Panel Report - Women's vs. Men's Magic in Fantasy

More fun with Panel Reports!

Previous reports: “Láadan vs. tlhIngan Hol: Differential Diffusion of Created Languages”

The next panel I attended was “Women’s vs. Men’s Magic in Fantasy”, which was moderated by Nisi Shawl, and attended by Suzy McKee Charnas, John H. Kim, Elizabeth Vonarburg, and Jane Yolen.

Sadly, this panel was something of a disappointment. kphoebe and I had been very keen on attending it, since different systems for feminine and masculine magic is kind’ve an important plot point in Seen and Spoken, but the combination of the late hour, the crowded room, and the panel’s seeming total disinterest in audience participation (or even attention) was a bad one. Karen and I spent most of the time writing odd little notes to each other in order to stay awake, and I’m pretty sure that seeksadventure (who was sitting on the other side of me) actually did doze off at one point (I expect her to deny this, of course!).

On the plus side, some of our notes to each other were pretty interesting. And I wrote a quick little sex scene! (short on words, but long on hawt, I assure you)

Highlight: One of the panel members (Jane Yolen, I think) said something about John Dee and Rasputin showing up in a novel I’d not read, and I wrote on my notebook “John Dee and Rasputin get around.” (because, y’know, while I’ve not read that novel, I’ve read plenty of others that included one or both of those guys)

Karen responded: “Did you know that Colossus is Rasputin’s great-great-great nephew? It’s true! Thanks, Chuck Austen!” Thus proving once again that All Things Lead to X-Men.

Panel Report - Never The Hero: Girls in Genre Literature

Previous reports: “Láadan vs. tlhIngan Hol: Differential Diffusion of Created Languages”
“Women's vs. Men's Magic in Fantasy”

I was too zonked for the rest of the Friday night panels, and overslept Saturday morning. Consequently, the next panel that I attended at WisCon was “Never the Hero: Girls in Genre Literature”. It was moderated by Sharyn November (who took control from Delia Sherman in a decisive pre-panel coup), and featured Delia Sherman, Brian Attebery, Veronica L. Schanoes, and Jane Yolen.

My notes for this panel basically consist of a recommended reading list, but I can reconstruct the gist of the discussion from memory.

The discussion went around quite a bit, but the ultimate main topic was that there are lots of female leads in fantasy for young readers, but that the most mainstream YA and children’s fantasy always seems to feature girls in the sidekick role only (Hermione in the Harry Potter books, for example). There was some back-and-forth on why this might be, and what might be done about it (a lot of people blamed the “common wisdom” that girls will read things with male protagonists, but boys won’t read things with female protagonists), but nothing truly conclusive or astonishing was said.

The other interesting point that came up is that while female characters (main and otherwise) are pretty common in fantasy at the moment, there are not very many non-fantasy adventure stories featuring girls – and those that do feature them usually feature unwilling protagonists. Again, nothing really conclusive was said about this, but it’s something interesting to ponder.

Highlight: Veronica L. Schanoes (who has the most awesome hair ever, btw) talking about the scene at the end of the first HP book, wherein “Harry says ‘Hermione, you should go, you’re way better at this,’ and then Hermione says ‘but there are more important things. You should go, Harry, because you have…bravery.’” There was a brief pause, whilst Sharyn November (I believe) muttered “a penis”, prompting Schanoes to say, very clearly, “Right, exactly. What he has is a penis.” [of course, this is all from memory, so I am probably quoting inaccurately. Paraphrase! Paraphrase!]

Other Highlight: Sharyn November (who also has gorgeous hair, actually. And is generally just gorgeous) saying that the best person to answer a certain question would be “Patty Wrede – Patty, speak up!”. And when Patricia C. Wrede spoke up, I realized she was right behind me.

Other Other Highlight: Getting signatures and friendly “nice to meet you”s from both Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, who wrote Sorcery and Cecilia, which was part of the inspiration behind my wanting to play the letter game that became Seen and Spoken. They told me that they’ve got another offering in that series coming out this fall. YAY.
( And now, the book list! )