I'll have a better post tonight

about feminine fairy tales and folk tales with strong female characters. However until I get home tonight and can look up the quotes I want to include.... I'll start off the day with this.

I've always thought that Disney movies are detrimental to little girls ideas of romance. I truly think that reading so many fantasy novels (especially Mercedes Lackey who has lots of strong female characters) is what made me into the independent woman I am today. However I think some of them still paint unrealistic ideas of romance. Not of women but of romances. Because the guy doesn't always get the girl and not every unique independent girl finds someone who loves her for her. At least I still haven't. Do I have this unrealistic idea that someday a guy will fall madly in love with my weird quirks because of what I've read? Of course it sex (and therefore romance) sells. But I really like the novel I'm working on right now because my main character's romances are so messed up. It's her friendships that really get her through it. I think this is more realistic. What made me think of this is I was skimming over a book I've read a long time ago by Jennifer Roberson it was Track of the White Wolf.

--> Sidenote I got this book yesterday at the Used Book store and I'm pretty sure it was my book to begin with. I donated a whole bunch of my paperbacks years ago and I keep ending up buying them back through this used bookstore. I feel pretty dumb about it. lol.

But Niall the main character just so happens to get ship wrecked on this island and the daughter of the ruler there is wild and carefree. They fall in love blah blah blah. It was all just too perfect for me. Love is anything but perfect. More fantasy novels should reflect this. Jacqueline Carey on the other hand is one that I think really does a good job of making her characters suffer for love. I mean Phedre and Jocelin hate each other at the beginning you have no clue how they're going to end up together. She's a brilliant one that Miss? Mrs? Carey. I hope I meet her someday. Anyway I better get a shower and drive back to College Station (oh shoot me now). Only 11 more months until I get out!!

A Few(Well maybe a little more) Words About Fantasy Literature

(Yes it's literature too! Well at least some of it is.) This is where I'm going to step atop my trusty future Fantasy Critic soap box and tell you that Fantasy Literature is important to you. (Contrary to popular belief, my life's work will be to change this.) If anyone in class or in the greater online community would ever like to discuss this with me in greater detail, be my guest! I love talking about it but warning I get a light in my eyes, turn all vivacious(someone else's term not mine) and am hard to shut up.

Short Disclaimer: I know that some fantasy literature is purely fluff for girls mixed with a little war/fighting for the boys, however some is the key word there. Truly they're not all on the same level as romance novels, so please don't group them with those worn tomes on your mother's bedside table. (At least within earshot of me.) Learn to at least appreciate that a little more effort is required to write a combo romance/adventure novel in a completely different world.

Also Fantasy and Science Fiction are as completely different genres as Crime Fiction and Mysteries. Although related perhaps, they are definitely not the same.

So why is Fantasy literature important? Why is it worth more than a child's drawing on the refrigerator? Actually... perhaps it's just as important as that drawing. Anyway... Fantasy is a genre that combines all other genres and well! Romance, adventure, political intrigue, poetry, mystery, crime fiction, pyscho-analytic conflicts, family drama, etc all rolled up into a compelling novel set in a world pulled completely out of one person's imagination. These writers have to be versatile, well versed, and well read. Because let me tell you Fantasy readers are most likely very well read and we're also very picky(some may say snobby but since I'm also describing myself I'll euphem-ize) making us happy is not an easy job. Fantasy is something that can touch everyone because of this element of multi valency.

The reason I'm still going to submit my Fantasy stories for this class is because I firmly believe that Fantasy should still be a well crafted novel if you took out all the magic and mayhem. So although there won't be any of the fantastic elements in what I submit it doesn't mean it's not Fantasy writing. I'll be developing characters and writing scenes I plan on using for my future novels.

The world already secretly knows that Fantasy literature is important they just won't let themselves believe it so much. I mean look at the craze over Harry Potter and the revival of Lord of the Rings. Fantasy is a literature of hope. It shows us that if we were at our best this is what we could accomplish, saving nations, leading armies, escaping enemies with the help of a little luck, logic and good friends. Because if you look closely a main theme behind Fantasy is that it's not the characters' special powers or what have you that helps them overcome obstacles but how they use their resources and the strength of their character. Which we can all do ourselves! This is what I think is great about kids reading Fantasy literature it helps them escape the turmoil of growing up and most often shows them how characters going through their own set of problems(often quite like our own) deal with the good and the bad. You are blind and utterly wrong if you think this is a bad thing OR an easy thing to write.

I think one day after I become a semi-famous Fantasy writer and critic I'm going to write a book called How Fantasy Will Save the World. It'll make the best seller list and change how the whole world thinks about this genre. I'm starting with you though. :D Keep a look out for that book one day. You'll see it on the Amazon list and remember this first little speech from my trusty Fantasy soap box. Again I love discussing this stuff and I have a MILLION more examples, hit me up and we'll get coffee while I discuss the higher points of Tolkien's Medieval allusions or Lackey's portrayal of a feminine view of the struggle of woman taking a non-traditional role in society. (The latter is actually a paper I'm writing right now.) Yes Fantasy literature analysis can get that deep!