Tag Archives: Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

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It was while typing up this blog post that I realized how many of the books I’ve read recently were about only children. I wonder if more authors are writing about only children these days or if I’ve just happened to hit a streak of stories on that topic?

The Pevensies from C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series get my vote for best fictional siblings because of how realistically their relationships were written. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy didn’t always like each other. They sometimes quarrelled and occasionally played unkind tricks on each other as all siblings have done since the beginning of time.

It can be hard for some kids to grow up with siblings and always have to compete with them for time, attention, and special favours, especially during the 1940s when so many of those things were in short supply due to World War II and the aftermath of it.

What really endeared me to these siblings, though, was their undying love for each other.

Yes, they irritated the stuffing out of one another at times, but they were also fiercely loyal to and protective of their family. Just because they teased their siblings mercilessly about certain subjects didn’t mean anyone else was allowed to mess with them!

That really rang true to my experience growing up with my siblings. Silly little squabbles may come and go as you all figure out how to become grownups, but family is forever.

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My morning ritual is a stable one.

First, I make some oatmeal with almond butter and chia seeds ( or some other healthy source of protein and fat depending on recent grocery store sales), almond milk, and frozen fruit.  I microwave the fruit to warm it up and I weigh myself while everything cooks

While I’m eating breakfast, I log into Duolingo and practice Spanish for about five minutes.

Once breakfast is finished, I do half an hour of some sort of exercise.

Depending on the day, it might be strength training, yoga, dancing, or jogging/ walking in place inside. It’s dark outside in the morning now, and the streets are often slick with snow or ice as well.

I strongly prefer morning workouts because they get my blood pumping and wake up my mind for the day. It’s also nice to check that box off of your to-do list. With sunset happening so early at this time of the year and the cold, slippery conditions popping up outside as autumn turns into winter, it can be really hard to convince myself to exercise after dark when I’m sleepy. So this way I don’t have to exercise again at night if I don’t want to.

A shower is generally necessary after my workout, so that happens along with brushing my teeth, changing clothes, etc.

And then I turn on my light therapy lamp and begin my workday, so what happens after that depends on my schedule for that particular day.

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While there are authors out there who can take the most well-worn character stereotypes and making something new and fresh with them, I still think these stereotypes should be given a long period of rest before being used again.

Dead Parents 

This is something I’ve seen most often in the Young Adult genre. Why must so many young protagonists have dead or dying parents?

It made more sense a century or two ago when it was more common for kids to lose one or both parents to diseases, illnesses, or accidents that modern medicine can now easily treat. These days, it is rare for a parent to die before their child reaches adulthood.

I would love to see more Young Adult books about kids whose parents are still alive and well.

Not Like Other Girls 

Once again, this is something I see a lot of in the Young Adult genre.  but it can be found in many other places, too. A character might say something like, “I’m not like other girls…I like sports!” or “I’m not like other girls…I hate makeup and fashion!”

I deeply dislike the idea that certain hobbies and interests are inherently better than other ones. It’s also ridiculous to me to perpetuate the idea that being a girl (or a member of any other group) means you must automatically enjoy X and be uninterested in Y.

Why not just let characters enjoy whatever appeals to them?

The Dumb Athlete

I am an intelligent person who loves reading, learning about science and history, and visiting as many museums as I can find.

I am also an athletic person who loves lifting weights, going swimming, doing yoga, and taking long, brisk walks.

It irks me to see (some) writers assume someone must belong to just one of these groups or that there must always be animosity between them.

Let your football players also love math or poetry and your scientists run marathons in their free time without anyone batting at eye at it.

Characters should be just as well-rounded as any given person walking down the street in my opinion, and real people generally can’t be sorted into such constrictive little boxes about what they should or shouldn’t enjoy doing.

Ugly or Deformed Villains

I wish that villains were identified by their behaviour instead of by things like congenital defects or simply not being born beautiful. Some of the people I care about have health conditions that negatively affect their physical appearance. It bothers me to see how often disability and birth defects are used as shorthand for someone the audience should automatically mistrust.

No, this doesn’t mean I want every villain to start being described as the most beautiful or handsome person in the room either.

One’s physical appearance has nothing to do with their character or personality. Let’s stop relying on looks as an indicator of anything.

Community Spokesperson 

Okay, so this one might take a little bit of explaining.

I find it wearisome when a character who is black, gay, disabled, Buddhist, a woman, or <insert any other minority group here> is assumed to be the spokesperson for their entire community.

Just because I believe hiking is one of the best ways to pass an afternoon if you want to improve your emotional and physical health doesn’t mean that every other woman in the entire world feels the same way or wants me to speak for all 3.99 billion of us.

I like stories that allow their characters to have opinions on everything from the merits of Hawaiian pizza* to much more serious issues without requiring any of them to officially speak for whatever communities they are part of.

*It is delicious, for the record. 😉

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Instagram is my favourite social media platform for the following reasons:

1) My Instagram account is private and cozy.  (I am totally open to accepting new friend requests there! I simply like having one place on the Internet where I can do stuff like share photos of my family or talk about trips I’ve taken without sharing too much information with total strangers).

2) It’s quieter. Most of the folks I follow there do not share daily updates, so I can scroll through everything in just a few moments while still keeping up with the lives of family and friends.

3) I love seeing how creatively people share visual snapshots of their lives, especially moments that can be tricky to capture like living with a chronic illness, showing gratitude, taking care of all of the regular stuff we all must do each week, or anticipating something exciting that’s yet to happen.

4) It’s cheerful.  This is probably due in part to all of the wonderful people I follow there, but most of their updates make me smile. I like using a social media platform that boosts my mood.

5) I like seeing photos of other people’s meals, pets, kids, hobbies, and other ordinary but meaningful moments in their lives. It helps me feel connected to folks that live far away, and it gives me some easy conversation starters for when we see each other again.

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This might make me sound a little like a Pollyanna, but it’s genuinely how I feel.

I think the best way to spread your love of books is to focus on your favourite aspects of the genres or authors you read and to be as descriptive as possible when discussing what you love about them.

A little positivity goes a long way in drawing likeminded readers to you and focusing on what well-written stories have in common across genres and generations.

I can’t say if this is true for everyone, but I’ve also found that I’m more likely to try specific books from genres like romance that I’m not generally drawn to when people give detailed descriptions of what they loved about that particular story.

For example, was there a fantastic plot twist that they didn’t see coming?  Did the characters break the rules of their genre in funny or memorable ways? Was the writing exquisite? How long did it take that reader to realize the character development was going to completely change their opinions on characters X and Y, whether for better or for worse? Or maybe the story was set in a time and place that isn’t generally used in that genre but that suited the plot and characters perfectly?

You get the idea.

Some readers might like wildly different genres or styles of writing, but I think we can all find common ground if we dig deeply into what makes reading such a worthwhile hobby.

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I try really hard not to repeat answers for the two blogs hops I participate in here, but this week’s prompt was such a no-brainer for me and most of the speculative fiction I read is about such dangerous worlds that I’m going to need to be a little repetitive today.

There are two books in Becky Chambers’ series so far: “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” and “A Prayer for the Crown-Shy.”

I would love to live in Panga, the peaceful island where Sibling Dex lived a quiet, happy existence and developed a friendship with one of the descendants of the robots that had abandoned humanity generations ago.

What I love most about this series is how it learned to include conflict without putting anyone into terrible danger. Sibling Dex’s conflicts are more about personal development and trying to foster diplomatic ties between humanity and robots instead of anyone being at risk of physical harm. It was a much calmer reading experience than a lot of novels are, science fiction or otherwise!

No matter who you are, you would find safety and community in Panga. You don’t have to be cunning, intelligent, lucky, or wealthy to thrive there. Their entire economy is based on living in harmony with nature and your fellow humans.

It’s a simple life that includes manual labor for everyone who is capable of such things. If you can’t do physical labour, many other types of work are equally valued, and everyone has all of their basic needs met no matter who they are or how much they’re able to contribute.

There’s something appealing to me about that sort of social contract, especially since characters can change jobs so easily if a previous assignment no longer suits them for any reason. I love that freedom and flexibility for everyone in a society to find the best way for them to contribute without anyone going in debt for education or being discriminated against due to harmful stereotypes about what someone who performs role X should look like. If you have the interest in and aptitude for X, you can do it in Panga without anyone caring one whit about your sex, gender, race, age, disability status, etc.

Not only are all basic human needs automatically met in this world, many of the higher-order needs like seeking a purpose in life or finding self actualization are surprisingly easy to pursue as well. (it doesn’t mean anyone will necessarily succeed at them, of course, only that it’s much easier to worry about those things when you already have the first few levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs sorted out).

I think I could be pretty happy in this world, and I would be thrilled to visit it.