The Larger Reality

One of the questions I get asked most frequently (and sometimes rather impertinently) when people learn of my profession is something along the lines of “how on earth do you make a living at that?” They don’t always phrase it exactly this way, but this is essentially what they are asking. How do you earn …

Defining Mary Sue

Rambling around the internet earlier today I stumbled on a quote from an article about Mary Sues, and how we need more of them. The article in question is here but I should say that I haven’t read all of it, because I can tell at a glance that it is exactly the sort of …

Don’t be a drag (just be a queen)

Last night I read an article on The Mary Sue that got me surprisingly upset. It inspired this tweet from my alter-ego, Agent Elrond: Please read this article about lack of female villains: themarysue.com/on-female-vill… And then this page from Angeldevil: fav.me/d5kk95v — Agent Elrond (@agentelrond42) June 7, 2013 Now, if you go read that article you’ll …

Death in Fiction

Or, Who Died and made YOU the Author? V 2.0 Note: This article contains frank discussion of character deaths in the show Torchwood, the movie Serenity, and the books I, Claudius and Anathem. Readers sensitive to spoilers are advised to watch/read those stories before reading this journal. At least read the books. Because they are …

Female Character QA

There is something called the Bechdel Test. It is named after Allison Bechdel, and it is used as a way to highlight how small and or insignificant female characters are in movies. The rules are these: There must be at least two women, with names, in the film. The two women must talk to each …

The Problem of Adaptation

Happy New Year internet! Have a rant I originally posted to Live Journal on January 4 2011. But I think it’s worth archiving here. The trouble with adapting a story to another media, is that if that story is already practically perfect, any changes you make in the act of adaptation are more likely than …

Thoughts on the ending of “All Clear”

…but first, a warning: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS EXPLICIT, DETAILED SPOILERS FOR THE END OF BLACKOUT/ALL CLEAR, AND SOME VAGUE SPOILERS FOR ANATHEM. READERS WHO HAVE NOT READ THESE TITLES AND CARE DEEPLY ABOUT HAVING KEY PLOT POINTS REVEALED TO THEM SHOULD GO AND READ BLACKOUT/ALL CLEAR FIRST, AND THEN POSSIBLY ANATHEM, (not so much because I spoil …