I’ve realized that I like novels with male main characters provided their female supporting characters are interesting and well-developed. I don’t need a female hero to make me happy; in fact, in some cases, it’s hard to pull off (well, hard to do pre-2000, probably) so I like male main characters. There’s something about that… getting into men’s (or boys’) heads, possibly. I enjoy it a lot. I like realizing and then working myself to debug the myth that men are not complex, emotional creatures. Bryan’s taught me that — hell, Bruce taught me that — and it’s nice to write about and read about.

This is sort of specifically regarding The Belgariad/Malloreon by David Eddings. I like this man. A lot. As a writer — I don’t know him as a man, not really. Anyway. There are not many female characters in the Belgariad — there’s Ce’Nedra and Polgara… that’s pretty much it. The other queens have terrific, well-fleshed personalities, but they’re very tertiary. In the Malloreon he’s added Liselle (Velvet) and she’s great, though I’m still dubious about Cyradis. I don’t need these characters to be the main characters, but I really enjoy that they’re thick with their own personalities and plots independent of Garion, Belgarath, etc. It’s nice.

So that’s about it.