This week: Gender Reveal Edited by: Leger~  
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This week's Short Story Editor
Leger~ |
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Gender Reveal
In the era of inclusiveness, where many words describe a person's choice of pronoun and gender, writers have more leeway in defining their characters. You can read a bucketload of articles on gender-neutral or gender-inclusive terminology, but what if as a writer, we want to hint within foreshadowing the gender of the mystery character? And what exactly IS the gender of that character?
Do we fall back on traditional descriptions? While there are new pronouns like ”Zie”, “Sie” and “Ve,” the most recognized gender-neutral pronoun is they/them/their. The Oxford English Dictionary can trace the use of the singular “they” back to 1375. Much like “you” can refer to an individual or group, so can “they”… making it a perfectly valid and grammatically correct pronoun…that respects a person’s identity.
When you are writing, do you consciously think about including non-binary or transgender characters to help cover the spectrum of genders in your writing? Do you specifically write without bias or stereotype? We now have to be careful not to typecast or reinforce harmful stereotypes. Or do you write to highlight a specific gender choice of a character?
We've come far from saying a flight attendant is a stewardess, and a fire fighter is a fireman. Examine your work to be more inclusive. Do your female characters dress in skirts? Do the men watch sports? How do you show your character's actions without being gender specific? As writers, do you feel we're heading in the right direction to be more inclusive?
Give it some thought, and Write On!
This month's question: Have you changed your style of writing to be more inclusive? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Official Site Contest for August:
Character Prompt for August 2024: Write a story where a character quickly finds themselves
in a situation where they're in over their head.
Excerpt: The wind blew cold from the north, moving the brown fallen autumn leaves across the road in no particular order. The sun, still hidden by grey clouds, hasn't been seen for nine days. In the distance, a solitary crow's loud, harsh, raspy caw goes unanswered.
"' Welcome to Almse. Founded 1693.'" Sam read to his daughter, Andi, as they passed the town's welcome sign.
"Again, why are we moving here? This town already sounds boring, dull, and lame."
Excerpt: Ralph leaned down into his hand for a moment before pulling away. "I feel like we owe Angela more! If she hadn't mistaken us for our parallel universe alternates, nobody would have thought of us as worth rescuing."
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2166214 by Not Available. |
“You, there! Librarian!”
And, there it was—rather later in the day, than usual, but otherwise expected. At the markedly too-loud voice and snooty disdain, Red froze, in the midst of shelving a so-so biography of Rumi. His thick, auburn eyebrows were the only bit of him still in motion—besides his suddenly accelerated heart-rate—inching up his forehead until they were halfway to his pronounced widow’s-peak.
He didn’t even have to look around to recognize that voice and precise, English accent. Red had been hearing it with increasing and irritating regularity—like particularly annoying clockwork—since he’d started his internship under the university’s head librarian last fall.
Well, he thought wearily, this’ll be his third appearance and temper-tantrum this week, as has been the pattern for the better part of a year. At least he’s consistent. . . .
Excerpt: Her eyes were blue. Her hair was blue, too, and that was a bit of a change from how the stories always tried to paint it. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed angel, aloft in the heavens. Not a short, gawky-looking girl with square-framed glasses, a smudge of paint on her chin, and the most vivid ocean-colored hair you had ever seen, nearly knocking you straight over and dousing hot coffee in your face.
Excerpt: Jane sat next to Josephine and sighed. She felt Joe looked great in lingerie, His tightly corseted waist enhanced his figure and made his 60-inch mandated bust stand out all the more. His stocking seams were straight when she saw him getting dressed, and his Mary Jane shoes with 5-inch stiletto heels looked super fem. Jane was almost jealous. Joe could handle putting on his lingerie without her help. She had never worn that stuff anyway. She had no desire. Girly girls wore that stuff. Not a woman like her.
Excerpt: I was walking upon a beach of white sand when my eyes beheld a wondrous creature. A dragon men would call it, and might fear it as well.
She lay upon the beach, her tail swishing gently in the low surf. Her wings were folded along her sides, casually laid, and looking like aged leather. The sunlight streaming from above, danced across her scales creating highlights of iridescent blues along her length. It was that length which would frighten men most. She was at least sixty-five feet from nose to tail and those iridescent blues fading to a color so black as to create a hole in the space she occupied.
Excerpt: When the girl is dead I let her body fall to the ground and lick the last of her blood from my lips. She tasted like strawberries and my belly is full of her life energy pulsing around inside me. I leave the alley and head across town. The streets are filled with people heading home after a night of drinking and I can smell the blood coursing through the veins of every one of them. Each person smells different. I sniff the air and catch a whiff of all the delicious scents. Strawberries, chocolate, lime, mint, toffee, banana, treacle, hot bread and gingerbread. My mouth waters.
How about Blogging in the week of WdC’s Twenty-Fourth Birthday? I will provide a prompt every day from September 1 till September 7 (WdC time). You make it a daily entry for seven days. Simple as that!
Short Stories only. 2500 word limit. Newbies only.
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This month's question: Have you changed your style of writing to be more inclusive? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: Do you review content you're not personally fond of?
Santeven Quokklaus  : I do struggle, but sometimes I have done for a review request. If it is something, for example, that I am personally against, and it is praising that thing, then I do not feel I can turn off my emotions enough to review it fairly. I like most genres, so it is not a genre thing, just a personal system thing.
If, on the other hand, it is in a genre I really like (e.g. horror or comedy) and I do not like a particular story in that genre, then I have no problem reviewing because I can be fair based on the fact I do like where the story has come from.
oldgreywolf on wheels  : No
Lizzie Winter's Fairy  : I don't review in this circumstance. I find that if I can't give a kind and honest review, it is better to take a pass.
Amethyst Snow Angel  : If the content is not to my liking (too gory, grotesque, risqué, the worldview is distorted, or the writing is too sloppy) I will skip it, but most of the time if I’ve read an item through I will do my best to review it as fairly and objectively as I can. I’ve become quite good at figuring out from the ratings and genres and the words in an author’s port, whether their writing is worth my time.
(Thank you for featuring my romance in this newsletter  )
Merry_Mikey  : I've given such reviews before, but they're harder. It's not just the genre, either. I've only done one or two reviews on Interactives, because I have a hard time expounding on something that, given substantial "audience participation", is mostly beyond the creator's control.
TheBusmanPoet  : No.
Jolly Jingle Jtpete  : I'll review the story. After having taught in the High School and Community College setting, I have read things I totally disagreed with. I turn off my "pleasure reading" goggles and turn on my "review w/out emotion" goggles. It isn't easy with some of the writings I have reviewed/evaluated.
Jeff  : I'm definitely not afraid to review content I'm not personally fond of. In those cases, though, I usually try to make it clear to the author that I might not be the ideal audience for the material.
elephantsealer : As a writer, I review content, especially content I am not fond of. It stands to reason: content is as important as any in the world of writing, especially "words not personally fond of"!!! Definitely; it is content, right?
MayDay : Not usually.
Indelible Ink : Sure. I review my own stories all the time.
Tannus : If you mean grading papers, then yes.
Louis Williams : As long as I'm not morally against what is written, I'll try to review it. If I can't give it a fair shake, then I don't submit the review.
bobconstable: Not if I can help it.
Blessed Christmouse  : No. "If you can't say nothin' nice, don't say anything at all."
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  : Depends on if I'm being paid, or if it's worth reviewing.
For instance, a few years back, there was a series of Review Requests for a number of interactives around a particular fetish I'm not fond of. Now, I would have reviewed them, but for one thing - these interactives had no stories in them, and were merely "are you X or Y" types of choices, and thus, I decided to not review them. Now, if there were some stories, maybe I'd of given them a review.
foxtale : It's not fair to yuck on someone else's yum. I like how you put that. I also try to add in my critiques the line = Remember, a critique is just another person's opinion
Beholden  : Do I review content I'm not personally fond of? Have to admit that I don't. If it's a subject that I don't like or at least have some experience of, what could I possibly have to say about it? I suppose I could comment on the purely technical side of the writing, but why would I put myself through such torture?
Sometimes I get requests for review of stuff that I don't like. In that case, much depends on how bad it is. There's a limit to how much I can endure. And then there are the pieces that are so badly written that it would take a book to explain where they're going wrong. The line has to be drawn somewhere.
Thanks to everyone for your responses! L~ |
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Short Stories: August 14, 2024 Issue [#12691]
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