Oh, no, I don't mean it as a discouragement kind of thing, just that for me it's more difficult, and that even then not that I shouldn't do it, just that it's different. And therefore fascinating :)

I think...what you say above about never having been pregnant but still writing pregnancy fics? It's the whole putting yourself in someone else's shoes. Empathy. Well and good. For me when it comes to a sense of place, so if we're talking nationality and national culture not collective culture like circus, musicians, sports, but belonging to a place and creating the atmosphere of a place, it's like the place itself is another character I have to empathise with, and I find people either. (That make more sense?)