Otherworldly Words: Harpy

  I’m continuing to look at words that cast women in a less than flattering light. The next word on my list is harpy. In Greek mythology, the harpy was a ravenous, vicious creature with a bird’s body and a woman’s head. Or, as some would have you believe, the definition of a woman, as…

#Otherworldly Words: Succubus

It’s March, and I’m continuing to look at less than flattering words to describe women.  (You can see why, in my first post!) The second word this month is succubus. As you can see from the illustration, a succubus is a type of temptress. (The male form is incubus.) Looking at the words this month,…

Celebrating the women who scare us silly

Horror is often considered a male-dominated genre. I beg to differ. Plenty of women have written fiction that has made us clutch our (metaphorical) pearls. Of course, you immediately think of Anne Rice today and Mary Shelley for penning Frankenstein — the oft imitated and replicated tale of the horror of reanimation. Even Toni Morrison tipped…

On Writing Strong Female Characters

Everyday we’re bombarded with images, videos, and texts telling us how to be and who to be. The worst part: many of them contradict. Especially for women. Case in point: I was recently reading a great novel: suspenseful and well written…a best-seller, in fact. I almost couldn’t finish it, though, because the only lead female…

Consciousness of a Flat Planet

                She wants to float above him, beyond his reach. As he splits the water with his sleek form, the specter of his voice echoes around her. Washed by his waves, she lulls her head toward the stars. Obscured by a canopy of gray mist, the stars dance a…

A study of Medea as a subordinate female character

memories of youth, she leans on, a cane that hobbles and holds. A faded photo, yellowed, her face puckers in whispers repeated into creases around her lips. this strange land she now calls home, loveless, childless. counting the treasures of her life. broken vows and unkept promises litter her bed. her mind had raged but…