Neda Aria's Blog

Writing the Female Gaze: Narrative Strategies for Reclaiming Perspective

Explore how the female gaze reclaims narrative perspective in literature by centering women as subjects of desire, interpretation, and agency. This article examines theoretical foundations, examples across global traditions, and practical strategies for writers to subvert the male gaze, reframe embodiment, and create narratives that foreground women’s voices, complexity, and power.

Writer vs. Writer: Rory Hughes

Author Rory Hughes discusses his hallucinatory debut novel Theseus 34, a dark descent into mythology, morality, and human desire. From early influences on acid with Burroughs’s Naked Lunch to obsessive research into the internet’s darkest corners, Hughes reflects on addiction, unhealthy relationships with writing, and the haunting mix of delight and horror in publishing his first book.

From Witch to Warrior: Archetypes of Female Rebellion in Literature

This article explores female archetypes in literature (the witch, femme fatale, martyr, and warrior) and how they reflect both resistance and patriarchal fear. Through six subversive strategies and examples from the author’s works (Bella Donna, Us, Women, Counting Crows, Red Wings), it advocates for complex, layered portrayals of women that challenge reductive tropes and reimagine archetypes as sites of narrative and political transformation.

Angry Women in Literature: Rage as a Narrative Force

An exploration of how feminist literature transforms female rage into a narrative engine—examining its structural, political, and aesthetic functions in stories by and about women.

Neda Aria: Quarterly Releases & Works in Progress – Summer 2025

Neda Aria: Quarterly Releases & Works in Progress – Summer 2025Us, Women is out now—an intimate, lyrical novella on friendship, rage, and desire. Counting Crows (with Aaron Paul Schaut) and its companion Lover’s Rock are now both available. Coming soon: Red Wings, book one of the Lust in Paris trilogy, to be published by Outcast Press. A season of reflection, release, and raw emotion—thank you for reading and staying with the work.

Eroticism and Empowerment: Navigating Female Desire in Writing

Female desire in fiction isn’t always soft, safe, or empowering—and that’s exactly the point. From Lust in Paris to Animal and Adèle, feminist literature is reclaiming eroticism as power, not performance. These stories explore messy, dangerous, and unapologetic female desire, challenging the sanitized norms of sexuality in fiction. Let women want. Let them burn. Let their longing disrupt the page—and everything it touches.

A History of Transgressive Feminist Literature

Transgressive feminist literature doesn’t seek approval. It doesn’t heal, uplift, or behave. Instead, it dives into rage, obsession, madness, and sexual power—without apology. From Medea to Moshfegh, this mode of writing centers women as complex, carnal, cruel, and unsanitized. This isn't about empowerment through perfection—it's about the freedom to be unlikable, unreadable, and unforgettable. Here's a deep dive into its history.

Before the Hashtag: Feminist Voices from the Ancient to Early Modern World

Long before feminism had a name, women were writing it. From Margery Kempe’s unruly confessions to Táhirih’s revolutionary poetry in Qajar Iran, female voices across the globe defied silence. Nana Asma’u educated women in 19th-century Nigeria, Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya penned mystic verse in 8th-century Iraq, and Sor Juana challenged patriarchy with poetry. These weren’t footnotes in history—they were its uncredited authors.

Writer vs. Writer: Shannon Waite

Author Shannon Waite talks about her bold debut Raising Women, a choose-your-own-adventure-style novel that redefines women’s fiction. In this interview, she shares the inspiration behind her interactive format, how she writes emotionally raw and transgressive stories, and what’s next in her follow-up collection The Women. A sharp, thoughtful conversation about storytelling, girlhood, and breaking all the rules.

Why Dark Romance Books Written by Women Resonates with a Broad Readership

Inspired by a YouTube discussion on the history and evolution of dark romance, especially its connection to women writers, I began reflecting on why this emotionally intense, often taboo-laden genre resonates so deeply with a broad readership. Building on an earlier marketing-focused article I wrote, this piece explores dark romance through a deeper lens—examining its literary roots, psychological depth, and gendered cultural significance.