Novels starring Soseono: Really? I mean, really?

[ljlee]

My heroine, the Lady Soseono, is a famous figure in Korean history and one of the most prominent women from ancient Korean history. She has appeared in numerous works of historical fiction, usually as a supporting character by her second husband's side but more rarely as a protagonist in her own right. Obviously I couldn't neglect the market

Comments

[ljlee]

I'm impressed at how unafraid you are of girl cooties. For many guys it seems that being called a woman is the WURST THING EVAH, but you actually encourage the confusion. On a related note, many guys don't mature past the age of nine. Past this point the cool guys accept that contamination is inevitable and that they WILL be used as living hosts for our feminine flesh-eating larvae whether they resist it or- did I just say that out loud? It was a joke! *gets shifty-eyed*

That said, given that at least two of the super-rapey authors cited in this and the older historical fiction post were female, I don't have so much a trepidation with men writing about women as staggeringly ignorant, insensitive, and/or immature people writing anything. In fact, maybe because they're a highly self-selecting group, the known male fanfic writers that I know of are actually more gender-egalitarian than the vast majority of female writers. There's you, Lavanya, MasterGhandalf (I think) of Azula Trilogy fame, and J. Idanian/Zak Crimsonleaf (again, guessing) who wrote Scorched Earth. I'd say you're the most explicitly feminist of the bunch, but all these men's works are feminist in the broad sense of treating the sexes equally.

The thing about the Soseono novel was that she wasn't even the sole viewpoint character--there were plenty of scenes where she wasn't present and couldn't have known the events described--so it would have been zero trouble to add some perspectives about her legacy. That's why I'm leaning more toward the "scrambling to get the book out in time" explanation.

You remind me that I seem to have a ghoulish fondness for dying-person PoVs. You might remember the one from Shadow of the Dragon King, and I wrote another dying PoV scene years ago for a roleplaying campaign, from the viewpoint of a guy who was killed by my character's hand. But yeah, it's even better if there are multiple perspectives about a death and room for interpretation.

I'm never becoming a full-time fiction writer either. I would hate to have to compromise for money, and besides I'll always be a fanfic writer at heart. XD

[loopy777]

Yeah, I made some assumptions about these authors when I read about the Grape Boobs, and the male gaze of which it was reflective. (Incidentally, comparing any sensitive anatomy to food is a good way to get me to wince, because I associate food with biting. Authors, take note!) The rapey stuff is something I have indeed seen as a problem with all kinds of authors, although at least female authors seem more likely to spread the abuse around; I have never read a male authors who let his precious Bro characters be raped.

I'd say you're the most explicitly feminist of the bunch

Wow, if my teenage self could read that, I think he'd short-circuit. XD Then I'd show him ATLA, and point out that *this* is what people mean when they say they want more female characters, not shallow girlfriend stock characters. Then I'd explain that no hiring quotas were ever capable of hurting him, but the Good Ol' Boys Club is more than capable of screwing him out of colleges and jobs. Then we'd get pizza and talk about Azula becoming Darth Vader's apprentice.

[ljlee]

Incidentally, comparing any sensitive anatomy to food is a good way to get me to wince, because I associate food with biting.

Then I'm sure you'd be delighted to know that the colloquial word in Korean for penis (gochu) is the same as the word for chili pepper.

I have never read a male authors who let his precious Bro characters be raped.

Which is odd when he might go through any number of other horrors from brainwashing to torture, but when it comes to sexual abuse it's like a mental shutter slams down.

Wow, if my teenage self could read that, I think he'd short-circuit. XD

I find this heartening, because it supports my hunch that a lot of dudes who are reflexively anti-feminist are anxious adolescents who are likely to grow out of it once they gain more life experience and perspective. There's little such hope for the older dudes who claim leadership over MRAs and PUAs, of course.

[loopy777]

I am very much *not* imagining the crunch of biting into a fresh pepper right now.

I also have to offer a correction about male characters being raped. I remembered that in the first book of Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series, the main male character is captured by a 'Mord-Sith,' a professional female torturer who wears tight red leather and uses magic to cause pain. The guy is eventually broken and is taken as the Mord-Sith's slave lover, but his gentleness and compassion turns her good and eventually leads to his escaping and finding himself again. So he was technically raped in that his ability to consent was taken away, but he got to have a BDSM lover who he fixes with his love before she dies. And then in future books, all the other Mord-Sith swear complete loyalty to him because of how nice he was to their comrade, and they act as his personal servants and bodyguards who flirt incessantly with him while also respecting his relationship with his girlfriend.

So it's the exception that proves the rule, basically.