There’s been a lot of negativity directed at successful authors here lately. It’s unprofessional, it accomplishes nothing, and it makes you look like a jealous hater. Sure, dealing with criticism is part of the game, but what I’ve seen on social media has gone beyond that. I’m going to use E.L. James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey, as an example.
I’m not a fan of E.L. James. I haven’t read her million-selling books. The examples of her prose that I’ve seen—and there have been plenty—are not what I’d call quality writing. The subject material is too tame and vanilla for my taste. But so what? That’s just my opinion. And there’s nothing wrong with me, or anyone else, stating such an opinion. There’s nothing wrong with scrutinizing her command of the writing craft, or lack thereof. Writers talk shop like anyone else.
What bothers me is how some people go out of their way to criticize James’s fans, or start comparing how many books she sells to other, better writers. How they refer to her books as ‘trash’.
Leave the fans out of it. If they want to read Fifty Shades, it’s their business. Stop regarding them as tasteless plebs who wouldn’t know literature if it smacked them in the face with a copy of War and Peace. See, people who think that are missing the point: these fans are reading a book, instead of watching TV, playing Xbox, or trolling on Facebook. And more readers is always good for the writing community. James’ astronomical sales also help the rest of us—that’s more money to the publisher, which means more new authors can get signed and published—like yours truly.
Besides, would you want someone saying such things about your fans? Me either.
Speaking of sales, I’ve seen fellow writers bemoan the popularity of Fifty Shades, and how they’ll never sell that many books. One person even calculated how much James makes in one hour, based on her sales, then complained that he was writing in the wrong genre, or that he shouldn’t write what he wants, but something that will ‘sell’—implying that all commercial fiction is prefab crap that is doled out to the uncultured masses. Oh, the humanity. Give me a damn break. If you started writing just to make cash, or your only goal is to make money, then you never had any artistic integrity in the first place. Much less the right to lambaste someone who is successful, while you’re not.
There is no magic genre, no easy, sure-fire way to pen a bestseller, and no way you’ll ever get anywhere yourself by bitching about what others read or write. If you love what you’re doing, then you’ll do it, regardless of its popularity. You’ll do it because that novel has to be excised from your brain before it drives you mad.
I’ve said that some of this negativity stems from jealousy. Some writers have vehemently denied this. Okay, fine. Then stop whining, and start writing. Stop reading her material if it bothers you that much. She’s living her dream, just like so many of us wish we could.
Does books like Fifty Shades water down literature, and make it easier for less than sterling works to get published? Nope. Listen, badly written books have been getting published, and making millions, for years. This is nothing new (Dan Brown or Stephanie Meyer, anyone?). It’s like claiming that people will soon no longer communicate in coherent sentences due to texting or Twitter. It’s a dumb assumption, and one typically stated by self-styled intelligentsia.
I could name several books I’ve read over the years that I thought were rather poor. Some infuriated me with their weak prose and weaker plot, at the time. Now, I simply stop reading such books if I’m not hooked within the first thirty pages. And that’s being generous. Now I have an idea of what agents and editors experience when they have to sift through poor material. There’s always plenty of other books to read, you know.
Writing isn’t a pissing contest. Your only competition is yourself. Rather than waste time comparing your work to E.L. James’s (favorably or unfavorably), rather than mock her fans and post memes about how bad her prose is, imagine how much writing you could have gotten done. How many good books you could have read. Instead of posting a one-star review of her work and writing up a gleeful takedown of everything you hate about her book, write a good review for someone’s novel that you did enjoy. Negativity gets you nowhere. It’s not healthy, it’s not mature, and it certainly isn’t going to hurt James’s sales. I doubt if she gives a rat’s ass what people think, and if I had sold 100 million books, I wouldn’t give a damn, either. Neither would you.
Now go read some kickass fiction that leaves you speechless. Write some of your own. That’s what you should be talking about.
I’m not a fan of E.L. James. I haven’t read her million-selling books. The examples of her prose that I’ve seen—and there have been plenty—are not what I’d call quality writing. The subject material is too tame and vanilla for my taste. But so what? That’s just my opinion. And there’s nothing wrong with me, or anyone else, stating such an opinion. There’s nothing wrong with scrutinizing her command of the writing craft, or lack thereof. Writers talk shop like anyone else.
What bothers me is how some people go out of their way to criticize James’s fans, or start comparing how many books she sells to other, better writers. How they refer to her books as ‘trash’.
Leave the fans out of it. If they want to read Fifty Shades, it’s their business. Stop regarding them as tasteless plebs who wouldn’t know literature if it smacked them in the face with a copy of War and Peace. See, people who think that are missing the point: these fans are reading a book, instead of watching TV, playing Xbox, or trolling on Facebook. And more readers is always good for the writing community. James’ astronomical sales also help the rest of us—that’s more money to the publisher, which means more new authors can get signed and published—like yours truly.
Besides, would you want someone saying such things about your fans? Me either.
Speaking of sales, I’ve seen fellow writers bemoan the popularity of Fifty Shades, and how they’ll never sell that many books. One person even calculated how much James makes in one hour, based on her sales, then complained that he was writing in the wrong genre, or that he shouldn’t write what he wants, but something that will ‘sell’—implying that all commercial fiction is prefab crap that is doled out to the uncultured masses. Oh, the humanity. Give me a damn break. If you started writing just to make cash, or your only goal is to make money, then you never had any artistic integrity in the first place. Much less the right to lambaste someone who is successful, while you’re not.
There is no magic genre, no easy, sure-fire way to pen a bestseller, and no way you’ll ever get anywhere yourself by bitching about what others read or write. If you love what you’re doing, then you’ll do it, regardless of its popularity. You’ll do it because that novel has to be excised from your brain before it drives you mad.
I’ve said that some of this negativity stems from jealousy. Some writers have vehemently denied this. Okay, fine. Then stop whining, and start writing. Stop reading her material if it bothers you that much. She’s living her dream, just like so many of us wish we could.
Does books like Fifty Shades water down literature, and make it easier for less than sterling works to get published? Nope. Listen, badly written books have been getting published, and making millions, for years. This is nothing new (Dan Brown or Stephanie Meyer, anyone?). It’s like claiming that people will soon no longer communicate in coherent sentences due to texting or Twitter. It’s a dumb assumption, and one typically stated by self-styled intelligentsia.
I could name several books I’ve read over the years that I thought were rather poor. Some infuriated me with their weak prose and weaker plot, at the time. Now, I simply stop reading such books if I’m not hooked within the first thirty pages. And that’s being generous. Now I have an idea of what agents and editors experience when they have to sift through poor material. There’s always plenty of other books to read, you know.
Writing isn’t a pissing contest. Your only competition is yourself. Rather than waste time comparing your work to E.L. James’s (favorably or unfavorably), rather than mock her fans and post memes about how bad her prose is, imagine how much writing you could have gotten done. How many good books you could have read. Instead of posting a one-star review of her work and writing up a gleeful takedown of everything you hate about her book, write a good review for someone’s novel that you did enjoy. Negativity gets you nowhere. It’s not healthy, it’s not mature, and it certainly isn’t going to hurt James’s sales. I doubt if she gives a rat’s ass what people think, and if I had sold 100 million books, I wouldn’t give a damn, either. Neither would you.
Now go read some kickass fiction that leaves you speechless. Write some of your own. That’s what you should be talking about.
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