Monday, April 4, 2011
Guest Post: Rebecca Lim author of Mercy
Today I’m really excited to be posting my very first author guest post on my humble little blog written by the super talented and lovely Rebecca Lim, author of Mercy. For those of you who haven’t heard of Mercy before it offers a unique take on the angel genre by mixing an intriguing romance with a suspenseful mystery. Feel free to check out my review of Mercy HERE. I also posted an interviewed I did with Rebecca which you can find HERE.Now without further ado I give you Rebecca’s guest post …
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Demand More
As a reader, I really appreciate it when a writer treats me as if I am a sophisticated, intelligent, engaged person, who doesn’t mind being challenged.
In short, I am happy if a writer treats me – a female reader – as someone with a functioning brain.
As a writer, it’s the way I like to think that I treat my readers.
I’m even happier if what I’m reading reflects the diversity that is life itself in today’s world. It’s 2011, people. Women can save themselves. Women are not defined by the romantic love triangle, or love hexagon, they might happen to find themselves entangled in. I like to think that women in love still retain a modicum of intelligence – emotional as well as intellectual – and YA lit should perhaps reflect that a bit more than it does.
It’s my personal belief that writers have a duty to put positive reflections of the sisterhood out there. Enough horrific stuff happens to women in the real world – we read about it every day in the news, we can’t seem to escape the terrible, terrible stories. Women writers, in particular, should be empowering teens to not accept traditional stereotypes; even in fictional portrayals of women. We should be counteracting – with all the tools we have available to us as writers – the darkest aspects of human nature.
Stalking is not okay; assault is not okay. If it’s part of the story line, there should still be no surrender.
Demand more. Question everything you read. Don’t just go for the easy options and let your brain float off into romance land. Sure, YA lit exists to entertain and to take us away from the “every day”, but it should not reinforce the tropes of ancient history.
That’s why we all love the paranormal. There’s boundless possibility for everyone - not just the “hot” guy.
Rebecca Lim is the author of “Mercy” published by HarperCollins Publishers in Australia , NZ, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and Disney-Hyperion in the United States
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First off, huge thanks to Rebecca for taking the time and writing this post, her very first guest post I believe, I think we can all agree she’s done a fantastic job.
Now I’m in complete agreement with Rebecca here, writers should put a stop to the traditional stereotyping of women as being weak and intellectually inferior, always needing to be saved by a man, clearly this is not the case nor has it ever been. I believe this is especially important for YA writers as young women are at that age where they are particularly susceptible to the views of the media from both traditional (books, movies, tv) and new media sources (internet) therefore it is important to portray women in a positive light where they can be strong, intelligent and caring.
We as women have been bombarded since childhood with society’s narrow minded views on how a woman should act and behave. We need to give women some more credit and agree that whilst we are all different we do however all have a brain and can think, women of today can do anything they put their mind to and they don’t need a man to achieve it! We deserve nothing less.
Both Rebecca and I would love your opinions on this issue, so please leave us a comment, thanks!
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Heather · 729 weeks ago
We are women, we might be physically weaker, but that's where it stops. We can be just as strong in every other way and make our own decisions.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts as well as Rebecca's.
Brittany · 729 weeks ago
Cheree · 729 weeks ago
Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to read Mercy.
mjhearle 23p · 729 weeks ago
When I was writing Winter's Shadow (out in June) I constantly had to challenge myself not to fall into the well worn 'damsel in distress' cliche. I'll have to check out Ms Lim's work as we share the same attitude towards this issue.
M. J.
Anna · 606 weeks ago