Cozy Mystery Corner discussion

Good evening everyone. I wanted to know what are some of your opinions of men aspiring to enter the cozy mystery field as writers. Can a male perspective on murder while tamping down the violence and sex succeed in a mostly female dominated field?

Chris wrote: "... Can a male perspective on murder while tamping down the violence and sex succeed in a mostly female dominated field?

Interesting question, Chris. How do you suppose gender influences one's perspective on murder?

Maybe I should have rephrased my question. I meant to say that a man can be just as emotionally attuned and connected to his friends as women which is something I use in my writings. I wanted to see if some people believe a man can do well in a mostly female dominated field. Men can sometimes look at murder as very cut and dry. Women probably probe more in the victim's background in terms of who they are and why were they murdered? Men will focus on instantly solving the crime while women want to go deeper into what could have been done to prevent a murde.

Chris wrote: "I wanted to know what are some of your opinions of men aspiring to enter the cozy mystery field as writers."

There are a lot of male cozy writers as well as cozies with male protagonists. The sex of the writer and/or the protagonist doesn't matter to me as long as the story is good, the mystery involving, and the characters well written enough to make me care about them and want to come back for more.

Have you tried reading/comparing mysteries written by men (e.g., E.J. Copperman / Jeffrey Cohen; Tim Myers and his various pseudonyms; etc.) versus those written by women? Or, those with male protagonists? There are also a lot of cozies with couples, cozies with older people, etc. That's part of what appeals to readers, they (we) can see ourselves in the characters.

Frankly, I think one could take almost any cozy -- if well written and crafted -- change the sex of the protagonist, adjusting the sex of other characters as needed, and still have a great read.

It might also be interesting to find out why men read cozies and what they think about male vs. female authorship. Do their views differ from what draws women to cozies? I'm betting the answer is no.

BTW... I also read hard-boiled mysteries, a more male-dominated genre. Yet, there are a lot of female writers in that field. Are their perspectives that different from their male counterparts? Again, I think the answer would be no.

I do enjoy cozies, but I started reading them because I like the "tamping down" on violence and sex and language. I wish more men would write in the category and create male characters. I really do try to read the few that do.

P.S.
I found your question posted here Can Male Authors Write Cozy Mysteries .

Here are a couple of comments from that thread:
FiddleDD wrote: "I don't care about the sex of the person who wrote the book, and I do read cozies. I think the issue is one that is common to all fiction - can the author write convincingly about the experience of the people through whose eyes we see the story? This is the problem of a modern author writing historical fiction, of a science fiction author writing about aliens, of a sit-at-home who writes spy thrillers. So I think I would not have a problem if there were a guy's name on the cover (although pseudonyms are always an option), but the moment I read something that sounded like the point-of-view female character had no clue about women's experiences, I'd be put off.

CAByrnes wrote: "The ingredients of a cozy are not gender-specific -- just a small group of characters in a relatively close setting who mostly know each other. It could just as easily be an NFL locker room as a dowager countess' front parlour.

You all have posted some great threads. It's just whenever I go cozy book buying the majority of writers I see are women not men which is why I wanted to write a cozy mystery with a male protagonist. The last thing I wanted is to try to make a political statement or sound ignorant in my posts. I will look at other male cozy writers to see how to structure a novel and grow my characters in their respective journeys.

Chris wrote: "You all have posted some great threads. It's just whenever I go cozy book buying the majority of writers I see are women not men which is why I wanted to write a cozy mystery with a male protagonis..."

Chris,

For a great description of the genre (and lists of authors by sub-genre), check out http://www.cozy-mystery.com/.

It sounds like you're new to writing cozies. Writing character sketches can give you a chance to develop your skill in writing characters of all types. This can give you practice in portraying characters who are different in gender, age, occupation, attitude, and so much more! (After all, if all our characters were just like us, it wouldn't be much of a book, would it?)

You can also help yourself by working with beta readers during your draft/revision processes. My own readers, for example, vary by gender, age, background, profession, and reading preferences (although all read mysteries). Some read excerpts as I'm working, which helps me stay on track with technical details. I worked with a forensic anthropologist for some scenes, for example, and used a dog trainer for many others. You could try something similar for gender if you're concerned about voice, tone, emotion, and motivation.

Best wishes,
~Susan

Ramla Zareen wrote: "I should admit that as yet read I haven't had an opportunity to read cozy mysteries by male authors ...but I don't think that the gender of the author would really make a difference to me while try..."

Ramla, your comment reminded me that many writers use pseudonyms or use initials in place of their first names.

Ramla Zareen wrote: "So I guess this means that it's possible that some of the books that I have been enjoying are actually from male authors :-) Interesting!"

Check out Stop You're Killing Me (or other mystery listing sites; I refer to several myself, SYKM is one of my favorites.) to check pseudonyms. I read a male author who writes at least four series under feminine pseudonyms, two more under non gender-specific names (Chris, Terry, Casey, initials, etc.), and more under his own name. You might be surprised at who's who.