(no subject)

[grayrose]

Started my novelette yesterday, the one about bisexuality, racism and post-partum depression. It seems to be writing itself.

I cannot believe I am writing such a blatantly feminist piece. I am just hoping it will end up intense and not preachy.

Some people argued with me over at Absolute Write forums on the topic of menopause. Some seemed to imply that "menopause" and "fantasy" just did not go together. I have to say this made me very angry.

Maze of Hearts
Fri and Sat  wordcount: 2300 words and working.

Comments

[southernweirdo.livejournal.com]

Menopause and fantasy don't go together, huh? Why not?

I say go for it!

If people are saying that these things do not go together, than you must have found an original idea. Congratulations!

I can't wait to read this one.

[grayrose76.livejournal.com]

Ehh. This is not really about menopause, but about an older woman being tricked into pregnancy and becoming depressed after giving birth. I don't think the idea is original so much as the viewpoint is underexplored. We'll see if I can do it justice.

Thanks!

[marshall-payne.livejournal.com]

Menopause and fantasy don't go together, huh? Why not?

Yeah, why not? I'm trying to think of one subject that you couldn't add a speculative element to... Baseball? (Been done) Westerns? (Been done a bunch) George Bush? Okay, the last one might be difficult without a Faustian theme. hee

Too many people in our field have a very narrow view of what spec. fiction is or can be. So glad you don't! :)

I am just hoping it will end up intense and not preachy.

The fact that you're pondering this means you're halfway there. But I'll throw in a fave quote of mine: "Good fiction doesn't preach moral values, but teaches resposible humanness."

Good luck on the novelette!

[grayrose76.livejournal.com]

Hehe, George Bush - I am not going there!

Thank you for the quote and the encouragement. I think it will take me a while to get it right... but I have to try.

[marshall-payne.livejournal.com]

I only quote politics where I think I can elict a chuckle. The Letterman or Leno in me, I guess. :)

[tithenai.livejournal.com]

I've been longing to see more fantasy with protagonists who aren't teens. Go for the menopause! Besides which, how is that not fantastic? It still boggles my mind that my body bleeds all by itself once a month. The fact of that stopping is magical too.

[grayrose76.livejournal.com]

I've been longing to see more fantasy with protagonists who aren't teens. Go for the menopause!
Thanks! She is not menopausal, but she is 41.
I think they were saying that people in the Middle Ages, especially males, would not know what menopause is. I am not writing about the Middle Ages, and even if I were, the phenomenon was known. And menstruation was known, too.

If men write about young boys having adventures and women also write about young boys having adventures, it is small wonder that fantasy ends up feeling stale.

[tithenai.livejournal.com]

I think they were saying that people in the Middle Ages, especially males, would not know what menopause is.

Okay, whoa. Men have known about menstruation and menopause longer than they've known about men's role in conception, I'm pretty sure. I mean, why would Sarah giving birth at 90 have been a miracle otherwise?

[kythiaranos.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! Didn't you get the memo that there are no significant female characters in fantasy over the age of thirty? And even that's pushing it. Menopausal and post-menopausal women only get walk-on roles of giving cryptic instructions or being burned at the stake as witches.

*eyeroll*

That's one of the reasons why I love Patricia Brigg's Raven books--the character is a wife and mother as well as being a magic-user. It was the first fantasy in ages that I'd read about a female character I could really relate to.

[grayrose76.livejournal.com]

Well, the story is not really about a menopausal woman. The story is about a woman in her early 40s who does not want children, is unknowingly tricked into pregnancy, reconciles with it, then becomes depressed after giving birth. I hope I can do this story justice- I feel it needs better writing than mine, but I have to try. Surely beats writing about young boys' initiation quests.

What did you think about Ista in LM Bujold's Paladin of Souls?

[cafenowhere.livejournal.com]

I share the others' disbelief: why the hell can't menopause and fantasy go together? I swear, I'm always amazed by the sector of the SF community that can't deal with change and the real world.

Good luck on the novelette! Maybe it only feels so feminist because so much in the genre is...not.