#everyone should read Strong Female Protagonist

[em-dash-press]

How to Write Strong Female Characters

Even if you write female protagonists all the time, subconscious biases can make them weaker than we intend. How can you make sure you write strong female characters? Use these tips while cretating your protagonists and supporting cast members so readers admire and connect with your story.

Note: This article is about writing cisgender characters and the stereotypes regarding them. To read more about writing incredible trans women characters, this post and this article are some great jumping-off points. A future post from me about writing trans protagonists will give the subject the space and time trans characters deserve.

1. Write Human Flaws

Women are often written as perfect or near-perfect characters. People expect so much of women in the real world—we want them to be attentive, fun mothers while being sexy spouses and respectful daughters. They have to succeed in their careers to provide for themselves and their family, all while fitting within the feminized constructs that make toxic male egos feel safe around women.

Basically, it can make writers create essentially perfect female protagonists. They handle everything well and when they can’t, they always find an answer to their problem.

Readers will connect more with female protagonists who are flawed. Your female protagonist should get angry, say the wrong things, make bad choices, and put herself first sometimes.

2. Avoid Objectification

Objectification is anything that makes a person feel less than fully human. It’s the scenes we’ve all read and movies we’ve watched where the female protagonist does something incredible—they save the world or take down a supervillain—and their partner, stunned in a love haze, says, “God, you’re beautiful,” before they kiss.

Complimenting female characters like this after they reach their resolution belittles their achievements. It means that even with their brilliance and courage, they’re still acceptable because they’re beautiful. Their beauty is ultimately the most important thing about her and the best way to remind her of her worth.

Other forms of objectification can sneak past a writer’s mind. Watch for these stereotypes as you work through your initial draft:

Describing her body parts as she gazes in the mirror

Saying she’s “different,” “odd,” or “unique” because she does a stereotypically male hobby or wears clothes that aren’t feminizing

Mentioning body parts in comparison to food

Making female characters manipulative for the sake of tricking people and not for any character growth goal/antagonist priority

Creating moments of immaturity that are seen as sexy (like whining being cute or pouting being hot)

3. Assign Individual Goals

Women are often written as self-sacrificing characters. They give up their time and energy for other characters because it’s what people expect of women in real life. Strong female protagonists need goals for themselves. If they don’t have an individual dream that makes them fulfilled or excited, they’ll swim through your plot exclusively for other characters’ arcs.

4. Watch for Female Cliches

Female characters often fit into specific cliches that are easily digestible for readers with conscious or subconscious sexist views. See if your characters fit into some of these common cliches to add the right flaws or arcs to make them fully human:

A symbol of purity: this protagonist never makes mistakes, is always sweet, and doesn’t have any sexual desires.

Femme fatale: this protagonist fills every room with sexual energy, only wears revealing clothes, and kicks ass with unearthly sexy grace.

A heartless bitch: this protagonist is always miserable for other characters to be around for no explainable reason, snaps at everyone, and basically takes on the role of a gradeschool bully at any age.

A pixie dream girl: this protagonist has no goals or arc of her own, exists to inspire other (mostly male) characters, and functions primarily as a plot device.

A Mary Sue: this protagonist can do nothing wrong and solves problems that she’s unqualified to do (minor example: Anastasia Steele in 50 Shades of Grey running a publishing business fresh out of college, where she didn’t study as a business major).

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Writing great female characters isn’t impossible. You only have to be aware of how those characters have been written poorly in the past. Watch for cliches and learn about examples of characters gone wrong to make your protagonists feel authentic, no matter what your plot has in store for them.

[transingthoseformers]

A cursed thought occurred to me: if you combine rodiclash and megarod it maps ridiculously well to a YA novel love triangle

You know those "if Netflix adapted this, here's how it would suck" aus? It's extremely funny for me to think about how this would go if it was a standard YA fantasy trilogy

Rodimus is the "strong female character" YA protagonist that gets called annoying in critical reviews for having personality traits, while simultaneously being criticized as a mary sue blank slate with no personality

Thunderclash is the objectively nicer but "boring" love interest with less screen time, who either gets quietly written out or suddenly has his personality jerked around in the second book so that people like him less

Megatron is the dark and brooding love interest that's clearly a dick in the first book but is obviously the author's favorite, so he gets a tragic backstory and more character development than everyone else in the series

(If it was an anime, Drift would be the same-gender best friend character that a small subset of fans argue had more chemistry with Rodimus than either of the love interests)

Omg nooo (yess)

It's such a parody piece idea

I feel like it should be an anime just for the sake of the teased Driftrod plotline (what would The Fans think of Dratchet?)

Rodimus should be the unreliable narrator too, I don't usually read first person fics but this feels like an amazing time for it

I have quite literally never read the aus you're talking about, but I get the vibe here

[doodlegirl1998]

Oh my god...

I just realized something about how some characters are treated, so I'm gonna quote Joshscorcher from one of his fails videos

"You aren't a person, you ARE a disability! You're not a human, you ARE a skin color! You're not alive, you ARE a checkbox!"

Doesn't that just fit some of the characters in BNHA to a T?

We got the crazy yandere! The hotheaded rival! The hardass teacher with a heart of gold! The black guy!

And of course! The disabled kid who magically gets cured to be like everyone else!

Hori seems to believe that if he just adds pieces of representation or tropes that people like, they will just eat it up without question.

Not even considering or bothering to think about actual backstory, personality, goals, likes or dislikes.

You know, things that make a character an actual character!

Hi @theloganator101 👋,

This fits how MHA treats it's characters to a T or at the very least they develop from Nuanced characters to a stereotype which is never what you want from a series. Also Hori even fails at fitting these characters into the cookie cutter molds he tries to contort them into at times.

Let's give a few examples based on what you have said above:

"Crazy Yandere and Token Bi" = Toga (which the LGBTQ fans of MHA should be offended by, because having a Yandere who is coded very creepily (yet also not condemned for her creepy behavior in general or how she groped Uraraka without consent) as prominent representation is not good...

"Sweet generic shonen love interest" = Uraraka (well this is what Hori intends for her with IzuOcha endgame even with how weakly its built in the series. And Uraraka herself denying her feelings for Izu and freely simping for Toga. I feel so sorry for Ocha fans, how she has been written with Toga is a complete mess.)

"Hardass Teacher with a heart of gold" = Aizawa (or this is what Hori intends for him realistically a lot of his actions under a critical lense read as malice at worse and negligence at best but go off about how he cares about his kids, Hori. Despite dropping a building on them and making them believe their parents are kidnapped by villains. Or the fact that he expelled tonnes of other students prior to 1A without a care - what makes 1A so special?)

"Hot headhead rival" = Bakugou... (Well this is meant to be him, narratively speaking, but rivals are meant to inspire and respect each other. Bakugou doesn't respect Izuku, Bakugou abuses Izuku and acts as his parasite. Bakugou brings Izuku down at every opportunity.)

"The 'token black/ blasian' characters" = Rumi and Rock Lock. (While I'd say Rock Lock is good black representation. Rumi... She's not my favourite. I like strong female characters but the way she's so aggressive and violence hungry as a hero - that rubs me the wrong way. Realistically, I could see her killing a villain by accident through use of excessive force. And I can't ignore that she's used as a stick for Hori's gore porn fetish which isn't a great look as one of Hori's few Blasian characters.)

"The disabled kid who gets magically cured to be like everyone else." - Midoriya Izuku. (You could say this is the case for All Might and Aoyama too but Izuku is the most prominent example as the main protagonist.) Izuku's story and the lack of how his backstory is touched on is one of the one that's the most upsetting parts of MHA to me. Personally, I have a disability and mine can't be fixed, while I accept and embrace it now, I didn't when I was Izuku's age. I would daydream about getting "fixed" and being like everyone else so I could fit in. As an adult, I have now achieved many things that I was told that I could not hope to ever be able to do - and I didn't need to be "fixed/ made normal" to do it. Instead, I worked my ass off to achieve those things.

Izuku's story would have been way more powerful if he trained relentlessly with All Might, stayed quirkless and achieved as much as his quirked peers.

OR, if he had to gain OFA, the cognitive dissonance between how he was treated then in his backstory vs now should heavily influence him. Either way, he should have grown out of "Kacchan" and told Bakugou, his bully and abuser, to fuck right off.

The fact that Izuku isn't allowed to think of his backstory or one negative thought of Kacchan severely limits him. And it's one of the things that has stunted him as a character. All Izuku is now is OFA 'generic shonen protagonist' who will save Shig and destroy All for One. What a waste.

TLDR - developing good characters is like nurturing a particularly fussy plant, you can put down the right soil (backstory) to get readers hooked but if you get lazy and don't water it regularly (develop plot points, think through what is in character rather than what you as the Author want them to do, have them show up regularly) it (the characters) will never grow.

[unhelpfulfemme]

book ask: 3, 4, 12

I'M SORRY THIS IS SO LONG :( Anyway, this post was for my book ask, everyone else reading it feel free to join in!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Hoo boy, if I were perfectly honest they would all be Lymond Chronicles books. Those books are PERFECT, they literally have everything I've ever wanted: operatic drama AND Ocean's 11-style competence porn AND meticulously researched historical battles AND a morally grey manipulative messy depraved bisexual protagonist who ends up breaking down into a puddle of mental health issues at several points AND really well-rounded strong female characters. However, for fairness's sake, I'm going to pretend that I can only put in one book in a series, so here goes:

Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond Chronicles book 4/6) - I only read this at the beginning of the year and I've already reread it twice. It has all the content warnings, the lushest writing you'll ever see, and it will make you fall in love with it and then break your heart. Two bisexual Scottish noblemen, one of which is Depraved and the other one Repressed and Catholic, travel the Mediterranean in search of the bastard child of one of them, which is held hostage by a sadistic knight Hospitaller. They are accompanied by a maybe-sister of one of them (it's a mystery if they're related and how!!) and a perspicaceous fifteen-year-old girl who can't be convinced to leave even though everyone agrees it's inappropriate for her to be there. As everyone around them dies in increasingly gruesome ways and everything starts feeling like some kind of orientalist fever dream, they bicker constantly due to their shitty personalities and the mounting UST between several of them. The main draw of this series as a whole is that most of the characters are simultaneously manipulative cunning chessmasters and very mentally ill, and you are left wondering (alongside their friends and family) whether their current breakdown is part of some elaborate byzantine plot or if they're just genuinely losing their mind <3

Prince's Gambit by C.S. Pacat (Captive Prince book 2/3) - it maintains a laser-sharp focus on the characterizations and character dynamics (and the characters have many layers to unpeel) while rolling out a pretty twisty and well-constructed military/political plot in the background. Also full of lush, sensorial writing and sordid personal drama, just as I like it <3

The King's Shield by Sherwood Smith (Inda tetralogy book 3/4) - literally the emotional payoff of the previous two books, as this series follows a group of military school friends as they grow into their aristocratic roles and here they finally meet up after having spent a book and a half apart. Amazing nuanced and realistic exploration of how growing up in a very militaristic, macho, almost proto-fascist society impacts various types of personalities, amazing unique and detailed worldbuilding that makes you fall in love with the local culture (despite the almost-fascism), complex realpolitik, amazingly lovely and realistic depictions of healthy male friendships, a subplot about defending a castle from an invasion that's harrowingly historically realistic AND makes you realize the practical utilities of why the culture is The Way It Is. MORE PEOPLE SHOULD READ THIS SERIES IT HAS 8 FICS ON AO3 FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (The Culture book 2/10) - wide-scope heavily left-leaning reflections on various properties of culture and society and its purpose and a very... literary fiction-esque approach to characterization, almost, smack in the middle of a book that hinges entirely on sociological storytelling. Very cool mix! And the plot is, just like I like it, filled with cool twists and moves within moves within moves, so it's not like you'll get suffocated by plotless philosophical considerations of the Evil of Imperialism - it's still a really exciting, fairly plotty book!

Memory by LoisMcMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan Saga book 10/16... I think? The numbering of these books is Complicated, okay?) - This is a series that's like 80% fast-paced madcap plotty fun but the characters feel like icebergs in that you get constant hints of the 70% that's below the surface. This book is a cut above the rest because it leverages the gradual buildup and reader goodwill accumulated over the previous 9 books and uses it to swerve into a character study of the protagonist, his flaws, how they were shaped by his environment, and his deeply-seated mid-life crisis while ALSO delivering a decently fun mystery plot.

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

Absolutely! Technically I discovered Dorothy Dunnett last year, since that's when I started my first read of Lymond, but I finished it this year and am on my second reread currently so I think it counts.

C.S. Pacat is another new favourite - he had Dunnett as a major influence but I feel like they're two very different beasts in many respects - Pacat's writing is less chaotic and more deliberate in its exploration of the characters' inner lives. Dunnett's characters feel like deranged children screaming in the back of the car (in the most deliberate and best possible way), while Pacat's feel like fine, carefully constructed clockwork. Dunnett also embeds her characterization in a sprawling complex plot that can be compared to something like Game of Thrones, Pacat leaves the plot in the background (although it's still complex enough!) and hones in on the character dynamics.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

I am gonna get shit from the Beloved Mutuals for this I think but I HATED The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I hated it so much, and I had heard so much hype about it before I read it. Like, I literally have a bunch of notes with evidence of it botching literally every aspect of writing/storytelling that I consider important, it's fascinating to me in how I am convinced of it doing literally everything wrong and yet it's so popular? Like I consider it worse than ACOTAR, and I was even thinking of writing up a long post dissecting what I consider are all its flaws, but so many people on here seem very attached to it and I wouldn't like to ruffle any feathers.

Honourable mention to The Secret History by Donna Tartt - technically I'd read it over 10 years ago but I remembered nothing from it so this year I did a reread because a person whose tastes I respect a lot heaped lavish praise on it. But I also hated it and thought it was a fake-deep book for people who like nonsense fake-deep Facebook quotes and Old Money Quiet Luxury (tm) aesthetic boards :S

[magpiesbones]

the really funny part about this being primarily a manga blog is that like. I do in fact read comics Other Than Witch Hat I just became deeply obsessed with witch hat two years ago and haven’t returned to normal since.

ANYWAYS everyone should read Tiger tiger by Petra nordlund and on a sunbeam by Tillie Walden and Namesake by isameg and Nimona by Stevenson and vainglorious by kellysketches and Saint For Rent by Ru Xu and Strong Female Protagonist by Molly Knox Ostertag and Brennan Lee Mulligan.

ALSO. Sparrowhawk by Delilah s Dawson. incredible but it has faeries and I’m biased. Fence (CS Pacat and Joannathemad) is fun but the novelizations are not. The Prince and The Dressmaker (Jen Wang) is very sweet. Estranged (Ethan M Aldridge) is great, but again, faerie bias and I can’t resist changelings. I am CONSTANTLY recommending Taproot (Keezy Young) to people. It’s FUN it’s CUTE its got NECROMANCY. there’s Plants. More people should read it.

[anewp0tat0]

hey so who are your favourite characters in black butler? like a top ten or something

heyyyy thanks for asking! sure, always nice to cover the basics. ofc this will probably not be surprising to anyone who's heard me rant for a while now, but I'll explain it anyway.

top 3 first:

1. Ciel: an atrocious guy with very little social personality, and one of the best written protagonists I've personally read. I'm just really into digging through this guy's brain, and when he isn't destroying people he's doing things that end up being funny.

2. Sebastian: another well written protagonist, despite the fact that we know absolutely nothing about him other than the fact that his personality is "cats, I'm better than everyone, except for agni maybe". I remember in my first year in the fandom a friend and I had a like 2 hour long text conversation about how much we hated and loved Sebastian. terrible guy, couldn't have the series without him, leaves a lot to think about.

3. Grelle: she's just as if not more atrocious than the last 2 cause she made these awful decisions herself, but that doesn't stop me from respecting her work ethic and just thinking she's awesome in general. and aside from how cool she looks, I think her inner thoughts and relationships with her coworkers is so curious, there is a lot to explore here. compelling character for me.

and following:

4. Elizabeth: she's one of the purest characters out there and she is so complex. a good amount of people hate her or just find her annoying for whatever reason, but I think the trend here is that the more flawed the character is the better. she's trying so hard to please everyone. probably one of the most relatable characters in her own way.

5. Soma: the source of joy in my life, God I wish he was my friend. he and Agni are basically equal in my ranking, I think they're just the kid mentor duo, but unfortunately only one of them has the chance to keep developing... ;;;^;;;

6. Agni: "agni" was good every day of his life until the end. the only thing he did wrong was out of loyalty for Soma, Sebastian should be jealous of him cause he is all the butler that Sebastian will never be. plus he just cries sometimes and I respect that.

7. Ronald: this is such a fun guy, and yet I am capable of having long conversations about him and everything that he could have possibly been through, it has been done. his workplace dynamic is perfect. everyone needs a Ron.

8. Finny: another pure being, he's such an interesting and honestly rare character, I don't often see other people like him in media, so obviously he's interesting. he's one of the only characters in kuro who have deep trauma and yet doesn't act negatively on it, either because he's unable to comprehend it at length or because his love and positivity for all things is just stronger. also he's Ciel's big bro fr.

9. Meyrin: she's awesome, Hollywood and feminists alike wish they were able to write a strong female character like her😏 she's freakishly powerful and one of the most feminine people out there, and she deserves that after what she's been through. I will never stop supporting her, she's everyone's big sis and she's adorable.

10. Bard: proud dad to all the servants, he's the wacky beer uncle that we all wish we had. he's conservative but just give him some time cause he does care about people and what makes them happy.

hope this satisfies you and doesn't completely contradict your own list of favorites! have a good day

[alovelyburn]

The last Twitter Stuff Post (probably)

I’m gonna be honest, I find reading about Miura kind of depressing and reading about his plans for the series quite depressing as well, so I decided to go through the whole twitter (well as much as the site will permit), grab the rest of everything of note to me and put it all in this post.

So yes, More Stuff Miura Said

1. The Lost Chapter - did you know it’s usually posted with the pages out of order? True story. [ link ]

1a. Clarification on the canonicity of the lost chapter - he just revealed too much too soon. He thought something that big should wait until the end. [ link ]

2. People like to say Miura said the ending of Berserk would be happy, but I’ve never found a source for that. The closest I’ve seen is this (I’ve seen it before now but you know the link is here so), which is basically just “I’m trying not to make it a tragedy, idk if it’ll be happy but I want to leave at least some sense of hope.” [ link ]

2a. He also had another quote that was basically the same, where he said he didn’t think such a long story should have a grim ending like Guts suddenly dying. Which like,. lmao, there’s that Go Nagai jumping out again except he pushed it back in the box.

3. If the kojion (the twitter user) ever posted this in the original japanese I missed it, which is a shame because i can’t quite parse the final part, but it seems to be saying that the time when everyone is traveling together is about to end. ...I really really miss Miura. [ link ]

4. The faces that line the world during the Eclipse represent the common will of humanity? [ link ]

5. Oh yeah, here’s the famous (to me anyway lmao) line where he talks about the androgynous characters and says usually (but not always) a beautiful androgynous protagonist’s femininity comes out and they fall in love with men. And that he felt he should provide a character like that with both male and female love interests. He’s talking about the protagonist to Duranki btw, but it’s interesting considering the way he drew Sheephead. [ link ]

6. Here’s some information on extent of Mori’s involvement in Berserk - I’ve seen a lot of people fear that Mori was working on 20 year old memories from the first time Miura sat down and plotted the rest of the series out, but their conversations were ongoing. [ link ]

7. Someone asked Miura if Guts and Griffith will fight in the end and he just kind of launched into a discussion of Berserk’s cosmology and what it would take to hurt an astral body. [ link ]

8. About Casca, it’s well known that he said he designed her physically to match his taste at the time, but less discussed that her personality was designed as a compilation of his own complexes and weaknesses. That’s pretty interesting to me because I always thought she was meant to be a strong badass but he was just bad at writing women back then. But it appears she was perhaps just not intended to be as strong and badass as I’d assumed.. [ link ]

9. This is just kind of funny to me - Miura complaining about all the Huge Swords that came after the Dragonslayer but without the kind of consideration as to what kind of body or stance it would take to actually wield something like that. [ link ]

10. Explanation of the nature of behelits - they are souls that fall from the astral plane, and their messed up face represents their fragmentation. ...but he made that up to explain it after he’d already designed them, which he did on a whim. [ link ]

11. kojion kept talking about a second golden age-esque arc that covered the Skull Knight’s history, and when asked where that came from, they explained that it was mentioned in the video interview that showed at the Berserk exhibition. [ link ]

12. This is pretty fascinating - he said that looking at the Eclipse made him want to hit his younger self in the face and ask what was wrong with him, and that he couldn’t do it now because he isn’t depressed anymore. You know, that’s interesting because there’s been a lot of discussion (mostly elsewhere) about the question of whether Miura ended up regretting some of the extremes in the Eclipse, and most particularly Casca’s rape. Because it.... gets played down a LOT and had absolutely no effect on Griffith’s presentation. And I do think part of that is Cultural Differences, because the West is a lot more angry about rape in fiction than Japan tends to be. But it does kind of sound like maybe he wouldn’t have done it again, if he had it to do over. [ link ]

13. I wish I could find it, but there’s a tweet in there somewhere about how he wouldn’t have women in the manga at all if he just did whatever he wanted, but that would be bad for the story. This is kind of tied into something he talked about a lot that I didn’t link to because I’m not trying to catalogue Miura’s life - he just didn’t know any women aside from relatives and his best friend’s wife, because he didn’t date at all or have many friends due to his being a shut-in who worked on manga 24/7. Anyway, I’ll look for the link again later and add it if I can find it.

14. According to Miura, all the relationships and such in the Golden Age really happened to him and his friends (in a not-fantastical way, of course). Which I think explains some of the tonal difference between the GA and the rest of the series. [ link ]

15. I believe this is his speech from when he won the Tezuka Osamu Award. [ link ]

[seiya-starsniper]

10 fandoms/10 characters/10 tags

FUCK YEAH LET'S GO BLORBO LOVING HOURS

Tagged by the amazing @sans--seraph and @verminetroglodyte

Loki from MCU He is single-handedly responsible for my descent into madness with the MCU. None of my friends could get me to watch a single movie until the bestie one day said, "Hey you should come watch Thor with us, there's a character we think you'd like" and it was OVER after that.

The Corinthian from Sandman A lot of people probably think my favorite character must be Dream or Hob because of my ship but nope, it's The Corinthian. My beloved serial killing, eyeball eating, just needs a hug and some validation baby, I love you so. Also, it helps that he'd played by Boyd Holbrook, who I was OBSESSED with as a teen when he was a twinky model lmao.

Hawks from My Hero Academia I know Hawks is a pretty polarizing character in the fandom, and I think that's part of the reason why I love him so so much. He's technically one of the "good guys" as a hero yes, but he has done so many questionably things in the name of corrupt hero society. He's the type of character I'm not sure I'd like if he were a real person, but I think that's part of what makes him so interesting. Absolute sweetheart on the outside, but will gut you like a fish if he thinks it's for the greater good.

Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh MY OG BLORBO I LOVE YOU SO 💖💖💖 What else is there to say about this iconic boy? He's a dick. He's rich, screw the rules he has money. He's a meme. He is absolutely over the top and tries to insist he has no friends but he's been adopted by the heroes as a bestie. Love him forever.

Sara Lance from DCTV/Arrowverse I've GOTTA include my White Canary queen because she was my bisexual awakening. I had always known I had some attraction to women, and even had gone by pan for a little bit, but lord my attraction to women came alive with Sara. I may not longer care for Arrowverse, but Sara Lance will always have a special place in my heart.

Hiccup Haddock from How to Train Your Dragon Hiccup holds a special place in my heart for bucking the trend on traditional protagonists. He's a little weakling. People underestimate him. He doesn't always get things right! But he loves fiercely, he's determined, he's smart, and he believes the best in everyone. One of my favorite blorbos ever.

Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist Smarmy bastard with a heart of gold. He will go the distance to protect those he loves, and he's not afraid to burn people to a crisp to do it. He knows his weaknesses and tries to push past them anyways if he needs to protect someone he loves. Best boy, I love him so.

Harley Quinn from DC Comics Another important character in my bisexual development ahahha. I know Harley's kind of over saturated the market as a Strong Female Character but she's still so important to me for so many reasons. She came out on the other side of an abusive relationship. She's funny, she's silly, she loves life, no matter how many wrenches get thrown at her, literally and figuratively. And her relationship with Pam is SO IMPORTANT to me ahhhhhhhhh.

Jyn Erso from Rogue One Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I love her. She's a grump. She's a survivor. She's a tragic figure drawn into a war she never asked to be a part of and she dies for a cause that never knowing how important her impact truly was. I have read a million fix-it fics and AUs of her and the whole Rogue One crew and still love her to this day.

Q from James Bond (Daniel Craig Movies) My nerdy baby. He's so smart and so awkward and so endearing it hurts. I love him so. He has two cats and a mortgage. Bond takes too much advantage of his goodwill and Q lets him because he's in love a good friend.

Tagging: @rooftopwreck @virgo-dream @nygmobblepot-trash @lyriclorelei @gil212 @valeriianz @valiantstarlights @writing-for-life @two-hands-toward-the-sun @bazzybelle

[lilolilyr]

ANSWER MY RIDDLES SIXTEEN (or not lol pls only answer all of them if you want to)

5. something in fiction that reads like poetry

28. a book you wish you could read as a beginner again

42. a book that made you want to scream by the time you got to the end

43. a book that you have read more than three times

50. a book that made you cry a LOT

54. a book with the best opening line

55. a book with a satisfying ending

60. a book that you think about at 3 am

66. a book that fucked you up

70. your favourite poetry collection

74. your favourite love triangle

80. a book that reminds you of a loved one

90. the longest book you've read

99. a book with a strong female protagonist

119. your favourite summer read

131. tag somebody with whom you would want to buddy read a book

Ohhhhhhh Dayum that sure is an ask xD I’ll try my best adsfghjkl

Ask meme

5 Ok already the first one i go completely Blank on? Wtf reads like poetry?? What Does That Even Mean 🙈

28 as a beginner like as someone who hasn’t read any books yet?? Or for the first time? I wish I could read LotR for the first time again. I remember I’ve even read all the songs and long tree descriptions and everything because I was so in the story I couldn’t miss a single word, and I’ve skipped most of them every time since, and usually just watch the movies instead anyway lmao

42 scream in a good or bad way? Bad way so many Deutschunterricht Bücher. Homo Faber in particular.

Good way most of the discworld books recently!

43 & 50 Sara, die kleine Prinzessin <3 used to borrow it each time I was at the local library as a kid

Oh and also Isola by Isabel Abedi! It’s been a while and I don’t really remember the plot all that well but I remember reading it a lot. Maybe I should give it another re-read!

54 “The wind howled, lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin” - Terry Pratchett: Wyrd Sisters

(Tbh it’s the only book I physically have on me atm and so the only first sentence I could check. But. I think it’s pretty good!)

55 If it hasn’t got a satisfying ending I don’t like itttt, honestly everything I’ve already answered could go here too…

60 the fucking house of night side stories haunt me

66 oh god oh fuck I don’t remember the name because halfway through I put it Behind the other books in my shelf in my childhood bedroom so I’d never have to look at it again but. It was about what if ‘ageing’ got a cure and everyone was basically suddenly immortal and obvs we don’t have the resources for that kind of population and wars and fucked up politics and killings and ghettos and oh my god

70 I actually tend to read poems either online and then it’s not a collection but more going through Google images of a particular author like K Le Guin, or checking out old poetry books from free book thingies where I maybe won’t like them all that much most of the time but they’re still kinda interesting? But couldn’t name a fav

74 love triangle or love angle? Poly 📐 from books I can’t think of anything canon or hc? And ‘love triangle’ ~oh who will she be end up with’ angles I just can’t stand. But most well written of these kinds of situations is definitely Panem because it’s not actually about the picking the boy but rather picking the kind of life Katniss wants to live

80 5 Freunde makes me think of my parents bc I have all their old books <3 and Lola makes me think of my sister because i used to read that series out loud for her

90 I know for sure I’ve read fanfics longer than any book I might’ve read!

99 hunger games. Oh, also anything from Trudi Canavan, especially the Age of the Five series. Many great women there and I love the witch best

119 what on earth is a summer read? XD but some other fav books of mine are

- Lies we Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, an interracial lesbian story set in the US during the segregation

- Dracula by Bram Stoker. Seriously if you haven’t read it yet do so it’s amazing. I love seeing all the Dracula daily memes now, when I read it years ago most ppl just knew some movies that have nothing to do with the original plot and the original is great!

- Erebos by Ursula Poznanski. That one just… I couldn’t put it down, it’s so thrilling and good.

131 I’m not sure I’d want to buddy read a book with anyone because if Dracula daily taught me anything, then that I am incapable of reading on a schedule xD I really tried to re-read it with the emails. But nope. But theoretically, on a we‘d-probably-vibe-with-the-same-stories-&-enjoy-chatting-about-them kind of way, I’d have a bookclub with you and @lavendelhummel @squishmittenficfan @purlturtle @mimi-mindless @die-schwanenkoenigin @wellsbering :)

And if you guys liked these qs, the ask meme is here, if you reblog it I’ll send some your way!

Thx so much for the ask Ela! <3

[sapphicbookclub]

Author Spotlight: Lee Swanson

The Sapphic Book Club is excited to participate in Lee Swanson's Virtual Book Tour for Her Dangerous Journey Home, a current club read! Check out the full article below to hear more about the No Man Is Her Master series, and stay tuned to Goodreads for club member reviews.

Succeeding in the Male-Dominated World of Medieval England: One Woman’s Approach

Over the course of the series No Man is Her Master, my strong female protagonist’s life changes in ways she could never have dreamed possible. No longer is Christina Kohl just an impetuous teenager living in her parents’ home in the German imperial city of Lübeck. As the third novel in the series begins, young Christina is a master among London’s merchants as well as a courageous knight in the service of King Edward II. Her achievements are only possible through her most profound transformation; when she assumes the identity of her lost brother, Frederick. If king or commoner learn of this deception, her new life will certainly come crashing down around her.

Christina must constantly be on guard lest she betray herself through an unthinking word or action. Even relieving herself must be carefully planned as it is customary to do so openly, particularly amongst men. Concealing her gender is not easy, as she leads a very public life as a merchant. She also has a knack for attracting violence; repeatedly engaging male opponents throughout the series with sword, knife, and fist. Should Christina be seriously injured in one of these encounters, the bandaging of her wounds to save her life could also endanger it by revealing her true sex to those providing her aid.

An advantage in passing herself off as a man is that she is larger than most women of the time, about five feet ten, with broad shoulders and an athletic build. Christina’s facial features are strong; she is handsome rather than pretty. Her breasts are small; easily hidden by linen bindings worn beneath the loosely-fitting tunics and cottes she favors. The width of her hips is concealed by the length of her garments. Her legs are muscular, and her feet are far from petite. She speaks with a rich contralto voice, deeper in tone than many men.

Just as important as her physical appearance is her inherent self-confidence, made stronger by the arrogance of her youth. She is decisive, assertive, and unafraid to speak her mind. She is also a risk-taker; assured her knowledge and abilities will cause her to prevail over any challenge. Since most men of the fourteenth century believe women incapable of such qualities, it stands to reason that they would believe Frederick Kohl to be a male.

Despite her best efforts, her masquerade is not able to fool everyone she encounters. Some individuals, such as her friend Piers Gaveston and her lover Lady Cecily Baldewyne, readily agree to protect her secret. Those less amenable are quickly silenced by her blade. The possibility that her true gender could be discovered at any time is a constant worry to Christina and creates a tension that is a central aspect of the series.

            Lee Swanson is author of the No Man Is Her Master sapphic historical quadrilogy.

Book III in the series, entitled Her Dangerous Journey Home, releases August 1, 2023.

[starlitcorgi]

Hi......If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hmmm 🤔 my favs are always changing but at the moment.

1. Gokurakugai: Alma is a precious cinnamon roll who loves his mentor Miss Tao like a sister. I really love their platonic relationship and the fact that Alma is incredibly emotionally balanced. Like he's not this typical macho guy. Probably because he's surrounded by strong female role models. It's really refreshing for Shonen and I really hope it gets an anime series because I think it has the potential to be as big as JJK and Demon Slayer.

2. Jujutsu Kaisen: I love Yuuji as a ML and I'm usually a side character gal. So it's great to actually like the lead character. I've noticed in this current generation of Manga and Anime that our Male Leads are becoming much more well rounded and likeable. I love Yuuji's strength and his resilience, he definitely deserves all the love and hugs. I also of course love Gojo and I kind of hope Mappa deviates from the manga in regards to his fate because man that hurt.

3. Demon Slayer: I read the manga start to finish and loved every minute of it. The anime series is just as good. I love all of the characters in this in their own rights. From the protagonist to the villains for me at least the author got everything right. It's Shonen at its best. To be able to make your audience love Rengoku in such a short time is an amazing feat. To care so much that you feel as devastated as Tanjiro to me the Mugen train arc is a masterclass in story telling. It's sad that the series will be coming to an end soon but I think for me this will always be in my top 5.

4. Ghost in the Shell: This is the movie that started my love of anime/manga. It's a cinematic masterpiece and everyone should watch it at least once. It was well ahead of its time and it's not surprising that it inspired the Matrix.

5. Hells Paradise: I love the manga and the anime. Gabimaru is so relatable to me, I think we share the same sarcastic and apathetic nature lol. I love it as well because it gave us one of the best disabled characters in current manga generation. Shion is an epic character for the disabled community, being partially blind myself it's nice to be represented you know? And he's not full of loathing or self pity, he embraces his blindness and uses it to his advantage. He's funny, kind, strong and handsome. He never questions Sagiri's competence, he doesn't try to send her of to the kitchen like his colleagues. He recognises her talent and encourages her to achieve her goals. In short Shion needs to be protected at all costs.

6. Chainsaw Man: when I first saw this pop up on Shonen Jump I didn't have high hopes. It seemed like a crack series but this is exactly why you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. I love this series even though it hurts me 😭. Denji is a typical hormonal teen, power is a ball of chaos and Aki is just trying to keep everything together. Plus Angel 😇 is one of my fav characters of all time maybe because he reminds me of my daughter lol.

7. Elfen Lied: this is another classic anime the violence is on par with AOT but once you get past that you have this heart wrenching story. Lucy is a monster created by her environment and the abuse she suffered. This is also one of the most beautifully animated series of all time. The art is phenomenal.

8. Solo Leveling: I fell in love with the Manwha and was so excited when it got picked up for a series. I'm loving the anime so far, though I'm two episodes behind. Due to my sight loss I have to wait for the English dub but dubs have gotten way better than when I first started watching anime in the early 2000's. I love Jinwoo's tenacity and the fact that he just cuts through the villains. He never really worries about whether that makes him a bad person. Sometimes you just want to see bad people get what's coming to them. Plus this has some of the most epic fight scenes, I can't wait to see them animated.

9. Tokyo Ghoul: I spent most of Tokyo Ghoul crying ugly tears 😭. Ken Keneki has one of the most heartbreaking storylines in all of anime. It's just painful to read/watch Gege definitely took a leaf out of the Tokyo ghoul book when writing JJK. Yet still I couldn't put it down, I'm a sucker for punishment. It's a great mix of characters as well, I love that we see goth culture mixed in there as well. You do get those Crow vibes the way it's so gothic in inspiration and the art work is stunning. I think the only illustrator that tops it is Yuta Sano.

10. Attack on Titan: AOT has been deemed controversial because of it's fascist themes. However I think it's only problematic if you think Eren is the hero in this story. I actually really can't stand Eren, it's pretty obvious that he's been radicalised by his experiences early on. The foreshadowing is strong with him you know he's not going to turn out well from the start. The real protagonists for me are Armin, Levi and Hange. Like these three are definitely trying to save their comrades and people. Whereas Mikasa is constantly having to save Eren and Eren jumps to mass genocide pretty quick. Levi almost feels like he's representing the audience with his snarky commentary. I also love Levi and Hanges platonic friendship. They really get each other and their banter is a joy to watch especially in the first season.

[novelmonger]

Book Review: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Quote that should have been on the back of the book: "It started when the wicked fairy came to my christening." "She put a curse on you?" "No. She ate cake and ice cream until she nearly burst and danced with my Uncle Arthur until two in the morning and had a wonderful time. So she went home without cursing me, and Aunt Ermintrude says that that's where the whole problem started...."

Premise: This is the first of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which take place in a fairy-tale world where princesses are expected to get cursed by wicked fairies or wicked witches, locked in towers, or put in enchanted slumbers, to then be rescued by a prince and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Princess Cimorene isn't very well suited to life as a fairy tale princess. She's curious and resourceful, and wants to learn all sorts of things like fencing and sorcery and cooking that simply aren't appropriate to her station. Eventually, when she realizes she's going to be married off to a very boring prince, she runs away and ends up agreeing to be the princess of a dragon, giving her more status among the dragons as well as cooking and cleaning for her. During her time with the dragon, she is finally able to put her talents to good use and eventually even manages to save all the dragons from a tyrant.

Thoughts: I really wish I'd known about this series as a kid, because I know I would have loved it. It's exactly the sort of fairy tale satire I love best, because it pokes fun at all the cliches, but in a fun way that doesn't destroy the magic. Cimorene is a great protagonist - dare I say even an Actually Strong Female Character? :o She's strong-willed, but not obnoxious. She genuinely wants to help people and be friends with everyone she can, she's just not cut out for being a demure damsel in distress. I enjoyed the way she tackled problem-solving. I also really liked the dragons and their culture. I always say that dragons make anything ten times cooler, but it's especially cool when they're not just mindless beasts, nor universally evil.

I definitely recommend this book, and look forward to reading the rest of the series!

[extant-exhaustion]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

I love this question! :D I'm going to keep my initial answer to the fandoms I blog about, 'cause if we start going into books and things, I think I'll fry my brain trying to narrow it down. But definitely ask again if you'd like me to try books or other media! (And sorry it’s taken so long for me to answer. Life has been crazy, so it took me literal months to type this out. But I appreciate you asking so much and will answer much faster in the future.)

It was a struggle to keep it to 10, but here we go! (My initial "short list" was 25, so I'm thrilled to have narrowed it down, haha. But I did have to compromise by giving you a Top 10 list that's in no particular order, because ranking them within the ranking would be basically impossible.) See "keep reading" for reasons why I love them!

Edward Elric

Kagami Taiga

Korra

Urameshi Yusuke

Greedling

Kuwabara Kazuma

Amajiki Tamaki

Winry Rockbell

Killua Zoldyck

Kageyama Tobio

Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Ed is the best written shonen protagonist of all time. His growth is incredible and Arakawa shows it beautifully. He starts the series so young, but he’s not even close to naïve. He’s been through hell already. And he loves his brother, and FMA is powered by that sibling relationship, and I’m a huge sucker for sibling dynamics. (I’m one of four myself.) He’s wicked smart, but it’s shown how hard he works for that. And he’s kind. He truly wants to help people. His emotions are also on full display throughout the series which we don’t always get from shonen protags. He’s a stunningly well-rounded character whose story is full of amazing moments that make me love him even more. “That’s the only thing I’ve ever been—just a simple human.”

Kagami Taiga, Kuroko's Basketball

I love this boy so goddamn much. He’s so good-hearted and soft and perfect. And he’s the type of person I think everyone would want to have in their corner. He’s introduced like he’s going to be this huge jerk, but we quickly learn he’s just a complete doofus who sucks at communicating and expressing himself. He’s loud and brash and cocky, but he just…he loves basketball so much, and he grows so much through playing with Seirin and facing the Generation of Miracles. And specifically, he grows because of his relationship with Kuroko. It’s really the most lovely not-quite-canon sports anime romantic relationship. “Don’t you dare give up, ya hear me? Just sit tight for now. I’ll go out there and show him.”

Korra, The Legend of Korra

Korra truly means everything to me. She was one of the first openly and explicitly bisexual characters I ever saw in media who wasn’t forced to suffer and be miserable because of that. And she’s so strong and so cool. And I love that she’s a flawed character—she feels jealousy and rage and fear and hopelessness. But she keeps fighting. She always comes back and does the right thing. Seasons 3 and 4 are incredible and devastating in equal parts, and I really can’t understand how anyone could not love Korra after seeing her break down and rebuild herself. “Even though we should learn from those who came before us, we must also forge our own path.”

Urameshi Yusuke, Yu Yu Hakusho

The shonen protagonist whose development is the clearest, Yusuke is the most fun punk jackass who grows into a slightly more mature punk jackass (never losing an ounce of his comedic genius along the way). He’s so chaotic and stupid, but his North Star never changes, and that’s his love for his girl, Keiko. I could (and definitely will someday) write a whole post about the genuine love Yusuke and Keiko have for each other, because I really do think it’s some of Togashi’s best writing. But also, Yusuke is just a really fantastic character. He’s strong as hell (of course), but he’s also weak. He faces loss and death and defeat. He watches the people closest to him face their deaths because he isn’t strong enough to protect them; and he breaks my heart because he’s trying so hard, but sometimes it’s not enough. But as he grows and puts his life on the line and protects his friends (and multiple worlds) again and again and again, it becomes obvious just how far he’s come from some punk kid who no one but Keiko believed in. “All right, Yusuke, you’ve tried everything else. Now it’s time to be stupid.”

Greedling, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

So, this is kind of cheating, because Greed and Ling Yao are two different characters, but they share a body for a lot of the show, and they’re so intrinsically linked in my mind that I’m gonna count them as one. I just love these two so much! Their dynamic is so funny to me. They’re both so sassy and clever, and they’re so passionate. I especially love when they finally start working together rather than fighting against each other. They become so bad-ass and their friendship is really obvious. The way they grow to mean so much to each other is everything to me. I guess there really is nothing closer than having somebody who lives in your own head. “Greed may not be good, but it’s not so bad, either. You humans think greed is just for money and power. But everyone wants something they don’t have.”

Kuwabara Kazuma, Yu Yu Hakusho

If you told me I had 10 seconds to choose a character who’s too good for this world, I’d probably settle on Kuwabara. Because this boy is pure, unadulterated good. He truly believes in a code of honor. He does what’s right. He’d rather die than do something underhanded or something that would harm an innocent person. And he’s so loyal and so kind. He loves so much. Be it his friends, his sister, his kitten...he just loves. And he’s willing to fight to protect that. He sticks his neck out time and time again, even when he gets brutally hurt for it. Even when the odds are ridiculously stacked against him, he won’t back down from a fight, because he won’t risk that any perceived cowardice on his part would result in harm coming to his friends or to innocent people. God...he just...he literally fights cataclysmic events and can still smile afterwards. Kuwabara seems like such a dope, but it really is impossible not to love someone who’s just so good. “We all have to die when our time comes, but if we do our duty we don’t got regrets.”

Amajiki Tamaki, My Hero Academia

My anxious, darling boy. He’s got the coolest quirk of anybody (okay, don’t hold me to that; I’d have to think about it harder, but he’s got one of the coolest quirks for sure), but he still struggles with feeling unsure of his power. But he’s got so much control over it anyway! He’s worked so hard and he kicks so much ass! But even being so competent, that imposter syndrome still creeps up, and I can relate to that and to his anxiety a lot. Finally, I think and he and Mirio are truly adorable together in the anime, and Tamaki’s loyalty makes him a character I really like. *Note: I’m not a manga-reader for BNHA, so I only know up to the end of the current anime season, so please no spoilers if anything I say is out of date!* “Even if I try to imagine them as potatoes, I can see their human bodies. I know that they’re still people…I wanna go home.”

Winry Rockbell, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Winry is a beautiful character. She’s so strong and cool and smart, and she’s unfailingly loyal. Her support of Ed and Al helps them through their whole journey, and she literally gives Ed a leg to stand on and an arm to fight with. She’s a brilliant mechanic and a caring friend, and she’s so empathetic, despite the hurt in her past. She has her own story too, which too many “love interest” girls in shonen anime/manga don’t have. She makes her own choices and grows in her own ways and holds Ed accountable when he’s being an idiot. Winry’s arc is beautiful and shows yet another aspect to the FMA world that Arakawa so brilliantly crafted. I just really adore Winry and think she deserves all the happiness in the world. “You two won’t cry. Someone should do it for you; don’t you think?”

Killua Zoldyck, Hunter x Hunter

This boy is the embodiment of trauma, and he doesn't even realize it. It breaks my heart every time I rewatch HxH, because the juxtaposition between his upbringing and Gon’s is so stark. But Killua is also straight up hilarious and really fun to watch as he learns how to be a kid through his friendship with Gon. And part of that hilarity is when he says the most unsettling shit because he was raised as an assassin and death is just whatever to him. He’s just a really fun character and someone whose earnestness and loyalty is really unmatched. Plus, he’s just undeniably really, really cool. “I want to be friends with Gon!”

Kageyama Tobio, Haikyuu!!

The quintessential prodigy/genius with zero social skills, Kageyama really, really loves volleyball. Can he communicate that without shouting at someone? No, not really. And does he know what it means to be on a team? Also, no. Not until he joins Karasuno and meets Hinata and starts to learn from his upperclassmen. But that’s why I love him. I’m just soft for a boy who finally has good mentors who take him under their wings and show him how to fly and he just...ugh. He soars. He puts so much pressure on himself, but he really does have this beautiful character arc. Plus, he says cheesy shit like this: “With me around, you are the greatest.”

[eolewyn1010]

Farewell, Darkover - part 9

The next section was really grating to read, as that's not only where MZB's arrogance really goes off the charts; it's also where she proves to be a real twat about the topics she's been praised for writing about. Buckle in for all the glory of her representation of strong feminist characters, homosexuals, and intersex people! ...ow.

First, there's more about individual Darkover books and a dispute she had with German translators. She casually name-drops her second husband who was just such an important partner to her - excuse me, there's the taste of bile again. Don't tell me how loving and supportive your fucking NAMBLA husband was. Onward to hard times in the magazine editing business... bitch?

"if this was the level of the competition, why was I worrying?"

Could you be any snootier?

"I resolved to try a female protagonist."

Woooow, now that's a novelty. I hate people who think they have invented fire or something. And it gets better:

"[...] Allira, the eldest, raped, and summarily married off to a bandit chief. Allira turned out to be a washout as a heroine. Try as I might to infuse her with heroic spirit, all she did was cry"

For one: That's your character. If you failed to make her a heroine you found compelling, that's really on you. And then. I find it rich enough from someone who was afaik a rape victim herself, but a rapist? Calling a traumatized rape victim who curls up to cry (a character MZB herself created, to boot) a whiny, "jelly-spined" washout? That's, uh. Sure something. Reminds me a lot of how MZB, who had her own abused children around, wrote Morgaine in MoA having very clear symptoms of PTSD and depression after being violated - and constantly waved her obvious poor emotional well-being off as not a big deal and something she really should just get over. ...Turn up the hellfire, guys.

Next is about meeting some of her fans; she refers to one "young girl" whom she still knows by name, creeping me out thoroughly. As she goes on about the ghost winds of Darkover, the creeps get worse; this worldbuilding element was one of her favorite excuses for "everyone falls into a frenzied orgy drugged beyond consent". Onward.

"Most of my readers give me credit for being far more profound than I am. I'm not profound; I simply let the reader figure out what is terrifying to him and visualize that in the blank spaces I leave in my book."

Not only are you not profound; this also testifies to your lack of creativity. "Let the audience fill in the blanks!" - how about you don't leave blanks? Hell, the entire Avalonian religion in MoA is nothing but a big blank. She sneers, in her brilliance, at the final scene of The Dunwich Horror, as describing Wilbur Whately's inhuman features destroyed the horror of it all because...

"I am not horrified, personally, by physiological abnormalities."

ExcusoWHAT? How does that fit with your rampant ableism?? Show me one single physically disabled or disfigured character of MZB's that isn't portrayed in a negative / contemptuous light! Next she dumps on the Lord of the Rings movie of her time and Japanese kaiju horror for the same reasons. I am supremely ignorant in these fields, although I heard that at least the original Godzilla did indeed play with the concept of the unseen horror because he was an embodiment of the terror of nuclear weapons, so shows Bradley's level of knowing-what-the-fuck-she's-talking-about.

"I felt that I hadn't read anything in science fiction that really excited and delighted me, not for ages; not since Stranger in a Strange Land."

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Stranger in a Strange Land is the main reason (albeit not the only one) why I have such a low opinion of Heinlein's writing. There's an Übermensch race superseding humanity, no concept of consent, all the homophobia, sexism and racism, Heinlein going on a long tract about the benefits of cannibalism - it's skeevy, is what it is. Call me a tasteless boor for it all you want.

After telling us "that chapter in my life was ended" (meaning writing Darkover), she... keeps blathering on for a while, about other books. Isn't this titled "A Darkover Retrospective"? Finally: chieri, and her inspirations for those.

"Nowhere in Tolkien does it speak of the elves as ambiguously sexed; I don't know where I picked up that idea, perhaps from one of the Theodore Sturgeon stories in which he explored the notion of legendary people who could appear as men to a woman, or as women to a man."

I played with that, too, regarding a Faerie creature - only they don't appear necessarily as the opposite gender of whom they encounter, but as the sexually preferred gender of said person. Meaning, yeah, my Fae is still a hot dude for my gay protagonist (and looks very similar to his ex, too, because Fae are assholes). But figures that she'd think of a hetero norm only. This is our gay literature pioneer?

Anyway, chieri are basically her Darkovan Fae, and with MoA establishing MZB's self-insert being a direct descendant of Faeries, I can only imagine that her Fae and chieri are the sort of naturally Superior(TM) Übermensch she'd love to imagine herself to be. Well, as I said, Fae are assholes, so if the shoe fits. No, I shall not interpret any of her writings in good faith.

"I decided that the sexual element in such a story [about aliens capable of switching sexes] would make it difficult to handle at all, with the kind of taboos operating in science fiction at the time."

I know which kind of societal taboos around sexuality you would have liked to have loosened. Get away from my queer community and my Sci-Fi genre, you sick fuck. Couple paragraphs later, she even mentions how her husband, the other sick fuck, encouraged her to write about the chieri, specifically the explicit sex scene in The World Wreckers. Pervy enough for his tastes, was it? Again, feels more like fetish service than decent intersex rep. Specifically, fetish service to herself. And I wish she would stop telling me about her harmonious marriage and happy home life. It makes me retch. She promised her editor that there would be "no four-letter vulgarisms" in the chieri sex scene, and that just makes me laugh. Child molestation all over the place, but she's too well-mannered to write "cock"? Well, suck it, Bradley. No, wait, she doesn't know what oral sex is. I shall write my next smut very spitefully.

"[Prior to Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, h]omosexuality had always been a major taboo in science fiction."

Uhm. Has it? Sci-Fi up to a more recent time tended to breeze over sexual themes in general. Well, she mentions Sturgeon, but she doesn't mention Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Poul Anderson, Brian Aldiss, David Gerrold. Anyway, I'm not sure why this applies to the Keral-David sex scene at all, because that only took place after Keral, the chieri, was very graphically described as having a female body to the last detail, plus emphasis on his capabilty to get pregnant. Now, I know that there are men in the world to whom this applies. But I doubt that Bradley with her gender essentialism and Sacred Biological Maternity fetish was thinking of trans people when writing the chieri, so how does this pass for homosexuality?

"because I was the first person to attack this problem straight on, I became known as highly sympathetic; in fact, for a time, I managed to become something like science fiction's token homosexual! I had no particular aversion for this position; but I am sure that it encouraged many other writers to stop being afraid of the subject"

1st, no, you were not the first. 2nd, what with you self-identifying as a lesbian, your propensity to represent heterosexual relationships as naturally superior and the only sacred-by-universe-and-nature outcome in your writings either speaks of a severe self-loathing or of your time and age not knowing the term bisexuality. 3rd, yes, unfortunately, you were an inspiration to many. I wonder how many of them are seething at the memory as I am today. I wonder how many of them are rotating in their graves.

She did not, in fact, quit writing Darkover after that. Guess the ego-stroking was too nice to forfeit. Then it's on about how, ha-ha, her editor was wrong about the ideas he turned down, because they sold well later on, so there! ...Stephenie Meyer, is that you? More stories on individual books, her lofty stance on how every woman in Darkover Landfall absolutely had to spread her legs for the procreation of humanity, free will be damned, "Biology is Destiny" and how she thinks feminists can shove it if they don't agree with this (I hate her). Then she defends fucking Heritage of Hastur. And guess what:

"no one was upset by the picture of male homosexuals in Heritage, with a rather curious exception. I received a few nasty letters from confessed homosexuals in the Gay Activist movement, accusing me of prejudice because I, professing to be sympathetic toward homosexuality, had perpetrated the stereotype of the homosexual as brutal sadist, preying on young boys."

Yup. There were people back then who read Dyan Ardais for the gross predator that he was. And she found it curious and nasty that gay men wouldn't be happy about that rep. Here's a hint, Bradley: HOMOSEXUALITY. IS NOT. PEDOPHILIA! GAY MEN. AREN'T. LIKE. WALTER BREEN! Your husband was a freaking pervert, but the apologia isn't anything new; we know you joined right in there.

"I regard Dyan Ardais, not as evil, but as unhappy, a man desperately at the mercy of his own misery and his own obsessions; and Dyan's tragedy, I have always felt, was that he did not come to know Regis well until he had destroyed himself irrevocably in the younger man's eyes."

. . .

Yeah, no. NO. Do not go there. Do not tell me about what a tragic character fucking Dyan Ardais is and how sad I should feel that he had fallen from grace in the eyes of his victims, you utter piece of shit. All I hear is you defending your husband and yourself. I hope either of you died painfully.

I have to set a cut again. And yell at a wall for a while. Seeya.

[ladynemo14]

What do I think of Rachel Phantomhive?

I will earn the hatred of many for this and I do not understand it.

Why do they love her so much?

She is boring, uninteresting and bland. We don't know anything about her and they all kiss the paper of her where Yana drew her; she is only she is the typical Victorian wife and housewife.

It is true that she has cute design, like everything Yana does, but a cute design is not enough to be loved. She has no personality and being Ciel's mother is not enough to be loved.

Is she a bad sister?

We all know that Madame Red, what am I going to dedicate a chapter to, loved Vincent madly and it showed, but was Rachel that dumb? If I realized that my best friend was in love with a boy that interests me, why didn't she realize it? Did she not care for her or was she dumb? It seems to me that she rubbed her happiness with Vincent to her younger sister. I have friends (there are people who think so) that Rachel had man-stealing behavior.

Just Why Rachel is his mother?

I read manga and watch anime, and in both she seems boring to me. She appears less than Paula and I don't know why that happens. She is the mother of the protagonist and she must have been very important in her life, but she is practically erased from the plot, almost like an ornament.

Cheater vincent

I have read a lot of fanfic, mostly in English. Where Vincent is unfaithful to Rachel or he is not married to her. I also remind you of reading one where Vincent married Madame Red, but that's another story.

In those fic Vincent have female lovers and Diederich. the truth that would have been very intelligent to see.

Victorian femininity

In the Victorian era, women were just wives and housewives, if Rachel were real she would be an ordinary Victorian woman, as well as a cuckold (In the Victorian era it was normal to have a lover, I don't know why I think Vincent would have a). In that, the women were totally at the expense of their husbands.

I have never seen a character who is unknown to be so popular and loved, when she should be overlooked. I think it's because there are hardly any interesting or strong female characters (Yana you broke my heart for that) my theory is that's why everyone adores her and why she is Ciel's mother.

Is she the cause of Anne's pain?

In the last moments of her life, Madame Red had no good thoughts for her sister, saying, "What else do you plan to take from me?" And that she was not going to lose again. They are not thoughts of affection but of rivalry, but before you want to kill me tell me, what would you do if Rachel was your sister and stayed with your man? Would you forgive her and accept that or would you push her down the stairs to her death? Think about that first.

I have read many times that Rachel is wonderful and great, but I don't understand it. Being the mother of the protagonist does not make her a goddess and the best character. Her cute design doesn't make her super cool, being a good mom to hers son doesn't make her good to her sister.

Her version in the book looks like action where her equivalent didn't say anything was more interesting than the original, of course she was a bad sister, and surely envious, who married her sister's ex after her sister loses the ability to have children . Something disgusting but very interesting. I would have liked to know more about Erika Genpo and if she was as bitch as I imagine, that she coveted her sister's place, if so she was a selfish bitch. An interest I don't have in Rachel.

Is she Sobra or is she an ornament?

I don't know if about, but if she knows anything, she's a supporting character and only that. She almost has no participation, she has almost no dialogue and no participation.

She's just a nicely designed character and she's blonde, a blonde character is adorable, but 0 personality, -0 development, 0.0 interest, and -0.0 utility.

They should see how many young girls, mostly gringos, idolize her and kiss the paper where she was drawn.

Erika Genpo vs. Rachel Phantomhive

I'll give it a deeper look in another chapter, but as I already said. Erika Genpo, played by Japanese/Irish actress Chiaki Horan, didn't say anything in the entire live-action Kuroshitsuji movie, but she really caught my eye. I know that she is another version of Rachel but I don't care about her. Erika didn't say anything in the whole movie and even so, she was wonderful to me, she ended up married to her brother-in-law, how much did he throw away her sister? Hanae Wakatsuki was left sterile because of an attack. Did Erika have anything to do with it?

That is something very despicable of her and that strikes me, a bad sister who wanted her sister's place and husband, and unlike Madame Red, if she did something.

Erika is a character full of mystery and theories but more interesting than Rachel. It's a pity that I can't know more about her, about Erika, I would like them to rescue this character in another movie or in another anime or drama, etc.

I don't hate her

Surely some will not understand that I don't hate her, I just don't care about her, I consider her boring and I don't understand the excessive fanaticism for her. I really don't understand it.

I don't hate without reason, and a flat character is not the target of my anger and hatred.

[a34trgv2]

In Defense of Strong Female Characters

In today's entertainment landscape, more and more creators have been taking the chance to make female protagonists just as well rounded and interesting as their male counterparts. Yet online, there tends to be this disdain for female characters for one reason or another. Whether it comes down to sexism or these critics just being too lazy to come up with actual critiques that hold water, I think strong female characters have gotten a bad rap over these past few years. For this post, I'm going to share my thoughts on strong female characters and why we're living in a golden age of heroines.

While female protagonists have existed since the dawn of man, they weren't always 3 dimensional characters with interesting personalities. With every Mulan, Little Mermaid, and Cinderella, there were hundreds of female characters that were either damsels in distress, eye candy, or exposition machines. Female characters like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty in their original fairy tale forms lacked urgancy and interesting personalities in comparison to the main hero. They were mostly just there to look pretty and for the man to save them. I can't begin to tell you how many times a lady hogtied on the train tracks was so frequently used in the early days of film; it was practically a rule for every film to have a damsel in distress. That all started to change when characters like Wonder Woman took the world by storm and inspired girls to be strong and brave like them.

During the mid-20th century, characters like Ripley (Aliens), Leia (Star Wars), and Sarah Conner (Terminator) became more 3 dimensional with well-rounded personalities, funny quips and quick thinking skills. They quickly showed young girls that women can be strong and interesting, just like the men. Over time this gave rise to more strong female characters such as Kim Possible, Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbend), Fiona (Shrek), Anna and Elsa (Frozen), Natasha Romanoff (MCU), Rey (Star War sequel trilogy) and many many more. In this current age of strong female characters that were once almost nonexistent, you'd think this would be a welcomed and accepted part of our reality. If you do think that, bless you for not being on the Internet.

On YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit (among other social media sites), there's a large number of users who take issue with strong female characters. They bring up reasons like "they overshadow the male characters," "they're Mary Sues," and "they make men look bad."" These are some outrageous and false claims that they try to make big deals about to hide the fact that either A. They're lazy or B. They're sexist. Do you wanna talk about overshadowing male characters? Robin Williams stole the show in every movie he was in before he passed, and most of his co-stars were male characters. I've already gone into detail about Mary Sues in another post, but to recap, Mary Sue was a character from a Star Trek fanfic, which is a power fantasy. Most entertainment is made up of power fantasies, so referring to a female character as a Mary Sue makes for a stupid insult and a lazy critique. And as for "they make men look bad?" Don't flatter yourselves! Men like Harvey Weinstein, Adolf Hitler, Kim Jong-Un, and Vladimir Putin already make men look bad. A female character being cool doesn't make you less cool.

Strong female characters are exactly what we need in entertainment. Entertainment has always been for everyone, but it's only now being more reflective of our tastes and our ideals. Female characters like Mary Poppins, Peggy Carter, and Catwoman (The Batman 2022), among many others, show that they are on equal ground with male characters as they should be. To conclude, I want to thank everyone who is involved in the creation of strong female characters. May you continue to inspire girls and boys to stand together on equal footing. Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you next time ;)