5 Tips for Writing to Women

Tip #1 - Step into Her Shoes/Get to Know Your Character

Women come in all sizes – not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually. Let’s use crayons

to help us think through some things. Imagine pulling out a large box of 8 jumbo crayons. Those crayons represent men. Men like getting to the point, they don’t need the details during conversations, and can identify their feelings with one bold color.

Now pull out a 120 count box of crayons. Those colors represent women. God created women with many colors, feelings, and emotions. A man gets angry and pulls out the red crayon. His anger may last a moment or a day. A woman gets angry and she may pull out several different colors to try and identify her emotions. Not only that, but she may hang onto those colors for weeks and months at a time as she tries sorting through those emotions.We see how writing to women may be a little challenging, yet exciting all at the same time.

Let’s use a passage from the first chapter of my book, with co-author Dena Dyer, Wounded Women of the Bible, as an example.

“Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, ‘Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.’”

(I Kings 3:16-18 NIV)

What do we know about these two women?

They shared the same profession. When two women share the same profession there is an automatic connection. Women can talk for hours with a stranger over the fact they share the same occupation.
They lived together. The two women are no longer acquaintances, but now roommates. Now the bond between the two looks different. Now they share the house, cooking, cleaning, and learning to live with one another.
They were both pregnant at the same time. What happens when two pregnant women get together? You said it! They never stop talking about the baby or their experience being pregnant. These women now share a deeper bond.
They both may have delivered each other’s baby. The scripture says they were alone. Now we have even a deeper bond between the women.

Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, step into these characters and pull out everything you can about the woman. Look how much information we gathered from one small paragraph. Don’t forget about the 120 count crayons. Think about the emotions, feelings, vibrancy, personalities, and so much more women exude. Your characters will come to life when you get to know who they are. Step outside of the facts and get to the heart of women.