I’m coming into the home stretch of my Young Adult, which after wrangling for longer than I care to admit, I like. After it’s done I get to revisit Selah’s favorite, an unnamed multicultural contemp set in Brazil, which will be published by Parker Publishing next year. I have to admit, it’s a favorite of mine, too and I’m looking forward to arguing with Selah which is where we left off (how loyal must Olivia be to her brother-remember?).
But all of this stops the research for my next ms, and I have to say, this research in particular is mightily seductive, mostly because this book is a long time coming. 22 years I’ve been cradling this one like the most precious seed, learning about the subject, building my world, creating arcs and plots.
It’s funny how some stories you simply write, like yanking a thought out of the air, and other stories you’re pulling in all that you are and know to write them. You realize writing them has been an unconscious journey, and your personal wanderings become knowledge you needed to have brought. Just like a woman who’s waited 9 months to give birth and knows it’s time, now, after all these years of knowing it WASN’T, time-I’m ready. And very excited. It’s a deep excitement and frantic all at once. I want to explode it all over the pages, and yet I want to meticulously craft it as well. It has epic possibilities, this world can last and I haven’t even tapped it’s potential with the first book.
One of the paths I’m researching is Goddess. And it has come about by my own personal wanderings, adding to the threads of plot seamlessly, making me know that this was something I needed to discover. Right now I’m reading GODDESS: MYTHS OF THE FEMALE DIVINE by David Leeming and Jake Page. This is a toe dip in the pool, I know. I have in my huge canvas library bag all of the Joseph Campbell’s I could get my mitts on, and then another 25 (so it seems) books about Goddess. As I go through them I’ll blog about the great ones, I’m sure.
The most interesting aspect is coming from a Christian perspective and noting (so far) that the Hebrew Yahweh’s gender never was up for any gender interpretations. An aside: I left the institutional church because of it’s never ending need of $$ and building projects, and because I didn’t want my daughters learning the absolute submission that was being preached.
I’ve read 3/4 of GODDESS now, and I’m to the part where the authors are telling the stories of when Goddess starts to be undermined in myth. Pandora, once Gaia, now is forced by Zeus to unleash ills that he’d collected instead, becoming the source of all human affliction instead of the giver of abundance.
I remember reading most of by Husain Haddawy and realizing that in every story women were deceitful and treacherous (I stopped halfway, disgusted). I, ignorantly, never realized that most myths were the same- sublimating women- and how can people raised on such Archtypes be any different?
Knowing what I do about romance, I can see why it’s so popular, and so needed. It’s a reclaiming. It goes beyond feminisim to strike at the root of patriarchy, all the way back to the storytelling.
Wow. Your head is exploding all the hell over the place today. Let me see if I can latch onto one thread.
Regarding mythology and women as the root of all evil, that story is a world without end. I don’t know that I would be comfortable myself taking that on in fiction. Even women readers don’t really want to read about women breaking outside the box, flaws and all unless she fits into another box somehow. The ideal of a goddess vs the goddess falling into evil. That transition has been done and redone and diminishes women in a lot of ways.
Organized religion ~ what can I say. I believe that when people with common beliefs come together in numbers they can do great good and great evil. Some churches are a credit to their community and some should be closed down. It’s not the religion. It’s not the congregation. It’s the individuals that make up the congregation in the church. I am very uncomfortable with people who feel religions are fair game for bashing based on bad actions of a few.
But let’s face it. You don’t put your kids in public school because, what is in place now is unacceptable to you and you don’t have the time or energy to change it for the better. You don’t attend a specific church for probably the same reason. What is out there isn’t for you – right now. I think your immortal soul is going to be ok
Just try to do a good deed now and again and keep connected with people in your community and life is good. As to the bible as it’s interpreted … yeah … it hates on women a lot. Sucks. You would be hard pressed to find a religion today that doesn’t hate on women.
There’s no way I would try to work that into fiction. Do you really believe you can and not turn off readers?
Whatever inspires you though, is a good thing.
I think many woman writers take it on all the time. I think the whole romance genre takes it on, which is why it’s discounted and not taken seriously.
You wrote it. Tara made her own way, did her own thing, no? You, yourself model it. You’re a main breadwinner and have no guilt whatsoever that you’re not home dusting and doing windows. The whole dynamic of your marriage is two seperate people who love eachother and support the family. You submit to Dave because you’re a woman and that’s your role? SKOFF. CHOKE.
Urban Fiction – do those heroines submit to patriarchy? Within the romance genre there are probably some-morso in the inspirational subgenre I’ll assume (only because it’s part of chruch doctrines) but I would say we’ve moved quite a bit from the heroine who’s waiting for her white knight to save her. Heroines get their HEAs, but normally on their terms, or the compromises are joint. I think this is why historical writers may have a harder time writing within the times.
The new testament does’t hate on women as much-Christ was their liberator, but the times/values were not allowing back then. He preached emancipation. When we read the new testament, we’re reading half of a conversation and to fully understand people need to learn the history of the times. Then they can discern what is a popular rule ie: could you imagine men going without hats -even up to the 50s? Have you SEEN pictures of the NY streets and ALL you saw were hats? Could you imagine being the one to buck that trend?
I’ve sat under too many pastors preaching submitting to your husband even when he’s wrong- God will bless your submission- to be able to tolerate much institutional church anymore. I think religion and faith are two toally different things. And there is the homechurch movement that is sweeping the country (millions of people are leaving churches-25 mil I think?)-they don’t hate on women.
Ok, I’m off to do my good deed.
Revenge Gifts doesn’t count. It’s not technically romance per se. And Dave is definitely in charge of most things at home, mostly because I’m not really into house and family management. I do SOME things, but Dave makes most of the decisions that matter. It’s not a religious thing though, no. It’s also not a guy\gal thing either. He’s just more domestic than me.
When was the last time you cooked something without torching it?