Where Are the Ladies? Female Protagonists in Fantasy

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One of my friends mentioned that, when she was a kid, she couldn’t find any female characters she liked or could relate to. In fact, she became misogynistic herself for a time because the only examples of women were weak, whiny, helpless bimbos. Not exactly the best role model for a growing girl.

But oddly enough, I don’t remember there being a deficiency in heroines during my childhood years of reading. But then again, I read fantasy and it seems that fantasy has a higher prevalence of female protagonists (and women in general.)

I’ve heard about several studies that speculate on the lack of female characters in children’s and young adult literature. Granted, this has been changing over the last few years, especially in teen literature, but I still find that female characters, when they are present, tend to fall into the emotional/romance category. There are fewer examples of (dare I say it?) “strong” (or rather, “well-rounded”) female characters in children’s fiction.

Since my last entry, “Character Charisma,” was so heavily skewed towards male characters (9 men to 1 woman), I wanted to explore some of my favorite female characters in fantasy novels. Unfortunately, in the video games I’ve played so far, there are very few, if any, female characters who left much of an impression, and even fewer who were the star of the show. The only two that come to mind are the sun goddess Amaterasu (Ammy) from Okami and Aurora from Child of Light. (Both of these are beautiful games with unique designs and gorgeous musical scores, and I highly recommend playing them.) Or maybe I just haven’t played enough games, but either way I’m going to focus on books that I read with interesting, unique, or kick-ass protagonists… who happen to be girls. (I apologize in advance for any mispronunciations.)

WARNING: THE DESCRIPTIONS BELOW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

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Character Charisma: A Collaboration with R.E. Myles

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Readers, you are getting a special treat this week. Rather than having me ramble aimlessly, you get to have two of us rambling aimlessly! Yup, this is my first ever writing collaboration. The awesome co-author this week is my good friend and fellow writer, R.E. Myles. She suggested exploring why we are drawn to certain characters and types of characters in books and video games. We decided that the Q&A format with seven questions would be the best way to answer this so you can get a clear idea of what (and who) we like in stories. For the record, both Myles and I read a lot of fantasy, and when we say “video games,” we’re primarily referring to third person roleplaying games. With such similar tastes, there is some overlap in our answers. We apologize to the authors in advance for any mispronunciations. Enjoy!

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Back from (Re)Generation Who!

I’m back!

Sorry for the delay, but it took a while to write everything up and sort through the photos I wanted to upload. Also, I will update this entry with links to any of the panels that were filmed and put on Youtube or another video streaming service, if I can find them. If anyone else finds one, let me know, send me the link, and I’ll add it! Photos from the con are going up on my cosplay DeviantART account if you want to check those out.

The last weekend in March was absolutely amazing! I went to my first non-anime convention, a Doctor Who con called “(Re)Generation Who” in Maryland. It’s a brand new con, and man, I was blown away with how awesome it was. Even better, I got to debut my favorite and most comfortable costume to date: Donna Noble in her outfit from the episode “Journey’s End.”

THE COSTUME:

Donna Noble is my favorite Companion of the “New Who” (as the 2005 reboot/continuation of Doctor Who was called while I was at the con.) She’s older, curvier, sassier, and just an all-around wonderful character. The actress who plays her, Catherine Tate, is amazing. Her body type and clothing choices are very close to how I look and what I like to wear, and I think the outfit from her final episode as a companion, “Journey’s End” is the most iconic. So I decided to do that for my costume:

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Updates On The Fly

Greetings all!

My apologies, but the Audio Editions of The Cat’s Cradle, including #ThrowbackThursday, must be put on hold for a while. I’ve (finally) started taking anti-depressants, and a pernicious side effect is not being able to read text, any kind of text, for more than a half hour without getting a nasty headache. (Sometimes I can’t even manage five minutes. So far painkillers don’t touch it.) And even though I am ecstatic about the arrival of spring, the changing season wreaks havoc on my sinuses. I tend to be out of commission for a week or two, trying to keep my head from exploding.

As a result, I must be very careful with my time, and finishing Ravens and Roses is more important to me than anything else. So, it may be a while before I write another substantial blog entry or record an Audio Edition. Depending on whether or not this side effect diminishes, I may not do another month of LeNoWriCha for a while either.

The upside is, having a limited amount of time to write has really focused my attention. A scene that has been eluding me for over a year has finally been written! (I knew what needed to happen, I just… hadn’t bothered to actually write out the scene.) Less really can be more. I am more motivated to do things, so I feel like life is starting the long, slow slog towards improvement.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. Stay awesome, read often, and keep writing!

Beginnings

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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.

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Gender Neutral Pronouns in Fantasy

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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.

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Editing Woes

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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.

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Throwback Thursday is coming!

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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!

2014: The Year in Review

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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.

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Are You a Fake Fan? (Gamer Edition)

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.

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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.

vivianjames — Vivian James, the semi-official mascot of #gamergate (click image for source)

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.)

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