I feel they're less aware, and I hope to change that. Then again, they probably feel that my definition of literary art is simply outdated, so they'll laugh at me for even trying :D
Yes. In my upcoming novel, Mrs. Cleyton, I incorporated a scene involving a rabbit. I won’t spoil too much, but suffice to say it was a painful memory.
Of course! Bad ones can be tough, but I try to learn from them. And sometimes they come from someone who was clearly not my target audience; those I just shrug off.
I think the most difficult thing is writing from their perspective in such a way that I don't fall into too many stereotypes. I mean, it's almost impossible not to, but then at least I need to do so in a way that ends up not being insulting to the female audience, since I'm a male author myself.
I think I’ve had the desire to write from when I was a child, but the trigger to get serious with it was when I read Salem’s Lot from Stephen King. The MC was writing an outline for his novel, and I was like, yeah, I should do that too.
For me it starts and ends with the characters. If the characters aren’t right, the plot won’t be either, nor would the opening scene, and well, the entire thing would be a dud.
