Of course I don't expect her to respond but my point is that things have become so closed off and cliquey that it's suddenly a bad thing to criticise someone or something, no matter how valid one's points are. This attitude of bloggers and critics being the enemy is completely unfair and I don't understand why pointing out something one sees as problematic is a bad thing, especially when it's in a genre targeted to a younger audience. Why is discussing sexism and other issues in the genre suddenly a no-go area? Look at what happened with the Bitch media story (disclaimer: I was somewhat involved in that
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I understand that this is a business, I really do, but my worries still stand. If I end up never being published because of that, I'm pretty okay with that, I've had to come to terms with that since I decided to start doing the Project. I have a stupidly high moral standard I'm eager to stick to, which is weird to admit.
This is refreshing to read after all the stuff I've read or seen in my peripheral reading of writing-related blogs as of late. I've come to the same conclusion as you, though I have a long way to go to hone my skills before I consider querying agents and/or submitting to publishers. I'm sorry, I'm not going to shut up if I see rape culture and/or sexism perpetuated in popular books.
Go out and BUY books, people. BUY the books you like seeing on shelves, BUY the books that you believe are important for people to read. BUY these books that are perpetuating solid feminist archetypes, kickass heroines that promote healthy romantic relationships.
Name some. I've been looking for at least a year, and such books are very thin on the ground.
Have you read the Sally Lockhart quartet by Phillip Pullman? They're not recent books but Sally is my fictional heroine - she's strong, independent, intelligent, intuitive, kickarse and fighting against her alloted place as a woman in Victorian times. The first book is The Ruby in the Smoke and I highly recommend them all, although she's barely in the 4th one.
*sigh* I've been looking for them for a year. I haven't found them in any library in my state. I keep hoping that one library will buy them and then I'll be able to get them through inter-library loan.
I bought myself the Parasol Protectorate (Soulless, Changeless and Blameless are the three that have been published so far) for my birthday, though. I love steampunk, and the heroine (who is indeed soulless) is wonderfully sensible and no-nonsense, in or out of a crisis.
I hope you find them, they're a lot of fun and Sally really made an impact on me growing up. The series also kickstarted my not so secret love of Victorian detective novels.
I loved Soulless! I have the other two on my TBR pile but finding the time to read them on top of uni stuff and everything else is tough. I did love Alexia a lot, she had a great wit and attitude.
I'll definitely get round to reading them once my term break starts. I need some vampires and werewolves that aren't telling me to go back into the kitchen, woman
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Well, I have the Abhorsen Trilogy. I've only recently heard of Mira Grant, and haven't read anything by her yet. I've heard vaguely of Larbalestier; the others I've never heard of at all.
Based on the summaries at Amazon, I'll probably skip the other four. Anna and the French Kiss and Perfect Chemistry don't look like my kind of thing, though, because I assume going in that if it's a romance--YA or not--that of course the couple will get together by the end of the book...or at least the series. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been any point in writing the story. (The romance industry is NOT fond of unhappy endings
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As I said, based on the summaries at Amazon. I did go to Amazon to check out all the books you suggested.
Here are the summaries:
Bianca Piper, 17, is smart, outspoken, and loyal to her two beautiful friends. She is also convinced that she is unattractive, an opinion confirmed when school hottie and “man-whore” Wesley Rush calls her a “Duff” (designated ugly fat friend). Bianca responds by throwing her Cherry Coke in his face, but when her mother decides to divorce her father, who then lapses into drinking again, she becomes involved in a secretive sexual relationship with Wesley to take her mind off her problems. Bianca finds that as their love/hate relationship continues, she is falling in love with him. Not surprisingly, Wesley, who has family problems of his own, reciprocates and announces that, although he doesn't chase girls, he is chasing her. Eventually, everything comes to a satisfying but predictable conclusion. This debut novel is a fun read and surprisingly feminist in a number of ways. Keplinger makes good points about
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I would not want to read a book about a girl who gets involved with a guy who insults her.I would not want to read about it, either, unless it was a novel showcasing a bad relationship as a bad relationship. Even then, I don't think I'd feel the desire because I saw it happen in front of me. I had a friend in high school who dated two of the rudest, most controlling boys (not at the same time; one broke up with her, she ran to the second, the second broke up with her, she went back to the first, and so on). She even said herself she didn't like them except when they gave her presents (which is a problem in itself) and it crossed her mind more than once that maybe she should find someone better. These boys made her hate herself, made her think it didn't matter what others said about her, she was absolutely worthless. The sad thing is, she bought into it. I'd tell her reasons I liked her (she wasn't perfect but after all that putting down I wanted to boost her confidence) and she'd never quite believe it. Unless the point of a
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This is refreshing to read after all the stuff I've read or seen in my peripheral reading of writing-related blogs as of late. I've come to the same conclusion as you, though I have a long way to go to hone my skills before I consider querying agents and/or submitting to publishers. I'm sorry, I'm not going to shut up if I see rape culture and/or sexism perpetuated in popular books.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Name some. I've been looking for at least a year, and such books are very thin on the ground.
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I bought myself the Parasol Protectorate (Soulless, Changeless and Blameless are the three that have been published so far) for my birthday, though. I love steampunk, and the heroine (who is indeed soulless) is wonderfully sensible and no-nonsense, in or out of a crisis.
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I loved Soulless! I have the other two on my TBR pile but finding the time to read them on top of uni stuff and everything else is tough. I did love Alexia a lot, she had a great wit and attitude.
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Well, I have the Abhorsen Trilogy. I've only recently heard of Mira Grant, and haven't read anything by her yet. I've heard vaguely of Larbalestier; the others I've never heard of at all.
Magic Under Glass and Plain Kate promising. And I'll look for Liar and Feed.
Based on the summaries at Amazon, I'll probably skip the other four. Anna and the French Kiss and Perfect Chemistry don't look like my kind of thing, though, because I assume going in that if it's a romance--YA or not--that of course the couple will get together by the end of the book...or at least the series. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been any point in writing the story. (The romance industry is NOT fond of unhappy endings ( ... )
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Here are the summaries:
Bianca Piper, 17, is smart, outspoken, and loyal to her two beautiful friends. She is also convinced that she is unattractive, an opinion confirmed when school hottie and “man-whore” Wesley Rush calls her a “Duff” (designated ugly fat friend). Bianca responds by throwing her Cherry Coke in his face, but when her mother decides to divorce her father, who then lapses into drinking again, she becomes involved in a secretive sexual relationship with Wesley to take her mind off her problems. Bianca finds that as their love/hate relationship continues, she is falling in love with him. Not surprisingly, Wesley, who has family problems of his own, reciprocates and announces that, although he doesn't chase girls, he is chasing her. Eventually, everything comes to a satisfying but predictable conclusion. This debut novel is a fun read and surprisingly feminist in a number of ways. Keplinger makes good points about ( ... )
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