Man Clothes.

Male characters are annoying.

Not that I don't like male characters, but they're just so hard to think up. You try thinking up an original, good-looking male character with an original wardrobe if you're a girl. It's hard. All of the male characters in my stories end up being pretty much exactly like Anakin Skywalker.

Female characters are so much easier. You can make them mischievious or pious, fat or skinny, pretty or ugly, rebellious or demure, the list goes on. I know lots of women, and I know lots about women, so inventing female characters is not hard.

I also draw lots of dresses for them - I get my inspiration from The Tudors series - the one with the too pretty Anne of Cleves. I don't claim to be a very good artist, and my dresses are therefore very simple, but I do like them.

Designing costumes for men is really impossible. You have to consider what a man of his rank would wear, without it being too ugly. How would he style his hair? Would he have a beard, or a mo? How long would they be? What is considered 'flattering' clothing for men? Most of my characters lived long ago, in a kind of European Renaissance inspired kingdom (although nowhere on earth), so I can't give him 'normal' 21st century clothes.

Needless to say, all my attempts at drawing original clothes for my male characters end up looking like Jedi robes. If Jedi robes hadn't been invented, all of my characters would be wearing them. But I can't. I have to be original.

Clothing for women reflects their preferences, their personality, their body shape, status, situation and emotions - there are a lot of factors taht influence clothing, especially in books or movies, where costumes must say what goes unspoken. For example, if a character is under considerable stress, or feels trapped by society, she may wear a bulky, unflattering, uncomfortable-looking grand corset, but if she feels free-spirited and care-free, she might wear a loose-fitting bodice in light, floaty colours. Little things like that make a big difference.

But how am I meant to know of the elements of a man that reflects his clothing? All the men I know are either unpleasant or bad dressers, and most of my guyfriends I have never seen out of school uniform. I have no brothers, and there are only two men in my household - one of which is a dog. Brilliant inspiration. Maybe one of my male characters should wear a poodle-haired coat.

Colours also very important in costumes - you can't have a bride wearing black, or someone who is in a difficult situation wearing floaty periwinkle blue. For me, colours on men just look, well, strange - there's one teacher in my school that wears red, pink and maroon all in one outfit, which might be fine on a woman, but he looks kinda...strange. My dad only ever wears GREY, for crying out loud.

And male names - they're virtually impossible. I can't name a male character to save myself, unless the story is set within 100 years of now in some Western civilized society - like America, Australia or England. I don't have any trouble naming male characters like that, but when you're trying to think of something unique, it's virtually impossible. And if you don't have a name for a particular character, especially if he is an important character, your story comes to a virtual standstill. You can't insert something generic in, because then you think about the character differently, as though he's some kind of stranger. When I know my character's personality, what they wear, and their names, I feel closer to them, and I write their story from the heart. If I just insert a random name, I distance myself from them, and it is very hard to write about something you do not feel close to.

I know for a lot of you this probably sounds like a load of garbage. If you want something a bit more entertaining to read, read one of my latest posts, 'Why Superhero Movies Suck'.