I am at last at the end of my final draft and edit. I have written about a fourteen year old boy who is befriended by extra dimensional beings. The story takes him through time thinking he is saving the world, the only female characters are his mother and a so called "witch" from the fourteenth century. No other females, to be honest the story line I feel doesn't call for a "friend" for him till the next book. Have I made a mistake in not putting the female element in the first novel. I wrote it as it revealed itself to me if that doesn't sound like I'm a cracked-pot!
Any and all thoughts will be welcome.
Regards Paul.
I came across the Bechdel/Wallace test a few days ago. This checks (initially films) for gender portrayal. The test is whether two named women talk to one another about something other than a man! Apparently many contemporary films fail this test. Those that pass are usually produced with a lower budget, but have comparable or better financial box office performance.
Which potentially leads to the conclusion that you may be appealing to a smaller audience. When you consider that anecdotal evidence suggests far more women read books than men, you may be reducing your audience further.
I'm guessing that the only way you'll find out the answer to this is wait and see....putting someone into a book just for the sake of it doesn't always work, on the other hand I suppose you could be seen as limiting your readership a tad.
The interesting thing is that I suspect you can get away without having a girl more than you would the other way round - I think that more girls will read a book that's about boys than you would get boys reading a book just about a girl...but maybe I'm wrong?
Thanks for your help too Jonathan, it was just one of those wobbles, I suppose if I was to write a new character in it may be contrived. Now there's an oxymoron as all fiction is contrived anyway... hey ho. but being serious thank you both for taking the time, it has made me feel it is right to leave it. I think I should say "phewww" there because it would mean a complete re-write...
Once more thank you.
Regards Paul.