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?

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So for centuries authors have written both female and male characters extremely well.Shakepeare, Dickens, Eliot, Austen, Bronte sisters etc. etc.

however I think literature has become more gendered in audience with the advent of chick lit and hyper masculine novels like Jack Reacher with a host of aubiographies from ex SAS/boxer/sportsmen types. I don't actually think this a direction we should go in? I think it's a little worrying that in a typical high store there is now a divergence between 'male' and 'female' literature.

do you think modern authors are becoming a little more reluctant to write in depth characters from the opposite sex as presumably this is more of literary challenge? Is there sterling in modern society that it is authoritative to write about another lender's lives experience in much the same way as writing about a character from another ethnicity may not be construed by some as entirely ethical?

I do hope this isn't the case and authors in general do continue to write about other genders at a dee p emotional leve..

I also immediately thought of Wally Lamb. But for me the best female character written by a male author has to be the two main characters in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I also find the Irish author Donal Ryan writes female characters excellently (all characters actually, I just love him!)

Yes, I came to mention him too. Although I was only about 20 when I read them so can't speak from an older female perspective. He certainly surprised me at the time with his first person perspective of women.

But for me the best female character written by a male author has to be the two main characters in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Good shout, @LifeInAHamsterWheel. Mariam and Laila were beautifully written.

Reading with intrigue

Little Dorrit?

What! Jane Austen's characters don't have much depth!
Which books have you been reading? Not 'Persuasion' Anne Eliot or 'Sense and Sensibility' the 2 sisters, or 'Pride and Prejudice' Elizabeth Bennett or 'Emma'. Not to mention a host of other characters.

Oh yes me too now thinking about it.
I also read chic lit books and though predictable men it I never think "oh a man would never be like that" so read it comfortably.( I guess lots of woman in chic lit wouldn't actually be like that though either haha.

I have to admit iv e not been too uncomfortable when read g that the genders were written totally wrong.thete have been a few. But I mostly,i think read woman authored books.

But I read Patrick Gayle books and thought the female characters were well written.or certainly never jumped out at me.
This thread has got me really thinking now and I'm not sure in a good way haha.as I'm already thinking of my current book and analysing it.
Anyone read the paper palace?that's my current read.and iv e enjoyed all her characters. But would a male think differently?or is it just how she wanted to portray said sexes for the story?

So do we no whether they can write from both genders if they have a story in mind so the character male or female or put in said roles anyway:.hero,sexist,pig,abuser,feminist etc

I liked ken Follett woman in his war books too

Yes agree, a very good call. But oh, such a sad book. I honestly wish I’d never read it.

I had this discussion with my partner yesterday! I was saying how well Daphne Du Maurier writes men and he agreed. The House In The Strand is a case in point. It's interesting though that DduM was probably genuinely non binary and suffered her whole life because she couldn't grasp her gender identity. Obviously it wasn't a 'thing' then.

Another is Donna Tartt who writes about men so absolutely brilliantly.

HE Bates wrote women very well I think.

With men in particular is it ever right to write misogynist characters even though the character's views do not reflect the author's? I am thinking maybe Ian Fleming? As the vast majority of violence and crime is permitted by men does this ar some visceral level give men a greater insight into the dark of the psyche?

Conversely are women's voices slightly more empathetic or they have a greater capacity for empathy? (Of course this all may just be sexist?)

For instance I thought GRR Martin was capable of writing strong female characters in Game of Thrones but some of the torture/sexual violence was a little voyeuristic and I wonder if a woman would necessarily write like that?

Fair enough to write novels with terrible characters as main narrators/characters. What would fiction be without that??

Ref American Psycho, Lolita, We need to Talk about Kevin, etc.

Yes of course they can ! Unless you live in a void of mixing with only one sex

@lljkk

Good point but it brings up interesting questions

If Andrew Tate wrote a book would any main stream bookseller stock it.

Do we have a fine line between gratuity and a book using sadism for instance to make a more fundamental point

I'm sure lots of books are written by complete nutjobs that don't get picked up by 'mainstream' book sellers.

If Andrew Tate wrote a book would any main stream bookseller stock it.

If it were well enough written to be published, I'm sure some would. And if we do not read things we don't like, it's difficult to put counter arguments.

However, to write credible fictional characters, I suspect you need a level of empathy to be able to think about how others think, and if you can do that, would you still hold the opinions he does? I don't know; there probably have been authors in the past who wrote well, but were awful humans, and then you come down to the argument about whether you can separate the art from the artist.

Oh I missed this conversation when it first came up! I agree with a pp that Hilary Mantel cracked Thomas Cromwell, and all the other male characters to perfection

EM Forster did a grand job with Charlotte Bartlett, Lucy Honeychurch and the Schlegel sisters imo

your question presumes that minds and personalities are gendered which is certainly the assertion of genderist ideologists but is totally unproven. authors of both sexes write in the voices of all sorts of people they don't share lived experiences with - 15th century monks, queens, murderers, space ship captains etc etc. sex is one facet among many of the differences between the author and their characters. if all authors followed the advice to "write what you know" then all books would be about the constant struggle to get enough coffee into your bloodstream and keep the cat off the keyboard for long enough to tackle writer's block, and that would be dull.

I obviously notice and dislike it if an author demonstrates a sexist attitude and sticking to stereotyping as their templates for their characters but there's no shortage of writers who don't do this

This ^^ is what I was going to say but much more eloquently than I'd have managed!

I think it's more about the skill of the author to make you believe in a character regardless of what you may or may not have in common with them, sex/gender are just two things among many characteristics, experiences, circumstances and so on. I've read plenty of books by female authors whose female characters have made me roll my eyes.

Interesting that Galbraith was mentioned upthread. I read the first book before it was published so had no reason to think the author wasn't a man. I HATED Robin's character and was rolling my eyes very hard at what I perceived as a man writing poorly about a woman. I think she became slightly more rounded and believable as the series went on but that will always stick in my mind as there were obviously a few assumptions at play there.

I feel that male writers tend not understand women's feelings on threat. They often have women chase down their rapists or going places they simply wouldn't go.

They do not understand that women cannot just go and do as they please as men do, without fear of subjugation or similar consequences and writers all circumstances the same as men. They do not recognise her instinct towards fear.

They do not understand that fear as they have never felt anything remotely similar. A fear, not of death, but of things that are much much worse.

I’ve just read Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift, a writer I hadn’t heard of before, a female narrates the story. I was v impressed

Andrezej Sapkowski, he wrote The Witcher series of books.

When I was reading them I was convinced must be was a female writer, a feminist one at that, writing under a male name.

But nope he is just a very very good writer, also on global politics (I know it's fantasy story set in a kind of middle ages world, but the behaviour of human leaders decision making, strategies, egos and consequences, just so well done.

Pinkbonbon that is exactly why I thought Andrezej Sapkowski was female.
He got it, understood and wrote from their perspective so accurately. As well as constantly causally pointing out the inequalities of there lives.

Wilkie Collins absolutely nails it with Marian Halcombe (although the less said about Laura Fairlie, the better)

Interesting because I can relate much more to male characters written by men, than by female characters written by women.
In life I’m very unmanly! but I’ve yet to find a female protagonist (or indeed character) that relates to my personal experience as well as the male characters do.