a rant and a rec
rec first; via nagasvoice, china_shop has just offered a lovely vid,
Southside, (the incredible tale Of Two Girls In Love)
Music: "Southside" by Texas
Fandom: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls In Love
Length: 1:51
Rating: PG-13
and rant;
I just read a post in which a woman explains that she does like female characters, she just has impossibly high standards for them and if a woman character falls short then she just can’t be interested.
You know years and years ago, like 1972, I started writing gay fic because there wasn’t any around for me to read.
Now, I want to write strong, superpowered, untameable kinds of women because otherwise I don’t get to read about them.
I don’t write much fanfic, but one big motivator for me is to fix the fuckups, like if I wrote in Arthur, it would be to put Gwen and Morgana on the top, with all their power, and glorying in it. And sometimes just being silly.
And what I want to know is… Are you planning to write women the way you want to read them?
Or read those women when they get written?
That’s the real question. Not "why don’t you like female characters?" because so many women say yes they do except not this one and not that one and not this other one either… because so many women have impossible standards (so they claim) for female characters that they for some reason don’t have for males… And they just won’t settle for anything less which so conveniently leaves ummm let’s see… no one. So when women say they dislike one character at a time for one reason at a time… until there are no characters left… I think we are seeing women who are lying to themselves.
Someone posted a response to a discussion about writing female characters (can’t remember exactly where I saw it, so sorry about the vagueness-ness) but it was basically “But writing women is hard because there are so many expectations on female writers and female characters and we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t so it’s understandable that some women wouldn’t write female characters because they’re afraid of the response they’ll get!”
And all I could think was it’s one thing when male writers won’t write female characters because they’re afraid of screwing it up but when FEMALE writers won’t write female characters? Who the hell do we expect to take up the slack?
I guess we expect someone else… somewhere… to do it for us.
But I started writing gay smex back in 1973 or so, because there wasn’t any available for me to read. And now there’s plenty of it, and not so much of other things I want to read.
it’s a DIY kinda thing, writing. ^_^
Yeah, the problem is if we don’t do it, we don’t really have the right to expect somebody else to take up the slack. It annoys me because I can’t remember any other debate where members of the minority group complained about the work of making themselves more visible was too hard so they shouldn’t be expected to take up the slack themselves.
So, in my current original project I am trying to come up with the kind of kick ass action heroes I wanna see. ‘Cause I am one of those people who finds writing female characters to be tough but I also want to see more female characters in action roles so I’ma put my money where my mouth is.
Had an interesting convo many years ago when I was listing the virtues of various people as potential roommates. And ya know, various people really did have tremendously lower expectations for the men than for the women. Really lower.
As in, “Speaks politely and doesn’t drive drunk” was good enough for the guys.
The women had to be tidy nonsmokers, dress professionally, be reasonable about cooking schedules and buying food timely, be a “reasonable weight that won’t break the furniture,” (!!!) on and on.
(The kind of enormous football guys who’d wreck the flimsy couch in two weeks? Just got cooing responses. “Oooh, hawt guys!” Um, bimbette, that middle linebacker has gotta be five hundred very solid pounds if he’s an ounce. Say goodbye to the boidoir furniture.)
Sad.
Which is not doing our sons and nephews and brothers any favors, either, but that’s a different rant. And it doesn’t give enough credit to the real guys who do a great job of helping out and carrying the daily load and care what happens to the folks around them and get mad when things are unfair and *do* something about it.
*I* sure don’t tolerate vastly lower standards for men as daily companions, ya betcha.
I think the standards IRL are still different now–and they certainly used to be different, so why is this a surprise in our fiction?
I thinkk this may be a “character actress” problem. Characters that aren’t flossy enough to adopt as “oneself”, to identify with closely enough. They become the kind of side-kick characters where readers assign them “roomate” status. That’s where this high jump thing kicks in.
Where their standards get totally warped is in that very peculiar creature, the Mary Sue. All of sudden fantasy makeup swooshes in and magickal capacities save everything and a basically boring tart in a bathrobe suddenly scales mountains and saves orphans while sparkling in every orifice.
Possibly the lowest standards of all for a fictional character, IMHO.
I think a big part of the problem is this idea of Mary Sue. It becomes impossible for younger writers to write females at all, for fear of the dreaded M.S. label. I would like to see more tolerance for superpowered girls– even if the power is only that of sparkly eyes. Right now, it’s not like there’s any better models in pop culture, and everyone needs someplace to start from.
Do you ever read mystery books? A lot of my favorite characters are from mystery series, and I’m not sure but I think mystery books about women-by women-for women outsell the more masculine books. The are even female-friendly Magic mysteries, such as Madelyn Alt’s books, or Carrie Bebris and her Darcy & Elizabeth as supernatural sleuths. These often blur fantasy, psychic, and a serious view of magic (as in Wiccan, voodoo, or other believed-in magics).
No, I haven’t read either of those!
I would love some more recs if you have any.
Shirley Damsgaard, “Abby and Ophelia mysteries”– an unwilling psychic learns to accept her gifts under the tutelage of her grandmother, a witch.
There are lots of wonderful female characters!
I like Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, J. D. Robb’s Eve Dallas, Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody, Hermione Granger, god, I could go on and on. There didn’t used to be many strong women in fiction, but there are some now!
I keep hearing about Anita Blake, and all her antihero ways. She’s just what I want to read– and write; dunno if you saw my previous post…
I have a huge list of female characters I just love. The only times I get turned off is when a writer fails to realize that women and girls are human beings. Piers Anthony being one writer I want to hit with a Clue-by-Four sometimes.
It was a toss up for me between being Samantha Vimes or Esme Weatherwax… and those are the two characters Pterry most identifies with, too.
I have noticed some gals seem to have… issues, though. Hating on Hermione and Ginny for no real reason. Impossible standards? Or projecting themselves into the story as a romantic rival?
I tend to write my female characters across a broad spectrum (no pun intended). Everything from an isolated, naive child of no specified gender (but whom I think of as female) who rebels against a predatory relative in a macabre sci-fi, to a 19th century gentlewoman who’s versed in ballroom dance and the occult, to a Hispanic policewoman of the future who fights crime in a cyberpunk Fresno. And as elder stateswomen, the Big Bad, the landlord, … everything. Because it’s not equality if women can’t be everything.
Because it’s not equality if women can’t be everything.
I treasure this.
Someone posted a response to a discussion about writing female characters (can’t remember exactly where I saw it, so sorry about the vagueness-ness) but it was basically “But writing women is hard because there are so many expectations on female writers and female characters and we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t so it’s understandable that some women wouldn’t write female characters because they’re afraid of the response they’ll get!”
And all I could think was it’s one thing when male writers won’t write female characters because they’re afraid of screwing it up but when FEMALE writers won’t write female characters? Who the hell do we expect to take up the slack?
I guess we expect someone else… somewhere… to do it for us.
But I started writing gay smex back in 1973 or so, because there wasn’t any available for me to read. And now there’s plenty of it, and not so much of other things I want to read.
it’s a DIY kinda thing, writing. ^_^
Yeah, the problem is if we don’t do it, we don’t really have the right to expect somebody else to take up the slack. It annoys me because I can’t remember any other debate where members of the minority group complained about the work of making themselves more visible was too hard so they shouldn’t be expected to take up the slack themselves.
So, in my current original project I am trying to come up with the kind of kick ass action heroes I wanna see. ‘Cause I am one of those people who finds writing female characters to be tough but I also want to see more female characters in action roles so I’ma put my money where my mouth is.
Someone posted a response to a discussion about writing female characters (can’t remember exactly where I saw it, so sorry about the vagueness-ness) but it was basically “But writing women is hard because there are so many expectations on female writers and female characters and we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t so it’s understandable that some women wouldn’t write female characters because they’re afraid of the response they’ll get!”
And all I could think was it’s one thing when male writers won’t write female characters because they’re afraid of screwing it up but when FEMALE writers won’t write female characters? Who the hell do we expect to take up the slack?
I guess we expect someone else… somewhere… to do it for us.
But I started writing gay smex back in 1973 or so, because there wasn’t any available for me to read. And now there’s plenty of it, and not so much of other things I want to read.
it’s a DIY kinda thing, writing. ^_^
Yeah, the problem is if we don’t do it, we don’t really have the right to expect somebody else to take up the slack. It annoys me because I can’t remember any other debate where members of the minority group complained about the work of making themselves more visible was too hard so they shouldn’t be expected to take up the slack themselves.
So, in my current original project I am trying to come up with the kind of kick ass action heroes I wanna see. ‘Cause I am one of those people who finds writing female characters to be tough but I also want to see more female characters in action roles so I’ma put my money where my mouth is.
Had an interesting convo many years ago when I was listing the virtues of various people as potential roommates. And ya know, various people really did have tremendously lower expectations for the men than for the women. Really lower.
As in, “Speaks politely and doesn’t drive drunk” was good enough for the guys.
The women had to be tidy nonsmokers, dress professionally, be reasonable about cooking schedules and buying food timely, be a “reasonable weight that won’t break the furniture,” (!!!) on and on.
(The kind of enormous football guys who’d wreck the flimsy couch in two weeks? Just got cooing responses. “Oooh, hawt guys!” Um, bimbette, that middle linebacker has gotta be five hundred very solid pounds if he’s an ounce. Say goodbye to the boidoir furniture.)
Sad.
Which is not doing our sons and nephews and brothers any favors, either, but that’s a different rant. And it doesn’t give enough credit to the real guys who do a great job of helping out and carrying the daily load and care what happens to the folks around them and get mad when things are unfair and *do* something about it.
*I* sure don’t tolerate vastly lower standards for men as daily companions, ya betcha.
I think the standards IRL are still different now–and they certainly used to be different, so why is this a surprise in our fiction?
I thinkk this may be a “character actress” problem. Characters that aren’t flossy enough to adopt as “oneself”, to identify with closely enough. They become the kind of side-kick characters where readers assign them “roomate” status. That’s where this high jump thing kicks in.
Where their standards get totally warped is in that very peculiar creature, the Mary Sue. All of sudden fantasy makeup swooshes in and magickal capacities save everything and a basically boring tart in a bathrobe suddenly scales mountains and saves orphans while sparkling in every orifice.
Possibly the lowest standards of all for a fictional character, IMHO.
I think a big part of the problem is this idea of Mary Sue. It becomes impossible for younger writers to write females at all, for fear of the dreaded M.S. label. I would like to see more tolerance for superpowered girls– even if the power is only that of sparkly eyes. Right now, it’s not like there’s any better models in pop culture, and everyone needs someplace to start from.
Do you ever read mystery books? A lot of my favorite characters are from mystery series, and I’m not sure but I think mystery books about women-by women-for women outsell the more masculine books. The are even female-friendly Magic mysteries, such as Madelyn Alt’s books, or Carrie Bebris and her Darcy & Elizabeth as supernatural sleuths. These often blur fantasy, psychic, and a serious view of magic (as in Wiccan, voodoo, or other believed-in magics).
No, I haven’t read either of those!
I would love some more recs if you have any.
Shirley Damsgaard, “Abby and Ophelia mysteries”– an unwilling psychic learns to accept her gifts under the tutelage of her grandmother, a witch.
Had an interesting convo many years ago when I was listing the virtues of various people as potential roommates. And ya know, various people really did have tremendously lower expectations for the men than for the women. Really lower.
As in, “Speaks politely and doesn’t drive drunk” was good enough for the guys.
The women had to be tidy nonsmokers, dress professionally, be reasonable about cooking schedules and buying food timely, be a “reasonable weight that won’t break the furniture,” (!!!) on and on.
(The kind of enormous football guys who’d wreck the flimsy couch in two weeks? Just got cooing responses. “Oooh, hawt guys!” Um, bimbette, that middle linebacker has gotta be five hundred very solid pounds if he’s an ounce. Say goodbye to the boidoir furniture.)
Sad.
Which is not doing our sons and nephews and brothers any favors, either, but that’s a different rant. And it doesn’t give enough credit to the real guys who do a great job of helping out and carrying the daily load and care what happens to the folks around them and get mad when things are unfair and *do* something about it.
*I* sure don’t tolerate vastly lower standards for men as daily companions, ya betcha.
I think the standards IRL are still different now–and they certainly used to be different, so why is this a surprise in our fiction?
I thinkk this may be a “character actress” problem. Characters that aren’t flossy enough to adopt as “oneself”, to identify with closely enough. They become the kind of side-kick characters where readers assign them “roomate” status. That’s where this high jump thing kicks in.
Where their standards get totally warped is in that very peculiar creature, the Mary Sue. All of sudden fantasy makeup swooshes in and magickal capacities save everything and a basically boring tart in a bathrobe suddenly scales mountains and saves orphans while sparkling in every orifice.
Possibly the lowest standards of all for a fictional character, IMHO.
I think a big part of the problem is this idea of Mary Sue. It becomes impossible for younger writers to write females at all, for fear of the dreaded M.S. label. I would like to see more tolerance for superpowered girls– even if the power is only that of sparkly eyes. Right now, it’s not like there’s any better models in pop culture, and everyone needs someplace to start from.
Do you ever read mystery books? A lot of my favorite characters are from mystery series, and I’m not sure but I think mystery books about women-by women-for women outsell the more masculine books. The are even female-friendly Magic mysteries, such as Madelyn Alt’s books, or Carrie Bebris and her Darcy & Elizabeth as supernatural sleuths. These often blur fantasy, psychic, and a serious view of magic (as in Wiccan, voodoo, or other believed-in magics).
No, I haven’t read either of those!
I would love some more recs if you have any.
Shirley Damsgaard, “Abby and Ophelia mysteries”– an unwilling psychic learns to accept her gifts under the tutelage of her grandmother, a witch.
There are lots of wonderful female characters!
I like Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, J. D. Robb’s Eve Dallas, Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody, Hermione Granger, god, I could go on and on. There didn’t used to be many strong women in fiction, but there are some now!
I keep hearing about Anita Blake, and all her antihero ways. She’s just what I want to read– and write; dunno if you saw my previous post…
There are lots of wonderful female characters!
I like Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, J. D. Robb’s Eve Dallas, Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody, Hermione Granger, god, I could go on and on. There didn’t used to be many strong women in fiction, but there are some now!
I keep hearing about Anita Blake, and all her antihero ways. She’s just what I want to read– and write; dunno if you saw my previous post…
I have a huge list of female characters I just love. The only times I get turned off is when a writer fails to realize that women and girls are human beings. Piers Anthony being one writer I want to hit with a Clue-by-Four sometimes.
It was a toss up for me between being Samantha Vimes or Esme Weatherwax… and those are the two characters Pterry most identifies with, too.
I have noticed some gals seem to have… issues, though. Hating on Hermione and Ginny for no real reason. Impossible standards? Or projecting themselves into the story as a romantic rival?
I tend to write my female characters across a broad spectrum (no pun intended). Everything from an isolated, naive child of no specified gender (but whom I think of as female) who rebels against a predatory relative in a macabre sci-fi, to a 19th century gentlewoman who’s versed in ballroom dance and the occult, to a Hispanic policewoman of the future who fights crime in a cyberpunk Fresno. And as elder stateswomen, the Big Bad, the landlord, … everything. Because it’s not equality if women can’t be everything.
Because it’s not equality if women can’t be everything.
I treasure this.
I have a huge list of female characters I just love. The only times I get turned off is when a writer fails to realize that women and girls are human beings. Piers Anthony being one writer I want to hit with a Clue-by-Four sometimes.
It was a toss up for me between being Samantha Vimes or Esme Weatherwax… and those are the two characters Pterry most identifies with, too.
I have noticed some gals seem to have… issues, though. Hating on Hermione and Ginny for no real reason. Impossible standards? Or projecting themselves into the story as a romantic rival?
I tend to write my female characters across a broad spectrum (no pun intended). Everything from an isolated, naive child of no specified gender (but whom I think of as female) who rebels against a predatory relative in a macabre sci-fi, to a 19th century gentlewoman who’s versed in ballroom dance and the occult, to a Hispanic policewoman of the future who fights crime in a cyberpunk Fresno. And as elder stateswomen, the Big Bad, the landlord, … everything. Because it’s not equality if women can’t be everything.
Because it’s not equality if women can’t be everything.
I treasure this.
yeah, if fans can’t add new characters into all-male canon there won’t be any writing about women.
As I said above, we need to back off with the derogatory comments about Mary Sue– for myself, I plan to respond encouragingly to young writers who experiment with OFC’s, and actively defend them against the Mary Sue haters.
Yes! I have written my characters the way I want to read them!
And the way I want to read them as well– thank you for that!
I think you completely missed my point. In fact, I disagree with everything you’ve just said!
yep, definitely missed my point.
Briony, read, carefully, what you have written in these comments. They epitomise the problems that discourage women from writing about women.
You arent trying to encourage women to write better women– you just want them to stop writing women on your turf.
Take a real careful look at your “advice;”
So….my advice to younger writers trying their hands at OFC has been consistent for a decade: do whatever you want but NEVER pair her up with the hero. EVER. It’s a major turnoff for most fanfic readers and no amount of begging, pleading and crying is gonna get the readers to change their minds about that. Make her a pal, make her a boss, a passer-by, a villian, ANYTHING but the love interest.
Think about what you are saying there. That no mere woman can ever, EVER be on a parity with the male hero. Oh, and that (as every woman knows) girl parts are yucky.
That’s a stomach turning message.
original commen has been deleted to protect a bystander
Well, “beginner” and “newbie” by definition mean someone who doesn’t yet know what she’s doing. And she won’t get that information until she’s been reamed by fandom (which evidently includes your voice since you tell me that is a “BRILLIANT COMM” and “They deserve it”) with a wire bottlebrush.
You don’t have to join in the opprobrium, you know, that would be your choice. Fandom is not an entity, it’s a bunch of people who can, if they want to, disagree on some things.
Haven’t I heard you and [name redacted] refer to each other as “commodore” and “captain?”
And haven’t the two of you proudly presented fics that are the result of Roleplay– including sex scenes?
So the problem you have with OFC masturbatory self-insertion is what, actually? That it isn’t thinly disguised by a canon name?
I know you have a female partner. I agree that female parts are far from yucky. Yet you proudly parade your scorn for the writer who wants to match *her* female parts with *your* hero.
[three sentences deleted as they could be used to identify someon else]
yeah, if fans can’t add new characters into all-male canon there won’t be any writing about women.
As I said above, we need to back off with the derogatory comments about Mary Sue– for myself, I plan to respond encouragingly to young writers who experiment with OFC’s, and actively defend them against the Mary Sue haters.
yeah, if fans can’t add new characters into all-male canon there won’t be any writing about women.
As I said above, we need to back off with the derogatory comments about Mary Sue– for myself, I plan to respond encouragingly to young writers who experiment with OFC’s, and actively defend them against the Mary Sue haters.
Well, “beginner” and “newbie” by definition mean someone who doesn’t yet know what she’s doing. And she won’t get that information until she’s been reamed by fandom (which evidently includes your voice since you tell me that is a “BRILLIANT COMM” and “They deserve it”) with a wire bottlebrush.
You don’t have to join in the opprobrium, you know, that would be your choice. Fandom is not an entity, it’s a bunch of people who can, if they want to, disagree on some things.
Haven’t I heard you and Elessil refer to each other as “commodore” and “captain?”
And haven’t the two of you proudly presented fics that are the result of Roleplay– including sex scenes?
So the problem you have with OFC masturbatory self-insertion is what, actually? That it isn’t thinly disguised by a canon name?
I know you have a female partner. I agree that female parts are far from yucky. Yet you proudly parade your scorn for the writer who wants to match *her* female parts with *your* hero.
I am not talking about all of fandom, Briony. One woman at a time. And I do remember a lovely little interlude you wrote, in an Indian bathhouse! But I don’t think I ever saw another female getting near your alter ego since then… Am I wrong?
(sorry for spamming with repostings, borking html is so embarrassing)
Yes! I have written my characters the way I want to read them!
And the way I want to read them as well– thank you for that!
Yes! I have written my characters the way I want to read them!
And the way I want to read them as well– thank you for that!
I quote:
I think the big problem in fandom is that idiots will always write self-insertion fics and attempt to defend them as art. They aren’t—those a masturbatory fantasies and most of us have plenty of our own. *snickers*
I’m glad you’re writing het, I look forward to reading it!
I think you completely missed my point. In fact, I disagree with everything you’ve just said!
I think you completely missed my point. In fact, I disagree with everything you’ve just said!
yep, definitely missed my point.
yep, definitely missed my point.
Briony, read, carefully, what you have written in these comments. They epitomise the problems that discourage women from writing about women.
You arent trying to encourage women to write better women– you just want them to stop writing women on your turf.
Take a real careful look at your “advice;”
So….my advice to younger writers trying their hands at OFC has been consistent for a decade: do whatever you want but NEVER pair her up with the hero. EVER. It’s a major turnoff for most fanfic readers and no amount of begging, pleading and crying is gonna get the readers to change their minds about that. Make her a pal, make her a boss, a passer-by, a villian, ANYTHING but the love interest.
Think about what you are saying there. That no mere woman can ever, EVER be on a parity with the male hero. Oh, and that (as every woman knows) girl parts are yucky.
That’s a stomach turning message.
original commen has been deleted to protect a bystander
Well, “beginner” and “newbie” by definition mean someone who doesn’t yet know what she’s doing. And she won’t get that information until she’s been reamed by fandom (which evidently includes your voice since you tell me that is a “BRILLIANT COMM” and “They deserve it”) with a wire bottlebrush.
You don’t have to join in the opprobrium, you know, that would be your choice. Fandom is not an entity, it’s a bunch of people who can, if they want to, disagree on some things.
Haven’t I heard you and [name redacted] refer to each other as “commodore” and “captain?”
And haven’t the two of you proudly presented fics that are the result of Roleplay– including sex scenes?
So the problem you have with OFC masturbatory self-insertion is what, actually? That it isn’t thinly disguised by a canon name?
I know you have a female partner. I agree that female parts are far from yucky. Yet you proudly parade your scorn for the writer who wants to match *her* female parts with *your* hero.
[three sentences deleted as they could be used to identify someon else]
Briony, read, carefully, what you have written in these comments. They epitomise the problems that discourage women from writing about women.
You arent trying to encourage women to write better women– you just want them to stop writing women on your turf.
Take a real careful look at your “advice;”
So….my advice to younger writers trying their hands at OFC has been consistent for a decade: do whatever you want but NEVER pair her up with the hero. EVER. It’s a major turnoff for most fanfic readers and no amount of begging, pleading and crying is gonna get the readers to change their minds about that. Make her a pal, make her a boss, a passer-by, a villian, ANYTHING but the love interest.
Think about what you are saying there. That no mere woman can ever, EVER be on a parity with the male hero. Oh, and that (as every woman knows) girl parts are yucky.
That’s a stomach turning message.
original commen has been deleted to protect a bystander
Well, “beginner” and “newbie” by definition mean someone who doesn’t yet know what she’s doing. And she won’t get that information until she’s been reamed by fandom (which evidently includes your voice since you tell me that is a “BRILLIANT COMM” and “They deserve it”) with a wire bottlebrush.
You don’t have to join in the opprobrium, you know, that would be your choice. Fandom is not an entity, it’s a bunch of people who can, if they want to, disagree on some things.
Haven’t I heard you and [name redacted] refer to each other as “commodore” and “captain?”
And haven’t the two of you proudly presented fics that are the result of Roleplay– including sex scenes?
So the problem you have with OFC masturbatory self-insertion is what, actually? That it isn’t thinly disguised by a canon name?
I know you have a female partner. I agree that female parts are far from yucky. Yet you proudly parade your scorn for the writer who wants to match *her* female parts with *your* hero.
[three sentences deleted as they could be used to identify someon else]
No problem!
You should probably defriend me though, because I’ll be talking about this stuff for a long time.
I quote:
I think the big problem in fandom is that idiots will always write self-insertion fics and attempt to defend them as art. They aren’t—those a masturbatory fantasies and most of us have plenty of our own. *snickers*
I’m glad you’re writing het, I look forward to reading it!
I quote:
I think the big problem in fandom is that idiots will always write self-insertion fics and attempt to defend them as art. They aren’t—those a masturbatory fantasies and most of us have plenty of our own. *snickers*
I’m glad you’re writing het, I look forward to reading it!
No problem!
You should probably defriend me though, because I’ll be talking about this stuff for a long time.
No problem!
You should probably defriend me though, because I’ll be talking about this stuff for a long time.
You did not have to delete your comments,
You could have asked me to screen this conversation. I would have done so. I am not the monster you seem to think me.
But you might want to make some sort of statement for the benefit of those wandering in should any do so, because my comments will remain public.
You did not have to delete your comments,
You could have asked me to screen this conversation. I would have done so. I am not the monster you seem to think me.
But you might want to make some sort of statement for the benefit of those wandering in should any do so, because my comments will remain public.
You did not have to delete your comments,
You could have asked me to screen this conversation. I would have done so. I am not the monster you seem to think me.
But you might want to make some sort of statement for the benefit of those wandering in should any do so, because my comments will remain public.
I… think I love you, just a bit, for this.
I used to be really truly terrified of ever posting the WIP that has been IP for three years, as its leading lady who gets the canonical guy is a childhood genius, professional sniper at 19, internationally renowned painter, etc. because I was afraid of the “Mary Sue” label. It’s part of why writing it has been such a slow process.
Then I read a lot of Shakesville and realized that when you do it to a fictional character, it’s called “saying she’s a Mary Sue”. When you do it to a real person, it’s called “misogyny”.