[ SECRET POST #2227 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2227 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.
[Roswell]


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02.
[Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney]


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03.
[Pokemon]


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04.
[The Vampire Diaries]


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05.
[Teen Wolf]


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06.
[Les Miserables: Shojo Cosette]


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07.
[The Hobbit]


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08.
[Neil Gaiman, Mark Gatiss, Dan Handler]


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09.
[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)]


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10.
[Power Rangers]


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11.
[Star Wars: The Old Republic]


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12.
[Big Bang Theory]


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13.
[Breaking Bad]

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14.
[Troy Baker]


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15.
[Magi; Final Fantasy IX]


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16.
[Skyrim]


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17.
[Supernatural]


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18.
[Penn & Teller]


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19.
[Flight Facilities - With You]


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20.
[Neil Gaiman]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 043 secrets from Secret Submission Post #318.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

08. http://24.media.tumblr.com/c11189adc2d1d12fe28b38c4785db48c/tumblr_mhb1mjR3OG1rq2vv5o1_500.png
[Neil Gaiman, Mark Gatiss, Dan Handler]

[(Anonymous)]

Dan Handler = Lemony Snicket, right? Or am I confusing him with someone else?

If I'm right, what did he do other than A Series of Unfortunate Events?

[elephantinegrace]

Horseradish is one of my favorite books of all time and I can't recommend it enough.

[goneril]

New series All the Wrong Questions, as well as a handful of picture books.

[sienamystic]

The great, great book The Basic Eight.

[elephantinegrace]

If your dream is to be a writer when you haven't read/seen anything by a woman that comes close to their work and you want to, then I'd say you have an obligation to write something like that. I'd read/watch it. (Yes, I do take my own advice and write things I see a sad lack of.)

Also, have you ever read Going Bovine by Libby Bray? It's my second favorite book (first favorite is the Trixie Belden book Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell, but that's probably more nostalgia than anything.)

[(Anonymous)]

Oh hey, fellow Trixie fan! I love that series so much, I wish it had more of a fandom presence (ie, any at all beyond the occasional Yuletide fic).

[elialshadowpine]

LOL... I actually really disliked Going Bovine, but I LOVE Libba Bray's other books. I recently read The Diviners (actually due to a secret here!) and adored it. A Great And Terrible Beauty is also amazing.

[(Anonymous)]

Go read Tanith Lee. She has written oodles of novels, short stories, television episodes, etc.

Of course, she's British, and living/working in England, where she probably had a better chance at 'breaking into' TV and what not.

[(Anonymous)]

da

I used to obsessively hunt down all things Tanith Lee ... then I saw "Sarcophagus" ...

[(Anonymous)]

Seconding the Tanith Lee rec.

[dancing_clown]

Don't be nervous about being female. Just keep telling yourself that you are talented and will be the exception to the rule as far as writing things you like to read.

[(Anonymous)]

Only 25% of published authors are women, so a female Gaiman/Snicketts/Gatiss has only 1/3 of a male one's of being published (given that getting published is a lottery even at the best of times). It doesn't mean they don't exist, and it totally doesn't mean you can't be that one. But it does mean that you'll need all the work and luck you can throw at it. Good luck, anon!

[fauxkaren]

Yay sexism in publishing~.

Even Jo Rowling had to put JK Rowling on her books because publishers were afraid boys wouldn't purchase her series if they knew it was buy a woman.

[(Anonymous)]

. . . okay? To each her own, I guess, and NG's work is occasionally charming, but a great writer for the ages, whose work towers above that of any woman ever?

The good news for you, OP, is that you ought not despair. Your femaleness should not preclude you in any way from reaching these particular heights in your future work. The bad news is, you might reach and exceed them, but be unable to recognize it when you'd done it.

[(Anonymous)]

You should read Susanna Clarke. She's fantastic!
In my opinion she's a better writer (of novels, not of comics) than Gaiman.

[othellia]

Mark Gatiss? Really?

I mean, he's a nice enough guy, but his writing's only average at best.

[(Anonymous)]

Neil Gaiman's work is vastly better with collaborators - his TV and comics works are head and shoulders above his novels. Some of those collaboraters are women.

No argument with Daniel Handler (though he doesn't actually have that much work out) but Mark Gatiss? He occasionally pulls off something good, but he's usually between mediocre and flat-out bad.

[starry_starrrz]

I'm unqualified to comment on specifics here cos I only really know Gatiss' work well (and that more tLoG/Psychoville than the popular stuff) - but. Just because you don't like what other women are putting out in the same genre, etc, it doesn't mean that women are incapable of writing stuff that hits the same buttons. Just go for it, OP!

[(Anonymous)]

I've read soooooooo many novels by women that are infinitely superior to anything written by those three. Neil Gaiman has a wonderful imagination, but he's a crap story-teller. Lemony Snickett was just dull. Mark Gatiss? His stories are full or ridiculous plot holes.

Read more stories written by women. Your ignorance and prejudice is just feeding into the patriarchy.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm so excited that you made this secret, because I knew there were going to be recs in the comments section (did you perhaps make the secret with the intention of getting recs? 'Cause that would be pretty fabulous), and now I have more authors to check out. HOORAY AND HUZZAH!

[merrily]

Just because you haven't read it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The three people you mention all have a flare for the fantastic - why not go ask your local sci-fi/fantasy bookseller or sci-fi/fantasy loving librarian for recommendations for female writers?

If you have no such person to go to, let me be your proxy! Here are some of my faves: Robin McKinley's "Sunshine" (w/ cover blurb by Neil Gaiman, btw), a book about a human and a vampire up against A CRAPLOAD OF PROBLEMS but without any ridiculous stalkery love affair.

Also good: NK Jemisin's breathtaking Inheritance trilogy, about a world where gods walk among humans and power-brokering is running amok.

More female authors to try: Justine Larbalestier (I'm thinking of "Liar" in particular), James Tiptree Jr. (everything), Alison Goodman ("Singing The Dogstar Blues"), Connie Willis, Sarah Rees Brennan, Francesca Lia Block.

There are many many excellent female authors. This does not mean that they need to be your favourites -- Neil is great; go ahead and love him. But don't assume that because the three people whose work you love best are dudes that ONLY dudes are writing the kind of thing that floats your boat.

(Seriously, try Sunshine.)

[elialshadowpine]

... I'm wondering what the heck you're reading if you've only found women authors you dislike. There are some amazing lady authors out there. I am happy to give recommendations if you should like.

[cloudsinvenice]

I understand your feelings. There are times when I find myself getting absurdly, ridiculously excited over finding a female writer/musician/director/artist I like, or a really cool female character I identify with: and then I realise that I've been very strongly influenced by the way culture tends, still, to amplify the skills and achievements of male artists more than those of female artists.

So don't beat yourself up about feeling this way, but do check out more female creators to balance the scales, because it's so important that we have people we can look to when things are tough and go, "One day, I'm going to be where SHE is." I find it really important to follow these artists on Tumblr/FB/Twitter/wherever as well as reading/watching their stuff, because I find I really need the reinforcement of seeing women working in the fields I want to be in.

Here's a few I love, and I've included women in comics because that's another area where we've historically felt very marginalised and seeing examples of people doing well massively helps:

Jane Goldman started out as a journalist on newspapers and Cosmo, wrote books on the paranormal and personal safety/other issues for teens, then became a screenwriter on films like X-Men: First Class, Stardust, Kick Ass and The Woman in Black.

Winnie Holzman: creator of My So-Called Life, one of the prototypes for modern teen drama and SO worth getting on DVD, and writer of the book for the musical version of Wicked.

Caitlin R. Kiernan is a writer whose stuff I'm still making my way through, but she's published loads of SF and dark fantasy, and my specific favourite thing of hers is The Dreaming, a spin-off series from The Sandman which I urge you to check out because it is awesome. And as I just now learned while checking out her Wikipedia bio, she's also a paleontologist so... apparently she digs up dinosaurs in between writing comics? Jesus christ, I want her job!

Colleen Doran - writer/artist of the epic space opera comic series, A Distant Soil (you'll have seen her art in Sandman and a bunch of other places). Doran's career has been groundbreaking in various ways: this article that just came out has a good precis of why at the start but the whole thing is great. She's also done a lot of commentary/advice/advocacy on creator rights issues, and the Very Bad Publishers tag on her blog is a very handy resource for when you go to sell your work and want to make sure you don't get ripped off.

Gail Simone - I've not been keeping up with current comics much, but she was much lauded for her work on Birds of Prey and other people (or Wikipedia) will be able to give you more recent examples of her work to look for (*facepalm* and of course, even I know about Batgirl). She's also the writer who named the "Woman in Refrigerators" trope and has done much to highlight bad/sexist handling of female characters in comics. I also notice that like Neil, she's really cool about answering fan questions on her Tumblr.

Anyway, I must go bedwards, but I hope you enjoy the recs...