Limyaael

08:43 pm: Rant on whores.
And courtesans, harlots, streetwalkers, ladies of negotiable virtue, and other various hangers-on.

( Here we go )

I think fantasy could use more whore characters—with their own voices, thanks.

Tags: fantasy rants spring 2007, rants on gender, rants on power dynamics

08:43 pm: Class/caste systems
So the little poll said, so shall it be.

( About both kinds )

Tags: fantasy rants spring 2007, pay attention to: class, rants on power dynamics, worldbuilding: history

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

04:41 pm: Writing empires rant, part two
The second part of the ‘writing empires’ rant, since the last one got too long to pack everything into one essay.

( More problems to make things complicated )

Seasonal variation is next, and then it’ll be the start of another poll-time.

Tags: fantasy rants spring 2005, rants on political fantasy, rants on power dynamics

04:05 pm: Writing empire (first part)
This rant concentrates on some ideas for writing empires. I do think they’re different than kingdoms—though fantasy authors often don’t treat them any differently—and that there are a lot of questions and concerns they bring up that most authors simply ignore.

( An empire is a lot more than its imperial family )

Damn it, there will have to be another half of this rant, as this got much longer than anticipated. Well, hey. It’s a fertile subject, and I’d like to see a lot more done with it than currently is.

Tags: fantasy rants spring 2005, rants on political fantasy, rants on power dynamics

10:22 pm: Unequal relationships rant
At first I thought this post would be about unequal love relationships. But I just did a post on love relationships.

So I decided to do it just on unequal relationships, which I'm defining here as one where one person has power over the other. Just because they come from different backgrounds or are different genders doesn't automatically imply 'unequal.'

( So here we go )

Phew. I think we have interesting heroines next.

Tags: fantasy rants spring 2005, rants on power dynamics

08:36 pm: Inheritance rant
Here we go with the inheritance rant. This refers only to inheritance of objects, mostly, since I already did a rant on genealogy and inheritance of political power.

( ’What are you doing with Mother’s will?’ ‘Burning it. She was senile.’ ‘Oh, yeah…’ )

Tags: fantasy rants winter 2005, rants on power dynamics, worldbuilding: law

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

12:01 pm: Servant rant
The rant on servant characters- something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately, since I have a main character in one of my stories who's a servant.

( Authors should more often put their money where their mouth is )

Rant on the dead and necromancy is next.

Tags: fantasy rants autumn 2004, pay attention to: class, rants on character types, rants on power dynamics