Books vs. Girl Books

[Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds]

Maureen Johnson Books » Blog Archive » SELL THE GIRLS

This really brought some interesting thoughts up. I took a glance over my own personal bookshelf. I actually have a fairly equal male to female author ratio. I think people write what they know, so when men write a male lead, and women write female leads, it's just from the ease of familiarity. I have around six novels in the works (various stages; two are almost complete first drafts, four are fully planned out, and one is new and fairly sketchy at the moment), and of those, three have female main characters, two have male main characters, and one has an assortment of main characters (think Wheel of Time or Dragonlance, following different people at different times). Aside from a handful of ladies who are near and dear to me (and most of them are here ), most of my friends are male, so it's entirely comfortable for me to write from a male perspective, and entirely comfortable to read the male perspective.

However! I think that anyone ever trying to suggest that we have a lessening of male writers is biased and crazy. It's such a new and fantastic thing that woman can even be taken seriously as writers, and especially from my position as a woman who would like to one day publish my work, I don't want to see the market shying away from embracing more female writers. There's a fine line between the industry being passionate about good writing, and viewing everything from a strictly sellable mindset (which is where the marketting stereotypes come and bite you in the ass; they think they know how to present a product [the book] to the prospective audience, but they really really don't). The real issue isn't the gender of the writer, but the war between intense, complicated writing and mainstream sales. Mainstream appeals to more people = more money all round. Strong writing is often too difficult for the masses = literary success, important to the field, but not so much with the monies. Which way do these big business publishing houses lean? Hello, dollar signs, how many zeroes do you want on the end of that number?

Finally, when all is said and done, when people write shoddy female characters, regardless of the author's own gender, they really piss me off.

[Fairlight Excalibur]

Originally Posted by Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds

when people write shoddy female characters, regardless of the author's own gender, they really piss me off.

You must be pissed off at a lot of people.

[CaptHayfever]

I have to say, when I read the phrase "girl books" I didn't think of female writers; I thought of pink spines & flower-laden covers, of shallow aspirations & piddling prose, of Twilight & Barbie's Horse Adventure. That is to say, I thought of works geared exclusively towards age 6-13 females or Kinsey-6 adult men.

When I read the phrase "female writers", I think of Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Zora Neale Hurston, K.A. Applegate, J.K. Rowling,....A.S. Dragon. You know, women who take their pens seriously & turn out a quality product. They're not writing "girl books"; they're writing BOOKS.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Fairlight Excalibur]

^Also my initial reaction.

[Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds]

True enough, Trav.

That's the point, Capt. Women authors who take writing seriously just write books. A lot of people within the industry simply view modern-day female authors as something separate to the "timeless classics", and declare them as some kind of girly book because it's written by a girl, often with a girl lead WHICH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE PEOPLE. We write books. Books. Books with fighting and swords and guns and magic and love and friendships and rivalries and conquests and failures and death and exploring and learning and The End at the end of our books (or fin, if you're fancy ).

I think the publishing industry has the category of BOOKS (written by white men), then they start making differentiations based on being female or other races, and occasionally even sexuality, and it's ridiculous and infuriating and if I had a pile of money and the attention span, I would start my own publishing house that just takes GOOD books and leaves the classifications of the authors at the door. They can be prideful of their differences in their own time. We are authors. We write books. That's the end of it.

[Antisocial]

I would like to know what the name of your publishing house will be so I can give you my patronage should it come to fruition.

often with a girl lead WHICH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE PEOPLE

Well, doesn't that sound familiar...

[CuccoLady]

Reading this article definitely reminded me of school. Out of all of the books I've read for school to date that I can think of, the only one written by a female was To Kill a Mockingbird.

Also we got to read all about Siddhartha's sex drive and penis this summer. Wheeeee funzies.

[Brings up an interesting point-- if we got a book to read over the summer that was all about vaginas, I wonder how people would react?]

[Fairlight Excalibur]

Public outcry, most likely.

[Cosmonautical]

Not allowed to talk about the vadge, Seal. Then you're a pre-vert.

Sexism is always frustrating. My least favorite kind of prejudice is the sort that assumes that just because your visual status is opposite to or apart from those affected by the afflicting stereotype, then you must be receiving some sort of privilege. Anything identifiable as a dissimilarity will put you on the outs with stubborn people, and that's a fact.

The whole girly author thing is just a marketing spin, IMO. The problem with commercialism in this kind of industry (or any industry, really) is that marketing would like to imagine that people do not think for theirselves. Marketing would like you to accept a new spin that these are new authors. Now, that's not to say that people are 100% unsusceptible to these kinds of things, so much as it's a huge ****ing turnoff to those of us who aren't.

We don't accept your spin as a mainstream view. We are irritated by your assumption of our gullibility. You cannot court us.

Hence, we are not courted.

[CaptHayfever]

Originally Posted by Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds

True enough, Trav.

That's the point, Capt. Women authors who take writing seriously just write books. A lot of people within the industry simply view modern-day female authors as something separate to the "timeless classics", and declare them as some kind of girly book because it's written by a girl, often with a girl lead WHICH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE PEOPLE. We write books. Books. Books with fighting and swords and guns and magic and love and friendships and rivalries and conquests and failures and death and exploring and learning and The End at the end of our books (or fin, if you're fancy ).

I think the publishing industry has the category of BOOKS (written by white men), then they start making differentiations based on being female or other races, and occasionally even sexuality, and it's ridiculous and infuriating and if I had a pile of money and the attention span, I would start my own publishing house that just takes GOOD books and leaves the classifications of the authors at the door. They can be prideful of their differences in their own time. We are authors. We write books. That's the end of it.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Fairlight Excalibur]

Originally Posted by Culmination of Horrible

My least favorite kind of prejudice is the sort that assumes that just because your visual status is opposite to or apart from those affected by the afflicting stereotype, then you must be receiving some sort of privilege. Anything identifiable as a dissimilarity will put you on the outs with stubborn people, and that's a fact.

I congratulate you sir, on constructing the very first post on VGF that I have had to stop after reading and say, "Wait, what did he just say?"

[Robotazy]

I have to agree wholeheartedly. A mind, no matter its thoughts should be capable of creating a good story. One group of people shouldn't be crossed out for another because of gender or skin color.

At least that's what I think :/

[Cosmonautical]

Originally Posted by The Traveler

I congratulate you sir, on constructing the very first post on VGF that I have had to stop after reading and say, "Wait, what did he just say?"

I tend to have that effect. Apologies, mate.

[The Doctor]

*goes and look at all his main characters* Dang! Five male leads and one female......Swear it was more than that.....

[Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds]

Originally Posted by Neo Tazy Ten

I have to agree wholeheartedly. A mind, no matter its thoughts should be capable of creating a good story. One group of people shouldn't be crossed out for another because of gender or skin color.

At least that's what I think :/

And yet, the numbers surely indicate otherwise within the industry: less than 2% of some 3,000 YA books published every year in the US are by black authors. :/ (and this is when the black population makes up around 12-13% of Americans, according to the 2008 census)

The best thing we, as consumers can do, is find these titles and show support by asking for them to be stocked by bookstores and libraries. *shrug*

[Fairlight Excalibur]

Originally Posted by Culmination of Horrible

I tend to have that effect. Apologies, mate.

Ironic, as I am usually immune to such effects.


My own works tend to star male characters as well, but that is primarily because I do not feel as though I can accurately portray a female character's thoughts. I would rather not write one at all than write a crappy one.

[Heroine of the Dragon]

My experience at school was similar. :/

But to balance that, I just peered at my extensive collection of books and am pleasantly surprised that it's fairly equal in female and male authors!! I read a book (or the hundreds and possibly thousands of books to date) because I love a good story... (I'm talking about my fiction collection here!!)

Female authors in my collection include Larell K Hamilton, Robin Hobb, Isobelle Carmody, JK Rowling, Leigh Eddings, Sara Douglass, Cecelia Dart-Thornton, Susan Howatch, Kate Forsythe, Enid Blyton, Traci Harding, Lynn Flewelling and Leigh Eddings, just to name a few...

Oh, and I agree with Maureen Johnson's sentiments; try to remove my male authored books from my collection and the consequences will be dire!!! *waves wand menacingly*

[Kargath]

Originally Posted by Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds

And yet, the numbers surely indicate otherwise within the industry: less than 2% of some 3,000 YA books published every year in the US are by black authors. :/ (and this is when the black population makes up around 12-13% of Americans, according to the 2008 census)

The best thing we, as consumers can do, is find these titles and show support by asking for them to be stocked by bookstores and libraries. *shrug*

IIRC the literacy rate for blacks in the US is lower than the average - therefore there wouldn't be as many producers to select from.