Women in Refrigerators

Tropes are conventions that media crafters can use and be assured that an audience will identify them. Generally, they only become cliched when they are overused, which is ironic given that according TVtropes.com, there is a trope for everything. Literally, there is a combination of your exact personality floating on that website somewhere. Give yourself a few hours, you'll find it.  We have a tendency to view these tropes as cliched, simply because upon investigation we realize how prevalent they are. There isn't always a clear distinction between the two: The damsel in distress is probably more cliched than trope-like; women in refrigerators, depending on your view point, could be more trope-like than cliched. It really depends on how you look at it.

That brings me to my next point. A few days ago I spoke about feminism and media, pushed on by the recent hoo-haw Anita Sarkeesian managed to create through simply having an opinion (for shame!) This got me thinking about my own writing and how it has evolved over the years, adapting to my own growing feminist values. The explosion with Sarkeesian's work, and the stumbling across 'women in refrigerators' trope, got me thinking, and reevaluating, the work I have done.

For those of you who don't know, Women in Refrigerators refers to a concept labelled by Gail Simone in 1999 as an effort to show how female superheroes are more likely to suffer violent rape, assault, and often dismemberment, quite frequently as a method to expand their male superhero counterpart's own story line (because revenge stories are pretty sweet like that.)  Basically, what we have is one giant feminist time bomb plot device. Does it work? Sure. Is it more than a little alarming? Of course.

I'll be the first to admit that two of my favorite series find their beginnings with variations of the Women in Refrigerators trope. In Gregg Hurwitz's novel, The Kill Clause, the main character is driven by the death and dismemberment of his young daughter (on her birthday no less). Throughout the next three books, the death of Ginny is, obviously, haunting to the character of Tim Rackley. In John Connolly's Every Dead Thing, the main character of Charlie Parker comes home to find his wife and daughter have been killed, flayed, had their faces removed, and posed for Parker to find. The Travelling Man meets a brutal end as Parker spends the novel trying to piece together who he is, and why he continues to base his murders off of the Book of Enoch.

Both novels are amazing, and I list them as two of my favorite. The subsequent series are equally impressive (the second Tim Rackley novel, The Program, is excellent, and the Charlie Parker series is ongoing. I am currently rereading all of them in anticipation for the next one, which is released in North America in October I believe.)

There you have it. Two of my favorite series, driven by dead women and children. I am a big fan of revenge plots in media; it is a shame there isn't more pissed-off female driven stories (TV's Revenge; Tarantino's Kill Bill to name a few.)

Looking more into this trope, I began to consider my own writing. Since its inception, I have edited the story to match my own growth as a person. I went through the shock and awe phase and, upon reading Minutes to Burn by Hurwitz, I realized not only did I hate preying mantoids, but I also hated gratuitous violence in media. That was changed. The violence I projected in my story all served a purpose. No death was senseless, no death was outrageous. I acted as the executioner for my antagonist, and considered what he would want. He wouldn't want arterial spray everywhere (only in a few places.)  This trope, however, took me to another level.

A young woman dies in the novel, sister to the main character, and her death is meant to act as a catalyst to the girl. It is meant to push the girl to the edge and, ultimately, encourage her ascension to courageous and rebellious. But this trope, guys, this trope got me thinking. Bullshit. Killing the sister accomplish nothing accept makes the girl want more bloodshed, and at that point in the story, she isn't capable of bloodshed, nor is she capable of understanding the situation that she is involved in. Creating a scenario to encourage her to act batshit insane accomplishes nothing, except killing another woman (the gender kill count at that point is Women: 2 Men: 1) And if the character of Natalia can grow through other means, then the death of her sister is pointless.

I spent a solid two days reworking the plot, taking into account the changes that would have to me made over the course of 8 books now, with the prospect of Beth having survived her ordeal. I have prodded and reexamined and ultimately I realized that by allowing Beth to live, I create a secondary thread that stretches from book one to book eight. I can't say yet what Beth's ultimate fate will be. She may die yet. But the prospect of her living gives the character of Natalia a greater purpose. She becomes driven not only by a need for revenge, but a need for answers and solutions. The ambiguity of Beth's fate creates just that scenario, and better yet, it's one less woman who has to die in a senseless manner.

Notice Me!

There are several thing your English teachers fail to warn you about as you get older and become more and more enamored with the idea of writing for a living. One, that 68% of your peers will never effectively understand the differences between your/you're and there/their/they're. Two, in this day and age, when sites like Lulu, and Chapters/Indigo supply easy-peasy self-publishing programs (whether free or for a modest price), it isn't so much the story you write, but the story you are.

Without naming names, over the last fifteen years or so there has been a surge in authors who have made names for themselves due to their own personal histories. And let's face it, you can't make up this stuff (...well, they might be able to...). The housewife, the poor mother, the man who posses a questionable fascination  with motorized vehicles and women in tight shirts. There is a plethora of people out there, some with talent, others with... taaaalllllent? Ultimately, however, it comes down to the same thing. These people, with as much or as little talent as they had at the time, were marketable.

The literary market is absolutely saturated in new and emerging authors who think their ideas are 'new' and 'unique' and 'hip', to which the literary community replies with 'no', 'ha-ha', and 'get out'. Rejection, it's viral and it's rampant. The best new, struggling, and emerging authors can do is come up with a winning combination of the old that will entice a particular audience. Once they've got a combo, 87% chance it involves zombified werewolved campires, these authors have to be something more than the same sort of struggling wannabe author the rest of them turn out to be.  Usually by pretending to be a zombified werewolved campire.

Maybe it's because we live in such a media-rich time where television, the internet, film, magazines, books, radio, and skywriters are constantly reminding us about the wiles of celebrities, but we thrive on the stories of the creators as much as the stories they have created. That is exactly why authors like Stephenie Meyer (Woops!) and J.K Rowling became as wildly famous as they did. Yes, there is a certain level of ...taaaalllent?  that either exists or arises (or lives as a mythical beast, prowling throughout the literary forest, preying on young minds, before disappearing into the recesses of the darkness.) And yes, they managed international acclaim. The real question is ought to come down to is: Would we be as impressed if they were middle class, white men?

Well, that would make Twilight  a whole lot more awkward than a solid percentage of people already find it. But it always raises an interesting point. How on earth can struggling authors stand out among the rest of the struggling authors? If we promote our own histories as reasons why publishers should take note of us (because we are interesting, we are unique, we went through things that can be considered marketable), are we essentially whoring ourselves out?

We all have interesting things in our background. Oh, your parents got divorced; you traveled the world on a llama; you won an international spelling bee. Whatever the case, these days, it is an asset. We do have to shamelessly self-promote ourselves in order to gain a quarter inch of that spotlight. Some of us have a bit more to work with, others make the story (see: internet rumor regarding: JK Rowling quit her job and went on welfare to write Harry Potter as opposed to lost her job etcetc).

So the big question is, are we prostituting ourselves in an effort to proceed further with our craft? And more importantly, did I ever tell you about how I got this scar while single-handedly fighting off a pack of wolves in order to rescue a baby who had a nuclear bomb strapped to its rubber chewing ring?

True story.

Tropes vs Women vs... Threats of Extreme Violence?

I wanted to write an entirely different second post regarding the process of writing, but something more important came up. It's really, super important guys, and I'm sorry I had to do this to you, but bear with me.

Feminism. I'm going to give you a moment to calm down, maybe go look at some pictures of kittens with melons on their heads. Whatever you want.

Feeling better? Okay, here's the second bombshell. I'm a feminist. Here, I might as well provide you with the kitten pictures myself: Cookies and Kittens

Maybe it was being raised by a single mom who encouraged me to express myself in whatever way I needed to in order to deal with the divorce and surgeries and what-have-you, but I grew up with an appreciation for myself as a woman, and what my gender had accomplished over generations, and what we do accomplish on a daily basis. That doesn't mean our male counterparts haven't and don't do equally impressive things. They do. I just can't appreciate it in the same manner due to not being a man.

So, being a feminist, and being fortunate enough to have several professors who teach related courses, I tend to pay attention to feminist related issues around the internet. If you aren't a feminist, or have been living under a feminist-repelling rock, you might not have heard about Anita Sarkeesian, who runs the site Feminist Frequency (which, either due to the incompetence of my own internet or the intense scrutiny that is now being laid upon it, is currently unavailable). Sarkeesian makes videos regarding women in the media. You can like her standpoints, you can hate her standpoints, you can even be so utterly against what she says that you invest in your own website simply to make counter arguments to what she proposes. None of that matters right now. What matters is the astonishing backlash that Sarkeesian is facing from the promotion of her Kickstarter Project, Tropes vs. Women In Video Games.

Now, I am a huge gamer. I grew up on Final Fantasy, and made a fake bar in my basement when I was 11 so I could be just like Tifa Lockheart (might have also been my motivation for taking wing-chun from the aformentioned professor, but I will never tell her that).  And I'll also be the first to admit that Tifa Lockheart will probably show up on that list for being the Buxeumous Sidekick or whatever sort of trope an excessively large-chested, ass-kicking, badass like Tifa might fill. Nonetheless, I'm curious as to what sort of  comparisons and examples will be raised in Sarkeesians films, and I'm excited for it.

The whole process was simple. She was asking for $6000 to fund the project, a reasonable amount given the rate people tend to give up their money these days (See: The Oatmeal's Bearlove Good. Cancer Bad.) Needless to say it didn't take long for the asshats of the internet to come slithering out on their bellies to proclaim Sarkeesian a (and I am paraphrasing here) Jewess-whore-slut-deserving-to-be-raped-and-sent-back-to-the-kitchen-feminist-cunt. Ignoring the part where I don't understand why being a Jew is an insult (call me naive, but I thought the whole World War II thing might have cleared up the stupidity on that one), the darkside of the internet has once again come out of the woodwork to bang its fists upon its chest and proclaim Feminist Bad. Meninism Good. I don't care if' 'misogyny' is somehow a more appropriate term. "Meninism" just sounds right.

Everyone take a deep breath. Again, I'm not saying Sarkeesian is the Feminism Messiah and must be followed. I, personally, have really enjoyed her take on women in media, and I look forward to seeing the video game trope films, however this abuse, this senseless take on violence against women (or indeed against anyone) is proving what a vast wasteland of refuse the internet can still be at times. The violent rubbish that is being thrown at her, threats of murder, sexual assault, rape; childish name calling (oh, you used the c-word, aren't you all grown up?) is precisely what she, and feminists everywhere, are trying to bring to public attention.

It shouldn't (and doesn't) matter that 'Oh this is the internet and everyone loses a bit of their personal censor'.  I see and hear about these sorts of situations where these tiny losers start throwing around violent threats and  name calling (although 'name-calling' isn't appropriate here. Poo-head  is name calling. Anything after that which makes my little sister uncomfortable is simply a crude, pitiful example of the use of the English language), and I think to myself What else are they capable of? Ignoring the segue-way into the idea of rape culture (because as women we somehow bring it on ourselves apparently?) If any socialized individual, who has somehow managed to make it to the point where they are capable of double clicking pop-ups for porn, is capable of referring to a woman, who simply wants to make some films that she feels will educate and/or inform individuals about a topic she is passionate about, with such heinous language and grotesque threats... What else are they capable of? Are we sitting at our computers, watching young Robert Pickton's in training? And where is the accountability for these individuals that are so free and verbose on the internet?

Mad props must be delivered to Sarkeesian who has not chosen to engage these monsters on their level, but instead chosen to use the numerous violent threats against her as an example of what women in our culture, women who enjoy video games, and most importantly, women with opinions, face on a daily basis. At this stage her Kickstarter project has 3 days to go, and she has raised 67k. There will be many films produced, many objections raised, but more importantly for Sarkeesian's supporters, and the feminists floating on the internet, there will be knowledge gained and information spread.

To donate to Sarkeesian's Kickstarter click here
To follow her on Twitter click here

First There Was The Word...

If I were a betting woman, and believe me, if the funds were at my fingertips I would be placing all my money on the next horse named Super-Fantastic-Funtime-In-The-Lead!, I would say this might be a good shot. After all, ultimately we are in an age where communication and media play a prevalent role in the success of artists of all shapes and sizes. By that line of thinking, this might just provide me with the necessary experience and/or chops to flush out this sad looking 'Author Biography' and get a few literary agents to take me seriously.

In the event that none of the above happens and Super-Fantastic-Funtime-In-The-Lead!  is shot out back of the stables and I am forced into a life of red-light district nonsense, this will, at the very least, provide me with a reason to write with more reasonable consistency. That is not to say I don't dislike the editing process, but I feel having cut nearly half the words of my... let's say outrageously wordy novel, has earned me the right to try my hand at blogging (again).

At worst it is a record of my processes, and a way to practice and try new methods of writing. At best it is.... well, all of those things, only I am eating no name brand ramen noodles out of a cup through the whole process.

The name of the blog? Let's just say every English teacher and Communication prof I have had up to this point in my life has always used two distinct words to describe me: Sarcastic and Wordy. And only once was I actually told that our next homework assignment was something I would excel at due to the latter. Only once. It's almost become a bit of a joke. Oh, there goes Kathleen. She's so wordy. She stumbles over words when she speaks in public. Ha-ha.

So, let it begin. Here, today, as I begin novel number 2 while waiting to hear back from the various literary agencies I have appealed to. Let it be known that I, Kathleen Sawisky, am probably going to be sick of ramen pretty damn quick.