You write a lot of female MCs, what compels you to tell their stories?

This is a question that is kinda complex and goes way back for me. When I first started writing, I wrote all male main characters. By default, I assumed I could relate more with male protagonists and write them better. This was when I was a teen. But eventually what I discovered about myself is that I didn’t relate well with my male peers. I had more friends who were girls and our relationships tended to be much deeper.

I’m not saying anything new here, but generally speaking women are more in tune with emotions and have far more emotional complexity than men. As I continued to write, I realized men were not nearly as interesting or complex.

And so I started to write women main characters more. And it was much more rewarding. And I could relate way more. I can look back now and see I leaned feminist from a fairly early age, and I suspect that had something to do with my turn to writing more female main characters.

It’s also deeper for me now than that. Women’s stories absolutely need to be told, especially now with the world trying to turn back the clock on feminist gains for women’s rights.

Screw the patriarchy. We’ve tried that, and it sucked. Let’s let the women rule the world for a while. Especially women of color.