Tamora Pierce tackled two major peeves in a recent livejournal post that’s making the rounds in the blogosphere right now.

First, she offers some thoughts about all of the individual attention she’s getting as the writer of White Tiger:

Tim and I are clearly listed as co-writers on the cover of the White Tiger books, and in the credits, but nine times out of ten, when the books are discussed, I’m named as sole writer. This really burns my bacon. We did all the interviews together; we’ve talked about the book in blog posts as co-writers, and yet people seem determined to forget there’s two of us in this. It gets really interesting in the slams. It’s almost as if people want to forget there’s a guy in this, too, so they can heap extra scorn on the girl. On the praise side, they want to give me all the credit, never mind that Tim writes the whole first draft (after we bash out the outline together)–a pretty serious contribution.

What is this? With a female involved, people want to go blind to the man’s share? Or–just as insulting to Tim–because I’m the Name–people assume he’s my Arm Charm, and I do all the heavy lifting? His contribution is getting ignored, for any reason, and it’s pissing me off.

I wonder if Terry Dodson has ever registered a similar complaint?

Then, in the meat of the post, she addresses a common, well-meaning question about her writing and poses an excellent question of her own:

More and more these days I am being asked why I choose to write female heroes, and/or when will I write male heroes. I’m polite in my answers, because people honestly seem puzzled by my choices, but I’m starting to boil a little, and I’m definitely building up a head of frustration. Why does no one ask male writers why they write male heroes?

Worse, why do girls and women ask me this? Okay, I can understand it–sort of–when moms of boys ask me. They want female-positive books with heroes their kids will read. And I point out the truth. I have a boy hero, Briar, in the Circle of Magic universe, and in fact he’s one of my most popular heroes, though I think it’s more because he’s just plain fun, and he knows how to deal with girls. His three co-heroes are female, after all. Moreover, because my other female heroes tend to be involved in primarily masculine fields of endeavor–knighthood, war, policework, revolutions–they are surrounded by boys and men who are friends, teachers, rivals, and foes. My male fans read my books because they are adventures, not classically categorized “girl books.” I just have always believed that girls want adventures, too, and since none were available when I was a kid, I have always written adventure novels with girl heroes. Boys, once they get past the girl on the cover, almost always respond.

And for the rest, it used to be that seven out of eight novels had boy heroes. Now the figure is more like six out of seven, though I have a feeling that the number of boy heroes may be rising with perception that boys don’t read, and we must save our boys! (and jettison our girls, or feed them clique novels with makeup and girls and boys sabotaging one another).

It really hurts when girls ask me this. Are they so beaten down by our culture’s superior value on boys that they don’t understand why someone would prefer to write for them, showcasing their strengths and possibilities? Do they find it so strange that someone would willingly showcase them? So brainwashed that they think there’s something wrong with me that I prefer it, or that I prefer girl heroes, and not princesses, or princesses in disguise, or orphans in quest of families, or loner socialites, or rocker wanna-bes, or girl victims? (Not that I don’t value the books in which girls begin as victims–I read them myself, and really like the way the characters learn what’s going find strength and a way out. But I prefer a different approach, and when girls ask me why I’m doing it, I need to start asking, “Why aren’t more people doing it? Aren’t you worth as many heroes as the boys get?”

When the adults ask me, that’s when I really start to burn, though I always stay polite. Again, I have to wonder if they ask male writers who specialize in boy heroes why they do that. I want to ask the media people whose side they’re on, though I do wonder if they don’t wonder if they ask me the question to allow me to make the point that there aren’t enough girl heroes out there, and why not? But honestly, why is it strange to like to write for girls?

Aren’t they worth it? Look at them on the soccer field, or bent over a book. Watch them in the mall, looking at music or clothes, or at home or in gym, practicing headstands and somersaults. Do you see them in class, getting all fired up about injustice, or in a club, dancing to set the world on fire? Do you see them bent over sketch pads or lap tops, working away, or read their internet posts, where being unseen sets them free to say what they think? They’re a more tremendous resource than oil or water, and they are trashed, ignored, lectured, talked down to, shoved aside, told they’re hos/sluts/technoignoramuses, tied up and abused in games/movies/comics/television, handed diets until they collapse from the weight of them–and yet they are still thinking, still active, still passionate, still idealists. They are world-beaters.

Why aren’t more people writing for them, and I mean “for”, as in, in ways that makes them feel like what they are: a powerful force. People who make a difference. Not toys, not negligible quantities to be shoved aside every time people get their panties in a bunch about boys, but serious players on the world stage. Serious contributors to everyone’s lives.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 11:58 am and is filed under Fandom, Internet, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.