(no subject)

[kmo]

I thought this post, "The Silencing of Catelyn Stark" expressed perfectly many of the feelings I (and others) have had regarding how the tv writers have chosen to portray Catelyn's character. Catelyn isn't even my favorite, but I've been hurt by what I've seen as a dumbing down of her character. I also think she suffers from what others have termed the "Skyler White Effect"- where women (often wives and mothers) who stand up to the male anti-hero's fun anti-heroing (selling meth, being a serial killer, trying to become King in the North) are universally hated by fandom as shrews and wet blankets. Not just Catelyn and Skyler but also Carmela Soprano, Betty and Megan Draper, Rita from Dexter, even Kima from s5 of The Wire fall victim to this trope. Anywho, it's an interesting article and the comments are interesting, too. While I've really enjoyed the complexity GoT has brought to Margaery, Melisandre, Brienne, and Cersei, I feel like it often tends to fall back on cliched tropes as shorthand for telling a story- especially the whole mess in the Riverlands that is Robb, Catelyn and Talisa.

Help me procrastinate today with this Writing Process meme stolen from likeadeuce

Pick one of my fics and a question (or questions) and I'll tell you:
1. What part was most difficult?
2. What are you most proud of?
3. What's a reference you made no one has picked up on yet?
4. What's a bit that sums up your take on a character?
5. Favorite line(s) of dialogue?
6. Favorite lines(s) of prose?
7. Were there any points where you were trying to do something specific with sound, vocabulary, or rhythm?
8. How many drafts did the work go through?
9. Were you listening to anything while writing the fic? If so, what?
10. Imagery that is important to the fic, either while composing or in the fic itself?
11. What were you most worried about during the composition?
12. How do you want readers to react to this fic?
13. What did you want them to take away from it?
14. What inspired this fic?
15. If you used a beta, what did you agree or disagree on?
16. Did anything surprise you during the writing?
17. Were any parts written under the influence Unless coffee counts, I never drink and write!

Comments

[kmo]

yeah, i wouldn't go so far as to say that all portrayals of women are problematic- because the show has done such wonderful things for Shae, Cersei, Margaery, Melisandre, who come off as very 2 dimensional in the books. so i think GoT has a Cat & Robb problem. Also a nameless whore problem...but every HBO show seems to have that. seriously, they all seem to find a reason for someone to own a strip club or brothel into every single one of their dramas!

yay, thanks for asking!
#4- What's a bit that sums up your take on a character?
ooof, it is hard to pick just one thing, but the moment where Melisande realizes Phedre's gambit and "yields" rather than push onward is I think a turning point for her character in that moment. She will not let Phedre manipulate her into being crueler than she needs to be, will not allow Phedre to put her in the same category as the Mahrkagir- even if she would once have gladly gone further in the absence of Phedre's signale. And the decision to be merciful there is truly hard for her, but Melisande is capable of change. And she will never do what you expect of her. ;)

#12- How do you want readers to react to this fic?
I guess I want readers to walk away feeling like it's plausible for these characters, like it really could have happened between these characters, even if they aren't rabid Phedre/Melisande shippers like me. I want people to say "Hey, why didn't Jacqueline Carey write that scene?" And even though i like this ship *a lot* there's a lot of baggage between these two ladies, and i don't want it to seem like i've given anyone a pass.