How the men stole the magic (and how the women found out)

[readingredhead]

So I posted this in the NaNoWriMo forums, but I figure that some of you lurking friends out in cyberspace might have ideas for me, too!

This November, what started out as a simple cross-dressing farce has turned into something approximating a serious commentary on gender roles. I'm actually writing it for someone who bid for it in the

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[wax_wane]

My question is -- has it always been like this? Or somewhere, way back when, did some group of magical women do something that caused the men to kill them off and instigate a ban on female magic use, a ban that then translated over the decades/centuries into a complete and insistent belief in the physical inability of women to use magic?

the latter!! it might also be cool if there's this like rogue group of women who still use magic, and your main character found them. though that might not work in the context of your story......??

it sounds fun! i actually have some questions for you about writing/wanting to be a writer if you don't mind :) i've finally come back to writing fiction, but i have a lot of doubts and questions.... and you were the first writer person that popped into my head :)

[readingredhead]

I was actually thinking about there being a group of rogue women magic-users somewhere, except I don't know how likely it is that Gillian would run into them, because I doubt they're flitting about the royal city, knowing that it's the men there who would have them dead.

As for the writing questions, ask away, I really don't mind. I don't know how helpful I can be, but I'll do my best!

[readingredhead]

Thanks for the link, that's pretty neat.

I thought about magic memory-erasure, but that did seem a little too much like a cop-out. But I like your idea about it being some kind of disaster "for your own good" excuse that turns into a longer-term thing. That could totally work. Maybe women are "more susceptible to demon possession"? That could be a laugh. :)

[incaseineedyou]

Whoa, very very interesting. Can I call you at some point today to discuss? :)

[readingredhead]

Yes! Call me and we will talk about how I am forcing straight people into gay marriage...FICTIONALLY! XD

[ext_37496]

Has it always been like this? In some ways, that could be a more interesting story to write if it is. The idea of suppression is not new, and it feels like you could end up slipping into already-written channels if there was such an incident and subsequent ban.

If you're going to go back this far, you could go back even further: how did the people of this world acquire magic? Did they evolve it, in which case are there animals which have it too? Or did they discover it, like science, in which case they could have just tested the wrong women or the wrong things. If science, too, there would probably be uncredited/controversial studies in which women are shown to be able to use magic, just like the studies of ESP in our world. If not...you have a harder time explaining why women don't have it, since it would predate civilization.

Do you have to go through training to use magic? That's simple, then, just a self-fulfilling cycle of "women can't use magic" <--> "women shouldn't be trained". Be careful if you don't have to go through

[readingredhead]

Thank you for concisely re-stating my major thoughts/issues. :) Specifically this: "Be careful if you don't have to go through training, because then some woman should have been desperate enough to use it before."

I feel like you don't have to go through training, but it would be really helpful. I'm toying with the idea that, over the years, since women weren't using magic and it was probably dangerous for women to use magic, some kind of sexual dimorphism regarding the use of magic rose up. As a result, men are generally more powerful magic users than women--because it hasn't been reproductively smart for women to be powerful magic users. Since women have generally less power than men, they would be less likely to stumble across it in an act of desperation (the desperation would have to be proportionately higher for a woman than for a man). Also, perhaps magic in women has been selected to be inconspicuous and unconscious--increasing one's lifespan, healing minor injuries at a quicker rate than a man, getting "feelings" about