Men

Put a question on my Inman Books FB page.  Asking about whether readers prefer an alpha or beta male character.  Thought I'd delve a bit deeper so off I went to Googleland.  Then I learned we could divide further into:  Gamma, Omega, Delta, and Sigma.  Reference page.  

A few things.  First and foremost, my creative spirit almost had a serious meltdown at the books I could write.  Seriously.  Felt like pop rocks were going off inside my brain.  On the heels of that, my next thought was how incredibly simplistic.  Rather like dividing women into the virgin/whore ranks.  Not a fan.

I thought about how maybe a poster man of each "characteristic" was asked to jump off a bridge.  None wanted to, but the alpha did because it was an expectation of his character.  Even though he was deathly afraid of heights.  Here is where the real issue lies.  NO ONE should change who they are to fit what someone or thing thinks they should be.  An "alpha" man can be gentle.  A "beta" man can be in charge.

Going to get personal here.  I went to a psychologist because I thought, perhaps, I may have ADHD.  I was in this man's office for three hours taking tests.  He's been practicing over three decades.  When we were finished he said these things:

He's never seen anyone take the tests like I did 

I'm the best speller he's had (I'm the only one ever to spell loquacious)

I'm an enigma

This man had no idea what to do with me.  I was simply happy to hear I'm an enigma.  Crystal out.  I'm happy now.  I'm odd.  It's literally official.  🥳

While I don't mind building characters that adhere to certain types in my stories, I don't push those characteristics on the people around me.  Men and women can have both masculine and feminine traits, and it really makes no difference.  That's called being well-rounded.  

But I really am thinking about a story with these six male personalities.  And, God help me, a title just came to me.  ARGH

Always writing*

...blame the pop rocks...