Just to let readers, particularly those who grace me with comments now and again, that I've added word verification to the comment page.
I didn't want to throw in a bunch of additional requirements for people who wanted to leave their opinions, but I don't like seeing "1 comment" and getting my hopes up, only to have them dashed by a completely nonsensical piece of spam.
Although there was one a few posts down that had some funny lines.
***
To give you something fun to read, there is an interview with new-ish author, Seanan McGuire, over at Bitten by Books. I received her first book, Rosemary and Rue, for my birthday last month, and will soon be buying its recently released sequel, A Local Habitation.
[Actually, having not read the books yet, the few mentions of its plot make Writer-Me paranoid, because I've been working on my own UF 'Hounds' for years, but I keep seeing little details in descriptions of her protagonist that seem similar.
I keep thinking two things: 1. What if the books -are- too similar, and I can't get mine published because there's already one like it on the shelves, and 2. I can't read it until I've edited mine as far as I think it can go, so as to avoid inadvertently drawing from her book. The novel is written, but needs more editing, so I keep vacillating between -reeeaally- wanting to read McGuire's books, and wanting to hold off, so I can say this is my story without a too-close influence from hers.
...Of course, since I -have- the first book now, it is in the cue to be read, and the blue and orange cover entices me, saying "I'm sure once you read it, you'll see they're vastly different books, nothing to worry about. Read it. Reeeaaddd it. You know you want to." And I do, so I will, Writer Paranoia be damned.
Showing posts with label urban fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban fantasy. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Went to Writer's Group Yesterday, but This isn't About That
In fact, it's about women. The ladies (and here I imagine Maira Bamford saying, "I'm a lady-ist") of fantasy, books, movies and television.
A couple of months back, Sarah Rees Brennan (author of YA UF 'The Demon's Lexicon') posted about the inequality between male characters and female, opening with the idea "What if Harry Potter were Harriet Potter" and ending around the TV show, 'Supernatural,' about demon-hunting brothers (similar premise to her book), which lacks awesome chicksthat stick around.
Today, Justine Larbalestier (author of YA fantasy, most recently 'Liar' and 'How to Ditch Your Fairy') wrote about some reactions to the female protagonist of 'Liar,' Micah, in her post "On Hating Female Characters." There's this idication that some readers hate female characters more than male characters, or if Char. X is male, his behavior is more acceptable than if Char. X did the same as a female.
Larbalestier mentions some characters--a male would be considered "hot" and desirable to readers, while a female in the same situation is a "slut." In both posts, one of the biggest distinctions seems to be made in how male/female characters deal with romantic/sexual relationships and attraction. One commenter proposes that male protagonists aren't as "depth-y" as female characters, and Harriet Potter would be seen as Mary Sue-ish. Others examine the possibility of female characters being judged more harshly, because they judged in relation to the male characters.
Brennan offers a multitude of examples, how characters might elicit different reactions from readers if genders were reversed (Laurie-->Lori in 'Little Women,' for example), and discusses her own work, with two characters who use their attractiveness to their benefit and the different responses because they're opposite genders.
It's good stuff, and Brennan breaks down the Bechdel test. [Tangent: The Bechdel test is for movies, books, TV, etc., and has three parts--does it have two women; do they talk to each other; about something other than men?--What I find interesting every time I hear about it or see the test mentioned, is that no one ever says exactly what it means when a movie or book fails the Bechdel test. Sure it's bad, and there are bad gender things going on, but people also seem quick to point out, rightly so, that there are good books and movies that fail this test./Tangent]
These posts bring to mind the novel I was editing this summer. It's urban fantasy, with a female protagonist and a number of male and female characters. When I first wrote it, bringing pages to my writer's group in five page chunks (as per our rules), they didn't like her. The group was mostly women and the protagonist was curt, stubborn, and resisting the call to action (IMO), but they saw her as bitchy for no reason. Some of that was learning to be clear about character motivation, but I still feel they were too harsh on her. At the time, my mind kept jumping to the tv show, House. He's grumpy and sarcastic and pushes everyone away, with seemingly even less reason than my protagonist (who had been running away from the fae for years, and pushed people away so as not to bring them to the fae's attention, 'don't get close to them and they can't get hurt'). At least/Especially in the first few seasons.
I ended up softening her character a little bit, but more than changing her behavior, I focused on making her motivations clearer, so her "bitchy" actions wouldn't be dismissed as her being unlikeable. But it jarred me a little, how vehemently they disliked her in the beginning, and it confused me that a male character with similar behavioral ticks was thriving on television (I know I love 'House').
This isn't a romance-related example, but I see this problem that Brennan and Larbalestier point out as cropping up in a variety of situations, not solely romantic. I'm not certain exactly why this is. Larbalestier says she has no resolution, because she actively writes to present females as atheltic and males as fashion-conscious, and break down gender steroetypes, but this perception still seems to show up in people's responses to her books and others'.
I don't have a resolution either, except to make my female characters as three-dimensional as I can, give them believeable motivations and let them exist outside of gender stereotypes -and- outside of their relation to the male characters. (My protagonist for the novel I mentioned has, until this point, avoided dating altogether, and romance is about as far from her radar as anything. I wanted to write an urban fantasy that didn't rely on a romantic subplot.)
I'll leave you all with Brennan's words in the post, because they make me smile and feel good:
"The femme fatales, the ninja ladies, the shy girls, the chatterboxes, the ones several guys wanted, the ones none of the guys wanted, the heroines, the sassy sidekicks, the girl the hero fell in love with in one episode we never saw again, the girl who wanted a guy she didn't get, the girl who was with a ton of different guys, the girl who was devoted to her job, the girl who was into other ladies, the murder victim, the tomboy, the feisty redhead, the dumb blonde. There was never anything wrong with any of them.
"It's worth it to recognise that we're all okay. We were always okay."
A couple of months back, Sarah Rees Brennan (author of YA UF 'The Demon's Lexicon') posted about the inequality between male characters and female, opening with the idea "What if Harry Potter were Harriet Potter" and ending around the TV show, 'Supernatural,' about demon-hunting brothers (similar premise to her book), which lacks awesome chicksthat stick around.
Today, Justine Larbalestier (author of YA fantasy, most recently 'Liar' and 'How to Ditch Your Fairy') wrote about some reactions to the female protagonist of 'Liar,' Micah, in her post "On Hating Female Characters." There's this idication that some readers hate female characters more than male characters, or if Char. X is male, his behavior is more acceptable than if Char. X did the same as a female.
Larbalestier mentions some characters--a male would be considered "hot" and desirable to readers, while a female in the same situation is a "slut." In both posts, one of the biggest distinctions seems to be made in how male/female characters deal with romantic/sexual relationships and attraction. One commenter proposes that male protagonists aren't as "depth-y" as female characters, and Harriet Potter would be seen as Mary Sue-ish. Others examine the possibility of female characters being judged more harshly, because they judged in relation to the male characters.
Brennan offers a multitude of examples, how characters might elicit different reactions from readers if genders were reversed (Laurie-->Lori in 'Little Women,' for example), and discusses her own work, with two characters who use their attractiveness to their benefit and the different responses because they're opposite genders.
It's good stuff, and Brennan breaks down the Bechdel test. [Tangent: The Bechdel test is for movies, books, TV, etc., and has three parts--does it have two women; do they talk to each other; about something other than men?--What I find interesting every time I hear about it or see the test mentioned, is that no one ever says exactly what it means when a movie or book fails the Bechdel test. Sure it's bad, and there are bad gender things going on, but people also seem quick to point out, rightly so, that there are good books and movies that fail this test./Tangent]
These posts bring to mind the novel I was editing this summer. It's urban fantasy, with a female protagonist and a number of male and female characters. When I first wrote it, bringing pages to my writer's group in five page chunks (as per our rules), they didn't like her. The group was mostly women and the protagonist was curt, stubborn, and resisting the call to action (IMO), but they saw her as bitchy for no reason. Some of that was learning to be clear about character motivation, but I still feel they were too harsh on her. At the time, my mind kept jumping to the tv show, House. He's grumpy and sarcastic and pushes everyone away, with seemingly even less reason than my protagonist (who had been running away from the fae for years, and pushed people away so as not to bring them to the fae's attention, 'don't get close to them and they can't get hurt'). At least/Especially in the first few seasons.
I ended up softening her character a little bit, but more than changing her behavior, I focused on making her motivations clearer, so her "bitchy" actions wouldn't be dismissed as her being unlikeable. But it jarred me a little, how vehemently they disliked her in the beginning, and it confused me that a male character with similar behavioral ticks was thriving on television (I know I love 'House').
This isn't a romance-related example, but I see this problem that Brennan and Larbalestier point out as cropping up in a variety of situations, not solely romantic. I'm not certain exactly why this is. Larbalestier says she has no resolution, because she actively writes to present females as atheltic and males as fashion-conscious, and break down gender steroetypes, but this perception still seems to show up in people's responses to her books and others'.
I don't have a resolution either, except to make my female characters as three-dimensional as I can, give them believeable motivations and let them exist outside of gender stereotypes -and- outside of their relation to the male characters. (My protagonist for the novel I mentioned has, until this point, avoided dating altogether, and romance is about as far from her radar as anything. I wanted to write an urban fantasy that didn't rely on a romantic subplot.)
I'll leave you all with Brennan's words in the post, because they make me smile and feel good:
"The femme fatales, the ninja ladies, the shy girls, the chatterboxes, the ones several guys wanted, the ones none of the guys wanted, the heroines, the sassy sidekicks, the girl the hero fell in love with in one episode we never saw again, the girl who wanted a guy she didn't get, the girl who was with a ton of different guys, the girl who was devoted to her job, the girl who was into other ladies, the murder victim, the tomboy, the feisty redhead, the dumb blonde. There was never anything wrong with any of them.
"It's worth it to recognise that we're all okay. We were always okay."
Thursday, October 1, 2009
October First: Catch-All and Linkage
The countdown begins to my-favorite-holiday-on-which-I-have-nothing-to-do, Halloween. I love Halloween, the idea of dressing up as something magical and maybe a little scary, a night to pretend I'm someone/something else--it's like taking the stories I write a step further.
When I write, I am, in some ways, every character. I need to get in their heads, know how they think, how they react, how they feel. On Halloween, instead of quietly looking over the shoulders' of these fictional characters, I can walk the street as someone else.
@_@
Not to take that idea too far, I just love Halloween.
It's incredibly sad that I never have any plans for the night. Candy for the handful of kiddies that show up, yes, but my family never has parties, none of my friends have parties as far as I'm aware, and I'm not a dance club kind of gal.
But moving on. October 1 also marks the not-quite-midpoint of Banned Books Week, as well as the first day of NaBloWriMo--National Blog Writing Month. Seeing as how I love to read, but have been lax in my CoffeeQuill blogging, I want to attend to these both.
Briefly, a WHAT TO EXPECT:
Tomorrow, I'll post about Banned Books, talk about this year's list, banned books I have or have not read, and share an anecdote from 2003.
Then, it will be my fervent attempt to blog each day of October. I don't imagine I'll keep up the once-a-day post after this month, but if memory serves, it takes about 21 days to form a habit. If I can manage NaBloWriMo, maybe I can manage a more regular posting schedule. I'm already making a list of topics to post on.
LINKAGE
On Publisher's Weekly, there's a vote going on--PW is planning to do an interview with an urban fantasy author, and they want to know which UF author people want to read about. Voting is happening on now, and you can go here to cast your choice. You don't need to log in to leave a comment.
Today also heralds the guest post on "The Charming Bracelet," by "Only Milo" author Barry Smith. Jennifer Ambrose, the author of the blog, is running a Big Idea--a chain letter of sorts, but with a book. Receive it, read it, sign it, blog or tweet it if you like, mail it to someone else. Eventually, the book returns to Jennifer and more writers and readers are aware of a debut author. The book sounds interesting, and you can go to Jennifer's blog for more details about the book, Smith, and her chain book idea.
ETA: While writing about NaBloWriMo, I knew there was one more blog I wanted to mention. By the time I got to Linkage, I forgot. 'Cause I'm a dork like that. Seeing as I love Halloween, and by extension, October, here is a link to Writtenwyrdd's short fiction contest. 500-1,000-word horror story. Halloween as the deadline. Prize is a cuddly Chthulu plushie. I haven't written much horror, but for that, I'm going to give it a try.
(Thanks to Writtenwyrdd for reminding me I wanted to post about this.) :)
So that's October 1, day one of NaBloWriMo. 30 more days to go.
Happy writing,
Sabrina
When I write, I am, in some ways, every character. I need to get in their heads, know how they think, how they react, how they feel. On Halloween, instead of quietly looking over the shoulders' of these fictional characters, I can walk the street as someone else.
@_@
Not to take that idea too far, I just love Halloween.
It's incredibly sad that I never have any plans for the night. Candy for the handful of kiddies that show up, yes, but my family never has parties, none of my friends have parties as far as I'm aware, and I'm not a dance club kind of gal.
But moving on. October 1 also marks the not-quite-midpoint of Banned Books Week, as well as the first day of NaBloWriMo--National Blog Writing Month. Seeing as how I love to read, but have been lax in my CoffeeQuill blogging, I want to attend to these both.
Briefly, a WHAT TO EXPECT:
Tomorrow, I'll post about Banned Books, talk about this year's list, banned books I have or have not read, and share an anecdote from 2003.
Then, it will be my fervent attempt to blog each day of October. I don't imagine I'll keep up the once-a-day post after this month, but if memory serves, it takes about 21 days to form a habit. If I can manage NaBloWriMo, maybe I can manage a more regular posting schedule. I'm already making a list of topics to post on.
LINKAGE
On Publisher's Weekly, there's a vote going on--PW is planning to do an interview with an urban fantasy author, and they want to know which UF author people want to read about. Voting is happening on now, and you can go here to cast your choice. You don't need to log in to leave a comment.
Today also heralds the guest post on "The Charming Bracelet," by "Only Milo" author Barry Smith. Jennifer Ambrose, the author of the blog, is running a Big Idea--a chain letter of sorts, but with a book. Receive it, read it, sign it, blog or tweet it if you like, mail it to someone else. Eventually, the book returns to Jennifer and more writers and readers are aware of a debut author. The book sounds interesting, and you can go to Jennifer's blog for more details about the book, Smith, and her chain book idea.
ETA: While writing about NaBloWriMo, I knew there was one more blog I wanted to mention. By the time I got to Linkage, I forgot. 'Cause I'm a dork like that. Seeing as I love Halloween, and by extension, October, here is a link to Writtenwyrdd's short fiction contest. 500-1,000-word horror story. Halloween as the deadline. Prize is a cuddly Chthulu plushie. I haven't written much horror, but for that, I'm going to give it a try.
(Thanks to Writtenwyrdd for reminding me I wanted to post about this.) :)
So that's October 1, day one of NaBloWriMo. 30 more days to go.
Happy writing,
Sabrina
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