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May. 9th, 2009
Memories, from a decade ago.
May. 9th, 2009 11:39 amThat's right. A decade. I am still nudged (gently, thank the stars) by ideas created ten years ago.
I was then an undergraduate in an Australian university (the University of Western Australia - anyone from there? Oh hai!) and deeply in love with Star Trek. I had also joined a chat site called Ten Forward and it was a fantastic place, where I got to know so many great people and learned a couple of things about fandom, myself and other aspects of Star Trek.
There were many types of folks there. People who came solely to chat. And then you had people who came to role-play. There were two who dominated the chat with their epic role-playing stories. Star Trek captains who were magical folk who could shape-shift into myriad things who were imperious to normal weaponry. In short, these two unleashed their imagination and everyone who were there ended up watching them act out (or type out) their fantasies/stories/imagination. They cycled through so many themes that it was simply exhausting to keep track. But of course, it was done in a spirit of fun and I was sure the rest of the non-role-players enjoyed watching the show, though some complained goodnaturedly and asked the two to get their own separate chatroom.
I ended up becoming a secondary character in their multiple epics and I created the Phoenix Court, a matriarchal Imperial family dominated by women who commanded the Court and starships. Of course, it was just a secondary plot-line and was ignored by the two main protagonists who co-opted some parts of my Phoenix Court plot.
Imagine Qing China, helmed by women and their daughters, and set in a science-fiction environment. And why Phoenix Court? These women could turn into phoenixes (phoenii?) but the gene/ability apparently could jump generations. It might be dominant in one generation, recessive in another. It would only affect females. Males could carry the gene, but they remain unable to shift from human to phoenix.
Now the Phoenix Court is back, in my head. Competing with my steampunk ideas, general speculative fiction themes and associated insanity. To me, when I write, I also express out what makes me tick - my various diverse aspects which make me "me". I feel a connection with the phoenix, not as a metaphor or a theme. Maybe, it is more totemic. But that is the joy of writing - to explore and to envision.
I was then an undergraduate in an Australian university (the University of Western Australia - anyone from there? Oh hai!) and deeply in love with Star Trek. I had also joined a chat site called Ten Forward and it was a fantastic place, where I got to know so many great people and learned a couple of things about fandom, myself and other aspects of Star Trek.
There were many types of folks there. People who came solely to chat. And then you had people who came to role-play. There were two who dominated the chat with their epic role-playing stories. Star Trek captains who were magical folk who could shape-shift into myriad things who were imperious to normal weaponry. In short, these two unleashed their imagination and everyone who were there ended up watching them act out (or type out) their fantasies/stories/imagination. They cycled through so many themes that it was simply exhausting to keep track. But of course, it was done in a spirit of fun and I was sure the rest of the non-role-players enjoyed watching the show, though some complained goodnaturedly and asked the two to get their own separate chatroom.
I ended up becoming a secondary character in their multiple epics and I created the Phoenix Court, a matriarchal Imperial family dominated by women who commanded the Court and starships. Of course, it was just a secondary plot-line and was ignored by the two main protagonists who co-opted some parts of my Phoenix Court plot.
Imagine Qing China, helmed by women and their daughters, and set in a science-fiction environment. And why Phoenix Court? These women could turn into phoenixes (phoenii?) but the gene/ability apparently could jump generations. It might be dominant in one generation, recessive in another. It would only affect females. Males could carry the gene, but they remain unable to shift from human to phoenix.
Now the Phoenix Court is back, in my head. Competing with my steampunk ideas, general speculative fiction themes and associated insanity. To me, when I write, I also express out what makes me tick - my various diverse aspects which make me "me". I feel a connection with the phoenix, not as a metaphor or a theme. Maybe, it is more totemic. But that is the joy of writing - to explore and to envision.
Links to mull over.
May. 9th, 2009 03:44 pmhere.
Quotes:
"The problems facing female sff&h writers in south-east Asia are, however, much bigger than one of gender balance. The major problem is one of relevance. How relevant is sff&h perceived to be, to the life of the average Asian? At the moment, the answer is — I'm afraid to say — not at all. And just to finish off back in my local neck of the woods, Malaysia and Indonesia are both predominantly Muslim countries (total population close to 250 million), with a Muslim distaste for anything that detracts from a religious and pious life, coupled with a less than enlightened attitude to women (regardless of what the Koran may actually say). It is no surprise that I have found a fatwa against both reading and writing fiction of any kind. The region has a long way to go."
"There are several writing classes on offer in Singapore, but they concentrate on memoir-type writing. Malaysia, suffering from decades of neglect of the English language, doesn't even get that far. Fantasy and science-fiction are considered frivolous, except in the realm of
children's books."
China Mountain Zhang.
Philippines Speculative Fiction.
Quotes:
"The problems facing female sff&h writers in south-east Asia are, however, much bigger than one of gender balance. The major problem is one of relevance. How relevant is sff&h perceived to be, to the life of the average Asian? At the moment, the answer is — I'm afraid to say — not at all. And just to finish off back in my local neck of the woods, Malaysia and Indonesia are both predominantly Muslim countries (total population close to 250 million), with a Muslim distaste for anything that detracts from a religious and pious life, coupled with a less than enlightened attitude to women (regardless of what the Koran may actually say). It is no surprise that I have found a fatwa against both reading and writing fiction of any kind. The region has a long way to go."
"There are several writing classes on offer in Singapore, but they concentrate on memoir-type writing. Malaysia, suffering from decades of neglect of the English language, doesn't even get that far. Fantasy and science-fiction are considered frivolous, except in the realm of
children's books."
China Mountain Zhang.
Philippines Speculative Fiction.