karenmiller ([info]karenmiller) wrote,
@ 2008-04-30 10:52:00
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Current mood: impressed
Entry tags:writing

A brilliant article by Richard Morgan
This is just the best, best article. This is brilliant. This sums up everything I've been thinking about the spec fic world ever since I started seriously getting involved in it. Richard Morgan isn't just a damned fine writer, he's an articulate and thoughtful member of the tribe who's got some serious moxie, coming out and saying it.

Thanks to LJer James Gilmer, for posting about this originally. And no, I still can't make the LJ icon thang work, either. Yes, I'm pathetic. Tell me something I don't know!

And then go read this ...

http://www.richardkmorgan.com/article_soundfury.htm


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[info]jamesgilmer
2008-04-30 01:45 am UTC (link)
Thank goodness, I thought I was the only other person on LJ who couldn't be bothered to get the LJ icon thing to work ;)

Morgan's essay really is one of the best things I've read on this sort of subject since Karen Traviss wrote her excellent essay in Matrix on the stigma of writing tie-in fiction along with her award-winning creator owned series.

Just to add to what Morgan says; I wish to add as a reader that I'm sick and tired of the fans and writers of various sub-genres of SF making me feel as if I can only be a fan of one type at a time. Yes, I can enjoy my Warren Ellis and William Gibson and Geoffry Ryan right alongside my DVD's of Battlestar Galactica, my SW books, my Charlie Stross novels, and more.

People who wish to fight the "Mundane SF" vs "New Weird" vs "Not Brand Echs SF" wars should just be locked in a cargo container ala the gang leader fight in the first season of THE SHIELD and whomever is left standing at the end can decide the direction the Great Ship SF will go.

Anything is better than the constant moving of deck chairs and refusal of the band to stop playing amidst the sturm and drang while the ship is sinking.

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[info]karenmiller
2008-04-30 03:45 am UTC (link)
Alas, if only I were lazy. Sadly, I am a total techno-cretin. There's a reason I write fantasy, y'know. *g*

Yup, Karen is on exactly the same wavelength. She is another writer -- human being! -- for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration.

But it's not just the internicine warfare among the SF crowd. It's the contempt and hatred shown by the SF writers/fans for the Fantasy writers/fans, and by both for the Tie-In writers, or the writers of Supernatural/Urban fantasy crowd, or the romantic fantasy writers. This constant sneering and denigrating and vitriol directed against people for simply reading and writing what they love to read and write -- it's nauseating, and demoralising, and makes us look like utter plonkers.

And at the end of the day, what's really happening is that writers are sneering and maligning the very people they expect to turn around and buy their books -- the reading, book-buying public.

Absolutely, your point is well made. Excuse me, where is the law that says I can't enjoy more than one thing? And who appointed you little shits the arbiters of what is and isn't appropriate for me, or anyone else to enjoy? And how *dare* you (Mr Big Name SF writer, and this actually happened) tell a successful fantasy author that they're wasting their time writing what they love to write, and that other people love to read? Where the hell do these people get off?

Hey, hot button much? *g*

I wonder if all this crap goes on because of the high geek factor in the spec fic world, that's missing from the world of crime fiction, or romance, or historical novels? Everywhere you look in spec fic fandom, be it literary or media, you find this kind of bullshit. It gets very wearing.

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[info]jamesgilmer
2008-05-02 05:07 pm UTC (link)
What is amusing now is that "Teh Drama" has started and Morgan is being accused of ignoring the fact that there are fights and arguments in other genres (which is misreading what he wrote) and that he is saying that people should slap on their "slave collars and go back to writing for the masses", which is not what he said and also hideously insulting to readers.

Obviously, most of this is coming from people who've never been published, or who've sold a story to Cat Piss Monthly and thus feel they have a deep understanding of publishing...nevermind they can't seem to read what's in the bloody essay and keep setting up strawmen.

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[info]karenmiller
2008-05-02 09:54 pm UTC (link)
Where? Where is he being attacked? I'll go and bloody defend him!!!!!

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[info]catsparx
2008-04-30 02:04 am UTC (link)
excellent article, thanks for the link.

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[info]karenmiller
2008-04-30 03:36 am UTC (link)
Ain't it great???? I am so impressed.

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[info]keris45
2008-04-30 06:20 am UTC (link)
Thanks for this. He said so brilliantly what I have been thinking for so long! And isn't he the guest at Swancon next year??

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[info]karenmiller
2008-04-30 07:13 am UTC (link)
Yes, I believe he is!

And yes, he echoed my thoughts too. It's a peculiarly cannibalistic society, spec fic fandom. At least some sections are. To my everylasting bemusement.

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[info]teriegarrison
2008-04-30 07:28 am UTC (link)
(Greetings from a newcomer to your blog. :-D)

Oh, man, is this ever one of my hot-button issues, too. No one has the right to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't be reading. (Except, of course, in the context of a recommendation: If you like Author X, you should try Author Y. Or age-appropriateness: Ten-year-olds shouldn't read Author Z.)

When Harry Potter 5 (I think it was) came out, A.S. Byatt wrote an editorial for the NY Times about how adults shouldn't be reading Harry Potter. Or any other books for kids. Who the hell is she to be telling me what I should or shouldn't read? If I like Harry Potter, I should damn well be reading it; and if someone doesn't like Harry Potter, they damn well shouldn't waste their time on it.

While I do think it's good for readers to stretch themselves once in awhile, for the most part each of us should read exactly what pleases us to read.

Ditto for writers. I don't actually like much in the way of literary books, so to suggest I should write one is just plain crazy. I like big, thick wodges of books and am not generally captivated by short stories, so to suggest I should write short stories is ridiculous. Each of us should write exactly what we are possessed to write.

And anyone who says otherwise is acting like a fool, I don't care how big a name they are in any genre.

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[info]karenmiller
2008-04-30 10:24 pm UTC (link)
Welcome! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm sorry? A S Byatt did what???????

I can't begin to deal with that kind of ignorant arrogance. And y'know, as a rule I never diss other authors in my blog. But truly ... wtf?????

Bottom line, there's a great deal of resentment and jealousy at the heart of this situation. So all you can do is nod and smile and walk away. You'll never change a plonker's mind, and spending time trying to do so is a waste.

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[info]teriegarrison
2008-05-01 01:54 am UTC (link)
I don't know if you can access this without signing on to the NYTimes (which is free to join), but here's the link:

http://tinyurl.com/4o6rjx

And, yeah. I always interpreted it as a very large dish of sour grapes that JK Rowling makes more money than AS Byatt does.

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[info]karenmiller
2008-05-09 05:54 am UTC (link)
Thanks for that. I'm still gobsmacked. I mean ... honestly. How ungenerous. And condescending. And contemptuous of all of us who love the world that Rowling created. Of course, Ms Rowling is weeping all the way to the bank ... *g*

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[info]fingers
2008-04-30 08:28 am UTC (link)
Interesting article - thanks :-)

Oh and are you using a LJ client? I use Semagic and it helps you put in cuts and user names (in main posts only of course...)

Find them here: http://www.livejournal.com/download/

:-)

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[info]karenmiller
2008-04-30 10:18 pm UTC (link)
You're welcome. Also, ooh! Ick! New technology! *g*

Thanks for that. I'll go explore when I've a moment.

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[info]tillianion
2008-05-01 12:59 am UTC (link)
This is fantastic! It's something that always riles me, particularly with the whole BFF sucks thing. Horses for courses, people. I've chosen to write what I know I'm good at - spec fic romance. I don't pretend it's going to do anything for a reader other than give them a rollicking good time, and that's good. You need that, along with the thought-provoking books and the confronting books and the tearjerkers. Books for seasons.

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[info]karenmiller
2008-05-09 05:52 am UTC (link)
Back to playing catchup, thanks to lurgy.

Yes, this is indeed a wonderful article. I emailed as much to Mr Morgan, who said he's received a lot of positive comments from the piece. So no, we're not alone! Time for the silent majority to speak up more on this subject, I feel. No more taking the crap lying down. Our main job, I think, is to give readers the best bang for their buck -- this tired old prejudice of if it's popular it can't be any good is just bullshit.

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