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sabremeisterI've read a couple of entries on my f-list in the aftermath of Redemption. They got me thinking, especially after I followed the links.
I try to write in a balanced style. I also try to write what I know, and what I enjoy. I'm not going to write a book I wouldn't want to read - what would be the point? If I have to wade through it to edit it, I'm not going to bother. And also, given that my books were written during NaNoWriMo, there are inevitably bits where I'm just burbling around the first thing that comes into my head; which usually means sex, violence, or huge reams of statistical data to fiddle with to see if it can't be persuaded to produce a more favourable outcome occasionally. Yes, I'm like that.
So: Does my stuff pass things like the Bechdel Test? Are my female characters depicted as sex objects more often than they are real people? (I have, on at least two occasions, made my kickass female ninja lead pretend to be a prostitute, but they were both plot-necessary instances (mostly). I have also put one of my male leads through a not-entirely unwanted (for him) sex scene.) Is the way I write the interactions between my characters in their medieval-type society believable? Does it look like I've gone down the default path for choice of protagonist etc, or does it look I'm trying? Am I providing fanservice to both male and female readers (unlikely, probably), or does it seem like I've asked Frank Miller for advice?
Y'see, I don't know. I'm male, Aspergic, and I'm not even trying to write deep, meaningful, insightful literature (I leave that to Terry Pratchett), I'm trying to write something fun that you can lose yourself in for a couple of hours to give your brain a break. I'm trying to write the novel equivalent of a Golden Age Saturday-morning adventure flick, only, y'know, a little more plausible. I don't know if I've written The First Blast of the Trumpet for or against an entirely new mode of societal thought, or whether they're just airport novels.
Perhaps the fact that I'm worrying about this sort of thing is a good sign. Perhaps it shows that I not only want to keep my existing fanbase, but also expand it, by not only writing well, but also by writing balanced-y. So - could someone tell me?
Book III, All's Fair in Love and Politics, is released on Monday the 6th of April, priced just under £6 (plus huge p+p). Pre-order with me here, and I'll make sure you save on postage.
I try to write in a balanced style. I also try to write what I know, and what I enjoy. I'm not going to write a book I wouldn't want to read - what would be the point? If I have to wade through it to edit it, I'm not going to bother. And also, given that my books were written during NaNoWriMo, there are inevitably bits where I'm just burbling around the first thing that comes into my head; which usually means sex, violence, or huge reams of statistical data to fiddle with to see if it can't be persuaded to produce a more favourable outcome occasionally. Yes, I'm like that.
So: Does my stuff pass things like the Bechdel Test? Are my female characters depicted as sex objects more often than they are real people? (I have, on at least two occasions, made my kickass female ninja lead pretend to be a prostitute, but they were both plot-necessary instances (mostly). I have also put one of my male leads through a not-entirely unwanted (for him) sex scene.) Is the way I write the interactions between my characters in their medieval-type society believable? Does it look like I've gone down the default path for choice of protagonist etc, or does it look I'm trying? Am I providing fanservice to both male and female readers (unlikely, probably), or does it seem like I've asked Frank Miller for advice?
Y'see, I don't know. I'm male, Aspergic, and I'm not even trying to write deep, meaningful, insightful literature (I leave that to Terry Pratchett), I'm trying to write something fun that you can lose yourself in for a couple of hours to give your brain a break. I'm trying to write the novel equivalent of a Golden Age Saturday-morning adventure flick, only, y'know, a little more plausible. I don't know if I've written The First Blast of the Trumpet for or against an entirely new mode of societal thought, or whether they're just airport novels.
Perhaps the fact that I'm worrying about this sort of thing is a good sign. Perhaps it shows that I not only want to keep my existing fanbase, but also expand it, by not only writing well, but also by writing balanced-y. So - could someone tell me?
Book III, All's Fair in Love and Politics, is released on Monday the 6th of April, priced just under £6 (plus huge p+p). Pre-order with me here, and I'll make sure you save on postage.
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Date: 2009-03-09 05:46 pm (UTC)It is a good sign that you're worrying about it, because it makes you less likely to run into a stereotype unintentionally - whether it's a stereotype of a character or of the way you present him/her. Some recent authors have done wonderful things with taking stereotyped characters and completely turning them around by giving them non-stereotypical motivations and feelings - making them complete characters instead of cartoons. This has been done, though, most commonly with white male stereotypes, and still leaves the issue of stereotyped actions and plot roles. (Taking the example you gave - did your kickass female ninja have to pretend to be a prostitute, or could she have pretended to be something else in order to further her aims? Even if a disguise as a prostitute seemed the "logical" choice under your particular circumstances, it's far from a value-neutral one; suddenly presenting a physically capable female character as belonging to a class of women seen as unreservedly sexually available can be a turn-on for male readers, and is usually a turn-off for female readers, both on the story level and the meta level.)