Katherine Frances's Blog, page 91
December 30, 2017
writeontheedge:
flo-lore-writes:
throneofno:
I do really wish, in YA books, that we could have...
I do really wish, in YA books, that we could have multiple female protagonists who don’t look down on each other. Can we, for once, have a protagonist who isn’t the epitome of goodness and who doesn’t condescend towards any other girl who behaves differently than her?
Can we have actual female friendships, that are portrayed as being just as important (if not more) than romantic relationships? Even in stories where the main couple isn’t straight, it’s framed as though romance is always more important than platonic relationships.
Could we finally get a protagonist treating her friends like they’re actually fucking important to her, and not using them as pawns or tools? That’s fine if it’s portrayed as a legitimate character flaw, but it isn’t. In Throne of Glass, Aelin only starts treating other girls like actual people when they bow down to her and say she’s the best-queen-who-ever-lived-ever.
This is so frustrating to me, because all these tropes are so prevalent. You’re lucky if you can find a book with one positive female relationship, let alone more than two. This needs to change.
(This ended up being kind of ranty, ignore this.)
THIS.
Writers (and even female writers?!) seem to think that women fight more than we actually do, and for the most ridiculous reasons. I’m sick of seeing women in fiction fight over petty shit or be nasty to each other, especially when the author has set up a patriarchal fantasy world. “Oh, here’s women fighting each other even though I’ve set the world up so that they have to fight men for respect anyway, but they’d still be catty to each other OBVIOUSLY. #GirlPower”
Why don’t we get women who fight over something other than men? Women that straight out loathe one another and have blood feuds unlike anything you’ve ever seen, who are brutal and uncompromising and unapologetically opposed to one another? Women that fight for land, for status, for their families, for respect. If we want to see men fight over something other than women all we have to do is read a fantasy novel with “kings” in the title, but women’s vilification or aggression is so inherently tied to their sexuality and role in relation to men and I just … I want more. I want women that are out-and-out fucking horrible people and who aren’t woobified or jilted exes, who aren’t “crazy” or whatever gross thing people keep trying to pull. If they trade sex for power, don’t make that a building block for all that is evil about them. If they don’t, that doesn’t mean they’re prudish or cold.
Point being, women have the same scope as men in the real world both positively and negatively. Why can’t we show that in fiction?
This is so accurate.
Another thing that is missing from YA: friendships between males and females that aren’t romantic in any way. In pretty much every YA book I’ve read, the main purpose of the protagonist having a friend of the opposite gender is to create a romantic subplot. I understand that romance is a great way to add tension to a book, but I’d love to see some male/female friendships that are strong without the characters having romantic interests in each other.
I especially hate when female characters are introduced for the sole purpose of being the male protagonist’s love interest. Or when a female protagonist has no purpose or happiness until a male character comes and sweeps her off her feet.
YA writers, keep this post in mind, especially if you’re a female writer.
Any rule can be broken while writing, period.
But it often helps to have a reason to break a rule, one that is purposeful and adds to the story you’re telling. Writers do this all the time, if you know where to look:
PUNCTUATION - Cormac McCarthy doesn’t use quotation marks in his novel The Road, even when characters are talking- but it contributes significantly to the lonely, desolate, ash-laden setting.
POV / LINEAR - In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien writes in third and first person narration, out of chronological order, with deliberately conflicting accounts of certain scenes- and this helps convey a “story truth” rather than a “happening truth“ (his own words), as well as the confusing reality of war for soldiers.
PASSIVE VOICE - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle frequently uses the passive voice in his Sherlock Holmes stories, adding a sense of mystery and more natural conversation between characters.These are only a handful of the many examples that are out there- novels, short stories, poetry, all forms of writing have instances of this.
It’s never strictly necessary to have a reason, of course- as writers, we rarely deal in absolutes when it comes to rules. But if you can bend and break the rules in a way that enhances your story, you can add another layer of depth to it.
December 29, 2017
cupskeleton:
fruitloopghost:
softiesuggestion:
reblog if you...
reblog if you want more interaction w your lovely followers
Don’t be afraid to ask or throw random shit at me, I’ll take on anything
scribbledwriting:
scribbledwriting:
I’m 30 followers away from my next follower goal that I’ve been...
I’m 30 followers away from my next follower goal that I’ve been trying to reach for ages. I’m so excited!
Less than 10! Maybe I’ll reach it before the new year. Ngl that’d be like the best thing to happen to me this year. You guys don’t understand how long I’ve been trying to reach this goal lol yay thanks to those who are following me. I still don’t know how I tricked so many of you into doing it but thank you!
If you guys aren’t following this gall, she’s the bomb.
writerlydays:
that boost you get from talking to someone who is excited about your writing and...
that boost you get from talking to someone who is excited about your writing and wants to read it when you’re done is such a great motivator, tbh
