Men writing from a female pov, and vice versa 📚

Shirley Valentine, one of my all time favourites was written by Willie Russell. To me the film represented a real woman and I was very surprised to learn it was written by a man.

For some reason I find it hard to think of any women authors who write about men in such depth...maybe I've not read enough books yet.

Oh good call for Willie Russell!
I have no idea why he didn’t spring to my mind 🤦‍♀️

Educating Rita, too, of course

Tony Warren, the creator of Coronation Street, and his marvellous, iconic female characters

I was struck by Roddy Doyle's portrayal of the battered wife in "The woman who walked into doors". Irish writers often grew up in large families with lots of sisters which gives them a head start.

(Sorry for stereotyping there but my theory is based on what the writers themselves have said)

JackyB

I was struck by Roddy Doyle's portrayal of the battered wife in "The woman who walked into doors". Irish writers often grew up in large families with lots of sisters which gives them a head start.

(Sorry for stereotyping there but my theory is based on what the writers themselves have said)

I was going to nominate Roddy Doyle, too. Paula Spencer is an entirely convincing character, who you would never think was created by a man.

off the top of my head women who write major male protagonists well in books:

JK Rowling
Hilary Mantel
George Eliot
PD James
Harper Lee
Louise Penny
Edith Pargeter

In writing for TV, many.

However generally I definitely prefer women writing female characters, but of course there are exceptions.

Listening to Anna Karenina as a play on radio 4 at the moment having experienced a post puerperal affective disorder myself, I am reminded how brilliantly Tolstoy portrays female characters in general.

Anne Cleeves writes well about Jimmy Perez, but how "real" it is I couldn't say, because I'm not a man, so don't really know how a man feels.

This is an interesting thread as I have wondered how women write as male characters. Those that do seem to do it well from my female perspective but men may feel differently.

I think it's a mistake to generalize how men or women feel. Different people feel differently depending on their personalities, circumstances, events, etc., at different times. I don't think there is a 'woman feeling' or a 'man feeling'. In fiction it's surely how well an author constructs a character for the character's 'feelings' to appear authentic to that character, not his or her sex.

I'm afraid I never ask whether a book or play is written by a man or woman. If it's cover has an initial and surname rather than a name I have no clue and don't think I ever think about it.
Obviously if it's someone well known that's different - as we know PD James or JK Rowling. Or published by a female press of course.

I just listened to an audio book and my husband (drifting in and out of my story) assumed it was written by a man. I have no idea why. I only discovered it was written by a woman when I went to find another by the same author.

Meant to say, a convincing writer is just that.

And we don't have to live through things (murder for example) to imagine.

I’m pleased to see more comments on here. Thank you.
I don’t think that I’m drawn to male or female writers either.

Young people are devils for it though. I’ve done some primary research on it myself

Best book written by a man from a woman's point of view "A Thousand Splendid Suns". by Khaled Hosseni
Alan Bennett does women really well. He attributes it to growing up and listening to Northern women talking.

I think there's a big difference between script writing which requires more knowledge of speech patterns to build character and novels written in intimate first or third person which require much more empathy with a point of view.

having just read it, I would recommend Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead". She writes so convincingly from a young male's perspective regarding addiction/ abuse in the US. Superb book.

Douglas Kennedy writes so well in a female perspective I could hardly believe he was male! Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine was a superb example.

Grantanow

I think it's a mistake to generalize how men or women feel. Different people feel differently depending on their personalities, circumstances, events, etc., at different times. I don't think there is a 'woman feeling' or a 'man feeling'. In fiction it's surely how well an author constructs a character for the character's 'feelings' to appear authentic to that character, not his or her sex.

I think that's definitely true sometimes, but a book like The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is about the relationship between a male and female character, and it is written from Paula's perspective. Why she loved Charlo, why she stayed with him, how she felt as a mother, and her beliefs about how a Catholic wife should behave are fundamental to the story, and Doyle does it so well. We don't really get to know Charlo's thoughts and feelings, other than how they are seen by Paula. A book telling the same story from Charlo's perspective would be a very different one.

I don't think that comes down to the fact that they are different characters, so much as that they are a man and a woman, and that does matter. It's not generalising, but I think it's fair to say that a man wouldn't think like Paula does - it's because she's a woman that she has been taught to stand by your man, that she still has sexual feelings for him, that she doesn't want her children to have a broken home and so on.

Another vote for Roddy Doyle - brilliant writing.

As women, I'm not sure I can evaluate the writing of a woman writing as a man effectively. Just as I'm not sure a man can effectively evaluate a man writing as a woman. Alan Bennet et al are all bloody good writers regardless of their perspective

I’ve read a lot of books by Nick Alexander who doesn’t always write as a woman but has a really good insight into ‘how we work/think’. He’s gay, some of his books are a bit TMI for me but the majority are brilliant.

I love Thomas Hardy’s books. Didn’t someone once say of him ‘ he writes great books about women but, boy, does he make them pay for it’.

A female who can portray a male in books is probably less common. B.A.Newland has written a series of books the first being ‘William’s Way’ she certainly does it well. Such informative and descriptive books

I was surprised when I discovered that A Little Life was written by a woman. As it dealt very much with male emotions, I assumed that it was written by a man.