Garage Sale tomorrow

[pegkerr]

Am exhausted and covered with dust; have been hauling stuff up from the basement for our two-day garage sale which starts tomorrow. This has been a traumatic experience as Rob and I have vastly different opinions about what we should keep versus what we should pitch or sell. If I wasn't married to this man, I'd probably own about a third to a quarter of what I own now.

Started reading another novel today, a first novel. Unfortunately, it starts with a trope that I've really come to hate. So many fantasy novels starring a female protagonist open with 1) a group of thugs rapes the heroine and/or destroys her home and kills her family, and she spends the rest of the novel acquiring magic so she can get revenge or 2) a group of thugs almost rapes the heroine and/or destroys her home and kills her family, but she fights them off with her superior magical powers.

In this one, she fought 'em off. Well, the hero helped. I rolled my eyes when I got to the part about his silver wolf-like stare.

I want to read more novels that get the female protagonist moving without a sexual threat. Please: think of other reasons for women to go out and have adventures.



heidi8 pointed me to this article about the world of fan fiction. Quite interesting.

Peg

Comments

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I want to read more novels that get the female protagonist moving without a sexual threat. Please: think of other reasons for women to go out and have adventures.

I know writers are told to begin by placing the protagonist in difficult situations, rife with conflict... but it does seem that it's always that particular situation? (And isn't that situation, sans rape, straight from Conan the Barbarian? Come to think of it, why is the big threat for men "I'll kill you", and the big threat for women "I'll rape you"?) There must be a million and one other ways (at least) to get a quest-plot moving.

I do think that the female-quest plot idea (AKA coming-of-age) deserves to be explored -- but the writer doesn't have to kick off the plot by immediately threatening the protagonist sexually. If that's inherent to the rest of the plot (for example, Robin McKinley's excellent and scary Deerskin), okay -- but just to have rape thrown into the mix as a garden-variety threat is dirty pool. Even if it was historically common, and all that.

*grrrr* power.

Haven't read Deerskin

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Although I've read other books of hers. Love her Beauty and Rose Daughter in particular.

Re: Haven't read Deerskin

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Beauty. It's one of my favorite books. I liked Rose Daughter, too, but I just loved Beauty's (written) voice and her whole no-nonsense approach. :)

Deerskin is good, but very emotionally difficult to read; I read it, pondered it, and then couldn't re-read it for nearly five years. But it's definitely worthwhile.