I may get some shit for this, but contemporary female authors with works that wind up on lists like this who maybe have overt feminist sympathies seem to struggle to write male characters with nuance and real humanity. Admittedly, I'm generalizing a bit. But a trend I've noticed from high level.
The best novelists in history have engendered sympathy for their sometimes deeply flawed characters. They don't pre-judge them and consign them to an irredeemable outcome. Certainly not on something as simple and immutable as a character's sex. But I do recognize that must be hard as a writer.
Sympathy for the male narrator from a female writer seems key to me: I have a novel with a male narrator _Who by Fire_ -- not inviting hate mail here, but see what you think: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/who-by-fire
I may get some shit for this, but contemporary female authors with works that wind up on lists like this who maybe have overt feminist sympathies seem to struggle to write male characters with nuance and real humanity. Admittedly, I'm generalizing a bit. But a trend I've noticed from high level.
The best novelists in history have engendered sympathy for their sometimes deeply flawed characters. They don't pre-judge them and consign them to an irredeemable outcome. Certainly not on something as simple and immutable as a character's sex. But I do recognize that must be hard as a writer.
Sympathy for the male narrator from a female writer seems key to me: I have a novel with a male narrator _Who by Fire_ -- not inviting hate mail here, but see what you think: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/who-by-fire
Well said. Generally agree.