Where the knots in tales become untangled…
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
I have never been good at beginnings.
Well… that’s not quite true. I used to be very good at starting projects and not finishing them. Often, getting started was no problem at all. It was maintaining the momentum, fleshing out the middle, and wrapping things up at the end that eluded me.
But now that I’m older, I’ve found that beginnings are difficult.
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
To put it quite bluntly, they don’t seem to exist.
Very little fantasy or even science fiction seems to address or even acknowledge the idea of gender-neutral pronouns or terms of address. I have seen a few instances in stories that present angels as masculine, feminine, or neuter, using “he” “she” or “se” (pronounced “SEH”). However, in most speculative fiction, the gender binary of male/female or masculine/feminine predominates. I understand why; English just doesn’t have a good system for addressing neutral genders. The only thing we have is “it” which is dehumanizing when applied in a social context. People I know who identify as gender neutral refer to themselves as “they” (which is a little awkward and confusing to me) or they use masculine pronouns because in English, when a gender is unknown, the masculine tends to be the default. I love Japanese honorifics because they can convey titles and respect without being tied to gender most of the time. I can also understand why a lot of older fantasy doesn’t go beyond two genders because authors and audiences either didn’t know about it or didn’t accept it; anything outside heterosexual relationships or traditional gender roles wasn’t readily acknowledged. (The first time I saw a homosexual character featured in print was in 2005 when I read the short story “Lord John and the Succubus” by Diana Gabaldon. I have yet to read a story featuring a gender neutral, asexual, or trans character,)
Luckily, we’re growing up a bit as a society and it would be nice to see the spectrum of gender and sexual identity recognized in fiction.
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
I’ve got good news and bad news.
The good news is, I have definitely reached the point with my novel, Ravens and Roses, where I have very little writing left to do. There are still a few missing scenes, some background information that needs to be hammered out, and a bunch of scene revisions… but for the most part, it’s ready for the next step. I have a manuscript ready to be edited. Go me!
The bad news is… I have no idea what I’m doing.
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
Hi everyone!
I wanted to announce that I have started converting older entries from The Cat’s Cradle into Audio Editions. Every other Thursday, one of these older entries will be uploaded to The Cat’s Cradle‘s YouTube channel. I have created a separate page on my website called “Audio Editions” which compiles a list of links to those recordings so you don’t have to scroll through the entire blog looking for a particular entry. You can find it next to my “Editing Services” page on the top right hand side of my blog. At the same time, I will also add the link to the respective text entry, and post a link on Twitter with the hashtag #ThrowbackThursday. You can expect the first of the #ThrowbackThursday Audio Editions to be released on January 15th.
Also, I am taking a break from writing fan fiction in January. However, I have asked my readers and watchers from Fanfiction.net to vote on which story they would like me to work on next. I have several fan fics that have been languishing as “works in progress” for years, and I would like to complete them before I start posting up any new projects. All of those stories will be completed; the only question is in what order? Should I work on my Inuyasha fan fic first, or continue with Naruto or maybe Fullmetal Alchemist… you get the picture. If any of my blog readers would like to take a vote, there are a few ways you can do so. If you have an account on Fanfiction.net, go to my Starsister12 profile and vote in the poll or send me a PM. You can also send me a tweet @kvclements or leave a comment below. Voting is open until January 31st.
That’s all the updates for now, and I hope you’ll tune in next Monday for a more substantial post!
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
And so another year has passed. It can be hard to tell from year to year if one has accomplished anything. It feels like everything that matters is going so slowly or makes no progress at all, while everything else flashes by at lightning speed. That’s why it’s important to look back and see where we’ve been and where we’re going. I’ve undergone a lot of changes this year (such as embracing the mantles of feminism, atheism, and a child-free life), although I fell short on many of my 2013 goals. I’m still not especially good at handling time on the internet and depression has sunk it’s claws in even deeper. Still, I’ve accomplished more than I thought I would.
An enormous thank-you goes out to all of my readers, commentators, and followers! As of December, 100 people are following The Cat’s Cradle. You have my deepest gratitude, and I hope you’ll continue reading and sharing my entries! I literally cannot thank you enough.
In light of recent developments in the comic, gamer, and cosplay worlds, I’m doing a series of entries about “fake fans” and how established fandoms treat newcomers, women, and minorities. This entry is the Gamer Edition, wherein I focus on the gaming community. You can read the companion Comics Edition here.
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
How do you decide if someone is unworthy to be part of your fandom? How do you label someone a poser, a noob, or a fake? Whom do you invite into a fandom and why? Whom do you reject and why? What are the criteria to go from noob to knowledge-master? How does someone graduate from being a “fake geek girl/boy” or “fake fan” into a “true fan”? Is such a thing even possible?
….
I’m not sure if I want to write this entry. I’m not sure if it’s safe for me to write this entry. In the wake of #GamerGate, it’s become more obvious how dangerous it can be to be a woman online and have opinions. Especially if you are a woman involved in games, and particularly if you have some level of popularity. Granted, my profile is no where near as high as the targets of GamerGate, but the very fact that I’m nervous about posting this also makes me mad. I shouldn’t be afraid to have an opinion, provided I try to express it respectfully.
If you don’t know what GamerGate is, I’ve provided links below to various journals, news articles, and individual blogs that talk a lot more about it. To summarize, GamerGate is the outpouring of misogyny in the gaming world that people tend to ignore, disregard, or minimize. It is the systematic anonymous attempt to destroy women in gaming, be they game developers, journalists, critics, or just outspoken fans. This hate has spewed forth in a fashion that cannot be covered up or explained away (although lord knows that GamerGate tried.)
I’m going to tackle some stereotypes present in modern fiction that I think are dangerous when used irresponsibly. Any entries part of this series will be labeled as “Dangerous Stereotypes.” The previous entry on this topic is about the Scientist stereotype, which can be read here.
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
People have interesting ways of coping with scary things. Some deny their fear. Some avoid what frightens them. Some seek it out. And many people, often women, seem to be taking what should be scary and try to make it cute.
I’m talking about the “bad boys.”
There are so many villainous characters out there with cute, sorrowful, gentle, loving, or chibi-fied pictures of them out on the internet. Sometimes they are anti-heroes like Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z or Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sometimes they are villains like Voldemort from Harry Potter or Loki from the Marvel Comics. Sometimes they are someone who flickers in between like Mr. Gold from Once Upon a Time. And sometimes they are like Alucard from the anime and manga Hellsing. Alucard is the opposite of cute. He’s one of, if not the most, badass, psychotic, murderous vampire in modern literature. He’s fucking terrifying. He’s murdered and drunk the blood of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, human and vampire, and enjoyed it. The only think that keeps him under control is the special spell that binds him to the will of the leader of the Hellsing Organization. And he’s one of the GOOD guys!
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
After years of research and development (or, more accurately, about three hours on YouTube), I finally tried recording one of my older entries from The Cat’s Cradle. Wonder of wonders, it worked! Sort of. Since I won’t be able to do a more substantial entry this week, I wanted to take this opportunity and make some introductions.
For those of you just tuning in, I’m Kat Clements, a fantasy author-in-progress. The Cat’s Cradle is my beta website and blog where I discuss topics related to writing, storytelling, fantasy, science fiction, and other geek-related material. For the past three years, my entries have been solely text-based, but now I’ve decided to create audio versions for people who either don’t have the time or inclination to read from the computer and for those with visual impairments.
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
On Halloween, my friend and fellow writer Foxglove and I drove 8 hours to Boston, Massachusetts so we could see a play. For one night only, Jeffrey Combs, of Star Trek and Re-Animator fame, was performing a masterpiece called NEVERMORE: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe at the Somerville Theater.
I confess that I had no idea what to expect. Plays are not my forte; I’m never sure what is going to happen or how it will be presented. But I enjoyed Mr. Combs’s work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and always liked Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of the macabre. And, since there was a good chance this would be the last time the play would be performed, Fox and I decided this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
We were not disappointed.
Continue reading “NEVERMORE: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”
Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me if writers should have a blog. Apparently, a lot of writing advice was telling them that keeping a blog is something modern writers should do. Network, network, network! But my friend was ambivalent about the whole idea.
In some ways, so am I. At least one day every other week is devoted to that week’s entry. They sneak into my word quota that should be reserved for fictional prose. I often put it off until the last minute (like tonight), which adds some stress to my life, usually when I least need it. But I’ve kept up with The Cat’s Cradle for three years. Why? And, more importantly, is it worth it?
The answer is, I don’t know yet. I don’t know if having a blog will help unpublished writers gain a following and break out or if it’s a huge waste of time. I don’t know how much it may contribute to my success (if in fact I do succeed in the traditional sense of publication with a proper company followed by modest monetary reward and readership.) I don’t know if it’s “necessary.”
The Cat's Cradle : On Hiatus! 