I often get asked, “Have you ever written a book from a boy’s point of view?” — because all of my novels (though not all my short stories) so far have had girl protagonists.

I’m never quite sure how to answer that, but I only recently realized that when I do answer, some part of me is apologizing. “No, those just haven’t been the stories I’ve wound up telling so far.” “Well, I always do have strong secondary male characters.” “No, but it hasn’t been deliberate, maybe some day I will, I don’t know.”

And while it’s true that maybe someday I’ll write a novel from a boy’s POV–because I’d never limit what stories I might decide to tell next week, next year, or next decade; and because the story often knows what it wants better than I do–the apologizing, however subtle, has to stop.

“Yes, I enjoy telling stories from girls’ POVs. I find their stories and their viewpoints really interesting and compelling, thanks.”