Sign-up Post for Femgenficathon V (With Rules and Prompts)

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

So here's the sign-up post for the femgenficathon.

The ficathon is multifandom. It is also an open ficathon. You can write in any fandom you like, about any canonical woman you like. I hope this will make it easy on the participants.

(Also, I have a feeling that a lot of stories never get written because no one ever asks for them in fic exchanges. This is your chance to to write the story you've thought of writing--maybe DREAMED of writing--but that no one ever requests.)

There will be prompts. More about that after the rules.

What's acceptable and what's not are both spelled out in the rules.

The due dates--first and last--are both mentioned in the rules.

Here are the rules. Read them carefully before you sign up.

RULES

Liberally stolen from the peterficathon, from celticmoonstar, and from Jetamors' Page o' Gen Recs:

1. Good spelling, grammar, capitalisation and punctuation are compulsory. This is not negotiable. Therefore, use a beta/Britpicker to catch all the errors that you can't see by the time that you've finished the story.

2. Fics must be posted in the following format:

In the subject line: [title, main character, rating]

Title:
Author: [your LJ name, and your pen name if the two are different]
Fandom: [this for the sake of archiving, as your mod does not know every fandom that might be chosen, alas]
Rating: [currently we still use MPAA ratings - G, PG, PG13, R]
Warnings: [if applicable. warn for violence, swearing, etc. You shouldn't have to warn about kinks or squicks because this is genfic.]
Prompt: The number of the prompt, the prompt itself, and the author's name. Please do this even if you end up not using the prompt to create the story.
Summary: [a short description of the fic]
Author's Notes: Exactly what it says on the tin--notes, quotes, acknowledgements, thanks to betas, etc.

3. The fic you write should be at least 1000 words in length. There's no maximum length. Multi-chapter fics are allowed.

4. First, this is a ficathon about women. For the purposes of the ficathon, I'm defining women as canonical women.

What about men who identify as women? Can I write about one of them?

No.

But that's not fair! If they identify as women, they should have a place here!

No, it's not fair. I freely admit that. And honestly, there are characters I wish that I had a place for here in the ficathon. Bree from Transamerica. Angel Dumott Schunard from Rent. Chi Chi Rodriguez from To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmarr. Wanda from Sandman.

The problem is, I can't let these characters in without opening the doors to people who want to write about other male characters. And make no mistake, that is an issue. Every year I get writers eagerly e-mailing me, asking if they can possibly write the following:

* a canonically male character who, by some means, has been turned into a woman against his will
* a canonically male character acquiring forced empathy with the women in his circle/world/universe
* an AU in which a canonically male character was born female in his universe
* a canonically male character who wants to be female
* a canonically male character mulling over the problems of being a woman
* a canonically male character going from extreme chauvinism to enlightenment in his dealings with women

Have you noticed who the lead character is in each of these cases?

A canonically male character.

To admit male characters who identify as women would be politically correct...but it would also open the doors to admitting ALL male characters. For, ultimately, it would come down to one person's interpretation--"well, I think that Draco Malfoy/Dean Winchester/Sherlock Holmes/Fitzwilliam Darcy/Roy Mustang/Ichigo Kurosaki/Discworld's Death/et cetera has always identified as a woman!"

Basically, any male character--whatever his canonical orientation--could be interpreted that way. And that's the problem. It would shift the focus of FemGen away from stories about the women and how they see themselves and the world to stories about the canonically male characters and how they see women and see themselves.

Which would defeat the purpose of FemGen. The focus is on women. I founded the ficathon to highlight what canonical women and girls could do.

So...I'm very sorry. But no.

5. The stories have to be gen.

If you're not sure what genfic is, here are the kinds of genfic allowable:

Pure gen: Stories with no romance whatsoever. The most you'll see here is a person who happens to be married.

Mostly gen: Stories contain mentions of crushing and/or romances, with perhaps a kiss or two. Not the focus of the piece or anything, but it is there.

Borderline gen: Stories that include many different elements, including romance. However, the focus is not on getting one or two specific couples together romantically or in bed.

What is NOT allowable:

Pairings as the focus of the story.

No love stories as the focus. No sex stories as the focus. (This includes masturbation stories, "first-time" stories, pregnancy stories, stories about giving birth, rapefic, and so on.) No het as the focus. No femslash as the focus. No kinks, squicks or smut at all.

This also means that you cannot mention the woman and then go on to characters you find more congenial. For instance, you cannot briefly mention Mrs. Black and then go on to write a fic about Sirius and/or Regulus.

I can't write a story about a woman being pregnant or giving birth?

No.

Why NOT? Conception, pregnancy and childbirth are important parts of being a woman!

When I founded this ficathon in 2005 (has it been that long already?), canonical women in fanfiction were, then as now, often reduced to nothing but traditional gender roles and gender stereotypes. It bothered me that so many fanficcers--many of them women and girls--focused on traditional roles to the exclusion of all else. I created FemGen to get fanfic writers thinking about the active and heroic roles women could take, both in fanfic and in real life. I want to get people thinking outside the box of tradition.

6. No authorial avatars.

Since you are going to be writing about women and girls, I urge you to make them believable. Do not turn them into Mary Sues.

For the purposes of this ficathon, I am defining "Mary Sue" as "authorial stand-in who possesses many, if not all, characteristics that the writer wants to possess--good looks, intelligence, "attitude," "coolness," wealth, noble or royal blood, special toys that no one else has, the love of all canon characters, the love and desire of the author's lust object(s), special powers that may or may not be canonically possible, a Destiny--and a remarkable talent to send all canon characters OOC and to kill the plot."

A Mary Sue can be either an original character or a canon character. Believe me, I have seen Hermione and Ginny Sued many, many, many, many times.

DO NOT WRITE MARY SUES OR YOU WILL HAVE VERY CROSS MODS.

7. What can you write about?

You can write about any female character in any canon. And you can write about pretty much anything, as long as the story isn't about romantic love, sex or pairings. Here's what I'm looking for:

I want women going on personal quests. I want women and girls having adventures. You could have a woman in mad pursuit of a magical artifact, or a spy. You could have a woman rescuing another person from danger, or a woman escaping from a physical, emotional or spiritual prison. A woman could become enmeshed in a byzantine plot for revenge. A woman could have to solve a puzzle or a mystery; she could be entangled in fierce professional or familial rivalry. You could have a woman struggling to overcome her status as an underdog; you could examine her motives, needs and impulses in a temptation plot. She could be coping with involuntary physical metamorphosis or have to undergo psychological and emotional transformation for the sake of survival. Maturation could be a goal. She could have to sacrifice something--perhaps not her life, but other things can be sacrificed, such as friendship and ideals. She could discover something or explore somewhere. You could tell a tale of wretched excess, detailing her psychological decline. You could explore her rise or fall, showing how a crisis made her either a stronger, better person or a weaker, more corrupt one.

8. Posting. I myself am a fanfic writer so, I too am subject to this (and all the rules as well). Please, do not choose a challenge because you have a fic already done (or in the works) that would fit a certain challenge. The whole point of the femgenficathon is to get new genfic out there. Therefore previously written stories are NOT eligible.

Also, your fic should not be archived anywhere other than the femgenficathon livejournal or site until after August 15th. Similarly, nothing should be posted to the community until July 15th - until then, either comment or keep it to emails.

9. Get your story in on time. You're being given two to four months to write your fic and as such are expected to finish. That said, extensions will be granted for those in desperate situations - make sure to email as soon as you feel you won't be able to finish in time, for the sake of the moderator's sanity.

10. I implore you on bended knee--USE A BETA. Yes, I said it before, but it bears repeating.

11. Have fun. And don't cause the mods undue stress if you can help it. Please. Don't break the mods.

DATES:

2 April: Sign-ups begin. Sign-ups close when the last prompt is taken.
15 July: Assignments able to be posted.
15 October: Final date for submission. (Altered from 1 October because everyone is having a lousy year.)

***

Now. Prompts.

This year I did something a little different. I realized this year that I didn't really know who a lot of the women being quoted were. So I started doing some research in order to include some information about them with the quotations. I checked websites belonging to some of them, fansites about them and their work, sites on particular subjects (like early aviators, Nobel Prize winners, women scientists, ancient history and medieval history), art museums, online copies of medieval books, letters and operas, a plethora of quotation sites, Uppity Women of Medieval Times, Uppity Women of the Renaissance...and yes, Wikipedia and Wikiquotes.

To get these hundred and fifty-one quotations, I researched five hundred names, if not more. I learned a lot. I found women of every time, place, nationality and race, ranging from women of the twentieth and twenty-first century to Chinese artists and Sumerian priestesses. I found women I'd never heard of before, and I quoted them. I found many, many women who had done a great deal in life, but who--regrettably--had left no words behind, let alone translated or quotable ones.

And in almost every case--whatever the location, whatever the era--I found women who accomplished not only one thing, but many things.

So here is the list of numbers. Pick a number and get a quotation. I won't be closing the list until all the quotations have been chosen.

But bear in mind--these are the only quotations. Once these are gone, they're gone. I don't have any backups.

***



1) The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. -- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), American novelist and abolitionist. (claimed by vegablack62) Done!

2) Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting. -- Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973), Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer. (claimed by ultimi_scopuli)

3) Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way. -- Jane Austen (1775-1817), English novelist. (claimed by lareinenoire) Done!

4) A mistake in judgment isn't fatal, but too much anxiety about judgment is. -- Pauline Kael (1919-2001), American film critic. (claimed by pinkfriction)

5) Experience is what really happens to you in the long run; the truth that finally overtakes you. -- Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980), Pulitzer-prize winning American author, journalist and political activist. (claimed by squirrelarmy)Done!

6) Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it. You can plug into it and light up a lamp, keep a heart pump going, light a cathedral, or you can electrocute a person with it. -- Maya Angelou (born April 4, 1928), African-American poet, playwright, author of fiction and of memoirs, actress, producer and civil rights activist. (claimed by nopejr) Done!

7) You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. -- Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939), African-American activist for the rights of children, and president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund, whose focus is poor, minority and/or handicapped children. (claimed by gm_weasley)

8) Time is a cruel thief to rob us of our former selves. We lose as much to life as we do to death. -- Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (born August 31, 1938), American journalist and playwright. (claimed by amathela) Done!

9) Life is full of surprises, I try to capture these precious moments with wide eyes. -- Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532-1625), Italian painter of the Renaissance. (claimed by roh_wyn) Done!

10) Whatever fills the human mind with uncommon and honest delight is fitting for a human woman. -- Anna Maria von Schurman (1607-1678), 17th-century Dutch scholar, poet, linguist and artist. (claimed by osmalic) Done!

11) By the time I'd grown up, I naturally supposed that I'd grown up. --Eve Babitz, present-day American artist, author and one-time model. (claimed by blue_cage)

12) Could I write all, the world would turn to stone. -- Caterina Sforza (early 1463-1509), Italian warrior-ruler of Imola and Forli. (claimed by tree_and_leaf)

13) The truth about your own life is not always easy to accept, and sometimes hasn't even occurred to you. --Anna Quindlen (born July 8, 1952), American author, journalist and columnist for the New York Times. (claimed by memories_child)

14) What difference does it make if the thing you scared of is real or not? --Toni Morrison (born February 18, 1931), Nobel Prize-winning African-American author, editor and professor. (claimed by wizefics)

15) Maybe I wanted to hear it so badly that my ears betrayed my mind in order to secure my heart. -- Margaret Cho (born December 5, 1968), Korean-American comedian/fashion designer/actress/author/recording artist/activist for LGBT rights. (claimed by avalonestel)

16) They were so strong in their beliefs that there came a time when it hardly mattered what exactly those beliefs were; they all fused into a single stubbornness. -- Louise Erdrich (born June 7, 1954), Native American author of novels, poetry and children's books.

17) I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in. -- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), English novelist and essayist. (claimed by slowmercury) Done!

18) To reach something good, it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience. -- Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), 16th-century Spanish mystic, reformer of the Carmelite Order, and Doctor of the Church. (claimed by aphrodite_mine) Done!

19) The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next. -- Ursula K. LeGuin (born October 21, 1929), present-day American author, particularly well-known in the science fiction and fantasy genres. (claimed by domlandbubbles) Done!

20) It is sometimes best to slip over thoughts and not go to the bottom of them. -- Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné (1626-1696), 17th-century French aristocrat, renowned for her letter-writing. (claimed by cygna_hime)

21) Wherever fate demands me...I will go. -- Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga (1814-1873), 19th-century Cuban author. (claimed by golden_d) Done!

22) Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade. -- Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005), African-American civil rights activist and lawyer. First black woman elected to the New York State Senate; first woman chosen as Manhattan Borough President; first African-American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court; first black woman in the U.S. to become a federal judge. (claimed by thegraduate09)

23) I am fit for high positions, by God, and I am going my way with pride. --Wallada bint al-Mustakfi (994-1091), Arab Andalusian poet. (claimed by dizilla)

24) Farewells can be both beautiful and despicable. Saying farewell to one who is loved is very complicated. -- Sei Shonagon (circa 966-1017), Japanese author and court lady circa 10th to 11th centuries, best known for her book of observations and musings, The Pillow Book. (claimed by miss_morland) Done!

25) Great doubt will eventually lead to great awakening. -- Rabia al-Adawiya (circa 717-801), 8th-century Muslim Sufi saint. (claimed by maia_cyllene)

26) No more tears; I shall think about revenge. -- Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), 16th-century queen consort of France and queen of Scotland in her own right. (claimed by da_angel729) Done!

27) Nothing is less under our control than the heart--having no power to command it, we are forced to obey. -- Heloise (1101-1164), 12th-century French lover and abbess. (claimed by virginia_bell)

28) As long as I live, I will have control over my being. -- Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1651/1653), 17th-century Italian Baroque painter. (claimed by caramelsilver)

29) Suddenly I laugh and at the same time cry
And in pleasure many a grief endure
My happiness wanes and yet it lasts unchanged
All at once I dry up and grow green -- Louise Labé (circa 1520/1522 - 1566), 16th-century French poet of the Renaissance. (claimed by velvetmouse)

30) I want you to bow to experience, which I trust by itself far more than all the reasons produced by the whole class of philosophers. -- Tullia d'Aragona (circa 1510-1566), 16th-century Florentine courtesan, poet and author. (claimed by bluflamingo)

31) Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring. -- Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), 14th-century Italian mystic, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. (claimed by bluemoon02)

32) Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at de sun." We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground. -- Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), African-American dramatist, folklorist and author of the Harlem Renaissance. (claimed by msmcknittington)

33) I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try. -- Nikki Giovanni (born June 7, 1943), African-American author and poet. (claimed by skylar_inari) Done! And a second time, <ahref="http://community.livejournal.com/femgenficathon/79572.html">done!

34) I'm not alone, I'm free. I no longer have to be a credit, I don't have to be a symbol to anybody; I don't have to be a first to anybody. -- Lena Horne (born June 30, 1917), African-American singer and actress. (claimed by tree)

35) It had only been my repeated experience that when you said to life calmly and firmly... 'I trust you; do what you must,' life had an uncanny way of responding to your need. -- Olga Ilyin (1894-1991), Russian emigré author of memoirs. (claimed by catsintheattic) Done!

36) I saw my mother in a different light. We all need to do that. You have to be displaced from what's comfortable and routine, and then you get to see things with fresh eyes, with new eyes. -- Amy Tan (born February 19, 1952), Chinese-American author. (claimed by a_t_rain) Done!

37) The trick is not how much pain you feel - but how much joy you feel. Any idiot can feel pain. Life is full of excuses to feel pain, excuses not to live, excuses, excuses, excuses. -- Erica Jong (born March 26, 1942), American author and teacher. (claimed by amalnahurriyeh)

38) One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying. -- Joan of Arc (circa 1412-1431), 15th-century French visionary, warrior, saint and martyr. (claimed by jadis31)

39) Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences. -- Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), American civil rights leader, leader in the 19th-century women's rights movement, and leader in the movement to gain American women the vote. (claimed by dryderin)

40) My wish is to ride the tempest, tame the waves, kill the sharks. I will not resign myself to the usual lot of women who bow their heads and become concubines. -- Trieu Thi Trinh (225-248), 3rd-century Vietnamese revolutionary who led a rebellion against Chinese invaders. Known as "the Vietnamese Joan of Arc." (claimed by lls_mutant) Done!

41) We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light. -- Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), 12th-century German mystic, author, lyricist-composer, playwright, poet, botanist, healer and abbess. (claimed by inlovewithnight)

42) ...it is useless to talk with those who do not understand one and troublesome to talk with those who criticize from a feeling of superiority. One-sided people are particularly annoying. Few are accomplished in many arts and most cling narrowly to their own opinion. -- Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973–c. 1014 or 1025), Japanese courtesan, diarist, author and poet. (claimed by quinby)

43) The discontent of the people is more dangerous to a monarch than all the might of his enemies on the battlefield. -- Isabella d'Este (1474-1539), Renaissance-era Italian marchesa of Mantua and patron of the arts. (claimed by kaerya)

44) Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. -- Marie Curie (1867-1934), physicist and chemist (Polish by birth, French by citizenship), co-winner of the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics and winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. (claimed by daegaer) Done!

45) Nothing is more capable of troubling our reason, and consuming our health, than secret notions of jealousy in solitude. -- Aphra Behn (1640-1689), 17th-century English playwright and spy. (claimed by fenna_girl) Done!

46) You and I
Have so much love,
That it
Burns like a fire,
In which we bake a lump of clay
Molded into a figure of you
And a figure of me.
Then we take both of them,
And break them into pieces,
And mix the pieces with water,
And mold again a figure of you,
And a figure of me.
I am in your clay.
You are in my clay. -- Kuan Tao-Sheng (1262-1319), Chinese painter, calligrapher and poet of the Yuan Dynasty.

47) Some there are who are much more ashamed of confessing a sin than of committing it. -- Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549), queen consort of Henry II of Navarre, author and patron of the arts. (claimed by rose71)

48) I’ve never been so foolish in my young life, I swear,
or done one thing that I’ve regretted more,
than going from you last night and leaving you alone -- Sulpicia, Roman poet of the 1st century B.C.E. (claimed by fairest1)

49) Someone, I tell you,
will remember us.
We are oppressed by fears of oblivion
yet are always saved
by judgment of good men. -- Sappho, (born 630-612 B.C.E., died circa 570 B.C.E.), Greek poet. (claimed by kirsteena)

50) I have begun to feel/ That it is dreams, not reality,/On which I can rely. -- Ono no Komachi(c. 825 — c. 900), 9th-century Japanese poet. (claimed by tania_sings as an Open Season prompt)

51) Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish. -- Anne Bradstreet (c.1612-1672), Massachusetts Bay colonist, first American poet and first woman published in America. (claimed by strange_bt_true)

52) Her wrath makes people tremble/ Her wrath is...a devastating flood / Which no one can withstand. Enheduenna (circa 2300-2225 B.C.E.), Sumerian priestess of Inanna, first recorded author and poet in world history. (claimed by beachkid

53) My good friend, enough of cruelty, enough;/ let brutal jealousy no more torment you,/nor let low fears your mind's peace countermand/ with foolish fantasies, with empty signs -- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), Mexican nun, scholar, poet and Baroque author. ((claimed by lazy_neutrino) Done!

54) There is small disproportion betwixt a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not and him that useth it not when it should avail him. -- Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603), queen of England. (claimed by wendelah1)

55) And so is the world put back by the death of every one who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts (which were meant, not for selfish gratification, but for the improvement of that world) to conventionality. -- Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), pioneer in the field of nursing. (claimed by freshwater)

56) You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims. --Harriet Woods (1927-2007), American politician and activist, Missouri's first and so far only female Lieutenant Governor. (claimed by deuteragonist)

57) How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak? -- Isabelle Allende (born August 2, 1942), Chilean-American "magic realist" novelist. (claimed by likeadeuce)

58) Lying is done with words and also with silence. -- Adrienne Rich (born May 16, 1929), American poet, essayist and feminist. ((claimed by moondarri)

59) The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see. --Ayn Rand (1905-1982), Russian-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter and creator of the philosophy of Objectivism. (claimed by odditycollector)

60) Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things; knows not the livid loneliness of fear. -- Amelia Earhart (July 24, 1897 – missing July 2, 1937, declared dead January 5, 1939), American pilot and author; first woman pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean; first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross. (claimed by kellychambliss) Done!

61) Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough. -- Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), American educator and civil rights activist; founder, in 1904, of a school for black girls which eventually became Bethune-Cookman University, a black university in Daytona Beach, Florida; advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (claimed by snorkackcatcher)

62) I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance. --bell hooks (born September 25, 1952), African-American author, feminist and social activist. (claimed by petite0red0head)

63) There are glances of hatred that stab, and raise no cry of murder. -- George Eliot (1819-1880), English novelist. (claimed by immortal_jedi)First story done! and Second story done!

64) I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration. -- Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Mexican painter. (claimed by marie_j_granger)

65) The popular idea that a child forgets easily is not an accurate one. Many people go right through life in the grip of an idea which has been impressed on them in very tender years. -- Agatha Christie (1890-1976), English mystery novelist, romance novelist, short story writer and playwright, and the best-selling author of all time. (claimed by silvie_chan)

66) No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion. -- Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947), American leader in the movement to get American women the right to vote. (claimed by sister_coyote)

67) Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention. -- Simone Weil (1909-1943), French philosopher, mystic and social activist. (claimed by tanaquilotr) Done!

68) Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in. -- Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), New Zealand writer of short fiction. (claimed by edenfalling) Done!

69) You can't build a reputation on what you intend to do. -- Liz Smith (born February 2, 1923), American gossip columnist. (claimed by gryphonella)

70) Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run? -- Germaine Greer (born January 29, 1939), Australian-born author, college professor, journalist, and leading feminist in the late 20th century. Author of one of the seminal books on feminism, The Female Eunuch. (claimed by aranel_took)

71) That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing. -- Simone de Beauvoir(1908-1986), French author and existentialist philosopher. Author of one of the seminal books on feminism, The Second Sex. (claimed by a_respite)

72) I was learning the importance of names -- having them, making them -- but at the same time I sensed the dangers. Recognition was followed by oblivion, a yawning maw whose victims disappeared without a trace. -- Josephine Baker (1906-1975), African-American expatriate singer, dancer and actress. First black woman to star in a motion picture. First black woman to integrate an American concert hall. First black woman to become a world-famous entertainer. Assisted the French Resistance in World War II; after the war, she became the first woman to receive France's highest honor, the Croix de Guerre, and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by General de Gaulle. (claimed by used_songs) Done!

73) I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls. -- Anais Nin (1903-1977), Cuban-French author famed for her journals and her female erotica. (claimed by thornyrose42)

74) Whenever you take a step forward you are bound to disturb something. You disturb the air as you go forward, you disturb the dust, the ground. -- Indira Gandhi (1917-1984), Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966-1977) and for a fourth term from 1980 to her assassination in 1984. First and to date only female Prime Minister of India. (claimed by lyras)

75) The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), American activist, abolitionist, proponent of women's rights above and beyond acquiring the vote, and leader in 19th-century women's rights movement. (claimed by meddow)

76) ...Some things...arrive on their own mysterious hour, on their own terms and not yours, to be seized or relinquished forever. -- Gail Godwin (born June 18, 1937), American journalist, novelist, non-fiction author and librettist. (claimed by taragel) Done!

77) Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. -- Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), English novelist. (claimed by scoured)

78) I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for contradictions. -- Maxine Hong Kingston (born October 27, 1940), Chinese-American professor, non-fiction writer and novelist. (claimed by ruriruri)

79) Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Helen Keller (1880-1968), deaf-blind American author, lecturer and political activist. She campaigned for women's suffrage, pacifism, people with disabilities, the Industrial Workers of the World (the IWW, or the "Wobblies"), socialism and birth control, and helped found the ACLU. (claimed by anna_bird)

80) You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. -- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), First Lady of the United States (1933-1945), advocate for civil rights, author, columnist, lecturer and delegate to the UN General Assembly (1945-1952). (claimed by opheliet) Done!

81) When "mad," at least in literature, you aren't yourself; you take on another self, a self that is either not you at all, or a truer, more elemental one than the person you're used to seeing in the mirror. You're in danger of becoming, in Shakespeare's works, a mere picture or beast, and in Susanna Moodie's words, a mere machine; or else you may become an inspired prophet, a truth-sayer, a shaman, one who oversteps the boundaries of the ordinarily visible and audible, and also, and especially, the ordinarily sayable. -- Margaret Atwood (born November 18, 1939), Canadian author, poet, literary critic and activist. She's a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest honor for civilians. (claimed by xenokattz)

82) Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did. -- Lillian Hellman (1905-1984), American playwright. (claimed by rivrea)

83) By the time we are women, fear is as familiar to us as air; it is our element. We live in it, we inhale it, we exhale it, and most of the time we do not even notice it. Instead of "I am afraid," we say, "I don't want to," or "I don't know how," or "I can't." -- Andrea Dworkin (1946-2005), American radical feminist and author. (claimed by heather11483)

84) It's not bad to say: My work is not what I really want, I'm capable of doing something bigger. Or I'm a person who needs love, and I'm doing without it. What's terrible is to pretend that the second-rate is the first-rate. To pretend that you don't need love when you do; or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better. -- Doris Lessing (born October 22, 1919), Nobel-prize-winning Zimbabwean-British author. She is the oldest person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. She has been given the Order of the Companions of Honour (established for outstanding aachievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion) and the Order of the British Empire. (claimed by idea_of_sarcasm)

85) People do think that if they avoid the truth, it might change to something better before they have to hear it. -- Marsha Norman (born September 21, 1947), Pulitzer-Prize-winning American playwright and Tony-award-winning lyricist. (claimed by rynne)

86) People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. -- Rosa Parks (1913-2005), African-American civil rights activist. (claimed by takemeback)

87) I have an almost complete disregard of precedent and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things always have been done....I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past. -- Clara Barton (1821-1912), American nurse, teacher, federal worker, activist for women's suffrage, black civil rights and abolition of slavery, and founder and organizer of the Red Cross. (claimed by second_batgirl) Done!

88) The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth. -- Edith Sitwell (1887-1964), English poet, biographer, novelist, literary critic and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. (claimed by kellicat)

89) We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. -- Joan Didion (born December 5, 1934), American novelist, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. (claimed by hyadum)

90) Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. -- Diane Arbus (1923-1971), American photographer. (claimed by dragonclaws)

91) The worst has happened...it's rather liberating. -- Ruth Rendell (February 17, 1930), English mystery writer noted for the Inspector Wexford murder mysteries and novels of psychological suspense. (claimed by soda_and_capes) Done!

92) We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them. -- Abigail Adams (1744-1818), second First Lady of the United States. (claimed by anderyn)

93) The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. -- Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), model, actress, and Golden Globe winner. (claimed by sanstexte)

94) My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong. -- Mother Jones (1830 or 1837-1930), Irish-born American labor organizer, member of the Knights of Labor, deeply involved with the United Mine Workers, and organizer of a strike of children working in mills and mines. (claimed by effaced)

95) We tend to think things are new because we've just discovered them. -- Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007), American author of young adult fiction, science fiction, mainstream novels, essays, poetry and religious writings. (claimed by tjwritter)

96) Her childhood, then her adolescence, had taught her patience, hope, silence and the easy manipulation of the weapons and virtues of all prisoners. -- Colette (1873-1954), French novelist. (claimed by bonspiel)

97) A whisper can be stronger, as an atom is stronger, than a whole mountain. -- Louise Berliawsky Nevelson (1899-1988), Ukrainian-born American abstract expressionist painter and sculptor. (claimed by justholdstill)

98) The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. -- Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), American author, poet and screenwriter, and founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. (claimed by liviapenn)

99) It’s no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do? … Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either. -- Golda Meir (1898-1978), Minister of Labour, Foreign Minister and fourth Prime Minister of the state of Israel. (claimed by jetamors)

100) Life is easier than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable. -- Kathleen Norris (1880-1966), American novelist and highest-paid female writer of her time. (claimed by duck_or_rabbit)

101) I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind. -- Emily Bronte (1818-1848), English novelist. (claimed by jadax)

102) I woke in bits, like all children, piecemeal over the years. I discovered myself and the world, and forgot them, and discovered them again. -- Annie Dillard (born April 30, 1945), Pulitzer-prize winning author, poet, essayist and critic. (claimed by vermin_disciple) Done!

103) If you are brave too often, people will come to expect it of you. -- Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983), American journalist, author, editor and playwright. (claimed by 5essence) Done!

104) The worst of doing one's duty was that it apparently unfitted one for doing anything else. -- Edith Wharton (1862-1937), Pulitzer-prize-winning author, landscape architect, and interior decorator. First woman to win the Pulitzer prize for literature. (claimed by nicole_anell)

105) I have noticed that as soon as you have soldiers the story is called history. Before their arrival it is called myth, folktale, legend, fairy tale, oral poetry, ethnography. After the soldiers arrive, it is called history. -- Paula Gunn Allen (1939-2008), Native American novelist, poet, biographer, academic, literary critic and activist. (claimed by emei) Done!

106) What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things. -- Margaret Mead (1901-1978), American anthropologist. (claimed by verdant_gt) Done!

107) [I] want to show the world, as much as I can in this profession of music, the vain error of men that they alone possess the gifts of intellect and artistry, and that such gifts are never given to women. -- Maddalena Casulana (c.1544-c.1590), 16th-century Italian composer, lutenist and singer. First woman composer in the history of Western music to have had music printed and published. (claimed by lorannah)

108) If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing. -- Margaret Thatcher (born October 13, 1925), first and so far only woman to lead the Conservative Party (1975-1990) and the first and so far only woman to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990). (claimed by seta_suzume)

109) I am one of those that deal in triffels [trifles], 'tho things of greater Consequence do not always escape me. -- Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker (1734-1807), American Quaker diarist and chronicler of urban Philadelphian life during the American Revolution. (claimed by vjs2259) Done!

110) There ought, I thought, to be a ritual for being born twice - patched, retreaded and approved for the road. -- Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), American author, poet and essayist. (claimed by bofoddity)

111) I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was a child. What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common-sense... -- Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), English author, illustrator, mycologist, sheep breeder, farmer and conservationist. (claimed by ishie)

112) I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. -- Gilda Radner (1946-1989), American comedienne and actress. (claimed by shiiki) Done!

113) Sometimes I have a sense of what I'm seeing being a small fraction of what's there. Not always there, but probably more often than I realize. Something will come up, and I'll realize I'm thinking about the world a little differently than my friends. -- Lisa Randall (born June 18, 1962), American theoretical physicist. First tenured woman in Princeton's physics department; first tenured woman theoretical physicist at both MIT and Harvard. (claimed by not_from_stars)

114) A touch of madness is, I think, almost always necessary for constructing a destiny. -- Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987), Belgian-born French novelist. First woman elected to the forty-member L'Académie française. (claimed by sangerin)

115) "Time has too much credit," said Bridget. "It is not a great healer. It is an indifferent and perfunctory one. Sometimes it does not heal at all. And sometimes when it seems to, no healing has been necessary." -- Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884-1969), English novelist and winner of the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. The Tait Black Memorial Prizes (for fiction and biography) are Scotland's most illustrious and the U.K.'s oldest literary awards. (claimed by selah_ex_animo)

116) An opinion, right or wrong can never constitute a moral offense, nor be in itself a moral obligation. It may be mistaken; it may involve an absurdity, or a contradiction. It is a truth, or it is an error; it can never be a crime or a virtue. -- Frances Wright (1795-1852), Scottish-born American lecturer, author, proto-feminist, abolitionist, advocate for public education, the education of blacks and the presence of women in health and medicine, and activist; founder of the experimental community, the Nashoba Commune. (claimed by loveistragical)

117) The body can endure compromise and the mind can be seduced by it. Only the heart protests. -- Jeanette Winterson (August 27, 1959), British novelist and officer of the Order of the British Empire. (claimed by woldy)

118) The world is a severe schoolmaster, for its frowns are less dangerous than its smiles and flatteries, and it is a difficult task to keep in the path of wisdom. -- Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), African-American slave poet and first published African-American author. (claimed by anordir as an Open Season prompt)

119) Authority has every reason to fear the sceptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt. -- Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), bisexual English poet, author, columnist, creator of the gardens of Sissinghurst Castle and member of the Order of the Companions of Honour. (claimed by scrollgirl)

120) The truth is too simple: one must always get there by a complicated route. -- George Sand (1804-1876), French novelist, playwright, critic, political writer and feminist. (claimed by zeldaophelia) Done and Done!

121) Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath. -- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English philosopher and early advocate of women's rights. (claimed by kiarasayre)

122) . . . the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain. -- Mary Shelley (1797-1851), English novelist, daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft. (claimed by ruuger)

123) Ask yourself three questions and you will know who you are. Ask 'What do you believe in?' 'What do you hope for?' But most important - ask 'What do you love?' -- Paullina Simons (born 1963), Russian-born American novelist, journalist and translator. (claimed by 7nationgeneral)

124) It is bitter to lose a friend to evil before one loses him to death.-- Mary Renault (1905-1983), English author of contemporary and historical novels, and non-fiction. (claimed by minkhollow) Done!

125) ... loss either teaches you to persist in the face of suffering, or hardens you into a bitter cynic. Sometimes, it does a little of both. -- Grace Slick (born October 30, 1939), American singer, songwriter and artist. (claimed by brennanspeaks) Done!

126) Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures. -- Han Suyin (born September 12, 1917), Chinese-born Eurasian physician and novelist, autobiographer, and author of works on Asian history, now living in France.(claimed by inksheddings) Done!

127) I made some studies, and reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it. I can take it in small doses, but as a lifestyle, I found it too confining. -- Jane Wagner (born February 2, 1935), American humorist, Emmy-award-winning director and playwright. (claimed by doyle_sb4)

128) I am, was, and always will be a catalyst for change. -- Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005), African-American politician, author, teacher at Mount Holyoke College and public speaker. First African-American woman elected to Congress (1968). First African-American Presidential candidate from a major party and first woman to run for the Democratic Presidential nomination (1972). (claimed by laleia) Done!

129) Wounded vanity knows when it is mortally hurt; and limps off the field, piteous, all disguises thrown away. But pride carries its banner to the last. -- Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885), American author most noted for Ramona (1884), which focused on the U.S. Government's poor treatment of Southern California's Mission Indians. Appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs by President Chester A. Arthur in 1883. (claimed by runespoor7)

130) There are only two kinds of people in the world that really count. One kind's wheat and the other kind's emeralds. -- Edna Ferber (1885-1968), Pulitzer-Prize-winning American author. (claimed by obsessivemuch) Done!

131) It is through suppression that hells are formed in us. -- Susan Glaspell (1876-1948), American reporter, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and co-founder of the Provincetown Players (1916-1922), which promoted ground-breaking plays by American playwrights. Best known for her own play, Trifles, in which two women discover that a neighbor of theirs killed her husband, as well as her motives for doing so. (claimed by slob_child)

132) I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet? -- Rebecca West (1892-1983), English suffragette, socialist, world-renowed journalist, political analyst and author. (claimed by biocaam)

133) Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them. -- Marilyn French (born 1929), American feminist author. (claimed by cjmarlowe) Done!

134) Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over. -- Octavia Butler (1947-2006), African-American science fiction author. (claimed by redsnake05) Done!

135) The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it. -- Anne Louise Germaine Necker, Baronne de Stael-Holstein, commonly known as Madame de Stael (1766-1817), French-Swiss intellectual and controversial novelist. (claimed by snowballjane) Done!

136) Again the pressure pushes me in the chair, shuts my eyes. I notice the dark red tongues of the flame outside the windows. I'm trying to memorize, fix all the feelings, the peculiarities of this descending, to tell those, who will be conquering space after me. -- Valentina Tereshkova (born March 6, 1937), Russian cosmonaut, aerospace engineer and first woman in space. Orbited the Earth forty-eight times in three days in 1963. (claimed by hungrytiger11) Part 1 Done and Part 2 Done!

137) Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all. -- Hypatia of Alexandria (370-415), Greek mathematician, scientist, philospher, teacher and inventor. Credited with creating an instrument for measuring gravity or density of water, an instrument for distilling water, and an instrument for determining the positions of heavenly bodies; surveying; and deducing time based on latitude. (claimed by featherjean)

138) Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise. -- Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992), Rear Admiral in the Navy, early computer programmer, and inventor of the language of COBOL. (claimed by rougered)

139) When I began to talk about flying, she already had confidence in me. My mother never warned me not to do this or that for fear of being hurt. Of course I got hurt, but I was never afraid. -- Katherine Stinson (1891-1977), fourth woman in the United States to get a pilot's license, ambulance driver in Europe, and architect. (claimed by katharos_8)

140) Tell them that as soon as I can walk I'm going to fly! -- Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), first African-American to become an airplane pilot. First American ever to earn an international pilot's license (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, earned in France). (claimed by dragonsinger)

141) After the verb 'to Love,' 'to Help' is the most beautiful verb in the world. -- Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914), Austrian novelist, pacifist and first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (1905). (claimed by nam_jai)

142) The facts are always less than what really happened. -- Nadine Gordimer (born November 1923), South African author, anti-apartheid and anti-censorship activist, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1991). (claimed by magentabear) Done!

143) The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you're learning you're not old. -- Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (born July 12, 1921), American medical physicist and second woman to win the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine (1977). (claimed by pepperlandgirl4)

144) The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea. -- Isak Dinesen [Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke] (1885-1962), Danish author and coffee planter. (claimed by persephone_kore)

145) Life need not be easy, provided only that it is not empty. -- Lise Meitner (1878-1968), Austrian-born Swedish physicist, discoverer of the Auger effect and the chain reaction in nuclear fission, winner of the Enrico Fermi Award and the Max Planck Medal. Element 109, meitnerium, is named for her. (claimed by starriheavens)

146) Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is all right, as long your values don't change. -- Jane Goodall (born April 3, 1934), primatologist, anthropologist, environmentalist and conservationist, best known for her forty-five-year study of chimpanzees. (claimed by cidercupcakes)

147) We too often bind ourselves by authorities rather than by the truth. -- Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), early advocate of the rights of women and blacks, political activist, author and co-founder of Swarthmore College (1864). (claimed by slytherinswench)

148) If you stood up and told the truth in the wrong way, it was not true any longer, though it might be as powerful as ever. -- Diana Wynne Jones (born August 16, 1934), English novelist and non-fiction author. (claimed by rose_griffes)

149) Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin. -- Barbara Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955), American science writer, journalist, novelist and winner of the National Humanities Medal (2000). (claimed by fell_beast2)

150) Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear. -- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926-2004), Swiss psychiatrist, non-fiction author, supporter of hospice care and AIDS lecturer, best known for her delineation of the Five Stages of Grief. (claimed by simplemitosis)

151) Most people, after accomplishing something, use it over and over again like a gramophone record till it cracks, forgetting that the past is just the stuff with which to make more future. -- Freya Stark (1893-1993), British adventurer, explorer and author of numerous books about her journeys. (claimed by gehayi) Done!

If you have any questions, ask them in the comments, and I will do my best to answer them.

Good luck to all of you! I hope that some excellent stories come from this!

Updated September 23, 2009 1:27 PM EDT--adding links to the prompts with completed stories.