I’ve always thought that one of the most flattering comments for a male author to hear is, “You write such good female characters. You really understand women.” At least, I imagine that would be pretty flattering. No one’s ever actually said that to me, so it’s hard to say for sure.
Anyway, back in the fall of 2004 I was looking for some big, crazy, writing-related side project to embark on, and I decided that attempting to deepen my understanding of women’s perspectives would be a worthy endeavor. I decided to read tons of memoirs written by women. (Memoirs, not biographies, because the key thing was not necessarily what the person had done, but what she thought and felt about it.) My original crazy goal was to read a hundred. I just finished number eighty, and I think I’m going to declare victory. Eighty is a nice round number. This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop reading women’s memoirs altogether, but I’ll probably be reading them much less frequently. (I really need to start reading other stuff — like catching up on what’s been going on in the fantasy & science fiction field in the last year.) If, down the line, I do actually make it to a hundred, I can always declare victory again. (Though I promise not to declare victory again at like eighty-two.)
People always ask me, in regard to my big, crazy, writing-related side projects, “Did that actually improve your writing?” and I always say, “Man, I sure hope so. Because otherwise it was a huge waste of time.” I do feel that absorbing all those thoughts and feelings has improved my ability to portray female characters, and actually all characters, but I guess only time will tell. If you’re curious to see what I actually read, check out the complete list.
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