all RIGHT:
Why You're Writing Medieval (and Medieval-Coded) Women Wrong: A RANT
(Or, For the Love of God, People, Stop Pretending Victorian Style Gender Roles Applied to All of History)
This is a problem I see alllll over the place - I'll be reading a medieval-coded book and the women will be told they aren't allowed to fight or learn or work, that they are only supposed to get married, keep house and have babies, &c &c.
If I point this out ppl will be like "yes but there was misogyny back then! women were treated terribly!" and OK. Stop right there.
By & large, what we as a culture think of as misogyny & patriarchy is the expression prevalent in Victorian times - not medieval. (And NO, this is not me blaming Victorians for their theme park version of "medieval history". This is me blaming 21st century people for being ignorant & refusing to do their homework).
Yes, there was misogyny in medieval times, but 1) in many ways it was actually markedly less severe than Victorian misogyny, tyvm - and 2) it was of a quite different type. (Disclaimer: I am speaking specifically of Frankish, Western European medieval women rather than those in other parts of the world. This applies to a lesser extent in Byzantium and I am still learning about women in the medieval Islamic world.)
So, here are the 2 vital things to remember about women when writing medieval or medieval-coded societies
FIRST. Where in Victorian times the primary axes of prejudice were gender and race - so that a male labourer had more rights than a female of the higher classes, and a middle class white man would be treated with more respect than an African or Indian dignitary - In medieval times, the primary axis of prejudice was, overwhelmingly, class. Thus, Frankish crusader knights arguably felt more solidarity with their Muslim opponents of knightly status, than they did their own peasants. Faith and age were also medieval axes of prejudice - children and young people were exploited ruthlessly, sent into war or marriage at 15 (boys) or 12 (girls). Gender was less important.
What this meant was that a medieval woman could expect - indeed demand - to be treated more or less the same way the men of her class were. Where no ancient legal obstacle existed, such as Salic law, a king's daughter could and did expect to rule, even after marriage.
Women of the knightly class could & did arm & fight - something that required a MASSIVE outlay of money, which was obviously at their discretion & disposal. See: Sichelgaita, Isabel de Conches, the unnamed women fighting in armour as knights during the Third Crusade, as recorded by Muslim chroniclers.
Tolkien's Eowyn is a great example of this medieval attitude to class trumping race: complaining that she's being told not to fight, she stresses her class: "I am of the house of Eorl & not a serving woman". She claims her rights, not as a woman, but as a member of the warrior class and the ruling family. Similarly in Renaissance Venice a doge protested the practice which saw 80% of noble women locked into convents for life: if these had been men they would have been "born to command & govern the world". Their class ought to have exempted them from discrimination on the basis of sex.
So, tip #1 for writing medieval women: remember that their class always outweighed their gender. They might be subordinate to the men within their own class, but not to those below.
SECOND. Whereas Victorians saw women's highest calling as marriage & children - the "angel in the house" ennobling & improving their men on a spiritual but rarely practical level - Medievals by contrast prized virginity/celibacy above marriage, seeing it as a way for women to transcend their sex. Often as nuns, saints, mystics; sometimes as warriors, queens, & ladies; always as businesswomen & merchants, women could & did forge their own paths in life
When Elizabeth I claimed to have "the heart & stomach of a king" & adopted the persona of the virgin queen, this was the norm she appealed to. Women could do things; they just had to prove they were Not Like Other Girls. By Elizabeth's time things were already changing: it was the Reformation that switched the ideal to marriage, & the Enlightenment that divorced femininity from reason, aggression & public life.
For more on this topic, read Katherine Hager's article "Endowed With Manly Courage: Medieval Perceptions of Women in Combat" on women who transcended gender to occupy a liminal space as warrior/virgin/saint.
So, tip #2: remember that for medieval women, wife and mother wasn't the ideal, virgin saint was the ideal. By proving yourself "not like other girls" you could gain significant autonomy & freedom.
Finally a bonus tip: if writing about medieval women, be sure to read writing on women's issues from the time so as to understand the terms in which these women spoke about & defended their ambitions. Start with Christine de Pisan.
I learned all this doing the reading for WATCHERS OF OUTREMER, my series of historical fantasy novels set in the medieval crusader states, which were dominated by strong medieval women! Book 5, THE HOUSE OF MOURNING (forthcoming 2023) will focus, to a greater extent than any other novel I've ever yet read or written, on the experience of women during the crusades - as warriors, captives, and political leaders. I can't wait to share it with you all!
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Do Your Research
This phrase is regularly thrown around writeblr and for good reason. It's important to research what you are writing about to know what to include, what can be fudged, and how to depict whatever you're writing. I see "do your research" most thrown around by well-meaning and highly traditionally educated writers. It's solid advice, after all!
But how do you research?
For those writers who don't already have the research skills necessary to write something comfortably already downloaded into your brain, I put this guide together for you.
Where do I even start?
It's a daunting task, research. But the best place to start is with the most basic, stupidest question you can think of. I'm going to talk about something that I already know a lot about: fighting.
When researching fight scenes, a great way to start is to look up what different weapons are. There are tons out there! So ask the stupid questions. What is a sword? What is a gun? How heavy are they?
Google and Wikipedia can help you a lot with these basic-level questions. They aren't great sources for academic articles, but remember, this is fiction. It doesn't need to be perfect, and it doesn't need to be 100% accurate if you don't want it to be. But knowing what is true to life will help you write well. Just like knowing the rules of writing will help you break them.
You may find in your basic research sweep that you have a lot more specific questions. Write them all down. It doesn't matter if they seem obvious. Write them down because they will be useful later.
How To Use Wikipedia Correctly
Wikipedia is a testament to cooperative human knowledge. It's also easy to edit by anonymous users, which means there is a lot of room for inaccuracies and misleading information. Wikipedia is usually pretty good about flagging when a source is needed or when misleading language is obvious, but Wikipedia itself isn't always the most accurate or in-depth source.
Wikipedia is, however, an excellent collection of sources. When I'm researching a subject that I know nothing about, say Norse mythology, a good starting point is the Wikipedia page for Odin. You'll get a little background on Odin's name and Germanic roots, a little backstory on some of the stories, where they appear, and how they are told.
When you read one of the sentences, and it sparks a new question, write the question down, and then click on the superscript number. This will take you directly to the linked source for the stated fact. Click through to that source. Now you have the source where the claim was made. This source may not be a primary source, but a secondary source can still lead you to new discoveries and details that will help you.
By "source-hopping," you can find your way across the internet to different pieces of information more reliably. This information may repeat itself, but you will also find new sources and new avenues of information that can be just as useful.
You mean I don't need a library?
Use your library. Libraries in many parts of the US are free to join, and they have a wealth of information that can be easily downloaded online or accessed via hardcopy books.
You don't, however, need to read every source in the library for any given topic, and you certainly don't need to read the whole book. Academic books are different from fiction. Often their chapters are divided by topic and concept and not by chronological events like a history textbook.
For example, one of my favorite academic books about legislative policy and how policy is passed in the US, by John Kingdon, discusses multiple concepts. These concepts build off one another, but ultimately if you want to know about one specific concept, you can skip to that chapter. This is common in sociological academic books as well.
Going off of my Norse Mythology example in the last section, a book detailing the Norse deities and the stories connected to them will include chapters on each member of the major pantheon. But if I only care about Odin, I can focus on just the chapters about Odin.
Academic Articles and How To Read Them
I know you all know how to read. But learning how to read academic articles and books is a skill unto itself. It's one I didn't quite fully grasp until grad school. Learn to skim. When looking at articles published in journals that include original research, they tend to follow a set structure, and the order in which you read them is not obvious. At all.
Start with the abstract. This is a summary of the paper that will include, in about half a page to a page, the research question, hypothesis, methods/analysis, and conclusions. This abstract will help you determine if the answer to your question is even in this article. Are they asking the right question?
Next, read the research question and hypothesis. The hypothesis will include details about the theory and why the researcher thinks what they think. The literature review will go into much more depth about theories, what other people have done and said, and how that ties into the research of the present article. You don't need to read that just yet.
Skim the methods and analysis section. Look at every data table and graph included and try to find patterns yourself. You don't need to read every word of this section, especially if you don't understand a lot of the words and jargon used. Some key points to consider are: qualitative vs. quantitative data, sample size, confounding factors, and results.
(Some definitions for those of you who are unfamiliar with these terms. Qualitative data is data that cannot be quantified into a number. These are usually stories and anecdotes. Quantitative data is data that can be transferred into a numerical representation. You can't graph qualitative data (directly), but you can graph quantitative data. Sample size is the number of people or things counted (n when used in academic articles). Your sample size can indicate how generalizable your conclusions are. So pay attention. Did the author interview 300 subjects? Or 30? There will be a difference. A confounding factor is a factor that may affect the working theory. An example of a theory would be "increasing LGBTQ resources in a neighborhood would decrease LGBTQ hate crimes in that area." A confounding factor would be "increased reporting of hate crimes in the area." The theory, including the confounding factor, would look like "increasing LGBTQ resources in a neighborhood would increase the reporting of hate crimes in the area, which increases the number of hate crimes measured in that area." The confounding factor changes the outcome because it is a factor not considered in the original theory. When looking at research, see if you can think of anything that may change the theory based on how that factor interacts with the broader concept. Finally, the results are different from the conclusions. The results tell you what the methods spit out. Analysis tells you what the results say, and conclusions tell you what generalizations can be made based on the analysis.)
Next, read the conclusion section. This section will tell you what general conclusions can be made from the information found in the paper. This will tell you what the author found in their research.
Finally, once you've done all that, go back to the literature review section. You don't have to read it necessarily, but reading it will give you an idea of what is in each sourced paper. Take note of the authors and papers sourced in the literature review and repeat the process on those papers. You will get a wide variety of expert opinions on whatever concept or niche you're researching.
Starting to notice a pattern?
My research methods may not necessarily work for everybody, but they are pretty standard practice. You may notice that throughout this guide, I've told you to "source-hop" or follow the sources cited in whatever source you find first. This is incredibly important. You need to know who people are citing when they make claims.
This guide focused on secondary sources for most of the guide. Primary sources are slightly different. Primary sources require understanding the person who created the source, who they were, and their motivations. You also may need to do a little digging into what certain words or phrases meant at the time it was written based on what you are researching. The Prose Edda, for example, is a telling of the Norse mythology stories written by an Icelandic historian in the 13th century. If you do not speak the language spoken in Iceland in 1232, you probably won't be able to read anything close to the original document. In fact, the document was lost for about 300 years. Now there are translations, and those translations are as close to the primary source you can get on Norse Mythology. But even then, you are reading through several veils of translation. Take these things into account when analyzing primary documents.
Research Takes Practice
You won't get everything you need to know immediately. And researching subjects you have no background knowledge of can be daunting, confusing, and frustrating. It takes practice. I learned how to research through higher formal education. But you don't need a degree to write, so why should you need a degree to collect information? I genuinely hope this guide helps others peel away some of the confusion and frustration so they can collect knowledge as voraciously as I do.
– Indy
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How to write about someone’s appearance? Their physique, styles, face , clothes,?
How to Describe a Character's Appearance
-> dabblewriter.com
-> link to Character Description Prompts
Avoid Over-Describing
Overloading readers with too much information can be overwhelming and make your characters feel flat and one-dimensional. Focus on the details that are the most important to the story and the characters themselves.
If the character's appearance is not central to the story, then you may only need to give a basic description. If it plays a significant role, you may want to go into more detail. Always keep the purpose of your physical descriptions in mind.
Show Don't Tell
Don't blatantly state every little thing about your character's appearance, but rather show it through their actions and behaviors.
example: If they are tall, show that through their actions. They have to duck to get under a doorway, they help someone reach the top shelf, etc.
Include Personality Traits
A character's personality is what makes them memorable. Consider their motivations, values, beliefs, and quirks and give them a well-defined personality.
Avoid Stereotypes
Create characters that are more than just their cultural, racial, ethnic, or gender identity. Give them unique interests, hobbies, and personalities. Allow them to have flaws, contradictions, and diverse perspectives.
External Features
External features include a character's height, weight, body type, and general appearance. You can describe their skin color, hair color, eye color, and any distinctive features like freckles or scars. This type of description gives the reader a basic understanding of what the character looks like, which is helpful in creating a mental image.
Clothing
Describing the type of clothing they wear, including the colors, patterns, and how they fit, can reveal a lot about a character’s personality and social status.
For example, a character who wears tailored suits and expensive shoes might be a little snobby and concerned with their image, while a character who wears ripped jeans and t-shirts might be casual and relaxed.
Facial Features
Facial features can be used to give the reader a more in-depth understanding of a character's personality and emotions. You can describe their smile, the way they frown, their cheekbones, and their jawline. You can also describe their eyebrows, the shape of their nose, and the size and shape of their eyes, which can give the reader insight into their emotions.
Body Language
Body language can be used to give the reader an understanding of a character's emotions and personality without the need for dialogue. Describing the way a character stands, walks, or gestures can reveal a lot about their confidence level, mood, and attitude.
For example, a character who slouches and avoids eye contact is likely to be shy, while a character who stands up straight and makes direct eye contact is likely to be confident.
Words to Describe Various Features
Head and face
Oval: rounded, elongated, balanced, symmetrical
Round: full, plump, chubby, cherubic
Square: angular, defined, strong, masculine
Heart: pointy, triangular, wider at the temples, narrow at the chin
Diamond: angular, pointed, narrow at the forehead and jaw, wide at the cheekbones
Long: elongated, narrow, oval, rectangular
Triangular: angular, wide at the jaw, narrow at the forehead, inverted heart-shape
Oblong: elongated, rectangular, similar to oval but longer
Pear-shaped: narrow at the forehead, wide at the jaw and cheekbones, downward-pointing triangle
Rectangular: angular, defined, similar to oblong but more squared
Facial features
Cheeks: rosy, plump, gaunt, sunken, dimpled, flushed, pale, chubby, hollow
Chin: pointed, cleft, rounded, prominent, dimpled, double, weak, strong, square
Ear: large, small, delicate, flapped, pointed, rounded, lobeless, pierced
Eyes: deep-set, angled, bright, piercing, hooded, wide-set, close-set, beady, slanted, round, droopy, sleepy, sparkling
Forehead: high, broad, wrinkled, smooth, furrowed, low, narrow, receding
Jaw: strong, square, defined, angular, jutting, soft, weak, chiseled
Lips: full, thin, chapped, cracked, puckered, pursed, smiling, quivering, pouty
Mouth: wide, small, downturned, upturned, smiling, frowning, pouting, grimacing
Nose: hooked, straight, aquiline, button, long, short, broad, narrow, upturned, downturned, hooked, snub
Eyebrows: arched, bushy, thin, unkempt, groomed, straight, curved, knitted, furrowed, raised
Hair
Texture: curly, straight, wavy, frizzy, lank, greasy, voluminous, luxurious, tangled, silky, coarse, kinky
Length: long, short, shoulder-length, waist-length, neck-length, chin-length, buzzed, shaven
Style: styled, unkempt, messy, wild, sleek, smoothed, braided, ponytail, bun, dreadlocks
Color: blonde, brunette, red, black, gray, silver, salt-and-pepper, auburn, chestnut, golden, caramel
Volume: thick, thin, fine, full, limp, voluminous, sparse
Parting: center-parted, side-parted, combed, brushed, gelled, slicked back
Bangs: fringed, side-swept, blunt, wispy, thick, thin
Accessories: headband, scarf, barrettes, clips, pins, extensions, braids, ribbons, beads, feathers
Body
Build: slender, skinny, lean, athletic, toned, muscular, burly, stocky, rotund, plump, hefty, portly
Height: tall, short, petite, lanky, willowy, stocky, rotund
Posture: slouching, upright, hunched, stiff, relaxed, confident, nervous, slumped
Shape: hourglass, pear-shaped, apple-shaped, athletic, bulky, willowy, curvy
Muscles: defined, toned, prominent, ripped, flabby, soft
Fat distribution: chubby, plump, rounded, jiggly, wobbly, flabby, bloated, bloated
Body hair: hairy, smooth, shaven, beard, goatee, mustache, stubble
Weight: light, heavy, average, underweight, overweight, obese, lean, skinny
Body language: confident, nervous, aggressive, submissive, arrogant, timid, confident, relaxed
Body movements: graceful, clunky, fluid, awkward, jerky, smooth, agile, rigid
Build
Muscular: ripped, toned, defined, well-built, buff, brawny, burly, strapping
Athletic: fit, toned, agile, flexible, energetic, muscular, athletic, sporty
Thin: skinny, slender, slim, lanky, bony, gaunt, angular, wiry
Stocky: sturdy, broad-shouldered, compact, muscular, solid, robust, heavy-set
Overweight: plump, chubby, rotund, heavy, portly, corpulent, stout, fleshy
Fat: overweight, overweight, rotund, heavy, bloated, tubby, round, fat
Lean: lanky, slender, skinny, thin, wiry, willowy, spare, underweight
Larger: large, heavy, hefty, substantial, solid, overweight, portly, rotund
Skin
Texture: smooth, soft, silky, rough, bumpy, flaky, scaly, rough
Tone: fair, light, pale, dark, tan, olive, bronze, ruddy, rosy
Complexion: clear, radiant, glowing, dull, blotchy, sallow, ruddy, weathered
Wrinkles: deep, fine, lines, crow's feet, wrinkles, age spots
Marks: freckles, age spots, birthmarks, moles, scars, blemishes, discoloration
Tone: even, uneven, patchy, discolored, mottled, sunburned, windburned
Glow: luminous, radiant, healthy, dull, tired, lifeless
Tautness: taut, firm, loose, saggy, wrinkles, age spots, slack
Condition: healthy, glowing, radiant, dry, oily, acne-prone, sunburned, windburned
Style
Clothing: trendy, stylish, fashionable, outdated, classic, eclectic, casual, formal, conservative, bold, vibrant, plain, ornate
Fabric: silk, cotton, wool, leather, denim, lace, satin, velvet, suede, corduroy
Colors: bright, bold, pastel, neutral, vibrant, muted, monochrome
Accessories: jewelry, hats, glasses, belts, scarves, gloves, watches, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings
Shoes: sneakers, boots, sandals, heels, loafers, flats, pumps, oxfords, slippers
Grooming: well-groomed, unkempt, messy, clean-cut, scruffy, neat
Hair: styled, messy, curly, straight, braided, dreadlocks, afro, updo, ponytail
Makeup: natural, bold, minimal, heavy, smokey, colorful, neutral
Personal grooming: clean, fragrant, unkempt, well-groomed, grooming habits
Overall appearance: put-together, disheveled, polished, rough, messy, tidy
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