Posted by Alex Forbes on October 15, 2003 at 04:49:11 from 209.86.243.161 user Pitsligo.
In Reply to: Re: 'ditzy'? posted by Robert Dilley on October 14, 2003 at 19:16:31:
ditsy or ditzy ... (US colloq) adj amiably eccentric, scatterbrained; precious, affected.
That about covers it, especially the first one. "Dumb blond" is far, far too harsh for Dot, but she is a bit exasperating for me. I must admit, though, that having set BS aside for many years --as I mentioned, the ones with the Ds weren't my favorites-- and then reading it as an adult, I was far more impressed by Dot. She seems to wander off into imagination, and then jerk herself back, very much in the moment and with quite a keen mind. I think Laurence Monkhouse's suggestion of Dot as a lawyer may well stick in my private vision of the AR future.
As for Katherine's "I can't help laughing at the image of a ten year old Alex reading WH and getting more and more exasperated", though the age was more like seven, yes, my frustration must have been pretty funny to an observer: "don't just let the halyard run YOU DONK! Oh, never mind."
I had actually set aside all but my favorites (SA, WDMTGTS, SW) for many years. Now, reading them anew, in series, as an adult --most recently aloud to my wife, who got AR as the better part of her package deal-- I have forgotten many of my prejudices. It's quite wonderful. For instance, since I first read them, I have gotten my own boat, and it quite chokes me up to be there with the Ds (yes, especially Dick), and experience with them that first awful, terrifying, ecstatic moment at the tiller of a new boat, when you wonder if you really know all you need to know. The memory sends chills up my spine!
As for girl characters being easier to write than boy characters, might it be because within the age range AR wrote them, it is more plausible to have them a little more intellectually sophisticated? Not to be chauvanistic, but boys' views of the world at that time tend to be a little more straightforward than girls', and so getting a rich AND plausible boy character can be a bit tricky. (I'm writing this from the 6-12 grade school where I'm currently working. The young of our species is absolutely fascinating!) I don't have any preference for either gender, in my own writing, but then I try and stay away from writing about younglings. Adults are much easier.
Alex