By Kate Elliot
The cold equations of “realism,” some claim, suggest there is little scope for women taking an active and interesting role in epic stories set in fantasy worlds based in a pre-modern era. Women’s lives in the past were limited, constrained, and passive, they say. To include multiple female characters in dynamic roles is to be in thrall to quotas, anachronisms, Political Correctness, and the sad spectacle and dread hyenas of wish-fulfillment.
Is this true?
Read the full article at Tor.com.
Also this article was absolutely totally awesome and I learnt loads from it.
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Kate Elliot is amazing, especially on this topic! She recommended a book on her blog called “The Secret History of the Mongol Queens” and there’s at least one (possibly more) novel ideas cooking in my brain now. I just don’t know enough about Mongolian culture to write it yet, even if I do decide it’s an allegory. So much that can be taken into fantasy settings, and the best part is, it’s all true. Chinggis may have been the Khan, but the women ruled that empire.
Thanks for the comments!
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Anne Bonney, Mary Read, and numerous other female pirates, soldiers, highwaywomen, etc, would beg to differ. Also if you’re writing fantasy, you can write it however you like; it’s not constrained by the real past.
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100% agreed!
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