I’m back for a final chat about men’s fiction with West Coast Don of MenReadingBooks.

Karen: It’s discussed on the website, The Art of Manliness, why men should read fiction. Another article from a couple years ago speculated why men weren’t reading novels anymore. Why should we, men and women, read men’s fiction? For compassion? For understanding? Why do you read fiction?

Don: It’s different for everyone. I really do read for fun. Given that I deal in real life human trauma, both emotional and the emotional impact of big physical traumas, I like stories in which there is usually a favorable outcome and where there is less ambiguity than in real life. “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, was both unfavorable and ambiguous.

Karen: I know for me, some of the men’s fiction allows me a true escape into another life. They’re adventurous. Wilbur Smith and his tales of South Africa and elephant hunts for instance.
Don: It is the vicarious thrill of adventure, and yet these stories–this men’s fiction–can still include human drama.

Karen: In the end, regardless of genre, male or female-focused, what is it we all hope to find in well-written fiction?
Don: Real life stories. I know I’m constantly drawn to them. I think, in the end, we all like to hear and read real human stories.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If you missed our earlier discussions you can find Part I here, and Part II here.

If you’d like a comprehensive list of men’s fiction to read, The Art Of Manliness has that, as of course does MenReadingBooks. Please share your favorite titles, new and old that have been your best adventure stories in my comments below.

My favorite titles, written by  men or women, include the following. I include them because of their history, great writing or context, and their ability to inform not only my intellect by my character. Are they men’s fiction? Perhaps. (Just not when I read them.)

The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
The Courtney series by Wilbur Smith
Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Laguna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore
Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Shogun by James Clavell
The Odyssey by Homer
(Yes, I’ve actually read both of those last two. All. Of. The. Pages. Whew!)

I’m back with West Coast Don of MenReadingBooks to continue our discussion of men’s fiction. Like all genres and books, there is good fiction, and there is bad.

Karen: What makes great men’s fiction great?
Don: The same as all fiction. I think it comes down to three things. Plot. Character development. Quality of the writing. If the author doesn’t handle those well, it’s weak.

Karen: If those apply to all fiction, what makes it great men’s fiction?
Don: I think with the third point–quality of writing–male authors focus on combining the right amount of complexity and timing. Too many twist and turns in the plot, and it’s a soap opera. The timing refers to when I’m fed information. I want details, but facts and background have to come at the right moment for the reader.

Karen: Does that mean that men’s fiction is fact-based or can it be literary?
Don: Definitely it can be simply literary. Ken Bruen is an amazing example. He writes crime set in Ireland in his Jack Taylor series. Great plot but his writing is so good. Again it goes back to quality, and reading him is a very literary experience. It’s prose. He doesn’t try to impress with vocabulary, but it’s not too elementary.

Next week, in the final Part III, we’ll chat about why men (and women) should read more fiction. If you missed it, here’s Part I of this series on what male fiction is and isn’t.

Readers: Is men’s fiction on your reading this summer? Who are some of your favorite male authors and why?

Two factors recently made me wonder if fiction could be categorized into male and female.

First, two weeks ago James Franco’s summer reading list came out and he received some flack because it was almost entirely male authors. Second, based on a couple agent rejections, I’m worried how my historical fiction is being viewed–both as a female author and because of a male protagonist. Historical novels authored by women often have female leads and are targeted toward female readers. (Like The Other Boleyn Girl.) They are often represented by agents who also handle romance, not military non-fiction. In reality, my novel has more battles than bodice-ripping (think, Jeff Shaara), but would that alone make it male-focused fiction?

I am clearly not a dude. So in an effort to explore the topic, I spoke with Don Houts of the blog MenReadingBooks. In this three-part blog series, “West Coast Don” and I will talk about:
I: What men’s fiction is and isn’t.
II: What makes it great.
III: Why we (all) should read it.

MEN’S FICTION PART I: WHAT IT IS AND ISN’T

Karen: So, what would you consider men’s fiction?
Don: It’s easier to define what it’s not. It isn’t overly detailed about relationship stuff. That’s not to say it doesn’t include it, like in Kathryn Stockart’s The Help. But drilling down on relationships just isn’t the focus. Her story primarily captured the human experience of racism from different perspectives.

Karen: She is one of a handful of female authors included in a very long-list of male authors on your site.
Don: I would guess close to 90% of books that appeal to men, are written by men. But women like Louise Penny are in there. She’s an example of how women don’t need to write like they think a man would write in order to appeal to men. She has a feminine touch, yet she doesn’t try too hard. Her fiction is not brutal or grisly. Even male authors can overdo that.

Karen: Colleen McCullough with her factual-fiction about Julius Caesar might be considered male-fiction. Is that partly because of the genre? Or is it her historically accurate details?
Don: Often male fiction is historical. Or it’s crime. Thrillers. War. Some mystery. But again, it’s about the content. It’s about how artfully the amount of detail is handled. Academic books are often too dense. It doesn’t always have to, but men’s fiction tends to inform like non-fiction. Dan Brown is a good example of fiction that includes a large volume of data, but in a way that’s compelling.

Next week in Part II, Don and I will discuss what makes men’s fiction great.

In the meantime, readers, do you read what you would consider to be male fiction? If so, why do you think it’s male fiction? Or is there a distinction to you?