Ask Athena's Daughters: Strong Female Characters For Today's Readers discussion
"Commando Bats"
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I love this idea a lot - and the sort of meta-ness about not being sure if people would want to read about older women as heroes, when that's the problem the women in your story face.I was raised on the Pollifax books so I've always loved the idea of older women as heroes. And I loved your story. We're so excited to have it for this anthology! I'm sure everyone else is going to love it too.
I seriously loved this story SO MUCH. It's absolutely wonder and PERFECT for this anthology. It really encapsulates what we are trying to do in Athena's Daughters.
I am all for "older" heroines! YES YES
In Karen Traviss's Gears of War novels, she has wonderful strong women characters, including an older women who is coming to terms with aging, while still remaining an inspiration to those around her.
Hats off to you for coming back from a stroke with a story. That's the way to triumph, Sherwood. Can't wait to read it.
Well, young characters have a lot of advantages.For instance, the older the character is, the more likely you have a double-bind: do you give the character responsibilities she has to ignore to do heroics, or do you give her none, which raises the question of whether she's irresponsible? Most older characters tend to be positively old, which enables you to widow them, give them grown children, and retire them, thus shedding responsibilities. (It also marks another liminal stage of life, of transition from one stage to the next.)
More difficult to finesse is the question of having your character develop new capabilities, or make new discoveries about herself. The older the character is, the more the question arises of why she didn't learn it earlier. Of course, the more realistically you treat this, the more sense it makes. The widow who starts to hang out with the court sorceress could pick up a few skills that way. (Though formal education would be harder in many cultures, because they want a student who can use it for many years. Life expectancy is an important question.) The classic Fantasy Secret Legacy Power less so. . . . though. . . .
Imagine a story where magical/mutant/whatever powers emerge at about fifty, instead of the cliche puberty.
You're all going to love Mary Robinette Kowal's story too, which is about a 100 year old time traveling secret agent. (Essentially, anyway.) I'm loving having a wide variety of characters, especially for underrepresented groups of women.
Oh my gosh, Mary Robinett's story is AMAZING! Not that I'm biased about flying stories or anything…Mary - great points about the things more mature characters have to consider.
Also, I love that we broke Goodreads for a minute there! WOOT!
Maggie wrote: "You're all going to love Mary Robinette Kowal's story too, which is about a 100 year old time traveling secret agent. (Essentially, anyway.) I'm loving having a wide variety of characters, especia..."Sounds terrific!
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Gail wrote: "Why not? 50 is the new 30."Oh gosh, I hope so!
Mary wrote: "Imagine a story where magical/mutant/whatever powers emerge at about fifty, instead of the cliche puberty. "...Okay, that is an awesome idea. I very badly want to see this done. Or explore it myself sometime. That sounds like so much fun!
Linn wrote: "Mary wrote: "Imagine a story where magical/mutant/whatever powers emerge at about fifty, instead of the cliche puberty. "...Okay, that is an awesome idea. I very badly want to see this done. Or ..."
We look forward to reading yours.
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...Okay, that is an awesome idea. I very badly want to see this done. Or ..."
Actually, that's a return to the old way of thinking, when menopausal women were considered to acquire magic powers...that was part of the "croning" phase of life.
Sherwood wrote: "I got an idea for a book a while back, about old women as heroes. I love seeing more and more diversity, but everyone is young! Well, maybe nobody wants to read about a bunch of bats like me, but w..."How cool. Wonderful to turn that frustrating experience into a different kind of strength by applyiing it to your writing! Well done!
I hope 50 is the new 30 because I am way closer to 50.
Oooh, a 100-year-old time traveling sorceress! Can't wait to read it, Mary!On the subject of menopausal heroines, Catherine Lundoff's novel Silver Moon is about a woman who turns into a werewolf at menopause--and finds out she's not alone.
Ginger Snaps started something of a vogue for puberty/werewolf stories. But as far as I know, Catherine's story is the first to use the physical changes of menopause to the same end.
I've seen menopause used to trigger magical powers or change now and then--Andre Norton for one as I recall--(and my cowriter Rachel Manija Brown and I feature this change in our YA dystopia coming out next year) but seldom as protagonists. My bats are front and center.
I'm 60, but my grand daughter says I gave up my abut card. I would love a story about strong older woman.
So I was thinking about how they get their powers, turned my mind to mythology, and my old interest in Hera, about whom the stories are most conflicted. How much do those stories reflect attitudes toward older women at that time?
When the invitation to submit a story to this anthology came by, I thought it a perfect time to commence the story, in a streamlined form (with an ending, as cliff-hangers annoy the fazoo out of me), and because I'd just suffered a stroke, figured, why not let my main character reflect that?
I guess I'll find out if there is an audience for my commando bats!