As we are done with the cliches so let's move towards the actual reason this chapter and the previous was written for:
How To Correctly Write A Male Character
There are many preset assumption and misconceptions about male characters, and we have gone through all of them in much detail.
Now we will discuss the ways to correct these assumptions. Note that these are merely ways suggested by other authors to correctly write your male character but it totally depends on you if you want to agree with the tips or place forward your own advice.
I'm highlighting a few of the aspects in general according to what I have deduced from the article.
1. Boys have feelings just like girls do, but they have a tendency to hide it all inside. You won't see a man crying for nothing everyday because that's not what the societal norms have made him do. Now that too is a stereotype, that men are stronger and tougher, but usually a lot of guys in that category even in real life.
Usually when people portray a man as tough and reckless on the outside and completely heartless on the inside, that is just totally wrong. You can make a guy tough but also keep in mind that males also have feelings and they know if you are feeling down they just don't know what to do in that situation.
If his girlfriend is feeling down, he will know that. It's just that he doesn't know what to do to make her feel better so he would try what he does with other guy fellows; leave her alone to sort out her priorities. That doesn't mean that the said boyfriend is heartless.
2. The disrupted sense of masculinity; this is also a problem while writing male characters. In literature there is a very clear outlook on how a man should behave and these criterias change as time goes on. When it was Jane Austen's time, people preferred to read about the gentleman character. In Cassandra Clare's time, dark characters hunting demons (shadowhunters) became popular among fans. In Stephanie Meyer and L.J Smith's time, Vampires became a sensation and so did Werewolves.
And just like these characters change from era to era, so does the reader's view on masculinity. However one thing is similar; all the guys are portrayed as tough and daring.
Which isn't exactly how every guy is in real life.
While writing male characters, take help from your male friends/brothers etc and ask them what they would do in a particular situation. Cross questioning them will provide you a lot of insight on how your characters should be.
If you interview a considerable number of guys and line up their answers you will not only find similarities but also some stark differences. That way, you would be able to identify and choose the most fitting response for your character.
Compare, for example, Pride And Prejudice's uptight but upright Mr. Darcy with the scummy, womanizing Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon. Compare either to Patrick Bateman of the appropriately named American Psycho, or secretive, heartbroken Patrick from The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.
Could it be that these male characters, so different in their expressions of what it means to be a man, are reacting to a similar set of experiences and values? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, and by understanding how expressions of gender can be so complex, authors can write far more realistic men than they might ever have suspected.
If you want an example on a character that is not tough and daring but still masculine in his own way, look at Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts.
3. Guys are (generally) more pragmatic. For every problem, there is a solution, but often the consequences don't matter as much as simply solving the issue to begin with. Most guys usually look for the quickest way to end a problem which is by brute force. So that is why many people assume that guys are more violent as compared to girls but that isn't the case.
If you are involving a fight scene where your male character is going to get caught up in a fight, make sure that the reason for the fight isn't petty such as two guys fighting over the position of Prom king.
[Once I was accidentally watching a TV serial with my family and in that a guy was killed by another guy just because guy 1 asked guy 2 to move his car from where it was parked just so he could get his car out. Guy 2, being an egotistical spoiled son of a rich politician, felt as if hie had been insulted. And hey presto! Poor guy 1 goes straight to heaven with four bullets in his chest.
Frankly speaking, I had no idea what to say after watching that scene because it was daaaammmnnnn illogical].
4. There is also a lot of conflict on men in sad/depressing situations. Because guys are just not expected to cry easily.
And it is also important for you to know exactly what is going to bring out tears from a guy. You can't just tear something away, that will only elicit a physical reaction, whereas crippling a guy with something psychologically damaging will bring out the tears.
Men are different, but not complete robots. Losing a loved one will always make someone cry, but guys usually hold back their emotions as long as possible.
Also, that doesn't mean in any way that your character is going to cry for three long chapters in the book just because he's so freaking damaged.
5. And another BIG fact for you all to sort out in your minds; guys do not think about sex all the time. Yup, that's exactly what I said and if you have any objections to that you can mention in the comments.
6. Not all guys understand the subtle hints thrown their way and they are not experts on gauging reactions and emotions. This applies to about 90% of the guys. Unless that guy has grown up with a lot of sisters, he would never understand what a girl means by such subtle hints.
And just because a guy is looking at a girl, it doesn't mean he is instantly in love with her. You have to work on your characters develop their relationships because in this century, love at first sight is pretty outdated. But is still a great cliche all authors love to insert in their books.
7. Guys don't gossip so they have quite less to say in the conversations among their fellows. Usually they will talk about whatever mutual interest they have; jobs, sport, news, current affairs etc.
A conservation with a girl, however, depends on whether the guy thinks the girl may or may not like him. It's not usual for guys to have platonic friendships with girls, either they're hoping something might happen, or they're so deep in the friendzone that they now consider her one of the guys.
But that doesn't mean they're desperate for that girl either.
8. While writing dialogue for male characters, keep things to the point. They do not describe each item in flaring detail so just don't make them do it. A guy wouldn't go to great lengths to describe what color eyes his girlfriend has. It would just be blue or deep blue for him. No sparkly ocean like blues that gleam in the sun, please.
9. Almost all guys are defensive all the time. Lots of crossed arms, lots of small head-nods in agreement. Friendly guys will go for the back-slap or hair-ruffle (though ruffling is a bit demeaning, it's the older-brother-little-brother gesture).
With girls, it's far more awkward. Maybe some casual, testing-the-water touches. Otherwise, guys are typically quite self-conscious around girls, more so than most YA novels would have you believe.
10. And guys are complex, they have feelings, emotions, pasts they bury and don't talk about. Try opening a guy up, explore him. Why is he big and buff? Is it because his father was a footballer and pressured his son into becoming a quarterback? Does the guy regret slacking off on his education to pursue that physical image?
And the skinny guy... What's his past been? Bullied, had his self-esteem cut because the world tells him that only strong, awesome guys get the girls? Does he harbor resentment towards those people?
Remember not all guys are awesome hunks who are smart and funny and also know how to fix cars and play guitars etc.
***
Now obviously, I am not discouraging you to write cliches, there are a lot of people in the audience that still prefer Bad Boys and Nerds these days, so write these cliches if you want but at least try to make it a bit realistic and original. You don't have to do everything perfect because perfection isn't achievable. But you have to make sure that you're doing your best.
Here's the link to the article I read from avani_bhargava's recommendation and you can check it out as well:
http://inkandquills.com/2015/02/25/how-to-write-from-a-guys-pov/
And these are links to another article I found on the web that can be useful for you:
https://www.standoutbooks.com/writing-male-characters/
https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2010/08/13/on-writing-convincing-male-characters/
***
Hope this chapter helped. Also Wattpad has been creating problems for me and it's real difficult to get this chapter all typed out since the page I'm working on gets stuck in the middle and I have to do it all over again. So bear with me if there are any grammatical errors or typing mistakes in here. I'll correct them when WP cooperates nicely.
See you with the next update.