[stylist] Fantasy and the conservative reader?

Tue Oct 6 03:19:30 UTC 2009

Helene, It's your book.  I'm just suggesting for the sake of marketability 
you might want a bit more diversity to make it more real.  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 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Fantasy and the conservative reader?


> Judith: I'm not interested in hearing sighted people for my story. I
> want to do something that is differant. A differant sort of contrast
> if you see what I mean.
>
> I have decided to give them a golden compexion though instead of grey
> one. I hope that improves things.
>
> Helene
>
> On 05/10/2009, Judith Bron <jbron at optonline.net> wrote:
>> 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
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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