Amnesia

We know what we write, and we write what we know… One of the reasons I always liked role playing games is that they give people an outlet to express sides of themselves that they otherwise wouldn’t have. They let us “try on” roles, turn them on their heads, roll them around on our tongues and see how the taste lingers. The semi-anonymity of online communities let us carry that a step further since we didn’t have to necessarily deal with the immediate emotional (and sometimes physical) fallout — but that very anonymity that was liberating to some was license to abuse for others.

With all your wonderful creative self-expression, I’m really looking forward to what evolves — both narratively and personally — from this venture. Stretching yourself out of your comfort zone is probably one of the best ways to grow, and to do that you have to take chances both internally and externally. Now that you’re aware of your reflexes, you can give the damsel in distress a few wild twists, roll her between your bitter and sweet taste buds, and surely come up with female characters that are all their own, and that represent both your brains and your fire. You’ve already got an audience, and the audience is listening — and cheering you on!

(I bet you’d really like the female protagonists in Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince series, and maybe Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, though it gets pretty raunchy further in.)