apparently it's so spanking new that it will be offline for a bit early next week for edits etc. so I will be retweeting when it goes back up again... just so you know. I probably should have held off myself BUT. For gosh sakes. Anyway my editor said I didn't need to take the links down so I reckon it's fair game.
That is truly gorgeous. And there's been a whole conversation about sromances (female bonding narratives) on LJ lately this really ties into. Hope this is a sign of a shift in the zeitgeist and a sign of runaway success for your book.
ETA: I'll tweet this now, since I might forget later. Or both times. It should reach the widest audience possible.
there's been a whole conversation about sromances (female bonding narratives) on LJ lately this really ties into.
oh how interesting, because one of the things that some of my first readers commented was how few books we could think of that were really about being best friends, and I am supposed to be writing a blog post on it but I can't think of any either. Could you point me anywhere in particular? I have been embroiled in my UK taxes for the past 2 weeks and haven't been looking at LJ at ALL!
Sarah Rees Brennan is interested, too, but I'm too lazy to look up the links. A lot of it is about media rather than books, but the point is still well-taken.
Yes, this really works. They didn't do a pseudo-voice over of both girls or something, they just selected great artifacts from those times and gave clever hints with the writing. (Am I imagining it or are they hinting at yuri love between the girls? Hmm, maybe I was naive but that wasn't the vibe I got from them...)
ADD THIS TO YOUR AUTHOR PAGE ON GOODREADS!!!! I'll be adding a general update about this in any case (not that I have that many readers).
There's a place for book videos now and you can link the youtube ones there - I did it for Kaoru Mori drawing Amir from The Bride's Story. You being a GoodReads author have to do it yourself ^^.
...but it *is* like being in love. You want to spend every minute with that person and you are totally focused on each other. I didn't mean it was sexual (The actual sentence is, "It's like being in love, discovering your best friend." Maybe I should have said "falling in love"... No, I think that makes it sound even more like a sexual thing. But that particular sentence is a whole section by itself, you know, so it is highlighted even in the book).
My husband is convinced they are lovers. GO FIGURE.
To my mind it is a Sisterhood. I think that whether or not you are lovers is beside the point in a Sisterhood. And I'm not sure it's something men entirely understand anyway. (But maybe that is being unfair?)
I'm not posting it on Goodreads just yet - still waiting for the official go-ahead from Egmont, as I think they have a few more edits (well, I know of at least one, because I spotted it). But soon!
I can follow your reasoning there- and I am content to read that my impression went with your intention of having them as soul sisters.
I am sure that if CNV takes off well enough you'll be getting slash fiction at An Archive of Our Own anyway ^^ (considering what happens flashback scenarios are begging to be written).
I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the vido trailer feature, so no stress!
There was something else that there was Yuletide fic for this year called "Code Name ((something))" and for a moment I thought it was Code Name Verity fic. Which, when I thought about it a little harder, didn't actually make any sense at all.
you know, I didn't notice it on the trailer, that's how utterly dumb I am. Ultimately I think the story speaks for itself. I'm not going to tell any reader he or she's wrong, whatever his or her interpretation. It's a clean story.
I can see where it would be interpreted as a romance, not just a friendship, and I certainly wouldn't tell anyone who sees romance that they're wrong. (Heck, I'd read and enjoy well-written slash fanfic.) But it's not *my* interpretation.
I think what it really comes down to is that I'm more interested in a nonromantic female bonding narrative than a romantic one. I can come up with more examples of books with strong female protagonists who are lovers than books with strong female protagonists who are just friends. How sad is that? Not that there should be fewer lesbian leads, but LGBTQetc has only been breaking into mainstream literature for the past how many decades, whereas you'd think that women friends should've been appearing in literature for a lot longer than that. Really, there should be more of both. And I'm not talking about Mean Highschool Girls 'friends.' (though it's not just highschool; see Julie and Julia for grown women doing it, too. Watching that movie with several female friends, I found myself going, Let's not be like that. Ever.) I mean ACTUAL friends.
. . . I'm having a really hard time coming up with any decent examples of protagonist female friendships in literature, actually. There's a tradition of English Kids Have Jolly (frequently magical) Adventures (frequently in the English countryside), a la Lewis, Eager, Nesbit, Ramsey (or was Swallows and Amazons in America?), etc, but they're usually sisters, or at least cousins. And sisters isn't quite the same thing. Um . . . Jane Austen's Emma has Mrs. What's-Her-Name, but she's also a mentor and not a main character. Jane Eyre is friends with Helen, who's also not a main character and (SPOILER!) dies.
. . . Someone please tell me that I'm just having a brain-blank, and there are books in contemporary literature that pass this Bedchel-Plus Test (two female protagonists who are good friends and not mean to each other all the time, and not lovers or sisters or mother-figures). Sandry, Daja, and Tris, I guess. But they have Briar, too, and I feel like the dynamics of that group aren't quite the same as the dynamics of two good friends. I mean, none of them are *especially* close with one of the others. Anyone else?
Okay, reading up on the sromance thread produces Sorcery and Cecelia and Anne of Green Gables, which are both good examples. As are Tarma and Kethry. But there are still criminally few.
Oh, that was the other thing I was going to say: mentioning The Children's Hour in regards to possible romantic interpretations. Only not crazy-depressing in quite the same way.
also, Anne of Green Gables is a good example, but I never felt like Anne & Diana were operating together in quite the same way, if you see what I mean. Anne is always in control.
I'm trying now to think of literary friendships that I envied.
There was one in a book by Hester Burton called The Flood at Reedsmere. It actually stood the test of time when I re-read it a few years ago. The friendship is incidental to the plot, and the kids were younger. But it was right.
And The Children's Hour is a really depressing play about two women who run a girls' school together. It's the sort of thing where you walk out of the theater going, That was good. But I feel like someone yanked my emotions, ripped them into pieces, and stomped on them.
Hmm, I find that dynamic happens more often in contemporary romance - a very good example would be the Bride Quartet by Nora Roberts - four friends from childhood growing up, each of them important in the book of the one who has her romance, sometimes their own romance developing alongside the current focus romance.
But there is a highlight on each of the four, so maybe that would again not count as four protagonists?
I also think it's done very well in Tales of the Divine Ya-Ya Sisterhood or whatever it's called, but again, there are something like 5 of them, and it's an adult book. I was trying to think of YA stuff or even children's.
Well, there's the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books, which I thought were sweet. I'm sure Judy Bloom has done it, too, although I'm less familiar with her.
Sherwood Smith has done it, and Robin McKinley did best friends in her Sleeping Beauty one. Her vampire one also had friends. In Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry books, there are two girls who are good friends, but their stories split pretty early and they stay pretty much apart. His other books tend to have pretty fantastic women, too, but they don't usually interact.
I've never read The Vampire Diaries books, but the girls seem like real friends on the TV show.
I'm a bit late, but whatever (also, I came here via GR).
I was asking myself this as I finished a fantasy saga that revolves around a group of four girl friends as they save their world, have fun and mature together. And upon finishing it I was left thinking that, damn, why aren't more books centering around female friendship? I loved how the fourth and last book in this saga (it's called Laila Winter and so far only available in Spanish and Polish) put so much importance into the girls's friendship, how they had to fight to stay together and how it made them strong.
But then I noticed that I've seen more middle grade novels featuring female friendship than ya, which go for (boring) romances, for the most part.
yes, when I was trying to come up with good examples the first ones I thought of were Saffy and Sarah in HIlary McKay's Casson series, but they really are lower down the age range. And when they are teens themselves they're not the focus of the books.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 02:29 pm (UTC)ETA: I'll tweet this now, since I might forget later. Or both times. It should reach the widest audience possible.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 03:31 pm (UTC)oh how interesting, because one of the things that some of my first readers commented was how few books we could think of that were really about being best friends, and I am supposed to be writing a blog post on it but I can't think of any either. Could you point me anywhere in particular? I have been embroiled in my UK taxes for the past 2 weeks and haven't been looking at LJ at ALL!
And thanks for the buzz, too!
no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 04:31 pm (UTC)Sarah Rees Brennan is interested, too, but I'm too lazy to look up the links. A lot of it is about media rather than books, but the point is still well-taken.
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Date: 2012-01-13 04:50 pm (UTC)you are right about twitter being a time-suck.... sigh. I *really* need to go take down my christmas tree now.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 06:52 pm (UTC)ADD THIS TO YOUR AUTHOR PAGE ON GOODREADS!!!! I'll be adding a general update about this in any case (not that I have that many readers).
There's a place for book videos now and you can link the youtube ones there - I did it for Kaoru Mori drawing Amir from The Bride's Story. You being a GoodReads author have to do it yourself ^^.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 07:00 pm (UTC)I didn't get that vibe, either, but I have been known to miss really obvious things in the past.
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Date: 2012-01-13 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 07:52 pm (UTC)My husband is convinced they are lovers. GO FIGURE.
To my mind it is a Sisterhood. I think that whether or not you are lovers is beside the point in a Sisterhood. And I'm not sure it's something men entirely understand anyway. (But maybe that is being unfair?)
I'm not posting it on Goodreads just yet - still waiting for the official go-ahead from Egmont, as I think they have a few more edits (well, I know of at least one, because I spotted it). But soon!
sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-14 12:25 am (UTC)I am sure that if CNV takes off well enough you'll be getting slash fiction at An Archive of Our Own anyway ^^ (considering what happens flashback scenarios are begging to be written).
I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the vido trailer feature, so no stress!
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-14 04:49 am (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-14 01:38 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-15 12:05 am (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-14 12:32 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-14 12:34 pm (UTC)*preens*
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-18 08:40 am (UTC)I think what it really comes down to is that I'm more interested in a nonromantic female bonding narrative than a romantic one. I can come up with more examples of books with strong female protagonists who are lovers than books with strong female protagonists who are just friends. How sad is that? Not that there should be fewer lesbian leads, but LGBTQetc has only been breaking into mainstream literature for the past how many decades, whereas you'd think that women friends should've been appearing in literature for a lot longer than that. Really, there should be more of both. And I'm not talking about Mean Highschool Girls 'friends.' (though it's not just highschool; see Julie and Julia for grown women doing it, too. Watching that movie with several female friends, I found myself going, Let's not be like that. Ever.) I mean ACTUAL friends.
. . . I'm having a really hard time coming up with any decent examples of protagonist female friendships in literature, actually. There's a tradition of English Kids Have Jolly (frequently magical) Adventures (frequently in the English countryside), a la Lewis, Eager, Nesbit, Ramsey (or was Swallows and Amazons in America?), etc, but they're usually sisters, or at least cousins. And sisters isn't quite the same thing. Um . . . Jane Austen's Emma has Mrs. What's-Her-Name, but she's also a mentor and not a main character. Jane Eyre is friends with Helen, who's also not a main character and (SPOILER!) dies.
. . . Someone please tell me that I'm just having a brain-blank, and there are books in contemporary literature that pass this Bedchel-Plus Test (two female protagonists who are good friends and not mean to each other all the time, and not lovers or sisters or mother-figures). Sandry, Daja, and Tris, I guess. But they have Briar, too, and I feel like the dynamics of that group aren't quite the same as the dynamics of two good friends. I mean, none of them are *especially* close with one of the others.
Anyone else?
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-18 09:32 am (UTC)Oh, that was the other thing I was going to say: mentioning The Children's Hour in regards to possible romantic interpretations. Only not crazy-depressing in quite the same way.
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-18 10:38 am (UTC)also, Anne of Green Gables is a good example, but I never felt like Anne & Diana were operating together in quite the same way, if you see what I mean. Anne is always in control.
I'm trying now to think of literary friendships that I envied.
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-18 10:40 am (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-19 05:23 pm (UTC)And The Children's Hour is a really depressing play about two women who run a girls' school together. It's the sort of thing where you walk out of the theater going, That was good. But I feel like someone yanked my emotions, ripped them into pieces, and stomped on them.
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-19 06:58 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-19 06:59 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-19 07:07 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-19 07:14 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-19 12:34 am (UTC)I didn't mention Anne of Green Gables because you asked about contemporary.
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-18 01:07 pm (UTC)But there is a highlight on each of the four, so maybe that would again not count as four protagonists?
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-18 03:05 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-01-19 12:33 am (UTC)Sherwood Smith has done it, and Robin McKinley did best friends in her Sleeping Beauty one. Her vampire one also had friends. In Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry books, there are two girls who are good friends, but their stories split pretty early and they stay pretty much apart. His other books tend to have pretty fantastic women, too, but they don't usually interact.
I've never read The Vampire Diaries books, but the girls seem like real friends on the TV show.
Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-02-12 07:06 pm (UTC)I was asking myself this as I finished a fantasy saga that revolves around a group of four girl friends as they save their world, have fun and mature together. And upon finishing it I was left thinking that, damn, why aren't more books centering around female friendship? I loved how the fourth and last book in this saga (it's called Laila Winter and so far only available in Spanish and Polish) put so much importance into the girls's friendship, how they had to fight to stay together and how it made them strong.
But then I noticed that I've seen more middle grade novels featuring female friendship than ya, which go for (
boring) romances, for the most part.Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-02-13 01:29 pm (UTC)Re: sorry for the misquote!
Date: 2012-02-13 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-17 08:30 pm (UTC)Very nice trailer.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-30 12:04 am (UTC)