Writing thoughts....

So I was reading my friend MaryAnne's blog this morning, where she had written about an author's fictional makeover of the American continent without the North Americans. She has also written on race writing, and the fact that because this is a society with still some homophobia/race issues/etc still inherent, its difficult to get away from while writing. You can go to the opposite extreme too. I own a collection of sci-fi/fantasy short stories that is supposed to have fat heroines. The problem is that it goes to the opposite extreme, that the writers were so conscious of writing fat heroines, that they went overboard and you got slapped in the face with the fat, and not with all the other great qualities that these heroines should have. I have read at least one book where I only realised the heroine was 'fat' halfway through the book. That is good writing.

Good writing is when you know that the heroine (or hero) is fat, S.Asian, blind, Egyptian, deaf, skinny, talented, creative, lost, etc, but that it is part of their character. Good writing is not about having one quality of a character singled out and shoved in your face. Good characters are complex, layered individuals. Just like people. People are not always completely evil or complete saints...