I'm not sure why I prefer to write from the perspective of a protective male figure. My creative writing teacher has expressed concern for author Nicholas Sparks, who is essentially my opposite, but I don't see any problem with my point of view. It's just the persona I assume, the character behind the veneer of reality that occupies the same space of my mind. My biggest concern, actually, is the misinterpretation of my writing. Because I'm a girl, people assume that I write from a girl's perspective.
This isn't a problem, of course, for any of my novels, in which there is plenty of exposition with which to clarify the gender status. However, the anonymous style in which I write my short stories leaves it open to interpretation, and since I am a girl, most people assume that the perspective I write from is female. It always comes as a shock to me when someone refers to my protagonist as a "she," and I realize that the person has not read the same story that I have written.
Is that okay? We are reading short stories in English now, and I have realized that knowing gender, age, race, and more can change the entire context and tone of the story. No, it's not okay to let my readers assume the character's gender--that would be a misrepresentation of the other reality that I'm trying to share, and thus, as I said, it would not be the same story.
So how do I fix the problem? I like the anonymity of my short stories, and I do not want to have to make awkward arrangements at the beginning in order to accommodate for any gender questions. Should I use a male pen name? I like David Mark. Then how would I distinguish that the work is mine? What about leaving my name as ambiguous as my characters? H.E. Solomon. My last name would also suggest masculinity; people would assume. I like it. Problem solved?
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