For the first time, I am writing a novel entirely from male POV. Exciting! This thread is for when its less exciting. In fact, it's for when I'm downright stuck.

Duplicate of a thread I posted on HWSF.


RESOLVED - Thank you guys/girls with many brothers!
The set-up: My MMC, Shalev, wakes up with memory loss after undergoing experimental surgery. (He now has wings like a bat, but that's not important now.) Another subject, Truth, my FMC, also has memory loss (and wings). Truth is the only person the doctor and nurses allow him to interact with. They're both teens.
The problem: The next part of the story needs Shalev to become protective of Truth. She disappears, and it is obvious the doctor and nurses are trying to brush the matter aside. Shalev has already become suspicious of the circumstances and breaks out to find Truth.

Guys! How/why would a guy teen become protective of a girl teen?

Well, all of this is contingent on how far they have developed relationship-wise. Are you looking for a brother/sister thing here or a boy/girl friend relationship?

Also, how vulnerable is the female character? Typical instinct is to protect the weaker, and the more one seems in need of protection, the deeper protective instinct will go. If he has been her support, the only thing that she has leaned on in this difficult time, then naturally he would feel more than just a little protective over her, because just as she needs him to protect her and lean on, he needs to protect her and be there for her to lean on. \

Just a thought...


Sounds good by the way! Very interesting.

Lol. I'm sitting here coming up with all the lame puns/interesting side effects that can come about by naming one of the MC's Truth and reading the story like he is actually pursuing truth, not the MC... : P

I think it depends how well they can get to know each other in however amount of time they were together before Truth disappeared. Especially since Shalev can't remember anything else, I think that it would be very natural for them to have a tight bond as having shared the same hard experience (amnesia and wings). So I'd think he'd definitely pursue her and figure out where she went if he thought the nurses/doctors were trying to hide something, not necessarily out of a will to protect her, but out of a will to find her.

And, like MadeFree92 said, a lot of this will depend on if they are just friends or if there are any attractions between the two of them.

Anyways, hope your male POV story goes well. I have tried out doing female POV for a short story, but never for one of my longer works...

I agree somewhat with everything else posted here.

But I'm thinking that if I were in the guy's spot in the story...I would feel a connection with the girl even if we never spoke because she would be the only other person in my world that I could possibly hope to trust (unless for some reason he likes the doctors--I don't think I would). Also, I think that I would "miss" her if she disappeared, since she would be my only potential friend. Then there's the fact that I sort of have a tendency to want to help a female in distress- since that's what he is suspecting she is, and since he (as far as I know at least) has no reason to comply with the doctors, I think it makes perfect sense for him to break out.

I hope those disorganized thoughts are helpful in some way.

I agree, this sounds like an interesting story.

Oops, should have given the information in my main post. Brother/sister thing, and it stays that way. (For the most part. Later in the book it evolves into a frienemy thing.)


Truth's nervous, and she has her own secrets and plans she's keeping from Shalev, which she isn't sure she should be keeping from him. "Vulnerable" isn't a word I'd apply to her character, though. Her nervousness and inner conflict might make her appear vulnerable for the stretch Shalev knows her before she disappears.


Thank you. You don't know the half of it!


Oh for pete's sake... Things get extremely convoluted once he's outside and I suppose he ends up searching for truth and Truth. I didn't realize I'd done that!


You're right; given their circumstances they will naturally bond. I considered taking this simpler route of Shalev simply wanting to find her, but looking at the overall story it will be better if Shalev is protective. And by "better" I mean "worse for Shalev."


Thank you. I've done short stories from male POV, but have never "sustained" it to novel-length. This is a most interesting exercise.

Sadistic much?

You got complaints, talk to my muse.

Not sure if I want to meet your muse...sounds like a violent individual.

But I do see your purpose, and I hope it works out. Any further way that we might be of assistance?

Yeah, I'm not a guy...but I have five brothers, so just wanted to mention that I do not believe the guy would be any less protective of her if it was a sibling-like relationship rather than a falling-in-love kind of relationship. Brothers can be very very protective. It would matter, I think, more how much he felt protective over her rather than in what way.

That's an interesting thought. Thank you.

If it's not abundantly clear, I have no brothers to observe/bug when I'm stuck. A brother or few would be most useful for many reasons, actually. Consider yourself blessed, Lady Kidh!


Only to characters!


I fully intend to post a thread every time I get stuck - or maybe keep it to one thread and alter the title and first post, just for tidiness, since this is all one story. The men of HW are most obliging.

Moooonths down the road I'll be asking for both male and female beta readers, but that's much later.

You should see what I do to characters...

Also, as an older sibling, I can see him feeling more protective if she is kind of like a little sister.

I do, believe me. * grins *