Gail Simone's Blog, page 164
March 3, 2016
What are your thoughts on the common trope of killing off a characters close to the protagonist( Such as a Girlfriend, Family member, close friend)? Do you think that this trope is overused? Is there a way of doing this that isn't so cliché? Do you think t
I only have one thought on any trope, which is that it’s all about execution.
The not-super-astute people who freak out about Women In Refrigerators and think I was saying bad things should never happen to female characters are as clueless as they are incorrect. That was never the point.
Even tropes that SOUND horrid can be executed and inverted and pulled inside out.
You can kill a sidekick or a girlfriend and make it meaningful and moving. You can take the easy path and make it the hard path, by doing something new and useful and important with it.
I never asked for a sanitized fictional world. I asked people to look and see if this was a trend, and if it was, what it meant.
When something is so lazily reproduced that it DOES become a cliche, or simply misuses the characters in a shoddy, short-sighted way, that’s the flipside of the coin, it’s bad execution. The cliche aspect simply means the difficulty rating to do something worthwhile is much harder.
I write stories where women get kicked around all the time. Mostly because the heroes I love best are the ones that take a beating, and find a way to survive, find a way to get back up. That’s the Batman I loved best, the guy who got outgunned sometimes. That’s the Spirit. That’s Deadpool, even. Those are the kinds of characters that seem most heroic to be because their victories COST them something.
When I am writing characters who are meant to be heroic, I want them to have skin in the game. So when I write Red Sonja, when I write Superman, when I write Black Canary, they have the possibility of failure, of getting their asses kicked. Not everyone likes this, I still have people mad that Batwoman beat the crap out of Batgirl in Batgirl’s own book.
It’s not just physical, either, it’s emotional. It’s mental. It’s what hits the character in the gut.
Yes, you will get an emotional response if you kill a character’s family or girlfriend or whatever. But without craft, thought, and execution, it’s like a hack comedian going for cheap applause. It doesn’t sustain, it’s a finger-tapping from a guy who can’t play guitar.
You can make almost any trope into something powerful and good. But most people using these cliche things don’t aim that high, they don’t know how.
What are your thoughts on the common trope of killing off a characters close to the protagonist( Such as a Girlfriend, Family member, close friend)? Do you think that this trope is overused? Is there a way of doing this that isn't so cliché? Do you think t
I only have one thought on any trope, which is that it’s all about execution.
The not-super-astute people who freak out about Women In Refrigerators and think I was saying bad things should never happen to female characters are as clueless as they are incorrect. That was never the point.
Even tropes that SOUND horrid can be executed and inverted and pulled inside out.
You can kill a sidekick or a girlfriend and make it meaningful and moving. You can take the easy path and make it the hard path, by doing something new and useful and important with it.
I never asked for a sanitized fictional world. I asked people to look and see if this was a trend, and if it was, what it meant.
When something is so lazily reproduced that it DOES become a cliche, or simply misuses the characters in a shoddy, short-sighted way, that’s the flipside of the coin, it’s bad execution. The cliche aspect simply means the difficulty rating to do something worthwhile is much harder.
I write stories where women get kicked around all the time. Mostly because the heroes I love best are the ones that take a beating, and find a way to survive, find a way to get back up. That’s the Batman I loved best, the guy who got outgunned sometimes. That’s the Spirit. That’s Deadpool, even. Those are the kinds of characters that seem most heroic to be because their victories COST them something.
When I am writing characters who are meant to be heroic, I want them to have skin in the game. So when I write Red Sonja, when I write Superman, when I write Black Canary, they have the possibility of failure, of getting their asses kicked. Not everyone likes this, I still have people mad that Batwoman beat the crap out of Batgirl in Batgirl’s own book.
It’s not just physical, either, it’s emotional. It’s mental. It’s what hits the character in the gut.
Yes, you will get an emotional response if you kill a character’s family or girlfriend or whatever. But without craft, thought, and execution, it’s like a hack comedian going for cheap applause. It doesn’t sustain, it’s a finger-tapping from a guy who can’t play guitar.
You can make almost any trope into something powerful and good. But most people using these cliche things don’t aim that high, they don’t know how.
What are your thoughts on the common trope of killing off a characters close to the protagonist( Such as a Girlfriend, Family member, close friend)? Do you think that this trope is overused? Is there a way of doing this that isn't so cliché? Do you think t
I only have one thought on any trope, which is that it’s all about execution.
The not-super-astute people who freak out about Women In Refrigerators and think I was saying bad things should never happen to female characters are as clueless as they are incorrect. That was never the point.
Even tropes that SOUND horrid can be executed and inverted and pulled inside out.
You can kill a sidekick or a girlfriend and make it meaningful and moving. You can take the easy path and make it the hard path, by doing something new and useful and important with it.
I never asked for a sanitized fictional world. I asked people to look and see if this was a trend, and if it was, what it meant.
When something is so lazily reproduced that it DOES become a cliche, or simply misuses the characters in a shoddy, short-sighted way, that’s the flipside of the coin, it’s bad execution. The cliche aspect simply means the difficulty rating to do something worthwhile is much harder.
I write stories where women get kicked around all the time. Mostly because the heroes I love best are the ones that take a beating, and find a way to survive, find a way to get back up. That’s the Batman I loved best, the guy who got outgunned sometimes. That’s the Spirit. That’s Deadpool, even. Those are the kinds of characters that seem most heroic to be because their victories COST them something.
When I am writing characters who are meant to be heroic, I want them to have skin in the game. So when I write Red Sonja, when I write Superman, when I write Black Canary, they have the possibility of failure, of getting their asses kicked. Not everyone likes this, I still have people mad that Batwoman beat the crap out of Batgirl in Batgirl’s own book.
It’s not just physical, either, it’s emotional. It’s mental. It’s what hits the character in the gut.
Yes, you will get an emotional response if you kill a character’s family or girlfriend or whatever. But without craft, thought, and execution, it’s like a hack comedian going for cheap applause. It doesn’t sustain, it’s a finger-tapping from a guy who can’t play guitar.
You can make almost any trope into something powerful and good. But most people using these cliche things don’t aim that high, they don’t know how.
I really want a BoP show independant from arrow, I feel like the BC doesn't get enough credit on the show anyway and she would be better off being one of the leads on another show focused on the ladies maybe we could bring in vixen and thea as well and we
I haven’t watched the show and I don’t know who Felicity is.
I’d have to get caught up.
I really want a BoP show independant from arrow, I feel like the BC doesn't get enough credit on the show anyway and she would be better off being one of the leads on another show focused on the ladies maybe we could bring in vixen and thea as well and we
I haven’t watched the show and I don’t know who Felicity is.
I’d have to get caught up.
I really want a BoP show independant from arrow, I feel like the BC doesn't get enough credit on the show anyway and she would be better off being one of the leads on another show focused on the ladies maybe we could bring in vixen and thea as well and we
I haven’t watched the show and I don’t know who Felicity is.
I’d have to get caught up.
livefromthenerdcave:
The GM got me this awesome Wonderfall...
The GM got me this awesome Wonderfall print signed by Gail Simone! I love my job and the awesome people I work for!
Wait till you see the art for this. I swear to god, page four actually made me cry!
kerzoro:
@gailsimone is a silly person.
Which is why I doodled...
Follow Gail Simone on Twitter
She is fucking hilarious.
All last week she trolled X Men fans on Colossus and it was glorious. She openly admitted it and the fan boys still didn’t get it.
She has written some of my favourite comics of all time (including Deadpool, Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman) and is right now having some fun talking about Arrow.
But from a ‘let the boys go have tea while the ladies kick some ass’ perspective.
Unfortunately, she is being hounded by some bitter ass BC fans who are now doing to her what they are trying to do to the writers. It is pathetic but she is owning them.
It is glorious. Plus I think she is doing her troll bit with all of us which makes it even more fun because she isn’t seeking anyone out, she is simply responding to people who are coming at her.
All that aside, she is a hoot if you love comics and the women who write them.
Ah, thanks!
Twitter is fun for me. But I think I use it incorrectly.
I think when you have like 75,000 followers or whatever, you’re supposed to try to write tweets that are inclusive of the majority and be done with it. But I still tend to think of twitter as a bunch of separate conversations, mostly with individuals.
So I say something, four people respond, I end up having four conversations and it looks like I’m trying to flood twitter when I’m really just trying to respond to these four people!
I never learn. :)
But I AM an expert on ARROW.
chescaleigh:
micdotcom:
Watch: Complaining about political...
Watch: Complaining about political correctness says more about you than it does others.
I support this 100% but I’m curious if Paul F. Tompkins has gotten death and rape threats over this video? I’ve never gotten more harassment online than when I dared explain that political correctness isn’t prohibiting anyone’s free speech. As happy as I am to see this conversation happening, it sucks that the same info is always more palatable when expressed by straight white dudes.
Paul F. Tompkins, a guy I am proud to know, a wonderful human being, the funniest guy ever, AND a huge comic nerd.
LOVE YOU PFT!
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