Jim C. Hines decided to try and copy all of the poses that women are made to do on the cover of fantasy novels. Jim C. Hines is awesome.
It's been floating around for a few days already (SO FUCKING SHOOT ME) but I love this, I just love it. Fantasy author Jim C. Hines (creator of fairy tale retellings) wrote a blog post the other day on his site discussing how he got a wild hair up his adorable butt and decided to see if he could actually do any of the poses that women make on the covers of fantasy novels. His wife (lucky woman!) snapped some photos and Jim gave his sexy best with some great results.
Quote:
Now I could talk about the way women are posed in cover art … or I could show you. I opted for the latter, in part because it helped me to understand it better. I expected posing like Danielle to feel a little weird and unnatural. I did not expect immediate, physical pain from trying (rather unsuccessfully) to do the hip thing she’s got going on.
Quote:
My sense is that most of these covers are supposed to convey strong, sexy heroines, but these are not poses that suggest strength. You can’t fight from these stances. I could barely even walk.
Guys, you should try it sometime. Get someone who won’t laugh at you too much to try to help you match these poses. The physical challenge is far more enlightening than anything I could say. (Wardrobe changes are optional.)
Jim doesn't leave it on that note, though. He asks for feedback and he even suggests some novels whose covers don't seem as uncomfortable for their heroines. Wil Wheaton likes him. Jim is also a rape crisis counselor. Seriously, how does one man have so much awesome in him?
Genius. Although Kate Beckinsale has made a career of doing almost nothing but posing like that.
Also, I see he was in the group of fantasy authors who just played an epic round of D&D at a recent con. I know this because it also included my current favourite fantasy author, the British bad-ass Joe Abercrombie.
And the best news is that it was recorded and the video may be posted online at some point.