal collection of works has consisted of academic essays and research papers, the fact-filled, serious kind. My dreams and illusions have never made it to paper, nor have I tapped into my imagination far enough to know if I could write convincingly as the opposite sex.

Jim Harrison, on the other hand, pulled off the task three times. In his essay, “First Person Female,” Harrison examined the motives and possible influences that led him down the path to write in the voice of a woman. Despite his search, the answer still seems to elude him.

When I think about writing from the perspective of the opposite sex, in my case, a woman writing as a man, I imagine that the process might be similar to preparing for an acting role in a Hollywood movie. The first step would be to research the part, then identify with the role, internalize the character, and finally rehearse the lines. By far, the biggest challenge would be sounding authentic, which may be easy to achieve in one or two paragraphs, but not an entire novel. Could I accurately describe the devastation a man feels when he notices his hairline beginning to recede? Likewise, can a man writing as a woman precisely explain what labor pains feel like?

The author reminded us that our imaginations, or our “unconscious wells of material” and “peculiar umbrellas of influence,” serve us in ways we cannot always imagine. Nevertheless, I think I will stick to essays and research papers and leave the task of writing as the opposite sex to those, like Harrison, who do it best.