[stylist] Fantasy and the conservative reader?

Mon Oct 5 22:57:47 UTC 2009

Helene, If you are trying to create a contrast you have to go no further 
than your local townsquare.  People are sighted, people hear perfectly and 
there are some who are visually impaired and have impaired hearing.  Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "helene ryles" <dreamavdb at googlemail.com>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Fantasy and the conservative reader?


> Judith: Thanks for your feedback.
> The magic will have to stay in it and the dragon's too. My point in
> having them there is to illustrate how none disabled people can became
> abnormal in certain places such as a society where dragons are about
> and they have wings or they are from a family of witches, thus making
> those who can't work magic 'abnormal'. It's a matter of contrast. Like
> with the village in Nassoli where deafness is 'normal' since so many
> villagers are deaf whereas outside Nassoli it's considered a
> disability.
>
> As to the colour, I chose to make them gray since they would be out of
> place in a desert landscape if they were white. People from a country
> like Nazdonia would be brown in colour but it would force me to write
> about an ethnic group that I didn't know about rather then my own.  So
> that's why I made them a differant colour entirely. Since I was hoping
> by that, nobody would get offended.
>
> helene
>
> On 05/10/2009, Judith Bron <jbron at optonline.net> wrote:
>> Barbara, This is why we have to strive to be the best we can be.  There 
>> are
>> people in all kinds of occupations who are physically impaired.  Like us,
>> they work to overcome their handicap to stand shoulder to shoulder with 
>> all
>> other capable people in the world.  There are blind attorneys, doctors 
>> and
>> other professionals.  There are those who are wheelchair bound who are
>> capable of the same things as a totally mobile person.  I know a doctor 
>> with
>> MS who continued in a hospital setting after his diagnosis as a
>> diagnostician.  He could have continued as a family practice physician, 
>> but
>> he found it easier to work as a diagnostician.  I also know of a fabulous
>> doctor who quit his occupation because he could no longer hear with
>> certainty the things a doctor pics up with blood pressure and heart
>> irregularities.  I'm sorry he quit.  He was one of the best doctors 
>> around.
>> Judith
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Barbara Hammel" <poetlori8 at msn.com>
>> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 9:54 AM
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] Fantasy and the conservative reader?
>>
>>
>>> Another thing is that people see those of us as less than the people we
>>> are because of the disability.  When white people had black people for
>>> slaves, think of what they did when blacks were just property.  Blacks
>>> were generally thought to be less of a person, hence making them more
>>> animal than human.  Many people think of handicapped people in this way.
>>> I would wager a bet that more handicapped people are abused physically 
>>> and
>>>
>>> sexually than we know because they only have honest folks to speak up 
>>> for
>>> them.
>>> Sex is not and should never have come to be a recreational activity.  It
>>> was the downfall of the Greek and Roman societies.
>>> There is something to be said of the Biblical truth that when nations 
>>> turn
>>>
>>> from doing what's right in God's eyes and do what's right in their own
>>> eyes, they will fall.
>>> Sex has a box where it belongs and should not spill into other things. 
>>> It
>>>
>>> is a Pandora's box.
>>> Barbara
>>>
>>> Snow is God's way of reminding us that beauty can be found even in the
>>> coldest hearts.
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>> From: "Judith Bron" <jbron at optonline.net>
>>> Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 8:25 AM
>>> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [stylist] Fantasy and the conservative reader?
>>>
>>>> Helene, I rather like fantasy.  I enjoyed Harry Potter as an
>>>> entertainment form.  Conservatives aren't straight laced folks who 
>>>> don't
>>>> know how to laugh.  One might think we never find anything to laugh
>>>> about.  Not true. However, we stand for things that aren't laughing
>>>> matters.
>>>> Now for your novel.
>>>> You are trying to do a lot with your plot, your characterization and 
>>>> the
>>>> message  you are sending to your reader.  The message that deaf blind
>>>> people are really people with the same needs and wants as those without
>>>> these impairments is getting lost in your gray skinned characters who
>>>> have loving dinasours as pets.  Helene, this is going to sound harsh, 
>>>> and
>>>>
>>>> perhaps it is. Either your characters are handicapped and their message
>>>> has to get out or they represent fantasy characters with all kinds of
>>>> make believe features. Helene, think long and hard about your book. 
>>>> I'm
>>>> afraid your choice right now is either or.   Judith
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "helene ryles" <dreamavdb at googlemail.com>
>>>> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2009 11:31 PM
>>>> Subject: [stylist] Fantasy and the conservative reader?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I am getting contradictory advice again regarding my novel.
>>>>> Particularly wether on not to remove that last nude bit from chapter
>>>>> 14.
>>>>> Someone else told me to keep them in because only conservative readers
>>>>> would object and they wouldn't be interested in my book anyway.
>>>>> So I'm interested, particularly from Judith and Barbara who were the
>>>>> ones who objected to these scenes, wether they would be interested in
>>>>> fantasy based novels in the first place? Judith did seem interested in
>>>>> the beggining.
>>>>>
>>>>> It helps to know your reader but this is my first novel intended for
>>>>> outside views so I'm still finding my feet where my readership is
>>>>> concerned.
>>>>> I've removed the nude bit as it is not really central to the plot.
>>>>>
>>>>> What do other people think so far?
>>>>>
>>>>> Helene
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Writers Division web site:
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>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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