Limyaael

06:23 pm: On using non-Western influence in fantasy.
( So here we are )

And so far, it looks like attitudes towards killing and violence is next.

Tags: fantasy rants spring 2007, pay attention to: race, rants on power dynamics, worldbuilding: culture

11:05 pm: Writing fantasy about oppression
All right then.

Frankly, this rant was difficult to write. Part of it is simply that I’m afraid I’ll leave something important out. The other part is that I’m white, middle-class, and American, and so I’m approaching a lot of this in theory, not in the experience of living with it. Given the time period I live in, I don’t even have to deal with some things that would have been de rigeur for an American white, middle-class woman a few decades ago. So, if you see something in the rant you think is biased, ill-chosen, wrongly-worded, or offensive, please correct me. The nice thing about using an LJ post as a format for this rant is that I can clearly show the correction of mistakes by strikeouts.

( So here we go )

All right. After all, I am hardly immune from criticism, either.

Tell me what you think.

Tags: fantasy rants spring 2007, pay attention to: class, pay attention to: race, rants on political fantasy, rants on power dynamics

10:54 pm: Rant on slavery
This is the rant on slavery.

( Some things that might be useful/some things that I wish more authors remembered )

Not sure what rant should be next, really.

Tags: fantasy rants autumn 2004, pay attention to: class, pay attention to: race, rants on power dynamics, rants on war

09:46 pm: Writing different characters (part one)
Right. Before I start this off, I want to quote my favorite author, Guy Gavriel Kay, because he says the core principle of what I’m trying to explain here more clearly (and in fewer words) than I can:

“'As for the female psyche, I used to be flattered when people said I did convincing female characters, but lately I confess it bemuses me. The implied idea underlying the comment is that it is startling that a man can do plausible women characters. If you push this just a bit, you have to ask how any woman could do a convincing man, how any young writer could do a geriatric, how any of us could do someone not...ourselves. Creating characters is, in a large way, an act of imaginative empathy, and I'm resistant to the idea that there are absolute borders to that. In the end, I'd say that we're really talking about good or bad writing, rather than male and female, or young and old.'

-The quote is from this interview on Kay’s official website, Bright Weavings.

( If you still want to listen to me ramble on about it, come inside )

This would be way too long if I tried to do everything at once. There’s another one coming up instead.

Tags: fantasy rants autumn 2004, pay attention to: class, pay attention to: race, rants on gender, rants on nonhumans