Whenever a woman writes from a male point of view, there are always things that let me know a woman wrote it. Most of the times they are very minor discrepancies that their female readers likely would never notice, and they don't affect my enjoyment, but occasionally there are real whoppers that make me say, "Thought no man, ever!"

This always made me hesitate to try to write a female protagonist, even in the third person, as I assume that women would instantly call BS!

However, a reviewer once told me that telling my romantic partner's story would make my books more interesting. Like all critiques, I considered it, and wrote a draft chapter. Even after stealing elements from a few of my favorite female writers, my efforts didn't seem at all credible. Nonetheless, I kept that idea in the back of my mind. Then, last year, I asked my friend Nicole (Nk_works ) to help me write the fictional POV of one of my real life romantic partners.

Collaborating over six months, we created the character of Brigitte for our book Joshua Tree. Brigitte pushes some limits of normal female desires, thoughts, and actions, yet Nicole assured me they were still credible. Very notably, Nicole came up with some of the most moving passages, which I never would have considered.

Edit: I have read many male authored books with compelling feline protagonists, notably the Honor Harrington sci-fi series by David Weber. However, most of them were written for a male readership and none were in the first person, and any romance was incidental to the plots.

Have any of you men dared to write from a woman's pov (in any genre)? How did it work out? Feel free to link to the book.

Ladies, when you read a woman's pov written by a man, do you roll your eyes?

A/N: pictured is Mary Tyler Moore, one of the first compelling female protagonists on network television in the 1970's. She was only slightly caricatured, and the show told the story of an ordinary, attractive single woman mostly dealing with work rather than romantic issues.