Do you think it's entirely possible for a man to write about a female character to their fullest and vice versa? Is there amount where an author can't quite intellectually grasp the totality of the lives experience of another gender?

I think it's possible if the writer asks advice and opinions of someone of the opposite gender to check. Some men may find asking a woman for her opinion and her subsequent advice quite challenging for his ego.

I’ve read a few Fredrick Backman’s books recently (a man called Ove, my grandmother sends her regards and apologises, and Beartown) and have found his female characters to be as realistic, and complex, and well written as the male characters.

Khaled Hosseini wrote two amazing female protagonists in A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is one of my favourite books.

The vast majority of Douglas Kennedy's novels have very strong, well developed complex female leads. The protagonist in "A Special Relationship" describes the fear and isolation of being a new mother in a dis functional relationship astonishingly well, for an author that has not had that lived experience.

I think Pat Barker writes about men convincingly.

Was about to post exactly the same! Also Leaving the World and State of the Union by the same author.

Yes, definitely. He was the first author that came to mind for me reading the thread.

Terry (my namesake) was good because although he write tropes (maiden mother whore) he writes them all as human, fully rounded and flawed. I think it's because more than anything he genuinely loved people. Everyone who ever met him seems to have good things to say.

Just like Giles from Buffy

I think the race question is an interesting one too. Very few writers can write from the POV of someone of another ethnicity. Toni Morrison creates some interesting white characters, but they aren't the narrator. I don't think many writers are brave enough, or curious enough.

I've was thinking of Stieg Larsson's writing of Lisbeth Salander when reading this thread.

Deep female character development by a male writer, which I agree is rare. But then, Lisbeth is far from being a 'traditional' female and maybe that is why a male writer could develop her with such depth?

This is what I wrote my dissertation on at uni. The title was -
"The portrayal of female characters in literature written my men" and I used Madame Bovary, Tess of the D'urbevilles and Little Dorrit. Tbh I can't remember what conclusion I cane too as was 26 yrs ago. Madame Bovary is one of my favourite books ever.i thought Steve Kavannagh did a great job of portraying the 2 sisters in 50/50. I have read some modern books where the portrayals are very unrealistic and one of these springs to mind was The silent patient. Also couldn't get into the Thursday murder club as I thought RO's characterisation of the women characters was too OTT and just didn't work with the plot line.

Read this quote from the actress Naomie Harris and it does make a lot of sense

'Everything starts in the writing, and getting more and more women's perspective in the writing will have a huge impact on the quality of films we get. At the moment, we don't really see women as we see ourselves and as we really are because it's only men writing for us. I've read a lot of scripts where I've thought: "No women would ever say that! No woman would ever behave like that!" Women are put into these categories of bitch, mother or sex symbol. If we had more women writing we would have a more realistic representation of what it's like to be a woman.'

Men will write about women how they see them. Some see them more as equals, others as side accessories.

I was thinking about this only yesterday. I think, if the author avoids stereotypes and just writes about them as a normal person, assuming at no point there will be sex scenes, toilet scenes or fist fight scenes, an author could realistically write from the pov of the opposite sex.

Disagree. Your sex is one of your main characteristics and it determines so much of your life experience. And - Orlando type novels aside - I definitely wouldn't want to read about a character who could either be male OR female. It would be like writing a novel about a character who could either be black OR white. The whole point of fiction is about specificity of experience and living life through another person's eyes.

Wilkie Collins was a man man.
And Daphne Du Maurier wasn't effin non-binary.

Wilkie Collins was not a woman!!

Wilkie Collins? Really? Wiki (I know sometimes inaccurate) says man. Would love to know!

Wilkie Collins was a woman btw

I was thinking about this only yesterday. I think, if the author avoids stereotypes and just writes about them as a normal person, assuming at no point there will be sex scenes, toilet scenes or fist fight scenes, an author could realistically write from the pov of the opposite sex.
Stephen King is terrible at writing women, they are always stereotypical and there are always sexist judgements in their description. He's great at writing kids.
Michael Crichton writes women well because it is incidental that they are women. They are realistic humans.

I used to think Mary Renault wrote a fantastic male perspective until a male friend read one and said hmm you can tell it's a women who's written this.

I think its rare. Michel Faber is very good at it. Not sure ive come accross anyone else

He has been mentioned a couple of times already I think, but Patrick Gale writes women's characters brilliantly.

I'll have to go back and re-read it! I mean you don't read Dracula for multi-layered character development but I did enjoy her character.

@FKATondelayo I think I'd disgaree with you about Lucy in 'Dracula'. She's a good character but I wouldn't say she is deep. My reading of her is that she has no interests beyond the men around her and the same could be said about Mina. She is duly punished for her lust!

Great book though!

I can't think of any living male writers who are great at women. A lot of acclaimed authors are terrible: Michael Ontdaatje, Ian McEwan, Michael Morpurgo spring to mind.

So many female characters written by men are bloodless and one dimensional. They don't seem to have the sense of women's physicality and how women exist in the material world if that makes sense. How we inhabit our bodies and move around is such a big part of our lives - pregnancy, weight, periods, personal vulnerability, the tyranny of beauty standards, the misfit between our bodies and the world which is designed for men. I think that's why the best male writers of women are horror or sci-fi writers like Pratchett. They understand body politics and aren't squeamish.

There are some great women written by men in the classics though: Flaubert and Madame Bovary, Strindberg and Miss Julie, Lucy in Dracula and I love the main character in Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. Can't remember her name. Some of James Baldwin's characters especially Beale Street. Actually Colson Whitehead in The Underground Railroad is the one male writer I can think of who did a good heroine.

I read Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd many moons ago - very convincing story from a woman’s point of view.

Pinkbonbon it follows the books loosely some of it is sort of accurate.

There are a few female leads in it, not just yennifer, She does at one point after hundreds of years want a child and grieves that she can't, and it is dealt with differently. it's more a side story. She doesn't go nuts. (I'm trying not to mix the books up with the TV series in my memory but sure she never betrays ciri or anything)

if you enjoyed the series I really recommend the books, the don't shy away from awful things things though.