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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27782
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Study Your Friends**

You likely have male friends. When speaking with them, really think about their responses. Listen to their phrasing and try to remember exactly how they put things, then go back and compare them to how you would say something similar. Consider the cases where you _wouldn't_ say something and they do, especially. What context was that? What could have been the impetus for them to speak up where you did not? Do the same with your female friends - you may be female, but you are only one female. Compare and contrast.

**Ask Your Friends**

Probably after you gather data from the previous exercise, explain to them that you're writing a novel from a male POV and need to understand the male psyche. Write an outline of your plot and the things that happen to your character. Ask your male friends how they would feel in the situation, and what their reaction would be. Once more, you can ask your female friends so that you can compare the data.

**Study the Wild Male**

This borders on rude, but such sacrifices we make for our art. Go someplace public where you're likely to find men who are similar to your character. A bar may work, but a variety of settings couldn't hurt. Take a journal and sit in a corner. Listen to the men around you similarly to how you did your friends in the first exercise. Pay particular attention to men interacting with other men, but make sure to analyze a variety of situations: Two close friends speaking, men interacting in a group of male friends, men interacting in a group that includes men and women, men interacting with male and female strangers. Do the same with women to compare yet again. Write down what you observe. (Like Henry Higgins!)

**Remember that human nature doesn't change that much...**

You're writing in a fantasy setting, but the presence of fantasy elements aren't likely to change human nature that much. (Unless the conceit of the setting is that the fantasy elements do, of course, but that may be a different discussion altogether.) For all of recorded history, humans mostly seem to be focused on making a living (whether that was through hunting and gathering or computer programming), figuring out where they fit in society, finding friends and romantic partners, and asserting that they are special and better than other people in some way. Men and women may approach these differently, but through your study perhaps you will find out if that is true.

Original score: 12