I guess the quick answer is ‘Why not?’
I can’t really say it’s anything I’ve really thought about too much. Regarding Avalon was always going to be about the hardships facing a disabled female progatonist; Leonard Bliss and the Accountant of the Apocalypse started life as a tale of a demi-god trying to overcome the stresses of his job. As the book evolved, it became about the woman who was in love with him. (I should have renamed it, but Magdelena Cane and the Accountant of the Apocalypse seemed a bit of a mouthful).
And now I’m about half-way through book number three which is about two women who fall in love during WWII, and the effect it has on a third woman some forty years later.
‘So tell me,’ came the question, ‘as a six-foot hoodie-wearing black fella, why are you writing about women instead of, say, the struggles of your people?’
Hmph! Bit racist, I thought, but several years and two-and-a-half books down the line, I think the question deserves a better answer.
Well for one thing, I’ve never been a believer in sage advice, and the piece of advice I’ve always steered clear of is ‘Write what you, know.’
I’d rather write what I don’t know because it gives me the opportunity to learn about people and places and religions and cultures, and explore new forms of writing. I also like to challenge myself by writing far outside my comfort zone, and writing about women is certainly one way to do that.
There are many segments of the population that face discrimination and hardship for no other reason than how they choose to live, whom they choose to love, or simply the skin they were born with. But I don’t think that is any group that has faced such far-reaching discrimination, for so long and in so many different forms, as women. And as a result of this, I don’t think any particular group has raised so many who have stood up and become heroes (of all genders) by challenging this discrimination.
I think that’s why I enjoy writing about women.
Incidentally, the woman in the picture is Maureen Dunlop who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancasters and Mosquitoes for the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II. Although they were not allowed to fly combat missions alongside their male counterparts, the women of the ATA were still tasked with the hazardous job of delivering aircraft to military airfields in Europe. Approximately one in ten women serving in the ATA were killed during these operations.