Betty asked David Wong:

One of the things I really admire about your work with Futuristic Violence is how well you wrote an authentic female POV. What is your process for writing a witty but vulnerable female character?

David Wong The basis for the question is very kind and I don't want my answering it to come off like I'm wholeheartedly agreeing with the compliment or anything, but really you should approach all characters the same way. As an author everyone you write will be different from you, from a different background, with a different worldview, so part of what you're doing is trying to understand that person in an empathetic way. Even when writing villains, you're sitting down to say, "Okay, why does this person think like this? How did they get here? What's it like to experience life in their shoes?" I mean, how else do you know what to have them say?

So being able to write any characters - regardless of gender or background etc - starts with listening to people in real life and trying to understand them, and trying to see how life is different from their end. But even then there will always be limits, that's why you want women writers and minority writers and trans writers to get their voices out there, too - people like me are bound to get it wrong sometimes even if we mean well.

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