I actually don’t really want guys like this writing female protagonists, though. A dragon isn’t going to read the series like “this is so bizarrely unlike my mindset or any of my experiences” because they don’t have any, but I have a bunch and this happens all the time!
I just saw an interview with a male fantasy author where he said "I guess I haven't really written female protagonists because it's not really something I feel like I can write from a place of knowledge."
Reader, this man wrote a series with a whole ass ancient dragon as their protagonist. 🙄
Is the criticism here that oh my god he admit it? Because if an author doesn't think he could create a believable protagonist, it's probably a good bet they can't, or at least shouldn't.
Protagonist obviously being quite separate from "character," I think.
I think it's a classic Devil's Fork-style dilemma. If you're a white dude don't write perspectives not your own you'll be endlessly criticized for only writing about white dudes, but if you *do* you'll be criticized for each and every thing you write that deviates from the critic's "truth".
I mean, so could I, but a lot of this is "Why am I, a lower-middle-class black woman from Queens, not selling on the level of Stephen King?" and deciding that it's because King et. al are sucking up all the oxygen.
For the record, I don't really think this is true- I don't think that King's works are best-sellers because he's a honkey, I think they're best-sellers because he's Stephen King.
Now if he was Shu Wang or Steve Freedman would he have been the juggernaut he is today? Maybe, maybe not! But there's plenty of mediocre white authors who flame out in the industry too.
I think one of the things that makes discourse about writing so insane is that it's extremely winner take all. I am a software engineer. I will make plenty good money even if I am the millionth-best guy at my job. The ten thousandth-best writer is probably struggling to make ends meet.
So you get a bunch of people who desperately want to succeed at the thing they love doing, and know that they probably won't and that all their peers are direct competitors, and that drives takes absolutely nuts.
the YA scene is a good example of how this can go wrong, they’re famous for ripping each other to shreds at the drop of a hat but I feel like people don’t really get how the dynamic means they have tremendous financial incentive to do that, there’s not very much available money!!
Stephen King is a great example of somebody who has made me go HOO BOY with some choices he’s made about women, while writing some others quite well, and in balance I don’t think any of it really tells us anything about his views on women (probably they are fine)
I hold my tongue on his depictions of Natives, which are similarly well-intentioned but very dumb most of the time. But people really want to just run him out of town out of some weird notion that once he's gone they'll just be able to siphon up his lost clout.
There's a strong "winners win" aspect to a lot of creative fields. King can probably get any manuscript he writes published. Brad Pitt signing on to a movie can get that movie made. Taylor Swift sells out stadiums by being Taylor Swift.
Is any of that "fair"? Of course not. But it's unfair in a different way than people throwing away applicants who aren't white (even if it can contribute to perpetuating those dynamics).
A lot of it comes down to production skills; if you take too long to produce work, you're not going to be professionally successful regardless of quality.
(this is why so many indie games are sole projects - a followup takes too long to ever be profitable)
Also the ability to work well with others. This is why Gina Carano got exiled to the Daily Wire and Clint Eastwood (who has approximately the same politics) keeps getting gigs. Clint can shut up and do the job.
