Wednesday, March 2, 2011

For The Love Of Boy... Books

I love boy books. For some reason I'm always drawn to books with male narrators. Many of my story ideas come to me with boy as the main character. And even though my current project is a dual narrative, in which one of the narrators is a boy, I never considered it a "boy book" and I've always been a bit hesitant about writing something strictly from a boy's point of view.

Then I read this post by Hannah Moskowitz who has so far written exclusively male 1st person POVs (and they are AWESOME) and I changed my mind. Since then I've written several shorts over at Tangled Fiction that feature boy narrators, and fleshed out some ideas for novels. And I really love it. I have no idea why, but there are several teenage boys living in my head and I think it's only fair they get their shot to appear on paper too.

So today I want to celebrate women writing boys, because there have been some great books lately about boys who are REAL BOYS, not the sweet, fantasized versions girls are supposed to like written by women, and I don't think they get the kind of attention they should.

Here is a list of some of my recent favorite boy books by women who I think totally nailed the voice. If you haven't read them yet, I suggest you get started now.




Break and Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Candor by Pam Bachorz
The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard
The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell
Freefall by Mindi Scott

What about you? Do you have a boy book in your head you've been afraid to write? Do you love boy books? What are some of your favorites written by women?

10 comments:

Sniffly Kitty said...

I don't usually pay attention to whether the author writes male or female voices. As a reader, I focus on how good the book is. I might notice later on whether there is cross-gender writing... but in general I just want a good book ^.^

Sniffly Kitty
Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books

Rebecca Christiansen said...

I pretty much write exclusively boy narrators :) Well, one of them is a trans-boy, but that's still a boy. I don't know, I think I just have a really frank, brutal kind of voice sometimes that's suited to boy narrators. Plus I tend to swear like a sailor and that certainly makes boy narrators ring true xD

Hannah's boy narrators are so awesome, and I really liked The Secret Year. Colt was understated and subtle rather than glaringly boyish. I liked that.

Tracey Neithercott said...

I don't have a preference one way or another. I loved The Replacement (the only one of the books up there that I've read) and have had The Secret Year and Candor on my TBR list for a while. Still, my favorite boy narrators always end up being written by John Green. I know, I know, he's a guy. But still.

Racquel Jones said...

I have a book I've been dying to write with a boy as the main character...but I'm afraid to honestly. ^^ Lol I feel I won't get him right. I dunno why.

I think it's time for me to read a few male narrative books. >__<

BK Mattingly said...

I love male narrators, too! My MC in my WiP is a guy. Harry Potter is a favorite of mine as well as The Giver.

Jeanne Ryan (Serenissima) said...

I love boy books, but haven't written one myself. (Although I did write an adult urban fantasy where one of the POV chars was a demon.)

Of course the list of great boy mc's written by female authors has to include LK Madigan's FLASH BURNOUT. So sad that the writing world has lost such a talented author.

Yat-Yee said...

I do have a boy book waiting in the wings as I finish my current YA. I am looking forward to it. I've been around more boys than girls growing up so I think I may be okay looking at things from a male point of view. We shall see.

Sarah said...

I love boy books too! Honestly though, I cannot really think of any books that were written by women.. well besides Harry Potter. I am looking through my bookshelves and the majority of my books about boys are written by men.

Kari Olson said...

Woot! I adore boy books. They honestly are my favorite so I love you for this post! Some great boy books, written by women... one is coming out in May, but the male voice is so spot on and so fantastic: Compulsion by Heidi Ayarbe.

Also, Take Me There by Carolee Dean is such a phenomenal book too, with the voice nailed. As is Addicted to Her by Janet Nichols Lynch.
Others:
Diary of a Witness by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Split by Swati Avasthi
The Lighter Side of Life and Death by CK Kelly Martin

I am always looking for new boy POV books, and in my own writing, so far the three books I've got drafted are all male POV. Boys are just... great. Haha. :D

Aleeza said...

going bovine's a great boy book. and so is i am the messenger by markus zusak. i also adore the percy jackson books :)

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