On Mon, 11 Jun 2001 12:26:44 -0700 Helen Krummenacker avona@jps.net writes:

...

Interesting idea that Cally got waif-ized to make her more

appealing to

...

Avon....how sexist of them. Why alter *her* to fit *him* rather

than vice

...

versa

I didn't take Ellynne's post to mean Cally was 'Waifed' to *make* her more appealling to Avon, by the writers.

No, I didn't mean that. I think you gave some good reasons. The only one I'd add is the tendency for 'sensitive' characters, which frequently includes telepaths in SF (Mr. Bester aside), to be written as caring and less aggressive, no matter how they started.

Actually, it's been great reading everyone else's posts on this subject. It also got me thinking of some of the things happening when I've been working on stories with Cally lately (nearly all unfinished, alas). Since it really irks me to find myself writing Cally this way, why am I doing it?

I think part of the problem has been that I can't really work with S1 or S2 for this. Resolving this that early, for me, totally alters S3 in ways that I can't quite make fit the feel of the series. Let me emphasize, that's just ME. I don't think such stories can't be written. I just don't seem to be up to it.

S3 has possibilities, but Cally's character just keeps getting bent out of shape to fit the overall story arc and leave Avon's character (and its plot motivating elements) largely unchanged (that's when I stop writing and start yelling at her to get into therapy and stop drifting into this relationship as a way to deal with her problems, especially if it means sacrificing her integrity).

Although I still give the writers partial blame for making her more waifish to begin with.

However, when I mess around with more AU stories, it seems to work better. I can get Avon (or his avatar) to remain true to his character while still bending enough to work with Cally.

I also manage to get her to show up in a few PGP ideas, although she's usually in a bad way, depending on why events were manipulated on Terminal to make Avon think she'd died. Still, reclaiming her old self seems to be more of a theme.

I _like_ strong female characters. I just find it hard to write ones who are dating Avon.

Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.