Hi!
I just was reading another blog and found out that yet another of my writing acquaintances is having to deal with "trolls" attacking her and her work.
I don't get it.
I simply do not understand why people feel that they have a right to attack someone simply because their art/product isn't exactly to the viewer's taste. Okay, facts are facts. I am not a big Picasso fan. I get that other people are. I mean, they're willing to pay millions of dollars for his work. More power to them. I have yet to see a piece of his work that I'd want in my living room. Go figure. I also find a lot of the formal literary fiction... dull. And I'm not positive, but I think I might prefer a case of hives over having to read anything by Nathaniel Hawthorne ever again. That doesn't mean it's not brilliant. It is simply not to my taste.
I think part of the problem is that so many people believe REALLY believe that if you can read, you can write. To some degree that's true. Anyone who is literate can, and probably does write to make themselves understood. (Went to the store to buy milk. Call me on the cell if you think of anything we need.) But that is not the same thing at all as creating a believable world and peopling it with memorable characters. That, my friends, is hard work and *difficult* work. So even if I disagree with a direction an author is taking a series, I respect the amount of effort they put into it. I may choose not to buy or read the book, but I hope I would never attack the author, or confuse the beliefs and actions of the characters with those of the author.
We have (to my knowledge) only gotten one extremely unhappy letter. (Although we've gotten some really nasty comments in Amazon reviews. Some people hated the world of the Thrall. Some people loved it. But there weren't many people in the middle. That's OK. If they don't like it, they shouldn't read that particular series. I don't like beets. So I don't eat them. Easy. Nothing personal against beet growers.
Best wishes.
Cie
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5 comments:
One can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. People who write nasty letters probably have nothing better to do and are most likely feeling so bad about themselves they have to try and make other people feel small.
My thoughts are, if you don't like a book, don't buy the next one. If you don't like a TV show, change the TV channel. If you don't like beef, don't eat. Lashing out at people for something that's a matter of personal taste isn't logical. If it's an issue of customer service, that's a different animal. Personal preference isn't that at all.
Hugs to your friend on the issue of being trashed. I'm sure your friend will rise above the negative comments, especially if she's YOUR friend. *smile* She's got class.
This is totally off topic, but it has been bothering me for awhile I am just now getting up the nerve to ask. Do you read the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich? I reread Touch of Evil forthe upteenth time yesterday and I was just wondering because of Connie being a bail bondswoman. Thanks, Jen
Hey Cie. I don't try to understand people like that anymore. I just try to lead by example. I don't think anyone has a right to dash anyone else's dream. And that's what writing is to me, it's my dream. So even if I don't like the story, think the author could have done something differently, I keep it to myself because I never know when it may be my turn to be judged and found lacking.
Thanks everbody for the comments. Hi Anonymous! Nope. I haven't had the pleasure of reading the Stephanie Plum books, although I've heard good things about them. The reason Connie is a bail bondswoman is that I used to work typing for several of them at one point and am still friends with a couple of them. I figured I could give Connie a background in something I actually knew a little about, and anything I didn't know I could find out quickly. :)
I don't get personal trashings of the author either. You either like the books, or you don't. If you do, cool. If you don't, just stop reading and get on with your life.
People who attack and bitch on blogs, message boards etc simply have too much time on their hands. Obviously.
Now, what exactly did people not like about ToE? It was fantastic!
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