Thread by @aetherlev

Okay I’ve got some theorycrafting for anyone interested in the #RWAShitshow.

I’m going through the complaints right now and the one from Kathryn Lynn Davis has got me thinking.

/thread

Bearing in mind that a big chunk of the complaints hangs on Courtney Milan’s trashing of Somewhere Lies the Moon and Davis’ defence of it, the details matter here.

Tisdale’s complaint says Davis immersed herself in “the Chinese culture” for 6 years. Davis herself says “over 7 years”.

But I can’t quite figure out WHEN she did this study. So I went looking.

This interview published 1997 has a wealth of info: allaboutromance.com/author-intervi…

She was born in 1955, and got her MA in 1980, so that puts her at the age of 25 when she got it. She got into her undergrad at the age of 18. Assuming a normal bachelors degree = 4 years, putting her at 22 when she graduates and enters her MA program, so 3 years study in the MA.

Maybe she studied Chinese culture as part of her undergrad? But it’s English and History, not specifically something in-depth in Chinese culture.

The interview says her MA major is England, and she had a combined minor in China and medieval Europe.

But her complaint says “her major fields of study were the British Empire and China”.

Is she speaking off the cuff here? Because I’m pretty sure there’s a difference between having a double major and having a double minor.

Anyway the interview also includes her talking about the writing process for the trilogy that includes Somewhere Lies the Moon.

There’s no mention of any specific additional study she did on Chinese culture.

Note as follows: “Her study of China would later prove helpful in that a portion of Too Deep for Tears is set in historic China.”

Somewhere Lies The Moon was actually part of book 2, All We Hold Dear, but AWHD got too long and it got split off into another book.

AWHD was published in ‘95 according to Google, so we can surmise that the guts of SLTM was written before then even though it was published in ‘98/‘99 (?)

Basically, unless Davis spent time in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s immersing herself in Chinese culture and then didn’t tell anyone, we have to take her statements and the ‘97 interview at face value and assume she’s talking about her time in academia.

She got her MA in ‘80, putting her expertise at least 10 years out of date when she wrote SLTM.

Also: Tisdale is obviously wrong. It’s 7 years, not 6. 4 undergrad + 3 MA. And the most obvious reference to her study of Chinese culture is the minor in China (???) for her MA.

Side note: I’m pretty sure “China” is a big fucking subject so the lack of specificity there is weirding me out. I’m assuming that she means Chinese history, but even that’s a big area so... I dunno. How specific do MAs in history get?

Anyway, tl;dr: I think Davis isn’t lying when she says she studied Chinese culture. But the part about doing intensive study on it for years? Pure hyperbole, in my opinion.

/end