{"id":23481,"date":"2020-09-29T03:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T10:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=23481"},"modified":"2020-09-24T07:01:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T14:01:38","slug":"avoiding-character-stereotypes-by-kay-keppler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/29\/avoiding-character-stereotypes-by-kay-keppler\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding Character Stereotypes by Kay Keppler"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Avoiding-Character-Stereotypes-by-Kay-Keppler.gif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-23482 size-full\" title=\"Avoiding Character Stereotypes by Kay Keppler\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Avoiding-Character-Stereotypes-by-Kay-Keppler.gif\" alt=\"Avoiding Character Stereotypes by Kay Keppler\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Avoiding-Character-Stereotypes-by-Kay-Keppler.gif 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Avoiding-Character-Stereotypes-by-Kay-Keppler-80x80.gif 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist, editor, and novelist, <a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?s=kay+keppler\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kay Keppler<\/a>, as she shares with us \u201cAvoiding Character Stereotypes.&#8221; <em>Enjoy! <\/em><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>How careful are you when you describe your characters?<\/strong> Have you ever\u2014or ever been tempted\u2014to fall into clich\u00e9s to get your point across?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>When Readers Hate Character Stereotypes\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pudding.cool\/2020\/07\/gendered-descriptions\/?utm_source=morning_brew\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Erin Davis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0belonged to a book club, and while reading one month\u2019s selection, she became so disgusted by how the heroine was described that she decided to investigate whether\u2014and to what extent\u2014other authors gender-typed their characters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>She wanted to find out if what she calls \u201clazy writing\u201d was as widespread as it seemed.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She wanted specifics:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do authors mention particular body parts for men more than women?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are women\u2019s bodies described with different adjectives than those attributed to men?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Study to Study Character Stereotypes\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Davis chose 2,000 books, including <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> best sellers, Pulitzer Prize nominees and winners, Man Booker shortlisted books and winners, books frequently taught in American high schools and colleges, and books that frequently appear on Best Of lists. Approximately 35 percent of the selections have at least one female author.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Then she ran them through a parser that identified sentences mentioning body parts.<\/strong> She then extracted the owner of the body parts and any adjectives that described them. (Click <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pudding.cool\/2020\/07\/gendered-descriptions\/?utm_source=morning_brew\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0for the specifics of her methodology.)<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The Results of Her Study\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While probably not that surprising, her results should give all authors pause. Her findings show that authors tend to describe men and women in different\u2014and predictable\u2014ways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>For example,<\/strong> the parsing of 2,000 books reveals that the body part \u201cbrain\u201d is attributed to men 1.61 times more often for men than women, while \u201chair\u201d is applied 2.27 more often to women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Men \u201cgrin\u201d more than three times as often in books than women, while women \u201csmile\u201d 1.31 times as often as men.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Men have \u201cbacks\u201d 2.85 times more often than women, while women have \u201chips,\u201d \u201cwaists,\u201d and \u201cthighs\u201d (2.29, 2.25, and 1.61 times more often, respectively).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBreasts,\u201d it probably goes without saying, describe women 6.61 times more often.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>As far as adjectives go,<\/strong> \u201cblonde\u201d is used to describe women\u2019s hair 16 times more often than for men, but \u201cdisheveled\u201d is a 50-50 split.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women\u2019s arms are \u201cslender\u201d by a 16x margin, as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Men\u2019s bodies are \u201cpowerful\u201d by a 16x margin; women\u2019s bodies are \u201cnaked\u201d by a 2x margin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>By a 2x margin,<\/strong> women\u2019s eyes are \u201cwide\u201d or \u201cgreen\u201d; men\u2019s eyes are \u201cblack\u201d and \u201ccold\u201d; women\u2019s skin is \u201cpale\u201d and \u201cwhite\u201d; men\u2019s skin is \u201cwarm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>But\u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People\u2014readers and authors\u2014tend to have ideas of what men and women look like, so it\u2019s not that unusual that some of these adjectives turn up repeatedly in descriptions of either gender.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>In fact,<\/strong> Davis has a quiz in the article in which she asks participants to guess if the adjective applies to a man or woman. Readers are consistent 88 percent of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Think Outside the Box for Your Character Stereotypes<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, that doesn\u2019t mean that authors shouldn\u2019t use every chance they can to describe their characters in fresh ways, with unique adjectives or attributes. A woman\u2019s legs can be \u201cpowerful\u201d as well as \u201clong\u201d or \u201cbare.\u201d A man\u2019s grin can be \u201csilly\u201d as well as \u201cthin.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>All writers want their characters to be unforgettable.<\/strong> Using fresh, unique language helps you get there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<h2>ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2PBcm2U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-22367\" title=\"On a Wing and a Prayer: A gargoyle novella by Kay Keppler\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/On-a-Wing-and-a-Prayer-A-gargoyle-novella-by-Kay-Keppler-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"On a Wing and a Prayer: A gargoyle novella by Kay Keppler\" width=\"150\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/On-a-Wing-and-a-Prayer-A-gargoyle-novella-by-Kay-Keppler-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/On-a-Wing-and-a-Prayer-A-gargoyle-novella-by-Kay-Keppler.jpg 333w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><a title=\"Kay Keppler\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaykeppler.com\/\">Kay Keppler<\/a> is an author <em><a title=\"Zero Gravity Outcasts\" href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1rqW2wW\">Zero Gravity Outcasts<\/a><\/em>, <em><a title=\"Betting on Hope\" href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1l42nc4\">Betting on Hope<\/a><\/em>, <em><a title=\"Gargoyle: Three Enchanting Romance Novellas\" href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1pEPjjq\">Gargoyle: Three Enchanting Romance Novellas<\/a><\/em>, and editor of fiction and nonfiction \u2013<em><a title=\"Angel\u2019s Kiss\" href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1nylmgE\">Angel\u2019s Kiss<\/a><\/em> and <em>Outsource It<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>She lives in northern California. Contact her here at Writer\u2019s Fun Zone in the comments below, or at <a title=\"kaykeppler@yahoo.com\" href=\"mailto:kaykeppler@yahoo.com\">kaykeppler@yahoo.com<\/a> to ask questions, suggest topics, or if you prefer, complain.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><strong>More popular articles by Kay Keppler on Writer&#8217;s Fun Zone:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/developing-your-voice-by-kay-keppler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Developing Your Voice<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/18\/lift-your-story-with-character-archetypes-by-kay-keppler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lift Your Story with Character Archetypes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/16\/revealing-backstory-through-nonverbal-communication-by-kay-keppler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Revealing Backstory through Nonverbal Communication<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/14\/make-em-laugh-by-kay-keppler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Make \u2019Em Laugh<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How careful are you when you describe your characters? Have you ever\u2014or ever been tempted\u2014to fall into clich\u00e9s to get your point across? If you can avoid character stereotypes, you can strengthen your writing and keep your reader captivated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":23482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1029,4487,1011,1340],"class_list":["post-23481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips","tag-character-development","tag-character-stereotypes","tag-fiction-writing","tag-kay-keppler"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Avoiding Character Stereotypes by Kay Keppler &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How careful are you when you describe your characters? Have you ever\u2014or ever been tempted\u2014to fall into clich\u00e9s to get your point across? If you can avoid character stereotypes, you can strengthen your writing and keep your reader captivated.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/29\/avoiding-character-stereotypes-by-kay-keppler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avoiding Character Stereotypes by Kay Keppler &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How careful are you when you describe your characters? Have you ever\u2014or ever been tempted\u2014to fall into clich\u00e9s to get your point across? 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