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Tag Archives: guest post
Guest Post: Magical Crones and Adventuring Mothers by Catherine Lundoff
When I first began working on a story about women who turned into werewolves as they entered menopause way back in 2009 or so, there was not a whole lot of representation of middle-aged and older women to be found in science fiction, fantasy, or horror. I mean, there were the evil middle-aged queens with talking mirrors, out to poison their younger, prettier rivals and the ancient witches who popped up to do terrible things or sometimes, provide directions, as the case may be. But, with rare exceptions, they were never protagonists, and they were seldom more than cardboard embodiments of evil or just plain window dressing.
Around 2010, that started to change. A bunch of other things happened around then too, including a huge growth in ebook publishing by indie authors and indie publishers which brought in a lot of voices that were not previously being heard from in more mainstream science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Along with that came writers willing to take risks, to tell new stories, to tackle things like representation that had been pretty sparse up until then. Those writers included women who were middle-aged and beyond looking to see themselves and their stories in the pages of the genres they loved.
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Tagged catherine lundoff, guest post, middle-aged women in sff, older protagonists
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Guest Post: Comedy Is a Ninja by Noah Sturdevant
Things are tense these days. I hope I’m not shocking anyone by saying that. There’s a lot of negative emotions going around, and people deal with them in different ways. One of the healthier ways is to engage with a good movie, game, book, or other form of media and get lost in a story. As a person empathizes with characters, they achieve catharsis as they experience their emotional journey together with the characters they empathize with. People enjoy dramas to release their sadness, they enjoy action to feel power over a world which often shows them to be powerless. Some enjoy horror for the endorphin rush, or to release pent up negative emotions in a more healthy way than going to the hardware store and looking for a chainsaw that’s light enough to chase someone with, yet not so light that it can’t get the job done.
Um, for example.
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Tagged comedy, crossed genres, genre fiction, guest post, humor in writing, noah sturdevant, quick draw
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Guest Post: Daniel Pinkwater on How He Exercises His Profession
I don’t know about other writers. For one thing, I’ve never been another writer. For another, although I’ve observed practically all the interviews, or as in this case requested from writers, are about how the writing is done, creative tricks, recipes and such. I can’t listen to, view, or read that stuff…not that it isn’t full of useful information, just that my attention wanders, or I fall asleep. So, the nice guy who works for the publisher and arranges this kind of thing told me it would be a good idea if I wrote something about writing. And I just told you that I really don’t know anything about how other writers do it.
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Tagged daniel pinkwater, dogs named peach, Erlichiosis, guest post
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Guest Post: “We Get By with a Little Help from Our…” by Vincent Scott
So, love’s great, right? All types. It’s a fascinating quirk of brain chemistry that leaves us caring about each other so much we’ll sacrifice resources and fight against oppression for someone else’s wellbeing. Spending time with people you love is, … Continue reading
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Tagged friendship, guest blog post, guest post, writing relationships
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Guest Post: Jasmine Arch on A Safe, Inclusive Haven for Writers
I do my writing in between the cracks of a fulltime job, four dogs, two horses, and the renovation of our house, in which a lot of the work is done by my husband and myself. So yes, my writing … Continue reading
Guest Post: Deby Fredericks on What Are We Fighting For?
I joked recently that it seems like every story has to end with some gigantic battle. That’s how we know it’s the end, right? Think about it. Which of the world’s great legends tell us that our problems should be … Continue reading
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Tagged guest blog post, guest post, story climax, writing nonviolent solutions
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Guest Post: Kyle Winter on The Power of Passive Representation
Treading the waters of diversity is tricky because we never want to disrespect the struggles that women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, or others have had to endure. As writers, we often want to include people like this in our stories because their stories are powerful and can make a difference. This sometimes manifests itself as ‘the gay friend’ or ‘the black friend’ or if you’re really batting for a home run ‘the gay black friend’. This character is great for diversity. He shows that those people exist and that we shouldn’t be afraid of them. But over time, if we see the gay black friend over and over it creates a subliminal message that all gay black men behave a certain way, and that can damage the community. I think we should allow those characters to break the mold and keep it to themselves.
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Tagged diversity, guest blog post, guest post, kyle winter, passive representation
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Guest Post: Ellie Coverdale on Top Tips for Writing Better LGBT Characters
As a writer, it’s normal to want to share stories about the diverse and interesting world around you. That can be difficult if you have to write a character with a completely different background and life experience than you. The important thing is to stay away from writing a stereotype or a character that’s unbelievable. To help you, this article will share five helpful suggestions to create excellent and multi-layered LGBT characters.
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Guest Post: Chelsea Eckert on On Writing Anthropomorphic Animal Characters (For Adults)
As someone who works deeply in the zoo/conservation industries and spends a lot of time pretending to be a tiger at conventions around the country, you might say I’m enthusiastic about animals. You’d be wrong, of course. I’m zealous in … Continue reading
