Conflict drives stories.
It’s probably a good thing.
But it seems to mean that the only time a pregnant woman is allowed “on screen” in a story is when the fact of her pregnancy causes conflict.
And I wish we could explore not only the tense and exciting parts of pregnancy (like the reveal and the delivery), but also the invisible, quiet bits.
Strangers couldn’t tell I was pregnant until just about yesterday (I’m 33 weeks along). Not too long ago a nurse at a new-patient visit, after taking my height and weight and blood pressure, was stunned I wasn’t worried that my last period was five months before.
~Three months. Can’t spot the fourth person yet, but she’s there.
From week 1 there’s so much going on mentally and emotionally that affects only one girl. Is it enough to make a story out of? Maybe a subplot?
Can anyone point me to some fantasy that fills this gap? (And I do mean fantasy. I recognize there’s a good amount of contemporary fiction with pregnant characters.)
Happy Nesting! I mean, Yarning!
Let’s see, in Calling on Dragons, Cimorene is pregnant, but not visibly so until the end. It doesn’t affect the plot much, or so you think, but then it does.
In other words, Patricia C. Wrede is obviously awesome. Again.
That was the only one I could think of. Morwen is the viewpoint character, but we do have pregnant Cimorene along for the quest and being her usual awesome. 🙂
Enna Burning by Shannon Hale has Isi (main character from Goose Girl) pregnant, but she’s more of a side kick, as that book focuses on Enna.
Also, the second half of the Wheel of Time has a character that’s pregnant with twins, but I don’t know how much screen time she gets, as I quit the series before I got that far.
And dare I say Breaking Dawn?
Still, you’re right, there should be more pregnancies in fantasy. Becoming a mother or father is a huge change that deserves to be explored.
Looks like I need to read more Shannon Hale!
Yeah, I’m…not going to count Breaking Dawn. By shortening the pregnancy (to what, two months or something?) Meyer essentially only explored the reveal and the delivery.
I like that you mentioned fatherhood as well. There’s a lot that gets ignored there, too. I think Stephen R. Lawhead explored that a bit in his book Merlin, but I can’t think of any other examples off the top of my head.