Back in the day, I wrote a guide for men on how to write female characters.

In a nutshell: like human beings. Complex, flawed, whole. Strong — but also weak. A spectrum, just like male characters have been written about for decades in film and television.

However, even though men should portray female characters as complex in their writing — should men elect to tell stories that are told from the female perspective, about the female experience? As storytellers, what should our responsibilities be when telling stories that are not our own experiences? [Read more…]