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shadowkatI did that whole Female Writer post wrong last night. So trying again. What prompted this is the realization that most people online go on and on and on about their favorite "male" writers. It's Whedon this, or Moffat that, or David Milch, or Aaron Sorkin or RT Davis or Neil Gaiman or Gene Roddenberry, JJ Abhrams, and Ron Moore...but where are the ladies? Surely there are female writers in the film, television, and fan world that you adore?
So trying this again.
If you should happen upon this post - please come up with at least one, more if possible, female writers that you are "Fannish" about. That you adore! They can be novelist, they can be television writers, they can be playwrites or comic book writers. I'm betting most will be novelists. But try not to copy other people's. Yeah, I know everyone loves JK Rowling, but any one else?
Let's Celebrate the Female Writers that we are fans of.
Here's mine - these are writers that I'm a fan of and follow their books or stories religiously.
And railed at, just like I've railed at the male equivalent.
1. Jane Espenson. She's written for just about every science fiction/fantasy tv show on. Started with Star Trek - DS9, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, BattleStar Galatica, was the show-runner for Caprica and Tru Calling at different points, wrote for Torchwood (although I haven't seen it), and the only woman writer for Game of Thrones last year, has written comic books, and is currently writing the best episodes of ABC's new hit series Once Upon a Time. She can write comedy or drama. And she's down-to-earth. With a blog. I've been known to follow Jane E about, and she is by far my favorite writer of the Whedon series as a person. OR the only one I'd want to sit down and have tea with.
2. Kim Harrison of the Rachel Morgan Bounty Hunter series - yes, a novelist, and while not brilliant always, I adore her characters. And her story which is truly unique in the urban fantasy universe. One of the few that blends science with gothic horror fantasy. And a female noire tale to boot. Start with Dead Witch Walking and go from there. Also in the world-building department?
Few are her equals.
3. JK Rowlings...Harry Potter Books - I doing her, so no one else will. I'm evil that way. But I also adore Rowling's. She created a world. The detail of it is quite extraordinary. It's a child's fantasy world - or a world a child would dream up not an adult, with fantastical candies and jokes.
It also addresses adult and child issues such as classism, bullying, racism, and discrimination in a manner that is accessible to everyone. Rowlings doesn't preach in her novels or tells, she shows you her world and lets you play inside it.
4. Jane Austen - was always a fan of Austen. But yet another novelist. Dang-it. What I loved most about Austen was the banter. She was hilarious. Her books are satirical takes on her time and the manners and etiquette of that time period. They last, because the issues she had with class continue today, along with gender.
5. Anne McCaffrey - another novelist...all of mine are novelists, this is a problem. I've read all of her books, I think or most of them. My favorites were the dragon-riders of Pern series, because hello, telepathic dragons. (Now not so much a fan, so probably shouldn't be listed here...I haven't read her in over 20 years. Sort of how I feel about her male counterpart CS Lewis, who I loved and abandoned in much the same manner).
I can't think of any film writers that I've followed faithfully, maybe Kathryn Bigelow, but she's a director not a writer. Diane English - I loved Murphy Brown but little else. I don't know.
Can you think of female film and television writers that you adored. And watched whatever they did with the same fannish glee that you might fellow male counterparts such as Joss Whedon or Stephen Moffat? Who are your goddesses of the written word?
So trying this again.
If you should happen upon this post - please come up with at least one, more if possible, female writers that you are "Fannish" about. That you adore! They can be novelist, they can be television writers, they can be playwrites or comic book writers. I'm betting most will be novelists. But try not to copy other people's. Yeah, I know everyone loves JK Rowling, but any one else?
Let's Celebrate the Female Writers that we are fans of.
Here's mine - these are writers that I'm a fan of and follow their books or stories religiously.
And railed at, just like I've railed at the male equivalent.
1. Jane Espenson. She's written for just about every science fiction/fantasy tv show on. Started with Star Trek - DS9, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, BattleStar Galatica, was the show-runner for Caprica and Tru Calling at different points, wrote for Torchwood (although I haven't seen it), and the only woman writer for Game of Thrones last year, has written comic books, and is currently writing the best episodes of ABC's new hit series Once Upon a Time. She can write comedy or drama. And she's down-to-earth. With a blog. I've been known to follow Jane E about, and she is by far my favorite writer of the Whedon series as a person. OR the only one I'd want to sit down and have tea with.
2. Kim Harrison of the Rachel Morgan Bounty Hunter series - yes, a novelist, and while not brilliant always, I adore her characters. And her story which is truly unique in the urban fantasy universe. One of the few that blends science with gothic horror fantasy. And a female noire tale to boot. Start with Dead Witch Walking and go from there. Also in the world-building department?
Few are her equals.
3. JK Rowlings...Harry Potter Books - I doing her, so no one else will. I'm evil that way. But I also adore Rowling's. She created a world. The detail of it is quite extraordinary. It's a child's fantasy world - or a world a child would dream up not an adult, with fantastical candies and jokes.
It also addresses adult and child issues such as classism, bullying, racism, and discrimination in a manner that is accessible to everyone. Rowlings doesn't preach in her novels or tells, she shows you her world and lets you play inside it.
4. Jane Austen - was always a fan of Austen. But yet another novelist. Dang-it. What I loved most about Austen was the banter. She was hilarious. Her books are satirical takes on her time and the manners and etiquette of that time period. They last, because the issues she had with class continue today, along with gender.
5. Anne McCaffrey - another novelist...all of mine are novelists, this is a problem. I've read all of her books, I think or most of them. My favorites were the dragon-riders of Pern series, because hello, telepathic dragons. (Now not so much a fan, so probably shouldn't be listed here...I haven't read her in over 20 years. Sort of how I feel about her male counterpart CS Lewis, who I loved and abandoned in much the same manner).
I can't think of any film writers that I've followed faithfully, maybe Kathryn Bigelow, but she's a director not a writer. Diane English - I loved Murphy Brown but little else. I don't know.
Can you think of female film and television writers that you adored. And watched whatever they did with the same fannish glee that you might fellow male counterparts such as Joss Whedon or Stephen Moffat? Who are your goddesses of the written word?
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-17 10:28 pm (UTC)- Emily Bronte: I adored Wuthering Heights when I was 12 and I still do, it's a timeless masterpiece and really unique. I like the way the author's voice is never directly present, and she lets the reader decide how they feel about the characters, while framing her larger-than-life, Romantic (as in romanticism, Byron etc., not as in Valentine's Day, though it's sort of romantic in that way as well, but in a really twisted and disturbing and therefore a lot more interesting way) story in the realistic frame of two unreliable narrators with their conventional morality of two different class backgrounds. Besides being so incredibly emotional while also brutal and poetic, it's also fascinating to analyze from the class, gender and race (or ethnicity, since I hate the word race) perspective.
(The Madwoman In the Attic features a great feminist analysis of WH - so if we're mentioning female literary critics, I'm throwing my vote with Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. )
- Angela Carter: I first came upon her work watching Neil Jordan's 1984 fantasy film In the Company of Wolves for which she wrote the script. That made me read her collection of stories Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, her very interesting feminist psychosexual readings of traditional fairytales, and her other stories. I also really liked her non-fiction book The Sadeian Woman. I don't really feel the desire to read Sade's actual works, but her take on the political and social aspects, gender and power dynamics of his work is fascinating.
- Sylvia Plath: I don't know if poets count, but I'm definitely fannish about her since I first read one of her poems as a part of my curriculum at the university; it was "Colossus", which made me go and read all of her poems. I'm not even a big poetry lover, there are just some poets that really manage to speak to me.
- Ursula Le Guin: I've been a fan of her since I was a child. I used to read this children/youth weekly magazine (actually it was promoted as a magazine for all ages) that regularly published an SF story. I remember reading and loving her story "April in Paris". I only started reading more of her work when I grew up. The Left Hand of Darkness is great. I'm embarrassed that I haven't read a lot more of her work - I'm afraid I don't read as much as I used to when I was in school and at the university, or rather, too much of my time is spent on Internet, magazines and newspapers and on films and TV shows, lately even comics, and I've read more essays than non-fictional lately.
- and here's someone contemporary: Biljana Srbljanovic, Serbian playwright whose work has been popular in Europe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biljana_Srbljanovi%C4%87 Besides enjoying her plays, a large part of why I've been a fan for years are her columns in magazines, blogs and public appearances; I admire how outspoken and uncompromising she's been (which is why she's been one of the "controversial" people in the Serbian public). I think the Wiki article is wrong in defining her as a politician: she did agree to run for mayor one time for Liberal Democratic Party (not that there was ever a real chance of winning) but she's not a real politician, fortunately.
Some writers whose work I read at the university when I was studying English language and literature:
- Anne Tyler: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant- great novel, I enjoyed the way she wrote every chapter of the book in 3rd person but from a POV of one of the main characters/family members. I have a thing for POV narrative style over the omniscient narrator or "I" narrator.
- Shirley Jackson: I've only read "Lottery", but it's a really memorable story that made me take notice, I hope I'll get a chance to read one of her novels. (I would have to order them from Amazon, probably.)
- Harper Lee: not an innovative writer or anything, but how can one not love To Kill a Mockingbird.
Film and TV
Date: 2012-02-17 10:34 pm (UTC)Out of female film directors, I'd mention Margarethe von Trotta (Das Versprechen/The Promise), Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark), Antonia Bird (Priest with Liam Roche - not the vampire movie with Paul Bettany) and Dannish director Susanne Bier (In a Better World)... there are others whose work I'm familiar with but I'm conflicted/not sure on how I feel about it, so I won't mention them.
Television:
- Lynda La Plante - creator of several great UK crime drama, including Prime Suspect and Trial and Retribution. I also remember her mini-series Widows I watched as a child, which was focused on four female protagonists on the other side of the law. British crime drama is generally of much higher quality than US (with the exception of great US shows like Homicide: LOTS and The Wire), it's not about detectives solving a case in an episode and everything being fine, it's real drama, bleak and edgy.
- Marti Noxon - She has a very recognizable voice and themes - including dysfunctional relationships, dark urges, gender reversals, exploration of sexuality; a lot of edgy stuff, BtVS wouldn't have been the same without her. Although she also can be really funny, despite being mostly known for heartbreak and melodrama. I love season 6, and some of my favorite episodes she wrote include: I Only Have Eyes For You, The Wish, Consequences, Villains, What's My Line, Forever, and I also have to mention her uncredited work on AtS Dear Boy, that scene is one of my favorites on that show. But even the episodes that are not great or I have mixed feelings overall always have interesting themes and lines that connect to the rest of her work on the show. Sadly, apart from Buffyverse and Mad Men, she tends to work on shows I don't watch, so haven't seen anything else other than Fright Night (which though not Buffy-standard stuff was probably the best you could do with the story and a big improvement over the original; the humor and portrayal of high school dynamics reminded me of the aspects of her work on BtVS that rarely get mentioned).
- Jane Espenson - everyone else has already mentioned her so there's not much new to add; she's one of the best comedy writers for drama shows, and the best thing about her work is how seamlessly she can go from humor to serious drama or explore characters and their issues through humor. Favorite episodes include Intervention, Earshot, After Life, Storyteller, The Harsh Light of Day, The Replacement, I Was Made to Love You. I can't wait to have her back in season 9. I wasn't as impressed with her work on Battlestar Galactica, it was hit and miss but she had some really good moments. Before all this, she wrote a solid episode for one my favorite shows, DS9, wrote a couple of good episodes for Dollhouse, a very underrated show, and was the showrunner for Caprica, a rather underrated show. I intend to check Once Upon a Time> when I find the time.
- D.C. Fontana: one of the pioneers, started off as Roddenberry's secretary but went on to become a better writer than he was and contributed a lot to the show becoming what it was. Episodes credited to her that I love include This Side of Paradise, Journey to Babel, The Enterprise incident, The Ultimate Computer, but more importantly, she contributed a lot to the shaping of the character of Spock and the Vulcan culture.
- Winnie Holzman: deserves a mention for creating My So-Called Life, probably the most true to life teen TV drama I've seen. She also wrote the brilliantly bittersweet finale.
- Honorable mention to Toni Graphia, whose name caught my attention because of BSG Flesh and Bone and Resistance (Flesh and Bone happened to be the first BSG episode I ever saw, and it hooked me up immediately) and went on to write about similar issues on erminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Also wrote for another one of my favorite underrated shows, Carnivale.
Re: Film and TV
Date: 2012-02-18 12:27 am (UTC)What a lot of people don't know about Marti - is Marti was responsible for Dru and Spike. She saw Juliet Landau in a play and pitched the Dru/Spike scenario to Greenwalt and Whedon, and wrote Dru for Juliet.
She also developed their relationship. She was the go-to gal for relationship story bits. Fury had her write the relationship bits for Primeval, and Petrie asked her to do it for Fool for Love and she literally directed the last scene on the porch with Spike and Buffy.
She also is responsible for how the show handled Willow and Tara (not Tara's death - that was all Whedon and entirely Whedon's idea), but Marti pushed for the relationship, pushed for Amber Benson to play Tara, and wrote the relationship based on a friend of her's.
If it weren't for Marti, we probably would not have had Buffy/Spike, Willow/Tara, Anya/Xander or the characters of Spike, Dru, Tara and Anya. Go Marti.
I've read Marguerite Duras ...don't remember her well, but thank you for her as well.
Re: Film and TV
Date: 2012-02-19 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-18 12:36 am (UTC)Very true. Also the Accidental Tourist. My mother thinks I write like Tyler, which is a compliment. I like third person close as opposed to first person, second person or third person distant, omniscient. Ann did 3rd person close very well.
I copied her style in my own fictional writing. She's brilliant and the best of the literary/dysfunctional writers in my opinion.
See the film of Accidental Tourist with Kathleen Turner - it's worth it.
Shirley Jackson: I've only read "Lottery", but it's a really memorable story that made me take notice, I hope I'll get a chance to read one of her novels. (I would have to order them from Amazon, probably.)
Haunting of Hill House is a work of art - get that one.
Harper Lee: not an innovative writer or anything, but how can one not love To Kill a Mockingbird.
She had one story to tell, but what a story. Truman Capote had several books but he never came close to what his friend Harper Lee accomplished. It's a brilliant fictional memoir. The captures perfectly a time period in US culture and the problems of that time period.
Sylvia Plath: I don't know if poets count, but I'm definitely fannish about her since I first read one of her poems as a part of my curriculum at the university; it was "Colossus", which made me go and read all of her poems. I'm not even a big poetry lover, there are just some poets that really manage to speak to me.
My favorite poet. I adored her in school. I loved her one novel - The Bell Jar. Also loved Dorothy Parker. The dark female poets...spoke to my adolescent heart.
Was very fannish about her myself.
Thank you again for this. Much appreciated.