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TravelAgent
Resident Smart Ass
PeaNut 294,429
January 2007
Posts: 12,668
Layouts: 7
Loc: Indiana
 |  Posted: 2/2/2013 1:20:07 AM
I'm editing a book manuscript this weekend that's a romantic comedy. As part of the plot, the hero goes to a hotel with his one-night-stand date, but changes his mind. To back out, he goes with the first thing that comes to mind: he's gay.
The date is depicted as an over-the-top biotch, and when she returns to the storyline a few chapters later, she walks in and yells over at him, "Hey, Tinkerbell!"
So, if you're the reader, does this reference bother you or is it just part of the book and you read right over it?
Julie |
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lucyg819
pearl-clutching nitpicker
PeaNut 201,774
April 2005
Posts: 14,372
Layouts: 15
Loc: gone to chemo with BethAnne
 | Posted: 2/2/2013 1:31:20 AM
No, but I think it's a stupid plot device.  |
LUCYG
northern california
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
--Bertrand Russell
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gar
Whoopea!
PeaNut 172,235
October 2004
Posts: 12,438
Layouts: 0
Loc: England UK
| Posted: 2/2/2013 1:31:35 AM
Books (fiction) don't have to be PC in my opinion so I'd just see it as part of the book and carry on. No, it wouldn't worry me.
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"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
Stephen Roberts
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TravelAgent
Resident Smart Ass
PeaNut 294,429
January 2007
Posts: 12,668
Layouts: 7
Loc: Indiana
| Posted: 2/2/2013 1:33:46 AM
Well, Lucy, we agree on that. Unfortunately, that's not my role to fix in this case.
Julie |
| www.indianapolisonthecheap.com | |
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jenp1024
Ancient Ancestor of Pea
PeaNut 51,697
October 2002
Posts: 5,991
Layouts: 9
Loc: Connecticut
 | Posted: 2/2/2013 3:00:46 AM
It's a fitting phrase for a b!tchy character to use. Doesn't offend me. |
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voltagain
OklaPhoma
PeaNut 18,334
July 2001
Posts: 35,096
Layouts: 15
Loc: State of cultural confusion. Yeehaw and Aloha have collided!
 | Posted: 2/2/2013 4:27:38 AM
It is a novel, not a trade journal or news piece. I think in a novel politically incorrect slurs are appropriate as character development for THAT particular character. |
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zombie*grrl
AncestralPea
PeaNut 281,551
October 2006
Posts: 4,286
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/2/2013 4:32:57 AM
If it's in line with the character in a novel, I'd have no problem with that. I shudder to see the day when every fictional character must abide by pc rules...not very believable. |
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jenjie
PEAsed to be here
PeaNut 88,667
May 2003
Posts: 22,766
Layouts: 283
Loc: NJ
 | Posted: 2/2/2013 5:55:29 AM
ITA with Lucy. And with you.  But since you can't rewrite the book... the only thing that "bothers" me, if you can even call it that... using Tinkerbell as a slur sounds like something a man might say. Not a woman. Unless she's a manly kind of woman?  |
~Jen
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Peabay
Happy now?
PeaNut 156,993
July 2004
Posts: 44,631
Layouts: 13
Loc: Connecticut
| Posted: 2/2/2013 5:59:59 AM
It's fine, but that storyline went out with "Three's Company." |
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Ginger_64
BucketHead
PeaNut 562,204
July 2012
Posts: 760
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/2/2013 6:08:11 AM
Agree with the others--plot device sounds silly (not your problem though) and I would not expect my fictional characters to be pc. It would probably contribute to me disliking her, but it sounds like that's the point anyway, right? | |
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Shih Tzu Mommy
Million dollar camera, 10 dollar lock!
PeaNut 224,352
September 2005
Posts: 23,525
Layouts: 0
Loc: Right here
 | Posted: 2/2/2013 6:12:06 AM
No, it would not. I have heard gay men refer to other gay men with far, far worse references. |
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IleneTell
StuckOnPeas
PeaNut 434,842
August 2009
Posts: 2,427
Layouts: 635
 | Posted: 2/2/2013 9:44:34 AM
It would affect my opinion of the character, not the book itself. |
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firepaws
PeaAddict
PeaNut 301,913
March 2007
Posts: 1,057
Layouts: 3
Loc: Missing my mountains and the smell of fresh cedar and pine
| Posted: 2/2/2013 10:14:56 AM
Nope it's a book. | |
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ePEAcenter
BucketHead
PeaNut 364,981
February 2008
Posts: 639
Layouts: 2
Loc: Texas Hill Country
 | Posted: 2/2/2013 11:48:22 AM
Have you ever read a Carl Hiaasen novel?
There's no place for political correctness in a novel depicting real life... heck, I don't think there's a place for political correctness period.
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biochemipea
likes shiny things
PeaNut 114,614
November 2003
Posts: 19,365
Layouts: 444
Loc: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2/2/2013 11:50:12 AM
It would not bother me in a book.
I might think the character was lame or the author not very accurate/ingenious (sounds like not great character/plot development from your description). And if it were used in a way that glorified/promoted the use, I wouldn't read the book and would feel uncomfortable.
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melanell
Ancient Ancestor of Pea
PeaNut 26,836
January 2002
Posts: 14,445
Layouts: 86
| Posted: 2/2/2013 12:42:41 PM
I think it's fine because it's just an indication of the type of person that character is.
But I agree with everyone else about that particular plot device.  |
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pennyring
Thrift Ninja
PeaNut 226,011
October 2005
Posts: 22,406
Layouts: 40
Loc: Rite Aid
| Posted: 2/2/2013 12:50:53 PM
I'll go with "played out" and "uncreative", but whatever. It's fiction.
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I-95
It's all just nonsense anyway!
PeaNut 97,456
July 2003
Posts: 19,520
Layouts: 0
Loc: California, NY & Orlando
| Posted: 2/2/2013 1:09:34 PM
Fictional characters say all kinds of un-PC things. Not a problem. | |
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TravelAgent
Resident Smart Ass
PeaNut 294,429
January 2007
Posts: 12,668
Layouts: 7
Loc: Indiana
| Posted: 2/2/2013 1:18:41 PM
Thanks everyone.
The pretty much validates my instincts. But since I tend to shrug off more than the next person, I wanted to make sure I wasn't being too easy-going on this issue. Where else could I turn to for such diversity? You all rock.
Julie |
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