Metrics and memeage

[la_marquise]

New words: a rather sticky 647.
First new line: ‘I will let your wife and the holy brothers pass through my kingdom unmolested. So long as you and your warband remain within the boundaries of Ceredigion.’

Hyfaidd is pensive, and Owain is jumping to conclusions.

Writing meme, day 2: 2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?

I have no idea how many! I tend to large casts, though -- Grass King surprised me by having only eleven named characters (plus a named horse). I suspect LWG has rather more -- pauses to think -- at least 19. So far Drowning Kings has 13, as of chapter 5. And quite a few more speaking parts. I refuse to count up the short story ons, of the fanfic...
I do have favourite characters, but I don't think it's to do with gender. I find my female characters more difficult, sometimes, as I have to work harder to let them be stroppy without being 'feisty' (I hate 'feisty' heroines) but that's to do with the way we're used to thinking about men and women, not to do with my preferences. My favourite characters in LWG,/i> are Thiercelin and Amalie; in Grass King I probably love Qiaqia best; in Drowning Kings I'm not sure as yet, though I have a very soft spot for Gif the dog.

Comments

[freda-writes.livejournal.com]

I have to ask - why do you hate 'feisty' heriones?

I've a sneaking feeling I might hate them too, but your definition is probably entirely different to mine and I'm curious!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

There is something about those cussin', gun-totin', need-no-one, soft-centre-hidden-by-abuse heroines that just drives me nuts. They feel fake -- either men with breasts, or victim-avenger cliches. I would much rather have a real woman as my heroine, someone who isn't designed from a checklist of 'tough girl+empowered' cards. I never liked Ripley from the Alien films because she seemed to me to say more about male fantasy than female reality, but somehow these days she's the default. Give me Buffy, or your Charlotte any day -- their strength is learned and grown and fought for through real experience, not conveniently glossed into back story.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

Agree with the fakeness. The authors seem to feel that a woman cannot be strong without having it arise out of trauma, which is just another way of reiterating that female strength is exceptional, anomalous and ultimately, pathological. For whatever odd reason, one doesn't generally get that sense from the wuxia heroines of the Hong Kong cinema. Possibly because they do not generally have soft centres.

And Ripley's toughness is, initially at least, presented as quasi-maternal, thus also conforming to ancient stereotype. There has never been anyone in the US media or genre literature to match Servalan, my touchstone for female toughness, who as far as I recalled, never allowed an expletive to cross her lips. Though of course technically she was a villain. But she won anyway, so that's OK.