This is What A Young Feminist Looks Like Blog Carnival

This isn't a feminist blog so much as it is a blog run by a feminist. I talk about books and writing, and even though I've never said this, I read and write with a feminist slant. I look for strong heroines, attend a particular conference dedicated to them, and speak up when something bugs me (see post below this one).

The This is What a Young Feminist Looks Like Blog Carnival was created because young feminists (and I think any 20-something in the world) have a reputation for being apathetic. From what I see on the web daily, I know that is incorrect. There are many forms of activism. Blogging is mine (for now).

Restoring Harmony and the Almost Rape Scene

I was excited to read Restoring Harmony for three reasons.

1. The main character is poor

2. She is a talented musician

3. She is brave enough to travel into another country on her own where she might find herself alone with no on to turn to.

Molly is a riveting main character. She is smart, resourceful, and has been raised to know how to survive rather than so many YA characters who readers are supposed to like because they know how to use a credit card. She is also talented, and uses her talent to save herself and her family. My main gripe plot-wise is that things get a bit too easy once Molly begins to escape the big bad mafia. The prose reads like middle-grade rather than YA; there is a certain lack of realism that makes everything feel non-threatening. Restoring Harmony is set in a dystopian future on a much smaller scale than The Hunger Games, and tells a very personal story of defiance rather than one that spans an entire country.

The bigger problem I have with Restoring Harmony is the Almost Rape Scene. Have you ever read a book where a girl meets a man or group of men who pretend to be her friends, but lure her into a trap so they can force her to have sex, but she gets out of the scrape at the last second because a guy shows up to save her? If you've read a YA sci-fi/fantasy lately, you've probably read an Almost Rape Scene.

What upsets me about the Almost Rape Scene isn't that a guy shows up to save the day; it's the fact that the Almost Rape Scene does nothing to advance the plot and fails to change the main character in a way she couldn't have changed from a different situation. Even worse, in Restoring Harmony, Molly apologizes for going to the market where she encounters the man who tries to rape her because the boy she likes says he was worried about her, and she was stupid for going to the market on her own. It is worth pointing out that her love interest was not the one who saved her, but he makes it seem like she was to blame for what almost happened.

The Almost Rape Scene probably deserves a longer post. I will have to collect more examples so if you know of any, leave them in the comments.

I don't usually do this anymore, but...

I am plugging the contest over at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe. Shannon Whitney Messenger is giving away five ARCs to five lucky people. This includes an ARC of  Pegasus by Robin McKinley and Tony DiTerlizzi's The Search for Wondla, which I believe is destined to become a children's classic.

Enter here! Please tell her I sent you. :D

Really, censorship? Really?

Dear Censorship,

We've talked about this. You are getting out of hand. Please stop. Or I am going to find you.

No love,
Jazz

Last year, Ellen Hopkins was barred from speaking at a middle school in Oklahoma and another event in New York. Now she has been disinvited from the Teen Lit Fest in Humble, Texas.

Censorship is always an insult to the intelligence of the people censors are supposedly protecting. Teens know about drugs and sex. They know those things exist, they know people who do those things, and they either choose to go with it (sadly) or choose to stay out of it. I guarantee you there are kids out there struggling with the choice or trying to get away from their bad decisions, and Ellen's books could help them make good ones. Ellen writes about kids who struggle with who they are and the state of their lives, and find ways to survive.

The situation smacks of the typical ignorance demonstrated by censors. Persons A read a controversial book or a passage from the book, and take said book to Persons B who must not allow their children to witness such a thing lest they be fouled, then Persons A and B take it to Persons C who don't read the book but listen to the opinions of the few who probably didn't read the book either. We need a flowchart for this shit.

Ellen posted the email address of the man responsible for disinviting her, and encourages anyone upset over the situation to send him a respectful email explaining why she should not be turned out of the Teen Lit Fest.

Stephanie Burgis Offers Writing Encouragement

Stephanie Burgis is the author of A Most Improper Magick (UK) a.k.a. Kat, Incorrigible (US). (By the way, you can win a UK copy and other prizes from Stephanie. Go here to find out how to enter.)


If you read her post, you'll find that even though she thought Kat wouldn't have commercial appeal, she still went back to it a year after writing this first draft because it was something she loved and could not give it up. I admire that in anyone and especially in writers since I feel the same way about my own work. I asked Stephanie what she did with her year off and ended up getting some priceless writing advice and encouragement.


Stephanie says:

I kept trying to write more "commercial" (I thought!) novels, dark adult ones that I just couldn't get into, because Kat kept calling to me. It was a great lesson to learn: most authors have NO IDEA which of their ideas really count as commercial or uncommercial, so the best thing to do is always just to focus on the books you really want to write!

(Then I told her I get discouraged when people tell me "no one wants to read another vampire novel" even when they know I'm writing one)

And that kind of "advice" ("no one wants to read [X]") is neither helpful NOR sensible. Everyone wants to read another great, fun novel no matter what the genre - give them a fun vampire novel and they'll love it! (And fwiw, all the 12-year-old girls that I know personally eat up vampire novels like candy and are always on the lookout for more.) You just have to focus on writing what YOU want to read, the novel that's the most fun for YOU to write no matter what anyone else thinks.

Writing what you want to read rather than what you think will sell is indispensable when it comes to writing a book. If your heart isn't in it, I don't think readers will feel connected to the story. I know my favorite books are ones where I feel like I could be friends with or could actually be the characters.

Stories Always Have Their Own Minds

I was supposed to finish chapter 3 of my novel today, but chapter 3 said, "I think I'm just gonna chill here for a while longer if you don't mind."


Me: Chapter 3, you have to get out today. It is the first of August and your lease is up. Chapter 4 wants to move in and set up shop.
Chapter 3: And pray tell, author, what is going to happen in Chapter 4?
Me: Ummm....
Chapter 3: I thought so. -gloat-

Chapter 3 is right. I have an inkling of what I want to do in chapter 4, but I need to let chapter 3 do its thing to know what needs to happen with 4.


Word Counts
July 13 2010

Reset word count: 12,350

July 21 2010

Beginning Word Count: 12, 350

Words Written: 126

Ending Word Count: 12,476

Time: 30 minutes

August 1 2010

Beginning Word Count: ?????

Words Written: 1757

Ending Word Count: 13,020

Time: ALL FREAKING DAY