Team Katniss: Collaborative Success in The Hunger Games

In The Hunger Games novel trilogy, Suzanne Collins created another fantastic example of an heroic story centered around one principal character, without losing touch with the role that teamwork and collaborative success play in human nature. In a very real sense, the trilogy is not the story of the rise and triumph of Katniss Everdeen, but rather the success of Team Katniss.

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The Life and Death of Padmé – Without Lore, Is It Just Lipservice for the Leading Lady of Star Wars?

The reception of Darth Plagueis serves to illustrate one of the ways the EU can be used effectively to reach a broad range of fans, including those who aren’t necessarily EU-focused but would be interested in movie-focused stories. The still underdeveloped backstories of the saga’s two female leads, Padmé Amidala and Leia Organa, provide the perfect opportunity to bring depth to the EU lore while also tapping into the interests of female fans.

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Shaping a Heroine – A Father’s Daughter

The more I write, the more I’ve come to the determination that writers really do write what they know, and if you really want to know who you are, it’s as simple as looking back at what you’ve written. Ultimately that requires being critical of your flaws and weaknesses. And it’s true, self-awareness can be a bitch sometimes. When I started creating my heroine, Vespa Wynde, I realized that she, like me, would be defined by her family. Most importantly her parents – Daemyn Wynde and Utara Fireheart.

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REVIEW: Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors

As I prepared my review of Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology by Jennifer K. Stuller, I found myself jotting down some comments about fandom, feminism, and storytelling that I wanted to share in the introductory blog post. Some turned into more – then a lot, and I reconsidered how to present all the ideas the book had inspired for me. So I’m keeping today’s post short; I don’t want a voluminous blog with my own commentary to overshadow how important Stuller’s book is.

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