Tag: Feminism

The Struggle to Develop An Iconic Heroine

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I continue to improve this novel as I transition from first to second draft, something really is hitting me in the face — I’m going to up my game when it comes to the framework supporting the personality of my heroine. The reason is, she can’t just be a Mary Sue that is “strong” because that’s just the way she is. Ripley (below) from the Alien franchise is a good example of the ideal type of “strong female character” in fiction.

I have give her flaws and establish that there are consequences for her being who she is. That’s the thing about Lisbeth Salander — she was very strong but she also was so whacked out that if you met her in real life she would scare the shit out of you.

I know the general plot of the story I’m working on very, very well. As such, I find myself ruminating on some of the crazy things I need my heroine to be able to do. She can’t be any wallflower. She’s got to have true grit. To the point that that, unto itself, will bring with it character flaws and conflict with other characters as she moves the plot along.

I really enjoy developing female characters because it’s such a challenge and is so fraught with the potential for me to make a massive fool and or asshole out of myself as a CIS white male (as the hep cats say these days about people like me.)

I’m beginning to grow a little nervous as to how late in the game this realization is coming to me. I’m going to have to rework a lot of the story so my heroine is moves the plot along and isn’t so fucking passive as she is currently. Anyway, I have a long ways to go and a short time to get there.

Wish me luck.

If These Walls Could Talk


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m EXTREMELY self-conscious any time I find myself writing a female character, doubly so when I have to think up what I imagine women say when they’re alone (say, in the bathroom) and are talking about men.

It’s a situation fraught with the potential for disaster. I just can’t win. How do I know what women say in such a private situation? I’ve never been there and it would never happen even if I was there because, well, I’m a man. So, I have to use my imagination. (Duh.)

The only solution to this insecurity, as best I can tell, is to be really, really self-conscious about it and also very conservative about any assumptions I might make. I can’t have an agenda. I strictly stay within what I can maybe reverse engineer from what I know about women (what little I know) and then have in the front of my mind, “WHAT WOULD OLIVIA WILDE AND JESSICA CHESTAIN THINK OF THIS TEXT.”

That’s all I got. That’s the only way I can think of to not have women tittering on Twitter about how a doofus, clueless man AGAIN didn’t write female characters well.

Men, The #WritingLife & Their Struggle To Write Believable Heroines

Shelton Bumgarner

Some thoughts.

The Female Persuasion — SNL, Feminism & The Novel I’m Developing

Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I am — by nature — a generalist. I know a little bit about a wide spectrum of things. So, I am often fascinated by people who know a lot about one thing. I also find the passion that things like Saturday Night Live can generate very intriguing. There’s only been one time in my life when I felt that much passion for a group of people and that was in Seoul. With that in mind, I’m at least trying to lean into that experience as the cornerstone of the novel I’m developing.

It’s a prime example of “write what you know” in action. But there’s a fine balance between writing about a fictionalized version of a place that you love and writing a lot of verbiage that many people in your potential readership will find tedious, at best. But I think if I really go into what makes the place special and how it has come to change the lives of the people connected to it and the community around it, then I think potential readers will enjoy it once they get into it.

One thing I have to really think about it establishing that such a place actually believable exists in the first place where I am determined to put in in my universe. My hope is that if I write about the place with a lot of obvious love that that will come across on the page and people will get into it. Or, put another way, I don’t care. This novel is for me and fuck you you don’t like it. Wink.

The universe I’ve created is very detailed and well thought out. Extremely so. Like, we’re talking Star Wars levels of backstory on the interaction between characters. But that comes more from how personal the story is than anything else. In a way, the plot of this novel is me running around emotionally naked. That is, of course, if you understand the inspiration for the people and places I’m writing about.

One fun part of all of this is having a vast amount of information that I have to explain to the reader in a simple, cogent fashion that makes the premise of the novel believable, even though, in a sense, it follows some of the conventions of science fiction. You might call the novel a “political science fiction novel.” I have referred to it as a “political fairy tale guilty pleasure for woke Park Slope moms” in the past. But I’m not a woman and don’t pretend to know anything more about women than any other man. I’m not an “ally,” but I am good-natured and empathetic. I try not to get too wrapped up in how you might suggest I have a vested interest in the patriarchy given that I am a member of it. Meh. I generally believe the more agency and happiness women have on a personal level the better off society is. If that makes me some sort of feminist “ally,” so be it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like T&A and won’t try to chat a woman up with sex on my mind if she’s hot.

I have numerous political views that don’t fit the narrative advocated by Blue Check Liberals on Twitter. Fuck that and fuck them. I’m my own person and I know what I believe. But I am generally compassionate and empathetic — or at least try to be.

You can’t please everyone.

V-Log: Idle, Incoherent Rambling About #Writing A #Novel, #Trump & #Feminism #WritingLife #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

Some thoughts.

V-Log: Of #Women, Pop Art & Feminism (And A Little About Dua Lipa)

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Idle rambling about women, pop art and feminism. And some idle observations about Dua Lipa.

Struggling To Be A ‘Sex Positive’ Ally To #MeToo

by Shelton Bumgarner
@sheltbumgarner

Let me be completely clear about something — I completely validate the anger of women over what’s going on in America right now and nothing I’m about to say should be seen as anything contrary to that sentiment. There’s an issue that I find myself struggling with and that’s how to be both “sex positive” and an ally to the #MeToo movement.

I say this because I like pictures of hot chicks but at the same time, I totally get why women would be angry that I might be this way. I simply don’t believe that sharing a picture of an attractive SI Swimsuit model on my Facebook wall is, in itself, sexist. I understand that in this charge environment doing this is probably a bridge too far for a lot of women.

But for me, it would be hypocritical to pretend that I was some champion of women’s rights and then not be equally honest about my attraction to the female form. And I get that as a man I probably shouldn’t say anything at all, but rather let this process work its way out. Women are rightfully furious about what’s going on and it is going to take time for all of this to straighten itself out. And the way things are going, it appears as though things are going to get worse — much worse — before they get any better.

Like I said — I’m pretty open about my love for the female form. And being “sex positive” means, in my view, that we don’t hide basic things like men like attractive women in bikinis, or whatever. But again, this is a very difficult time for a lot of people and there’s not much I can say. It’s one of those things where you either get it or you don’t. Either you’re so angry at men that you think they shouldn’t post pictures of hot chicks on their Facebook wall, or you don’t mind and you notice that, like, 80% of their shares are extremely empathetic and supportive of the #MeToo movement.

It’s a very difficult situation with no easy answers and by bringing it up and I’m liable to piss a few people off. But I needed to get it off my chest.

A Discussion About Trump

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Here’s an pretty interesting discussion about women and Trump.

V-Log: The Role Of #Feminism In The #Novel I’m #Writing In The Context Of Pop Culture

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

This is a really good little video about my thoughts on feminism in the context of my novel and pop culture in general. I go into how I have to balance various storytelling needs if I want to produce something of pop culture note.

Here are some other videos about what I’m writing.

#Feminism, The #Bechdel Test & Women in #Movies #screenwriting #Hollywood

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

This is not perfect, but it’s really interesting. I go into a lot of depth about women, feminism, Hollywood and screenwriting in the context of telling a great story.