Comments on: So, just what is the author's responsibility, anyway?

By: Ashley

Ashley — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:09:00 +0000

…Wow…thank you. I was worried that it was some big jumble of illegible nonsense, but I’m glad to see that I made a bit of a point, lol. And, yeah, I get that no one is strong all the time, and that there are times when even the strongest among us just need to lean on a friend’s shoulder and cry their eyes out. If we all weren’t masses of contradictions and oxymorons, then we would all be the same, and then life would be boring. My life may not be perfect, but I wouldn’t change anything. My friends and family wouldn’t be themselves without all those contradictions and oxymorons. And that, let me tell you, would royally suck.

And, yes, you definitely need to read everything by Maggie!

There are the strong, there are the week, and there are the people in between who have the best, and worst, qualities of both.-*Ashley*

By: kimpauley

kimpauley — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:24:06 +0000

LOL No problem. I think you had a lot of good thoughts there and, in particular, I think you show that we (readers) and especially teen girls are NOT stupid. What I read out of that is that you look at Bella and you see that some of the things she did (like the cliff diving — that was one of the things that really freaked me out) are not necessarily healthy. You get it. You get that she isn’t always strong.

Maybe the problem with the people who are bashing authors for not writing strong enough characters…maybe those people just aren’t giving the readers enough credit (and yes, I do realize that every reader “reads” a character differently. I’m just sayin’. )

Some day, after the Mina series is behind me and I’m not writing about vampires anymore, I’ll have to finish the Twilight saga to see if/how Bella grows as a character in the rest of the books. And I definitely have to read Maggie’s books!

By: Ashley

Ashley — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:11:48 +0000

Holy cow. Just posted it and realized just how long it is. Sorry. Wow, thats long…

*Ashley*

By: Ashley

Ashley — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:10:42 +0000

Just as a warning, this will be very long, very random, and more than slightly rant-like. but, as Kim read in my post about Liar and racism, i’m good at rants.
Shiver is awesome. Grace isn’t a people person. She prefers to keep silent and stay in the background. She’s a very serious character.(i’ll try not to say anything that’ll ruin it for you, Kim! But, really, you *have* to read it! I love Maggie Stiefvater’s work, lol) Grace does not *need* a guy to complete her, but it works out that her and Sam are meant to be. (Not saying anything about whether or not it works out, because the end of the book keeps ya guessing…) But Grace is strong. Just in her own way. So what if she’s not out there back-talking teachers or fighting with school bullies, not dating and having loads of friends. Grace, and Deirdre in Lament, also by the ever fabulous Ms. Stiefvater, are some of the best characters I’ve read about in the last few months. And, in different ways, they are strong.
And Bella. Ah, Bella.
Twilight got me started on my paranormal romance/urban fantasy kick that is still going strong to this day(and cluttering up my bedroom…;) ). Because Twilight got me re-interested, in the paranormal and vampires and werewolves and faeries and everything, not to mention the amazing world of YA-fiction, I read Sucks to be Me, the Mortal Instruments series, the Vampire Academy series, House of Night, Blue Bloods, all that. Without Twilight, I might not have read any of those. But back to Bella.
I’m a teenage girl. Obviously, I think of guys. A lot, kind of recently, actually . I’m shy, i’m quiet, and I have trouble talking to people. Does this mean I’m not a strong person? No. Just ask Riley, the guy I tore a new one for about once a week back in sixth grade on account of him being a first-class jerk to me and my kid sister. And the girl-who-shall-not-be-named, my ex-best friend. I stood up to her. And our fight quieted down a little, after a few weeks of visits to the principal’s office, pencils thrown at the back of my head, and nasty comments. I do not reccomend any of those, btw. Not fun. But I digress. Again, back to Bella.
Bella…is a wonderful character. She is who she is, and she’s willing to fight for the man that she loves. She does fight, for him. And she wins, in the end. It’s *the* ultimate love story. So what is she curls into a ball and retreats insider herself when Edward abandons her. There are plenty of times I’ve wanted to curl into the fetal position and never see the light of day again. No, they haven’t been because the love of my life left me, but they have been just as equally bad. I don’t agree entirely with Bella when this happens to her in New Moon, but like her I can see myself going along with everyday life to try and keep up the illusion. I’m a people-pleaser. That’s what I do. I go along with something and try to pick up the pieces of myself along the way, hoping I don’t get lost amongst the trees and shadows as I do so.
Bella is strong in her own ways. She fights for her love of Edward repeatedly throughout the entire series. She fights her parents, her friends, Rosalie(Who i bet could be very scary) James, Victoria, the Volturi, even *Edward*, at times. All because she loves him. See it from Bella’s point of veiw. She’s been pretty alone most of her life, because she hasn’t ever really gotten along with anyone. and then she meets Edward. Someone who *understands* her, like no one else ever has. Wouldn’t you do anything to keep him, and then be devastated if he left?
Some people say Jacob would have been better for her. I don’t know whether or not that’s true. Both Edward and Jacob wanted to protect Bella, and I can see them both going to the ends of the Earth to do so. Who wouldn’t want a guy (or girl) to do that for you? I’d do anything for my family, my friends, just like Edward and Jacob did for Bella. But there is a thin line to toe between protecting and, for lack of a better word, sheltering. Protecting is good. But when you start to shelter someone, keeping parts of the world away from them, it gets to be too much. In some sense of the word, sheltering someone is good, like a mother sheltering her children. But when those kids start to grow up, and get to a certain age, you need to start letting them do things on their own, let them figure out the world. Edward does his best to keep Bella safe from James, Victoria, the Volturi, and sometimes the world in general, and he does get close to crossing the line. Occasionally, he might cross it. But Bella can hold her own. Especially now.
But, all these people who bash Bella need to remember that there are people out there who might do stuff like this. I’m not justifying anything Bella does, because some of it, like jumping off a cliff, I don’t agree with, but she does this because it’s WHO SHE IS. I’d be in tears if Bella had stood there and listened to Edward tell her he was going to leave, and then just gone on with her life. Edward was more to her than a piece of gum, meant to be chewed and the spat in the garbage. If she had done that, then there would be people out there bashing her for being an insensitive, unfeeling witch
And, now I’ll shut up, because this is very long, very random, and probably hard to read, as it flys all over the map. If you read it, and can actually gather anything from it, thank you and good for you. If not, well, nevermind…;)

There are the strong, there are the week, and there are the people in between who have the best, and worst, qualities of both.-*Ashley*

By: kimpauley

kimpauley — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:12:45 +0000

Yes, I definitely need to read it now.

By: Kathleen Foucart

Kathleen Foucart — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:00:31 +0000

People are bashing SHIVER for Grace not being strong? *boggles*

Wow. I thought Grace was absolutely amazing. Yeah, a lot of “her” is tied up with Sam, but… That’s kinda the book. But since you haven’t read yet, I won’t get spoilery. But you should totally bump that up the TBR pile; it’s fantastic.

I won’t get into Twilight, because I’ll go on forever & contradict myself half a dozen times. I like the books, but I like them enough to argue with them because I wanted certain aspects to be better, not because I like to tear them apart b/c it’s the “cool” thing to do right now.

But I completely agree with your post. It drives me crazy that girls are called all sorts of names for exhibiting human emotions and qualities. And I really have more to say on this topic, but my brain is fried from writing all day… So I will come back when I am more coherent. But I wanted to be sure to comment & say great post & to support SHIVER, cause it was Totally Awesome.

By: kimpauley

kimpauley — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:11:25 +0000

Thanks for stopping by — and I see by your blog that you guys loved Shiver. I do need to read it now! It makes me just wonder if the people bashing it only think of strength in terms of obvious outward / physical strength?

By: Donna

Donna — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:57:42 +0000

You make an excellent point. Or many excellent points, actually. In my novel, my characters don’t always make great decisions, but when they make mistakes, there are consequences they must deal with. That’s life. Who they are and their appeal to readers hinges a lot on how multi-faceted they are and how they grow throughout the story — flaws and all. And yes, there are SO MANY different kinds of strength. Thanks!

By: kimpauley

kimpauley — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:15:15 +0000

You know, that’s a good point. I think a lot of people do have that in the back of their heads, that books for teens are supposed to teach something or contain a moral lesson or terrify them into acting a certain way. And some people do write that way on purpose (think Annie’s Baby for instance…ha, anything by Beatrice Sparks).

By: Nina

Nina — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:10:51 +0000

What a great post. I completely agree with you on so many levels. I like what Francesca said too.

I wonder how much of this criticism comes from the fact that these are books for teens. You don’t see people lamenting the fact that The Great Gatsby is a terrible book for teens to read because Daisy is such a weak example of a woman. Or Lolita. No, we require kids to read those books in high school, examine the characters on their own merits, and hold them up as great literature. There’s a certain segment of the population that just can’t get past the fact that books written for children & teens somehow much “teach” something. And if they demonstrate something that our society deems unsavory, they are a bad book. Give teen readers some credit! Sometimes a character is just a character, and a story is just a story. Teens can see that just as well as adults can.