[unfiltered] The Power of Representation: SFF Saved My Life

[elialshadowpine]

A perennial question amongst the writing community these days (particularly in post-Racefail SFF) is that of representation. It's heartening to see it as an active topic of discussion, but I think that something that gets lost sometimes is how important it is. I'm many things: pagan, polyamorous, (mostly) lesbian, mentally ill, on the Autism

Comments

[robertsloan2]

This is so true! I am alive today because I grew up in science fiction. Dangerous Visions anthology had transgender characters getting better-than-real treatment in a future science world. Had gblt characters in stories, other sources had them. I remember Elric of Melnibone was an obsession for a while for me, the one swordsman hero I could really identify with so much more than Conan

[elialshadowpine]

I hadn't realized that about Elric -- I tried to pick up the first book but I didn't really get into it. It was too Old School fantasy for me, really; there was a lot more "tell" than "show" back then, and POV was definitely not deep. I'm a child of the 90s, what can I say. LOL.

Don't you have a trans girl character in your YA steampunk? ISTR you talking about her and she sounded pretty freaking awesome. :)

[robertsloan2]

I do have a trans woman in there, can't remember if she was a young girl or a grown woman but she's there in the first book. More will come up in later books, magic tends to pick outliers and so they'll be strong on gblt (Making for lots of cool plots of course!)

[elialshadowpine]

I believe we talked about this and she was one of your Society of Women Engineers? I think you had said she was a teen, and had hoped to write her own romance at some point in the series. :)

[ashbet]

Brilliantly written, and so very true.

I credit SFF with saving my life, too, as an abused child who desperately needed an escape valve -- and a reality check that not all families were like mine, and that I had hopes of growing up and GETTING OUT and building a life for myself away from my family of origin.

Anne McCaffrey and, later, Mercedes Lackey were really important to me -- in part because they showed abused girls/children who weren't irreparably broken by their experiences. Menolly and Talia, Kethry and Tarma and Vanyel, were all *important* to me.

They got out. And, eventually, so did I. And a lot of my attitudes on social issues were forged from my experiences with SFF -- Paganism, polyamory, queerness, non-binary people, race issues, marriage equality, social justice, reproductive rights -- so much of those attitudes, and my position of compassionate understanding toward people who were different from me... that can be laid at the feet of SFF, too, because I sure as hell didn't learn that stuff at home.

*hugs*

-- A

[elialshadowpine]

Yup, I did not go into the abuse factor as much in my post because I wanted to talk about how the representation issue affected me, but having an escape into so many stories and worlds definitely helped distract me from the abuse

[starcat_jewel]

Tarma's asexuality is indeed canon; it's not just part of her oath, but an actual gift from the Star-Eyed, because Her representatives cannot afford the distractions sexuality would cause. In one of the later stories, it's also made clear that "asexual" is not the same thing as "without love" -- Tarma has to recognize and acknowledge her love for Kethry in order to save Kethry's life.

[elialshadowpine]

Thanks for the clarification! It's been awhile since I read the books, and I read them in a binge, and because of memory issues caused by medication (thanks, Lyrica), I don't always have a great memory for specifics a few years later. I had forgotten about that short story -- so, yay, it's not just my headcanon but actual canon. :D

[pickledginger]

Elizabeth Moon! First.female characters I can remember who were warriors, and had adventures.of their own. .Worlds where I could imagine habi adventures, too.

[elialshadowpine]

I haven't read much of Moon's SF, but I LOVED Deed of Paksenarrion. First book I ever read where the fantasy military was realistic, and the character a very well done paladin.

[jamileigh17]

This. So many levels of this. For totally different reasons, but this is exactly why I am going to focus on finding books with all kinds of representation in whatever I end up doing in publishing. I'm already deliberately pulling ones from the slush when they manage to show any diversity in my internship. It might not do anything ultimately, but... It's something.

[elialshadowpine]

Getting diverse books in front of the agent is HUGE. I've heard horror stories about first readers who have actually turned books away because of diverse characters, because they thought "they wouldn't sell". Granted, there are some agents too who still think that. I think that diversity is being discussed enough now that agents and editors are taking notice, but I know more than one person who has gone to self-publishing because several agents/editors responded telling them how much they loved the story, but that because of "x" reason involving a diverse character, they did not think they could sell it.

Which is one of many reasons I love self-publishing. Not that I am anti-traditional publishing, hardly. But now people actually have the option to publish those books that were deemed "too risky." Some of them are making a great living off them, too!

[arctowardthesun]

I've read the Vorkosigan saga about 15 times and it has seriously changed the way I view the world. Like in the back of my head, I sort of expect uterine replicators to be a real thing.

[elialshadowpine]

Ahhhh, yes. I read a lot of books with settings I love but would not want to live with... the Vorkosigan books, however? Dammit, I want to live on Beta Colony. XD

Also, I just read the series for the first time in 2012. I am SERIOUSLY thinking about going back and re-reading the entire series. (And possibly picking up the non-CD e-copies, since it looks like Bujold has gotten the rights reverted for e-copies and is putting them out through her agency. Crappy covers, but that's sorta a tradition with the series anyway. They've made enough of an impact that even at $7 a copy for each individual book and whatever the cost is for the novellas/short stories, that I'd be willing to do it, especially with the author getting the lion's share in that scenario.)

[arctowardthesun]

I'm making my wedding bouquet out of Cordelia's Honor because of how much I love the series. Cordelia is the kind of lady I want to be (though she has one throw-away line that really rubs me the wrong way in Shards of Honor).

READ IT AGAIN, IT'S SO WORTH IT. The newest book is pretty amazing and I'm really sad that it's probably gonna be the last one.

[elialshadowpine]

That is an AWESOME idea for a bouquet! (Also, the line I remember that pissed me off was in Barrayar -- the one where she says Aral is monogamous not bisexual. I try to cut a little slack given when it was written, and Barrayar, but Cordelia being Betan should know better, and I wish there had been a thought or something to indicate that she was saying that as a decoy. Which is my head-canon and I'm sticking to it, cuz it's just so out of character for Cordelia.)

Yesss, I think I very well may. I had a long gap between the early books and when I read the mid-range to later books, so I don't actually have a whole lot of memory of The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, and one other. I also didn't have Falling Free, and I skimmed some of the short stories/novellas, so I'd like to go back and pay them proper attention now that I'm very much hooked. :)