I finish my blog week with something for the boys. As always, it has been a delight.

Back when I was a little girl making up adventures, all my stories had a female protagonist standing in for me.

Then I got older, and two things happened.

First, I had adventures of my own, so I didn’t need to make stuff up.

Second, I started writing male characters and kind of dug it. Then, the male characters started getting deeper and more complex.

In As Good As It Gets, Jack Nicholson’s character is asked how he writes women so well. His answer is: I think of a man and take away reason and accountability.

My answer to how I write men is not: I think of a woman and take away reason and accountability and tits. I work a little more intuitively.

Men are just guys. They do their guy things. They might do wrong. They might do right. They might have the house fall down around them.

I’m interested in what drives them. What sends these guys hurtling forward to their triumph or their doom? Sometimes they don’t even know. Sometimes they think they know, but they are wrong. Still, they’re a gender that’s interesting to watch.

And there are a lot of great male actors out there looking for parts to play.