tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2034071125147559672024-03-04T21:12:11.825-08:00The Devil of Ponong"Show me a great actor, and I'll show you a lousy husband. Show me a great actress, and you've seen the devil." ~~ W.C. FieldsJill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-9226463384338211112014-11-03T17:32:00.000-08:002014-11-03T17:32:41.248-08:00Professor MoriartyI saw a CFS (call for submissions) for short stories using Professor Moriarty as the MC (main character). It interested me, so I, of course, read the entire canon of Holmes stories again. For a figure who looms as large over the mythos as he does, Moriarty is strangely absent from the canon. It's maddening.<br />
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Moriarty is really only in one story - The Final Problem. He is mentioned in The Valley of Fear, but that's a bit of a cheat because 1) it was written after The Final Problem and 2) he's mentioned, but he's never shown. With so little to go on, it's difficult to flesh out the character enough to have a main character. There aren't many facts. There aren't even impressions. Just a sentence here or there.<br />
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The temptation is to resort to watching TV and movie adaptations, but that's problematic for several reasons. While Elementary gets points for originality in their portrayal, using a female Moriarty would be at odds with the original era. BBC's Sherlock... oh dear. While Andrew Scott's performance was amazing at times-- The scene where he asks the female cop to put a stick of gum in his mouth before they lead him into court is creepy and chilling. When he was at Kitty's apartment and walked in to find Holmes and Watson there, oh! You believed he was just some poor dupe.-- other times, such as the swimming pool scene where they first meet, was a bit too much. It was a unique interpretation, and one that no one should ever try to duplicate. The Jeremy Brett adaptations will probably define Sherlock Holmes for the next fifty years, but since they were so faithful to canon, again, Moriarty isn't shown much. I haven't seen the Russian adaptations although I hear that they were very well done. The only remaining modern adaptation that fleshed out Moriarty's role was The Game of Shadows, and I think that was the closest to my understanding of the character I've seen. However... they're rather brawny versions of these characters, quite in contrast to the Jeremy Brett! But the problem is that all of these are interpretations, and it seems wrong to use one of those to help form my vision. Only canon will do.<br />
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So I spent a week reading the canon. then moved on to gleaning information from the various online Sherlock Holmes fandoms. From there I was able to track down the most probable university where Moriarty was a professor, which fit in nicely with the two books he's said to have written. From there, I figured out the years he was mostly likely there, who were the (real) astronomers who would have been working at the observatory during those years, and their particular areas of interest. Moriarty wrote about asteroids Only one of the three probable astronomers he would have met did work with asteroids. That gives me an anchor year. I'm also researching a famous theft that happened around that time. Hopefully, these years overlap.<br />
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I'm collecting facts. But a list of facts does not a character make. I hope somewhere among all these notes that I find something to spark a personality. Being the anti-Holmes isn't enough. Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-76260416331457593892014-10-12T17:57:00.000-07:002014-10-12T17:57:03.178-07:00Ahead: More Science FictionMy vision for The Devil of Ponong series has always been more steampunk than shows on the page. Technology is there, but it's been subdued. So for those of you who wonder if it's science fiction light, it has been, but there's a reason for that. As a fan of science fiction, one thing has always bugged me, and that's planetwide lack of diversity.<br />
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Part of this, I get. Watch Star Trek and everyone except the away team looks like the Von Trapp Family Singers, as if some nanny had made all their clothes from the same bolt(s) of cloth. But what else is a wardrobe department supposed to do with one week of turn-around? They developed one look for the planet and whip up a hundred costumes because that's all they had time for.And maybe the away team only landed in a small place and everyone there kind of dressed the same. Fine. But in too many books, the entire planet is one religion, one race, and of one thought about important matters. When is that possible with sentient beings? And while we're at it, how is it that everyone has equal access to the same quality of clothes, much less live in nearly identical dwellings and have the same technology? <br />
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Half a mile away from me, homeowners have access to high speed internet, and have had it for over five years, but an invisible line has been drawn around where I am and the cable company shows no interest in ever servicing us with the better connections. Half a mile away! I might as well live on a remote island in the south Pacific.<br />
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One of my favorite movies is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. At one point they leave Wyoming ( think) and head to New York City where they eventually catch a boat on their way to Bolivia. While they were Wyoming, it was still very much the wild west, but the montage of NYC at the same point in time shows paved streets jammed with automobiles. These two worlds existed at the same time in the same country. Extrapolating that disparity, it didn't take much imagine the great differences between Thampur and Ponong.<br />
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Decades ago, someone tried to convince me that as Southeast Asia and Africa developed, they would string telephone wires across their continents. What really happened was that developing areas leapfrogged past the historical stages that led to current telecommunication systems in the west and headed right for mobile technology. Why string a bunch of wires everywhere when you can get right to the good stuff with less expense? So not only do we have unequal access, but we also adapt technology differently. <br />
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In countries without well developed banking systems, people use debt card apps on their phones to pay for everything. Here in the US, we're actually far behind the curve adapting that level of technology. Why? I have no idea. Maybe because we figured out clunky work-arounds that we're too invested in to give up, or because we invested in a cellular infrastructure that doesn't play well with others, or maybe because culturally, we haven't reached that place where we understand that what we think of as phones are actually handheld computers on which we can also make phone calls, whereas in Korea and the UK and Iceland and Egypt, everyone wised up to the computer thing a long time ago and ran with it.<br />
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Disparity in adoption is real, and I felt it had to be reflected in my stories. Unfortunately that meant mentioning cool gadgets but not really getting to show them. But now that QuiTai is heading for the continent, I'll finally get to indulge in showing off the mechanical wonders of the age. It's going to be difficult to restrain myself. So expect more science fiction. More gadgets. More steampunky goodness.Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-80572429727912458722014-09-30T13:27:00.000-07:002014-09-30T19:46:17.542-07:00Do I Write Too Much About TV?For a long time, I didn't watch any television. I used that time to write. But then I decided to quit being so antisocial and have found a number of shows I like. At some point I'll rave on about the perfection that is Orphan Black. I have True detective recorded but haven't had a chance to watch it. And, of course, I'm current on Doctor Who and Penny Dreadful.<br />
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Person of Interest - the first several seasons were much like the Equalizer. Good, but the idea grew stale just as it had with the original Equalizer. So in a brilliant move, they revisited their original concept and decided to explore the dystopian side. There's a machine-- now two-- that monitors everything people do. Privacy is an illusion. It would be bad enough if the government were in control of it, but in the hands of a private company, it's terrifying. Of course the team will eventually prevail, but the personal stakes for them are now dire. They can't simply hide their identities because that's what vigilante justice teams do when they're playing Batman. Oh no. Now their lives are at stake and they have to balance that with their desire to help others.<br />
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One of the reason I enjoy Person of Interest so much is that it has some of the finest female characters on television. Shaw and Root have their own dynamic duo chemistry going much as John and Finch do. They have their own lives, aims, and agendas. There have been scary, capable female villains as well. Even their female victims don't tend to cower and scream while other people take care of the dirty work. Most are gutsy and continue to risk their lives for their ideas. I miss Taraji Henson. She wasn't just the most capable cop out there, she was also a veteran who balanced out John's "doesn't integrate well" persona. The last thing we need is television subtly reinforcing the idea that returning veterans are unbalanced.<br />
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Female characters aren't the only ones that shine in this show. Elias is chilling. Fusco may be on the road to redemption, but it won't ever be easy. They all make for a show that I'm not bored of yet. the explosions are good, but the characters are what keeps me watching.<br />
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I'm awaiting the return of Elementary. It took a while for me to get into it, but now it has far surpassed BBC's Sherlock as my favorite (current) adaptation. Can we all agree that series three of BBC's Sherlock was a disaster? It felt as if the fanboys took over the fanboy asylum this time around. They had over a year to write the script, but after the first installment, my comment was "And that's the best you could do?" Where to begin on all the things so terribly wrong with series three? What happened to the beautiful cinematography? And what on god's green earth was that cheesy "Sex and the City" music when Sherlock entered the restaurant? Who wrote that awful dialog between Sherlock and Mycroft after the incredibly pointless Russian prison scene when Sherlock decides to come in from the cold? But the thing I found most upsetting what the awful cheat of not explaining how he survived the Reichenbach Fall. That, Mssrs Gatiss and Moffat, was unforgivable. Because you know what it said to me? That you have no clue how it worked. You failed to discuss it with a professional illusionist before you wrote and filmed it, then afterwards realized how dodgy your physics were, so you tried to hide it by fudging the reveal. That will not stand, sirs!<br />
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That cheat wasn't the only thing I hated about series three. The incessant winking and nodding to the fans became a full-on twitch. Don't get me started about how horribly they continue to use Molly for cruel jokes. But even with all that aside, the mystery wasn't all that mysterious. Cardinal sin! You know, I could forgive the egregious errors in Hound of Baskerville, because otherwise it was well written, but this? No. No forgiveness, ever. I doubt I'll ever watch series three again. It's so sad that it's crumbling so rapidly.<br />
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Thankfully, Elementary gets stronger over time. I let go of canon and simply enjoy the performances and writing. There's one small regret, and that's how they combined Irene Adler with Moriarty. You've read my comments on that before, but this is a different regret, which in a way shows how fond I am of what these writers are doing. There's a CFS (call for submissions) by Maxim Jakubowski for stories featuring Moriarty as the MC (main character). Since Moriarty really only appears in one canon story, and is mentioned in only one other (maybe two), there isn't much to go on. While I don't want to turn to movie or television portrayals of him for inspiration, I'm aware that those do influence how readers think of the villain, so I can't outright dismiss them. If only Elementary's Moriarty had been closer to canon! That would have been an interesting model. But no, they went so far off canon that there's no way their work can expand my understanding of the character. Rats. I know I'm in the minority here, but I did not like BBC's take on Moriarty. He didn't in any way say mathematical prodigy to me. That leaves the current movie adaptations, which are closer to my reading of the man. With that model and the canon stories in hand, now all I have to do is think of the story.<br />
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All.<br />
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sigh<br />
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Meanwhile, I have most of the story for Devil's Game in mind. I've spent the past few weeks trying to decide where to start it. Ill let you know when I figure it out, because that's the point where I'll start actually writing it.Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-8018300393317045332014-08-26T21:11:00.002-07:002014-08-26T21:11:36.979-07:00My Writing ProcessBecause someone asked.<br />
You know who you are.<br />
<br />
In television commercials and on Mythbusters, they always warn you DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. I have a similar warning about my writing process because it must be wrong. It has to be wrong. I'm terribly inefficient. I don't do things the same way every time. I don't find the plot so much as it finds me as I blunder about.<br />
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I may have posted about my experience writing The Devil's concubine, but I'll sum it up here. I originally wrote it as a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) work. the challenge there is to write a complete fifty thousand word first draft between November 1st and 30th. But just because you can't write word one before the first doesn't mean you can't plan ahead. I was looking for a writing experience, not a real first draft, so I decided to try all sorts of things I'd never done before, such as working from a written outline and using Scrivner.<br />
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A writer friend suggested using the snowflake outline method, so I tried it even though I hated the idea so much (Flames! Flames on the side of my face!) that I dreaded forcing myself into it. I won't go into the snowflake method here (Google it for yourself) but I will say a few things about it. 1) outlining didn't destroy my creativity, it simply changed when I was creative. 2) if you have to churn out a fifty thousand draft in thirty days, you need an outline like this. 3) even if I never outline another novel as long as I live, there were some truly useful tools there, the most important of which were the first three. Oddly enough, those first three are the last three seat-of-the-pants (pantster) writers usually think about, and even then, only when they're trying to sell the work.<br />
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I didn't get Scrivner at that time even though I meant to. I used it to write Tempt the Devil. The jury is still out on it. I didn't use all its bells and whistles, but I liked being able to move scenes around easily and see them on my sidebar while I'm working on text.<br />
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Getting back to my NaNOWriMo experience, on November 1st I had a detailed outline and was ready to start writing, Every night when I got home from work, and after dinner, I knew exactly where I was in the story, what was supposed to happen in the scene, and what came next. There wasn't a moment of staring at the wall wondering about any of that, which seems to be my usual habit. (my wallpaper is atrocious and not at all conducive to the imagination) By the 28th, I had more than fifty thousand words and a completed first draft.<br />
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It sucked.<br />
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I rewrote it -- meaning that I typed each word of it over again rather than working to improve the the first draft-- in December and January. The main problem I fixed was changing the main character from Kyam to QuiTai, which of course meant many new scenes. That was a huge leap forward, because now she wasn't this incomprehensible, stereotypical dragon lady. She still was to Kyam, but not the reader. Guess whose opinion I cared about more?<br />
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But while changing the MC to QuiTai made huge, positive changed to the work, there were still problems with the story. The biggest one? Kyam. He was a different person in each scene. He was always the foil to QuiTai, but he was inconsistent. You'd think after starting out with him as my MC that I'd have a clearer view of who he was, but I didn't. So the third time, I focused on him and really defined who he was rather than thinking of his role in moving the plot forward. That was the fix it needed.<br />
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I'm not supposed to say this, but I consider Devils' Concubine to world's longest prolog for Devil Incarnate. The sole purpose of it was to introduce QuiTai and set everything in motion for Incarnate. Incarnate was so complicated with so many moving pieces that it couldn't fit into one book. But since I wrote Concubine with Incarnate's plot already in mind, Incarnate was fairly easy to write.<br />
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"You don't learn how to write a novel. You learn how to write this novel." Poppy Z Brite.<br />
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She said that as the first Saints and Sinners writer's conference I went to, and it has stayed in my mind as I've worked through this series. Every novel is a different animal. It seems like the same work, but it isn't. There are different problems. Challenges.<br />
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I was a bit spoiled after how easily Incarnate flowed onto the page, so I was a bit surprised when Tempt the Devil turned out to be as difficult as Concubine was, but for different reasons. In the first draft, QuiTai was the detective. The problem here--- and I'm sure A.C. Doyle must have run into this exact issue with his novella length Sherlock Holmes story Hound of the Baskervilles-- was that QuiTai was too smart. Unless I gave her a serious case of the stupids, she'd solve the case far too quickly. AC Doyle took care of that by having Sherlock send Watson out to investigate. Watson dutifully reported what he saw in letters. He did a good job, I think. Watson, we must never forget, was a worthy, educated man. A brave soul. But oddly for a doctor, he couldn't seem to link symptoms to the cause.<br />
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I solved my problem by calling on my own Watson, Kyam Zul. An intelligent man. A worthy one. And, in the end, a better detective than Doctor Watson. To do that, I had to toss out the first draft and start over from word one. The second draft was better but I wasn't at all happy with it. Before I could muse over the problems and fix them, a close relative died. And the company I worked for closed its doors. And there was some other family drama. Every time I thought I put out a fire, another one would crop up. Somehow, I lucked into the perfect position quickly after the company closed and the family drama fires got smaller and easier to manage with the passage of time. Either that or I'm numb to emergencies by now. Either way, it seemed as if life got less hectic. At that point, I'd been away from my manuscript long enough that it was easier to see the flaws. (Always remember to set aside your work for as long as you can stand to so you can come back to it with fresh eyes. It makes a world of difference) With my MS already six months late for delivery, I sped through the third rewrite. I sped too much. The final chapter was utter crap. My beta readers called me out on it, thankfully. So I fixed it and got the MS out the door.<br />
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Whew!<br />
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Rewriting an entire novel three times is a waste of time and it's inefficient. This is why I'd never suggest my "process" to anyone. But there are things I do that aren't such a waste of time. My stories are complex. There are many wheels within wheels. Sometimes as I'm writing, something will occur to me and it's as if the perfect cog dropped into the timepiece. It's glorious and perfect and such a gift from my subconscious. I also call it lacquer. It's one thin coat of varnish over another, over and over, until each scene has multiple depths of meaning set into the words. Lacquer or clockworks, it all leads to the same thing-- going back into previous chapters and weaving those thread seamlessly into the existing work.<br />
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That takes a lot of time. It takes keeping the whole novel inside my head at the same time which is really difficult to do. That's why outlines are good, because you get to have an adjunct brain to hold all that detail for you. If I used Scrivner the way it was meant to be used, I'd have the power of an outline at my fingertips without having to actually write an outline. So even if you hate outlines, play around with one or use Scrivner and you may find it works well for you. I won't because I work the way I work, but you work the way you work and no two writers are the same, so just because something doesn't work for me doesn't mean ti won't for you.<br />
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Now I'm noodling around ideas for book four of the Devil of Ponong series. I have a few seconds of a mental image, like a movie inside my brain, that offers a tantalizing clue. Like strudel dough, I have to stretch and work that blip of insight into a whole scene, then into a book. <br />
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I'll spend the next month or so imagining, rejecting, and piecing together the story before I sit down to write it. I won't know the entire story. I seem to find it as I'm writing -- another thing which you probably should not do. Yes, I have a vision of the overall series story arc, but there are many path through the woods that all lead to the same destination. My method is to blunder around by writing until I luck onto the right path. How do I know it;s the right path? I can't explain it. I just know.<br />
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I'm a bad example. Really, there must be a better way to write. I just can't get myself to work any other way. So now you know my process, such as it is. But please, Do Not Try This At Home. You've been warned. ;)Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-85783873774903912522014-08-11T12:53:00.001-07:002014-08-11T12:53:33.896-07:00Thank YouI wrote a forward with a list of thank yous but I don't see it in the ebook, so I need to publicly thank:<br />
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William (correct me if this is wrong) who takes my terrible attempts at maps and makes them wonderful.<br />
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Nan Andrews - who gives me some of the best, on point critiques of my work. She makes everything I do better. Plus she's willing to read the version before the good version, which takes a lot of time, and talk through it in detail with me with is so generous and amazing that the words thank you seem inadequate.There's that writer's ego where you want people to be into your work, but when it's another writer, the conversation is like attending a master class where you're the only student.<br />
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Ali Magnum (don't know if you want your real name here) who, like Nan, donates her time and energy to help me make my work better. I originally wrote a terrible, awful,embarrassingly crappy final chapter because, frankly, I wanted to wrap it up and get it to my publisher. Ali whacked my nose with a rolled-up newspaper and told me to fix it or else. It really was crap, and she was right to point it out. She also finds all my typos. Do you have any idea what that's worth on the open market? And she just gives it to me. Amazing.<br />
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D.L. King - who is my biggest fan. But not in that creepy <i>Misery</i> kind of way.Yet. But she's always such a supporter of my writing and has been for years.<br />
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Dorothy - my publisher, who makes me happily published. You have no idea how rare that is. We have a great working relationship (at least I think so) and she has such enthusiasm for this series that I feel quite special. I know she publishes other writers, but she gives me so much attention that it doesn't seem like it.<br />
<br />Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-60343662864528004822014-08-09T10:39:00.000-07:002014-08-10T17:31:58.728-07:00Tempt the Devil is Out!I'm so excited!<br />
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Have I mentioned how difficult it was to write the first book in this series, <i>The Devil's Concubine</i>? Well, <i><b>Tempt the Devil</b></i> was just as bad. I'm so relieved that it's finally ready for you to read! I can't wait to hear if you enjoyed it.<br />
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Buy links:<br />
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Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MH4IRTI" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MH4IRTI</a> </div>
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Apple iTunes: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id906818576" rel="nofollow">https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id906818576</a> </div>
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Barnes & Noble: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tempt-the-devil-jill-braden/1120075921?ean=2940149656189" rel="nofollow">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tempt-the-devil-jill-braden/1120075921?ean=2940149656189</a> </div>
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Kobo: <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/tempt-the-devil-4" rel="nofollow">http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/tempt-the-devil-4</a> </div>
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I've always loved mysteries. I read every Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Three Investigators, Agatha Christie, PD James, A.C. Doyle, Lawrence Sanders, Dorothy Sayers, E.A. Poe, and true crime (a guilty pleasure of mine) novel on the library shelves. <i>The Devil's Concubine</i> and <i>Devil Incarnate</i> were political thrillers, but this time I wanted to write a mystery. Who knows where these whims come from? But I was determined, so even though I'd never written one before, Tempt the Devil would be a murder mystery even if it killed me.</div>
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It almost did. Like <i>The Devil's Concubine</i>, I completely rewrote this one three times. I am a terribly inefficient writer. In the first draft, QuiTai was the detective. She solved it too quickly, because she's The Woman, this planet's version of Irene Adler, the only person to ever outsmart Sherlock Holmes. It made for a very short story. Second version: I made Kyam the detective, but QuiTai was still leading him around saying "Here's a clue." It wasn't until I tossed her into the Fortress that I could let Kyam get on with the detective work uninterrupted. That version worked. Whew!</div>
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The phrase that popped into my mind immediately after deciding <i>Tempt the Devil</i> would be a mystery was "How about a nice, simple little murder for once?" But of course, nothing is simple in Levapur. The personal is the political, and the political is personal. (and yes, I know murder is never nice, but I don't write nice)</div>
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(this next paragraph might be considered a bit of a spoiler, so read with caution.) </div>
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That got me thinking about How Things Actually Work in Real Life-- a continuing series of reality checks I take with my stories so I write characters who act like real people and not like, well, characters in a novel. We'd like to think our enemies do things because they sat down and logically picked the most evil thing to do, but in reality, I think most of our enemies don't even know they're our enemies, and they blunder through life just the same as we do. If what they do hurts us, it's usually unintended. (When we set out to harm others, we usually just do something stupid to sabotage ourselves.) So How Things Actually Work in Real Life is that sometimes, the world does not revolve around us. Things happen that have nothing to do with us even though they affect us. The problem starts when we forget that it isn't always about us. </div>
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Was that cryptic enough?</div>
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I'm so glad to back on track and proud of how this story worked out. It was worth the three versions. The next book, <i>Devil's Game,</i> is swirling around in my mind in a happy little whirlpool of imagination. I foresee an airship, intrigue on the continent, and Grandfather Zul sitting across a table from QuiTai in a high-stakes game.</div>
Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-49436922047391928722014-02-05T09:24:00.001-08:002014-02-05T09:24:46.797-08:00What Is The Story About?The first draft of Tempt the Devil is FINALLY finished.<br />
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*toss of confetti*<br />
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Before I start work on the second draft, there's a question that has to be asked and answered: What Is The Story About.<br />
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You'd think I know, but it's not that clear while I'm writing it. If you had asked me in the middle of the first draft what tempt the Devil was about, I would have said, "One of QuiTai's enemies is found dead in the Red Happiness. If the real murderer isn't found, she'll be executed by sunset." Or something like that, but that isn't what the story is about. That's the plot.<br />
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Plot and theme are two different things. They influence each other. Any character action should serve both to some degree. Plot is a timeline of events, cause and effect. Theme is more nebulous, more of a gut reaction, the emotional takeaway.<br />
<br />
I'm sure most writers know what they mean to say when they sit down to write a story, but I discover it while I'm writing. It does no good to ask what the story is about while I'm working on the first draft because I don't have a clue. I haven't found it yet.<br />
<br />
As I think about what I wrote in the first draft, the theme comes into focus. While I didn't know at a conscious level, subconsciously I was weaving it into the fabric of the story. Looking back, it's all so obvious. Tempt the Devil is about Kyam forgiving QuiTai for betraying him during the rice riot. (although, if you're team QuiTai, you know there's nothing to forgive) <br />
<br />
Now I can get to work on the second draft.<br />
Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-68834905120170917902013-12-18T10:09:00.000-08:002013-12-18T10:09:52.743-08:00Tempt the DevilAfter a two month break to deal with a ton of emotional crap around a death in the family and another huge setback, I'm writing again. I'm always amazed at how long it takes to drag a story out of my imagination. Ans how many false starts I have. If I wrote a straightforward story, I probably wouldn't have as many problems, but I like all the layers and complicated nature of life in Ponong.<br />
<br />
So, what do we have?<br />
<br />
When one of QuiTai's enemies turns up dead at the Red Happiness, it's no surprise that she's the prime suspect. The colonial militia is notorious for arresting, and executing, any handy suspect-- as long as they're Ponongese. Even her solid alibi isn't enough to save her. Before they hang her for the murder though, they want her to tell them who really did it. Should she tell them the truth, or get revenge?<br />
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Secrets are exposed at every turn, and an inconvenient character arrives from Thampur with orders from Grandfather Zul. RhiHanya and LiHoun work together, but don't dare suggest RhiHanya is LiHoun's assistant. Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-51699040680137212612013-12-15T18:26:00.002-08:002013-12-17T10:20:25.644-08:00Ten Books That have Stayed With MeThis is the current meme going around the social networks. You're supposed to list the first ten that come to mind, but pfffft, I revised after some thought.<br />
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In no particular order:<br />
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1. Dune by Frank Herbert. The first real science fiction novel I ever read. Made me a fan of the genre. Still among my top ten favorites. <br />
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2. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It probably helps that the year I read it, Apocalypse Now was released.<br />
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3. No Fight, No Biting by Else Homelund Minarik with illustrations by Maurice Sendak. I still like this book.<br />
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4. Green Eggs and Ham. I didn't like it, but it's the book I was looking at when the whole reading thing clicked into place. I didn't want to go to sleep that night because I was scared I'd forget how to read during the night and the thought of that devastated me.<br />
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5. The Harry Potter series. This is my first cheat. But if I list the series book by book, I use seven slots on this limited list, and that simply isn't going to happen.<br />
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6. Gun, With Occasional Music (tied with As She Crawled Across the Table) by Johnathan Latham<br />
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7. Glass Books of the Dream Eaters/The Dark Volume/Chemikal Marriage by Gordon Dahlquist because they are one book in three parts in my mind. And because I'm cheating again and listing a series as a single book.<br />
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8. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Aurthur Conan Doyle. truthfully, I listed Agatha Christie here first, but I have a difficult time remembering individual stories beyond And Then There Were None and Murder of the Oriental Express, whereas I can remember almost every Holmes story as distinct.<br />
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9. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. But you could put any of his books here because I love them equally.<br />
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10. We Have Always Lived in the Castle because it is brilliant and horrible as only Shirley Jackson can write.<br />
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and because ten is a silly limit:<br />
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11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin because it really is that good.<br />
12. From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Koninsberg because I really identified with a girl who wanted to escape the horrible fate of being a girl.<br />
13.Kiln People by David Brin because science fiction and a mystery! Great concept. Have to admit the ending draggggggggged.<br />
14. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern<br />
15. The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters <br />
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And my top two for 2013<br />
1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn<br />
2. Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson<br />
The reason I'm not including them in the rest of my list is that it's too soon to say if they'll stay with me.<br />
<br />Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-58716139169267793392013-12-08T14:14:00.002-08:002013-12-12T09:51:44.622-08:00Rainbow AwardsI'm apparently in three categories:<br />
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Bisexual & LGBT Fantasy, Paranormal romance and Sci Fi/ Futuristic (Runner up)<br />
Debut Novel (Runner up)<br />
and<br />
Bisexual Novel (Runner up)<br />
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You can see the full list <a href="http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/tag/rainbow+awards+2013">here</a>.<br />
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Nice to see friends Sassafras Lowrey, Jeff Mann, Laura Antoniou doing well this year, as well as many, many names I know among the finalists.<br />
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I lost to Greenwode by J. Tullos Henning in two categories. It won many other awards so Go Read It.Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-27870115867747831032013-12-07T10:15:00.000-08:002013-12-07T10:15:10.761-08:00Rainy Days Are Good For WritingI woke to the sound of rain this morning, which made it easy to huddle under the covers and let my mind wander. I've decided to delete the short scene I wrote yesterday as it doesn't add much to the story.<br />
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Here's a plot diagram, if you've never seen one:<br />
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<a href="http://www.d.umn.edu/~moor0145/plot%20diagram%20jpg%20for%20web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://www.d.umn.edu/~moor0145/plot%20diagram%20jpg%20for%20web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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See how it's an uphill climb from the start? By the time a writer nears the peak of that graphic, the narrative must narrow focus to the important parts and all energy must be devoted to hitting the crest. The scene I wrote yesterday diluted the focus and sucked energy worse than a space vampire recently out of hibernation. I can sum up everything that happened in those six hundred words with one line of dialog in the next scene. That's tighter writing. Hell on the word count, but hey, it's not as if I'm Charles Dickens and getting paid by the word.<br />
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You'd be amazed how many times I write scenes that don't make it into the final cut of the story. Far too many times. But it helps me to keep the vision of a fully developed world rather watching characters say their lines while standing in front of facades. (I hope that makes sense to someone besides me.)<br />
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I had planned to go to the Huntington Library and gardens today, but the rain makes it easy to stay inside, huddle around the warm glow of my laptop screen, and tell stories. <br />
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<br />Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-40881539520126709952013-12-01T20:38:00.000-08:002013-12-07T15:18:32.211-08:00Disney's FrozenSeveral years ago, about as long as it takes to develop an animated film, the people at Disney must have sat down and had a real conversation about the messages in their movies. <i>True Love Conquers All</i> was wearing thin and princess isn't a real career option for many real girls So I think they decided to make an effort to portray healthy female relationships.<br />
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<i>Brave</i> was the first step in the right direction. (Yes, I know it was a Pixar film and not under the Disney banner, but still) Brave centered on a mother/daughter relationship. Marriage wasn't the goal. Avoiding it was. But that was only a catalyst for the real story.<br />
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(Late addition: The Princess and the Frog. I'm told the two female characters are kind to each other even when it seems they are rivals for the same guy. I really like this move away from the mean girl depiction of women where if you both like a guy, the other girl has to be a nearly homicidal crazy bitch rather than simply someone who wants the same things you do. Anastasia and Druzella are sooooo last century.) <br />
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<i>Frozen</i> (Disney banner this time) takes another bold step into the frontier of female characters. It's a story about sisters. And *spoiler alert* that even true love has meaning way beyond finding a boyfriend/fiance. I really loved that. And as a bonus, at the end, the love interest dude Asks Her Permission to kiss her. Yep. Sisterhood and Consent Culture, all in one film. I may swoon.<br />
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I should also mention the stunning animation, great voice work, and some interesting musical numbers that seemed to owe a lot to musical theater (in that they moved the plot forward and explained inner thoughts of the characters) rather than being musical numbers (which, while entertaining, could have been cut out of the story and not changed the story). I'd also like to point out that while there was the threat of violence, it was mostly against a character who was different, and negotiating around her differences brought harmony. Giving her crap for being different caused years of misery for everyone. <br />
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So good work, Disney folk. Keep having those conversations that lead you to make these kinds of choices. Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-33651528962769136512013-11-15T20:10:00.003-08:002013-11-15T20:10:36.252-08:00Big HistoryWe recorded <i>Big History</i> on H2 -- History Chanel 2, or, more accurately "History" Channel 2 -- because it looked like the kind of program we enjoy. Truthfully it looked like a total ripoff of the great series written and presented by science historian James Burke <i>The Day The Universe Changed</i>, but Mr Burke is sadly not making any more, so we'll get our geek fix where we can.<br />
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It could turn into a decent show if they'd follow a few suggestions:<br />
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Aim for accuracy.<br />
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I heard that Bill Gates put money into this production through his foundation, and that science education is a big interest, so I'm a bit confused that he didn't insist on accuracy. Or at least not perpetuating lazy history errors by repeating such tripe as the legend of Paul Revere's ride. Here's a place to set that right by giving credit to the people who really risked their lives, and to get the message they spread right too. Just because that's not the focus of the episode does not mean it's okay to perpetuate mythology (and poetry) over fact. Sloppy work is not cool and doesn't help anyone. Okay? <br />
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Stop repeating what you've already told us.<br />
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You're covering big ideas here. You say so in your title. You touch on a lot of complex issues that, by necessity, you're going to gloss over. And I'm sort of fine with that but not when you go back and restate the same bit of information four times. We saw it, we got it, move along! <br />
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Spend your graphics budget wisely. <br />
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The hunter/gather rising from the salt was pointless the first time. the fourth time we were rolling our eyes and saying things like, "The producer must be very proud of his son's work." Obviously, this is a budget issue. So next time skip the mammoth rising from the salt and, I don't know, show us where the Romans built their first paved road from and to instead of just showing us the pavers. Don't just say human's first big towns were built by water and salt. Show us a couple on maps! Or how about a quick glance inside a salt mine. Or salt flats. Show a natural salt lick with a herd of caribou lapping at it. I don't know, but anything is better than a graphic that illuminated nothing being shown over and over again.<br />
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Watch The Day the Universe Changed.<br />
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And maybe hire Mr Burke. He knows how to fascinate an audience and how to link ideas together without repeating himself or looping back to odd points in your presentation.<br />
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But other than that, a half-hearted thumb's up for you. At least you tried.Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-5232771528766632142013-11-12T10:48:00.002-08:002013-11-12T12:52:58.227-08:00I'm BackAnd I am now caught up on Elementary.<br />
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Still over season behind on Supernatural, although now watching it seems like a chore rather than a pleasure. The writers are recycling their bad ideas, and while that's okay for fanserve once, make it a habit and you look uninterested.<br />
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Looking forward to Doctor Who.<br />
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And of course, Sherlock.<br />
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I've been writing but it's been a difficult month. Amazing how a death in the family can knock you sideways for a while. Don't get me wrong, but watching relatives react the way they do is like a master course in character studies. And maybe distancing myself like that to watch them is how I handled part of it. But then there's the sheer overwhelming gaping hole of persondom in the center of your little universe, like a black hole sucked up Saturn, and now the orbits of the remaining planets are all wobbly. Everything has changed but the same stuff has to get done so we're sorting out the new distribution of responsibility.<br />
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As our little group got up to do our part of the eulogy, I was thinking-- another chance to step back and watch myself observing others-- that I guess this is official adulthood at this point. Once the generation before you is stripped away, you're it.<br />
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That's a little too much reality for me, so I'm filling in the gaps with binge TV viewing. <br />
<br />
Observations on Elementary: A little flat this season, not sure why. Also not sure why they chose to give Mycroft and Sherlock a strained relationship since that's not canon. Yes, BBC's Sherlock has a strained relationship at the heart of the brothers, and it works gloriously because of the actors and the scripts, but in Elementary, it feels wrong and only paper deep. Part of my reluctance to embrace it is Sherlock's obsession over Joan's sex life. He's put himself in the role of her duenna but she's a grown up woman, so he should NOT be commenting on, much less trying to manage, her sexuality. Stepping in there between her and his brother is downright creepy and obsessive. Add to that how he refuses to accept her boundaries (putting a turtle on her bed still means you went into her room while she was sleeping and violated her space, dude!), poking her bedding with a stick to both scold her for the possibility of having a sexual partner and for giving into his brother's machinations (so Mycroft would have no interest in her otherwise? huh?), and also meddling with her desire to start dating again (do we see the pattern of control building here? Why is this not setting off alarms? Because we like Sherlock? Still not cool. Joan Watson, call him out on that shit!)<br />
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I hope the season gets better. The cases must, or they won't last long.<br />
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Oh! Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now I'm officially bored by agent whats-his-face. Grant? Gary? Who cares? Even he doesn't believe his backstory. And the Wonder Twin scientists? Too. Damn. Perky. I'm tired of reading that you have to give JW time to develop his characters. The time is NOW before you get canceled. Also, stop hinting at an interesting premise as you did in the first episode then wiff on it. You're science fiction - so if you ask the question you have to explore it in detail. Maybe over a whole season. Okay? <br />
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And while I'm at it, what's with the very yucky 'Murica! Fuck Yeah!' attitude toward the <strike>ignorant savages, POC, </strike>military of a sovereign country taking possession of something found on THEIR soil? We can't trust them because their skin is browner than ours? Only white Americans can be trusted with great power? And their women are exotic lovers who will stab you in the back in a fiery passionate rage. See, I'm white and I'm noticing this, so it's REALLY BAD. REALLY, REALLY BAD. Oh, that's not the message you meant to send, writers? Well guess what? And you tried rather pathetically to make it up with The Girl in the Flower Dress. (Let us take a moment here to enjoy that an adult female in charge of a scientific group is a GIRL, not a woman. Dear lord, writers, are you really that clueless about your gender issues?) Anyway (Yes) An-y-way... So the local S.H.I.E.L.D people in Hong Kong (see, we hire brown people!) Are on the case but thank goodness the 'Muricans arrive to show them how a real investigation is run. Because the locals are only here to babysit other brown people who have power but Can't Be Trusted to Use It Wisely. Yeah, I'm tired of it. Hiring Ming-Na Wen to play dragon lady does not get you a 'get out of being called on our bullshit' free card. Okay? We expect more from you, writers. (Strangely enough, not from JW, who while still thumping his chest loudly and proudly about his feminism is a spectacular fail at race *cough FIREFLY cough*) <br />
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<br />Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-65424875877821202792013-10-05T17:07:00.002-07:002013-10-05T17:07:25.151-07:00It's Officially Autumn, and You Know What That Means!Premiership games!<br />
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Okay, what it really means to most Americans is that the new television season starts on networks. Does anyone else remember the preview nights they used to run for the new and returning shows? Yeah. CBS tried that with the actors from We Are Men and it was embarrassingly horrible. Maybe with the advent of quality television (the Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones), I'm getting picky about my junk food viewing.<br />
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I can't bear to watch it, but is that Robin Williams show as painfully forced as it looks from the ads?<br />
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Elementary debuted in it's sophomore season last week. My (extremely cool) niece, who is big into maker world, robotics, and 3D printers was vastly disappointed by the incorrectly portrayal of 3D printer technology. Welcome to my world, Alicia. Now you know how I cringed at the Moriarty/Irene Adler story's nonsensical financial plot in season 1.<br />
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Through most of the sequence of Joan and Sherlock riding through London, the word 'travelogue' popped into mind, which is my mental shorthand for 'if I mapped out the sites shown in this montage, would I find out they traveled five ties further than necessary to get where they were going?' Don't feel bad, Elementary. I often wonder the same thing about BBC's Sherlock.<br />
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Overall, not an interesting mystery and a rather flimsy excuse for the second murder. Getting rid of the nail would have accomplished the same thing. And why couldn't the murderer hang the mask at the same height? Really sloppy 'believe it because we wrote it' from the writers.<br />
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Oh yeah, and Mycroft showed up. Couldn't care less. He added nothing to the story.<br />
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Jumping over to Agents of Shield, the debut and following week were a bit rough but once they get the hang of things it may be a good show. I saw comparisons between Torchwood and AoS, which isn't a criticism by a long shot. A group of humans dealing with <strike>alien</strike> advanced technology secretly to help the world deal with <strike>aliens</strike> superheroes works for me, except that there seems to be one more cast member than fits comfortably in these types of ensemble pieces. I'd give up the hardass agent dude. He's by far the least interesting, although the wonder twin scientists are a close second. I liked Ming-Na Wen's work. When she's on screen, she has my complete attention. She feels like someone in command of things. Chloe Bennet has the right light comedic touch and her role is by far the most developed. So I'll watch for the women and hope the male characters get more interesting fast, because they're starting waaaay behind the curve. <br />
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I'm sorry, but I didn't get a chance to see Sleepy Hollow. If it's my typical pattern, I'll binge watch it next summer and decide then if it's worth a regular time slot.<br />
<br />Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-75969090328130359012013-09-30T10:27:00.003-07:002013-09-30T10:28:27.418-07:00Interview<a href="http://carrieslager.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/my-interview-with-jill-braden/">Another interview!</a> I talked about world building, strong female characters, and watching paint dry? <br />
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Oooh, and there's a<a href="http://carrieslager.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/giveaway-the-devil-of-ponong-series-by-jill-braden/"> giveaway</a>!Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-57512017048954716792013-09-28T19:08:00.004-07:002013-09-28T19:08:21.233-07:00Review and RamblingsI won't know if I'm a finalist for a couple weeks, but I'm in the running for a <a href="http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3885437.html">Rainbow Award</a> (scroll down to see the lovely write-up)Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-90589567911779724702013-09-17T09:30:00.003-07:002013-09-17T09:30:52.374-07:00Lego! Sherlock!I love what they did with Moriarty's eyebrows.<br />
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Isn't this the second <a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/47380">LEGO</a> of Martin Freeman? <br />
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Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-76905881361476439022013-09-16T08:39:00.002-07:002013-09-16T08:39:53.348-07:00Guest BlogCatherine Lundoff was kind enough to host my guest blog today about the series. <br />
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Read it <a href="http://catherineldf.livejournal.com/324565.html">HERE</a><br />
.Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-11156745565743787342013-09-15T11:08:00.002-07:002013-09-15T11:08:34.411-07:00The Return of Irene Adler?Laura Pulver hinted more than once that Irene Adler may return to BBC's Sherlock. She was quoted in April saying she might be back in series 4, and again five days ago <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/sherlock-lara-pulvers-irene-adler-2264039">here</a>. <br />
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I'm torn. Laura Pulver was wonderful in the role that was written, and the script for <i>Scandal in Belgravia</i> was brilliant, but it was a horrible depiction of Irene Adler. Horrible.<br />
<br />
As I've commented many times, it seems to be a modern issue that writers (male) can't seem to let Irene Adler beat Sherlock Holmes, despite the fact that it's the <i>primary description</i> of her. She's the person who outwitted Sherlock Holmes. A Victorian gentleman could imagine that scenario and write it, so what's the problem with writers in this century? I don't get it. Simply can not fathom what's going on with this persistent lack of respect for the character. (If you write for the Sherlock Holmes movies or BBC's Sherlock, kindly drop a private line to me and explain your issues. A note from your therapist will also suffice. The writers for Elementary are exempt from this request.)<br />
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I won't get into the absolute stupidity of the person (probably male) who decided that Sherlock could change Irene from a lesbian to a bisexual with his all powerful cheekbones or purple shirt of sex or whatever. That's so obnoxious I can't even comment on it. Or the clueless person who decided that because her pulse raced (a sign of sexual arousal) that she was in love with Sherlock. Seriously guys? Sexual desire = love? *long sigh* In what weird little fantasy world of yours is that true?<br />
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There are many other issues I have with the way Irene was handled in that script. So if they do bring her back to Sherlock, I really hope the writers check their personal issues and treat her with the respect she's due. If they do, I'd be so pleased to see Laura Pulver reprise the role she played so well.<br />
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Which brings me to Elementary, winner of the 'Best Modern Depiction of Irene Adler This Decade' contest amid a dismaying lack of competition. Will they bring Irene back on Elementary? Technically, she doesn't exist except as an alias, which annoys the heck out of me. Why do modern adaptations feel the need to intertwine Moriarty and Adler? To the point where Elementary made her the same person. Ugh. Why would you do that? Two exciting characters to play with, and you waste them in the same story arc. *whimpers* Why, writers? Why? But Moriarty does exist, and she's not beaten (yay!) although they had Sherlock "let" her win (BOO!). She could return. I look forward to that.<br />
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Elementary season 2 starts soon! As that winds down, Sherlock series 3 should start. This is a good time to be a Sherlock Holmes fan. <br />
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<br />Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-22958615403627734822013-09-04T09:56:00.000-07:002013-09-04T09:56:20.714-07:00The Sexy Lamp TestOh dear. I'm crying and laughing at the same time. <a href="http://untitledunited.tumblr.com/post/60278020639/if-something-passes-the-bechdel-test-wow-great#">The Sexy Lamp Test</a>, or why I write a non-white central female character. (the white lamp test)Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-43083912908768840042013-09-02T16:50:00.001-07:002013-09-02T16:50:28.413-07:00Gin WigmoreHave I mentioned how much I love her music?<br />
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I'm so sorry I missed her recent US tour.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/u7aNKstBCM4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Seriously, isn't she the best?Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-8672405598868026682013-08-31T09:53:00.001-07:002013-08-31T09:54:14.586-07:00The First Maishun Spirit <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The Maishun Spirit</div>
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(a Ponongese folktale) </div>
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When the goddesses were still young mothers, they despaired
that their children, the Ponongese, fought day and night. The goddesses came
together and decided to tell each clan to gather on the high ground. When this
was done, the goddesses plowed deep lines into the low ground and invited their
friend, the Te’Am Ocean, to irrigate the furrows. Each high ground became an
island, and the clans, now separated by the ocean, could no longer fight. The
goddesses, enjoying the peace, went to their hut on the mother mountain and
fell fast asleep.</div>
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The people looked across at the other islands and were
jealous, each believing that the goddesses had favored the other clans with
better land. They learned to swim so they could invade other islands, but sharks
and treacherous currents were in the water, and while the people were willing
to die in war, they did not want to die before they could fight. </div>
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The people of the Jui clan were very clever and had the idea
of a boat that would carry them safely to the other island so they could make
war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They worked quietly on in it secret
so the goddesses would not awaken and stop them. The people of the Shi clan
were also clever, because all people are, and they also decided to make a boat.
The Shi also thought only of war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Every day, a daughter of Jui would catch fish in the tide
pools. From there, she could see across the channel to Cay Shi where a Shi son
also fished along their shore. Jui daughter was very shy. She liked to fish
apart from the other Jui so she would not feel obligated to talk. Shi son was the
perfect companion—he could not talk to her across the water, but she could see
him so she was not lonely. One day, Shi son sent a message with their seabird
friends, who flew between the islands. It was easier to write than to talk for
her, so she answered his messages. In the manner of such things, she decided he
must be similar to her people, and he believed she was like his, and thinking
they knew each other, decided they must be together. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Every day, Shi son asked Jui daughter to come to him. She
sadly replied that she could not. One day, he did not come to the fish. She was
sad, but caught her fish and took it back to her people. The next day he came
to fish, but he did not read the messages she sent to him and did not send any
back. She was puzzled by his actions, but caught her fish and took them to her
people. The third day, he sent a message ordering her to come to him. Again,
she replied that she could not. She wanted him to be happy again, and wondered
why he looked so angry now. His next message said that if she really loved him,
she would steal the boat her clan had built and come to him. She was shocked
that he would ask her to betray her people, so she refused.</div>
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Jui daughter decided she should not see Shi son again, so
she went to tide pools on the other side of their island to fish with the rest
of her people. She missed her silent shore and wished she could hide her face
when the other fishers talked to her. Birds came every day with messages from
Shi son asking why she had not come to fish at her regular place. Then the birds
came bearing apologies and sweet words. Jui daughter’s heart was touched, so
she returned to the place where she could see Shi son. </div>
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It was as if they’d first met, but after a while, Shi son began
to demand she come to him again. He would often turn his back to her and refuse
to answer her messages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, in despair,
she threw herself into the sea and swam to his shore. Rather than greeting her
with love, he shoved her back toward the sea and shouted that she must bring
him the boat her people had made, and then he would love her. His fingers
bruised her arms. His face was a war mask and his eyes showed his blood lust. She
knew he meant to use the boat and the one his people made to attack the Jui. </div>
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Crying, she stumbled back into the waves and began the swim
home. Auntie shark, who had watched their courtship, felt pity for Jui daughter
and let the girl hold onto her fin while she brought her safely back home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Auntie shark said, “I once loved a squid. One day I grew
angry and ate him, because that is my nature. I cried afterwards, but that did
not bring him back. Shi son would also cry when your village is nothing but
ashes.”</div>
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Jui daughter thanked auntie shark for saving her, and for
the lesson. For the rest of her life, she warned young fishers from the tide pools
where they might look across the water, see Shi sons and daughters, and be
tempted to betray their clan. Even though she was still very shy and it pained
her to talk to people, she pointed to auntie shark’s fin and reminded them that
the channel between the islands was dangerous. After she died, she clung to
this world and became the first maishun spirit, who warns people before they
make a foolish mistake, then flees into the jungle.</div>
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(c) 2013 Jill Braden</div>
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~~</div>
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I promised if more than seven (why did I pick this number? no clue) reviews on Devil Incarnate, I'd write a folktale about maishun spirits. I'd glad I had to.</div>
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First thing: research! I read folk tales from many south Pacific cultures as well as from southeast Asia to get a feel for them. Then I had to think of a story. Writing it was odd. Most folktale 'tell' you everything, which is considered poor writing style nowadays. We're supposed to 'show' the audience things and let them draw their own conclusions. So I had to turn off that training. But the good thing about writing a folk tale? Talking sharks. </div>
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Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-4342131017966066882013-08-25T09:50:00.003-07:002013-08-25T09:50:57.146-07:00Devil Incarnate reviews<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Devil-Incarnate-Ponong-Volume/product-reviews/1938757084/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending">Devil Incarnate has some new reviews</a> that are so lovely I'm touched.<br />
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I promised if the number of reviews hit seven (an arbitrary number if ever there was one) I'd write a Ponongese folktale about maishun spirits. Reviewers kept their end of the bargain so I must keep mine. This calls for research. I've never made up a folktale before. Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203407112514755967.post-14995974686882961672013-08-18T10:44:00.001-07:002013-08-19T07:17:37.341-07:00Strong Female CharactersI've read several articles lately about strong female characters, what that term means, and the archetype traps surrounding those portrayals.<br />
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Sophia McDougall's <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/08/i-hate-strong-female-characters">I Hate Strong Female Characters</a><br />
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Chuck Wendig <a href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/03/08/on-the-subject-of-the-strong-female-character/">On The Subject of The "Strong Female Character"</a><br />
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Greg Rucka <a href="http://io9.com/5912366/why-i-write-strong-female-characters">Why I Write Strong Female Characters</a><br />
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Athena Andreadis <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/08/17/the-iron-madonna-or-kicking-ass-while-female/">The Iron Madonna or: Kicking Ass While Female</a><br />
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(This came across my desktop Monday morning: <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/fandom/mako-mori-test-bechdel-pacific-rim/">The Mako Mori test</a> as an alternate to the Bechdale Test. I LOVED Pacific Rim. Mako was a great character.)<br />
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although there are many others. There are also gifs celebrating a few well known writers for their "strong female characters"<br />
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But what does strong really mean? Physical strength is the cheap way out of it. Shooting or punching your way out of a situation doesn't make your character interesting or right. It simply makes them physically stronger or in command of more fire power.<br />
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Chuck Wendig touches on it best in his comments, but I'll say that a strong character of any gender is a person with presence. It's someone who commands enough attention to deserve center stage. It's someone who is an interesting story. So we're using strong here to define personality rather than physical strength.<br />
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Mattie Ross in True Grit is a strong female character. She's a young teen. Her strength comes from her unwavering demand for justice. For someone so young, she's already a stiff-necked Christian. You get the feeling she had to grow up fast, which means the adults around her failed her in some sense. She goes looking for a man who, in her words, has true grit, but by the end of the story, you realize she was the one who had it. She just needed a vessel to carry out her will. Mattie Ross isn't likeable. She isn't sweet. In a sense, she isn't very feminine and yet I have no problem seeing her as a realistic female character.<br />
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I was remiss not to mention Mako Mori of Pacific Rim in my first draft of this. She was a great character with agency. What I liked about her the most was that her "more traditional" values didn't make her seem weak. She had her own agenda and pushed it, but she understood heroism as being part of a team, not running off like, well, a typical American yahoo. I had a little bit of issue that her relationship with her Jaeger partner had have a romantic spin on it. I would have preferred simple professional respect, but that' a minor quibble over a stunning part well played in a big action movie.<br />
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Athena Andreadis brings up an interesting list of central female characters in science fiction that she calls Iron Madonnas. As many others have, I'll dismiss Padme Amidala (Or as a writer friend once called her: Princess Imadolly) because 1) she isn't interesting, but that's hardly because she's female. Star Wars suffers from a dearth of interesting, dimensional characters of any gender, 2) she only exists to drive Anakin Skywalker's story, so she's just another <a href="http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/tropes-vs-women-2-women-in-refrigerators/">chick in a fridge</a>. 3) she's a chick in a fridge madonna, which is worse (But how sad is it that she's such a place-holder character when her daughter Leia goes down in motion picture history as the first princess EVER to be the hero? Leia grabs the gun, seizes control of her own rescue, provides cover fire, and finds the escape route! She's the original kung-fu princess. She lost all agency in later movies-- I guess they had to neuter her to make sure the story was still about the boys-- but for one brief shining moment, she was the most amazing woman in cinema history.)<br />
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But what about the others on that list? I have a small issue with Cordelia Vorkosigan being included. Saying she should have done more or shouldn't have followed the "trope" of becoming a mother and opting to live in a misogynistic society is like pointing to feminists from the 1960s and saying "You should have accomplished more!" We're awfully quick to dictate the terms of our hero's lives. One of the things I have enjoyed most about Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series is how one generation makes uneasy peace with a horrible truth, then the next generation comes along and screams "No! That isn't all right! I do not accept that solution!" Because constant reinterpretation of history and negotiation of our relationship to it is a huge part of the human experience, but it's rare to see anyone tackle that mess fearlessly in a novel. I don't feel that Cordelia sacrificed herself to eternal iron madonnahood. I think she gained what she felt was important with a good understanding of which beliefs would be compromised. And being a wife and mother didn't render her ineffective. She had profound influence over the next generation and sabotaged the foundation of male privilege in Vor society. Not bad. Not bad at all.<br />
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So where does QuiTai fall in the spectrum?<br />
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If I were to write a physically imposing character, that character's reaction to danger might be to fight her way out. But QuiTai's biggest strength is her mind. She will always try to think her way out of a situation first and resort to the physical last. When she gets hurt, it isn't to enrage a male and send him off on a heroic quest. It's the stakes in the game she plays. She doesn't want to be hurt, she doesn't enjoy it, but she doesn't fear it. <br />
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She certainly hasn't lost her sexuality. Someone at some point is going to call her a slut. If it's meant as an insult, it is. I prefer to think of her as owning her body fully and without fear.<br />
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She's maternal. That should never be considered a weakness in a female character. There is nothing wrong with being female. There is nothing wrong with having characteristically feminine traits. It doesn't make a character dull, less than, or weak.<br />
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That's ultimately where the discussion of female characters should lead us, to the point where strong doesn't have to mean physical BAMF, or having the most firepower. Maybe we should use central instead of strong. Looking back at literary history, in times that we consider horrible for women, writers had no problem creating interesting central female characters. My favorite example is Irene Adler from Arthur Conan Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia. So what is our problem now? Why do modern adaptations of Irene Adler strip her agency? Why is there such a backlash against central female characters to the point where people feel a need to ask Joss Whedon and George R. R. Martin about their rare and apparently mind-blowing inclusion of them? I don't know, but it's interesting that these discussions ignore Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Amelia Peabody, and the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, to name a few extremely successful series with admirable central female characters, but were written by women. <br />
<br />Jill Bradenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00213629937901543984noreply@blogger.com2