3 ways I'm benefitting (as a male copywriter) from reading female-written faerie fantasy books
Hi. What a subject line, am I right? 😅
Indeed, I am currently reading a female-written fantasy series about … faeries* … in my free time.
It’s called A Court of Thorns and Roses, and my wife has been begging me to jump into it for the better part of a year.
Now, I’m not one to care much — if at all — for society’s view on what men should or shouldn’t do with their free time in life.
And I certainly don’t make any judgments on whether or not those actions would be deemed traditionally “manly.”
(I mean, I’m a Portlander, after all. Did you really think I’d care about something like that?)
But, I’m being honest when I say that ‘reading faerie fantasy books’ wasn't on the top of my to-do list this year.
I’m more of a sci-fi/thriller guy myself.
Which is why I was so surprised when I found myself diving into this series a couple months ago, when I finally found myself at the end of the first book in The Three Body Problem series — a very sciency series, as it were.
The thing is …
As soon as I started reading ACOTAR, I found myself unable to put the books down … tears streaming out onto the electronic pages of my Kindle as I tore through the first few books in the series.
And I thought to myself, “I’m a guy … maybe other guys on my list could benefit from my experience here too.”
So … while I’m certain my list runs the gamut of genders, here are three reasons why I believe I've benefitted from reading this series, and why I think other men might, too:
Because I truly enjoyed it, even if it’s a faerie book. (It’s actually mostly war and politics, lol.)
Because it shook me out of the fugue-like state of solely reading self-improvement books all the time. (I’m lookin’ at you, Atomic Habits.)
Because it opened me up to a different side of the male-dominated emotional spectrum than I'm used to reading in a fiction series or, even, in the internet-marketing world.
Point three is probably the most important one in the context of copywriting.
Getting immersed in a series with traditionally different subject matter to what I tend to read — written from the perspective of a female — has done, for me, everything I mentioned above.
But if I had to boil it all down to a single idea, it would be this:
I'm enjoying reading it, and I'm getting a different mental and emotional perspective than I'm used to.
And that’s great for copywriting.
Since I tend to gravitate towards male-written self improvement, sci-fi, and thriller books, this series has brought me a welcome and even enlightening perspective.
And I give it a big thumbs up. 👍
Try it out. Maybe.
— David Patrick
*It's how they’re spelled in the book. Also, they’re sort of … human? Not tiny. Not Tinkerbell.
