flummery | Lurkers Support Me In EMAIL!

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Lurkers Support Me In EMAIL!

Somewhere, recently, I had been reading about how a lot of professional authors were getting sort of irate about the Amazon reviews, and the fact that anyone could post, negative or positive, and apparently, these reviews really can have an impact on sales, these days.

I think, at the time, I sort of mulled that over, in a vague way, worrying that it could have impact on a relatively new writer, in detrimental ways, but how was it really different than word of mouth?

But, just yesterday,

elynross directed me to what appears to be a rebuttal review by Anne Rice of her latest book, Blood Canticle. I read it, and my jaw hit the table, and I had a whole lot of thoughts... one of which, initially, was that it had to be fake. And this is certainly still possible. But then I came across a link to an actual essay she'd written on her official website that... basically supported and repeated many of the same positions voiced in the rebuttal review. If that wasn't Anne Rice, someone was doing a pretty good job of channeling her.

The review can be found here, about halfway down the page.

The essay on her website can be found here.

She manages to hit upon, in these two essays, one hell of a lot of the very same arguments I see amateur (fan) writers using to justify themselves. Now, I'm not saying that writers should never explain what they were trying to achieve with their work, or stay silent when people are interested in having more information, but I am very much one of those people who go insane when a discussion of a story begins, only to have the author dive into the fray with all the reasons you didn't understand/shouldn't be criticizing her/are just plain mean! Goddamnit. The discussion is not for the author's benefit. It's not there to help the author become a better writer, or to encourage them, or boost their ego. It can do all those things, but that wasn't the point. It's there because people want to discuss what they read, or review what they read for other potential readers, or argue why a story worked, or didn't work for them. Just stay the hell out of it and let people have their discussion, unless they ask you a question directly.

Anne Rice hit every crap-ass argument I've ever seen thrown out on a list. In fact, her essays tell us that her very success has given her the leverage to engage in crappy writing all she wants, unfettered by the likes of cretinous editors, and other demons.

I just can't stop myself from commenting on her comments.

So, various sections, taken from the review, are quoted below, along with my reactions.
~~~~~

First off, let me say that this is addressed only to some of you, who have posted outrageously negative comments here, and not to all. You are interrogating this text from the wrong perspective. Indeed, you aren't even reading it. You are projecting your own limitations on it

We will leap past the "You're only stupid if you disagree with me" part of this text, and go to her statement that if you can't understand what she's saying, you're not reading the story correctly.

Somewhere along the line, I had a very good English/Writing teacher who spelled it out for us like this: "The message sent is the message received."

It doesn't matter what you meant to say. If you leave someone a note to meet you at McDonald's, and they head over to Burger King, you failed. You chose the wrong words. You used the words you chose poorly. No matter what you meant those words to say, or wanted them to say, they said something else, and you'd better suck it up, look at them, and discover what it was you did wrong so next time, you can get the message through. It's not the audience's job to read your mind, or know any other context than what is in front of them, right there, on the page.

Yes, there are sloppy readers, and people who skip over things. And then there are writers who just plain fail to get their point across, and those writers should stop accusing their audience of not paying attention. If your reader walks away from your communication with a message other than what you were trying to convey, more often than not, the fault lies with the writer.

Or, alternatively? Maybe we get it just fine, and still think it sucks. Stop expecting us to have a rapturous revelation if we squint at the words harder.

And this book is most certainly written -- every word of it -- by me. If and when I can't write a book on my own, you'll know about it. And no, I have no intention of allowing any editor ever to distort, cut, or otherwise mutilate sentences that I have edited and re-edited, and organized and polished myself. I fought a great battle to achieve a status where I did not have to put up with editors making demands on me, and I will never relinquish that status. For me, novel writing is a virtuoso performance. It is not a collaborative art.

The idea that your words are so perfect, that allowing an editor to comment, or make suggestions, or change them, would somehow besmirch the purity of your vision... it boggles me. You don't always have to take the advice, but you should consider the possibility that you're not as good as you think you are.

Back to the novel itself: the character who tells the tale is my Lestat. I was with him more closely than I have ever been in this novel; his voice was as powerful for me as I've ever heard it. I experienced break through after break through as I walked with him, moved with him, saw through his eyes. What I ask of Lestat, Lestat unfailingly gives.

Oh my god, it's the muses. The MUSES ARE SPEAKING THROUGH HER. I hate the muses. Who the fuck are these muses anyway? They never speak to *me*. Maybe these people with muses... shouldn't be quite so trusting of the voices they hear in their heads, you know?

Every word is in perfect place.

Bwahahahahahaha! Dude, there aren't even any *paragraph returns* in this damn review.

Now, if it doesn't appeal to you, fine. You don't enjoy it? Read somebody else. But your stupid arrogant assumptions about me and what I am doing are slander. And you have used this site as if it were a public urinal to publish falsehood and lies. I'll never challenge your democratic freedom to do so, and yes, I'm answering you, but for what it's worth, be assured of the utter contempt I feel for you, especially those of you who post anonymously (and perhaps repeatedly?) and how glad I am that this book is the last one in a series that has invited your hateful and ugly responses.

You won't have ME to pick on any more! I'm leaving, and taking my toys with me!

There are readers out there and plenty of them who cherish the individuality of each of the chronicles which you so flippantly condemn. They can and do talk circles around you. And I am warmed by their response. Their letters, the papers they write in school, our face to face exchanges on the road -- these things sustain me when I read the utter trash that you post.

Lurkers Support Me In Email.

I just about died when I saw this. How many times have I seen this stated to bolster an argument? It doesn't matter what you all say, I *know* I'm right, because of the untold support I have that none of you are privy to! There's no way you could be right, when other people disagree with you! And also, they outnumber you! (And you're STUPID!)

Good Grief.

(Tomorrow: Mercedes Lackey single handedly changes to term to: Myste Sue)

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Yeah, I spotted that. Of course, there's always the chance it's just another Anne Rice, but that seems like... a strange thing to do under the name you have registered with Amazon, and might want to use for other things. Interesting reading list, assuming that's her... (you can click on her name to see everything she's reviewed). And she's given nothing less then 5 stars to every book she's reviewed.

(Tomorrow: Mercedes Lackey single handedly changes to term to: Myste Sue)

You mean this, right? You're really going to post it? You aren't just jerking my chain?

Well, probably not tomorrow, but I figure, it's only a matter of time. I'm halfway through Exile's Valor (don't ask me why. I don't know why, okay? It's an illness. I acknowledge this. She got me very young, and I see the damn horses on the cover and check the book out of the library. And now I have to *know*) and banging my head repeatedly against the wall as I go. If she and Alberich actually hook up, then yeah, there will be a rant.

Pfft, I belong to her fanclub. That doesn't mean I don't acknowlege her flaws and enjoy seeing rants about them. *G* (Jenny Talldeer was Di Tregarde with facepaint, yo.)

I haven't read the Exile books yet. I think I got halfway through Exile's Honor...but I OWN them both. Someday I'll read them, probably.

Friend away! It's a great compliment! *g*

Hey, at least you're getting them from the library and not spending money on them. :->

Got here via metablog though I saw the Rice rant in fandom_wank (and knew it was her because of a horrified read or two through her web site or blog a while ago in which she made all the same claims).

Excellent points on how the "prowriter" sounds a lot like some "fanwriters."

And you know, I teach creative writing, and this is why my one unalterable rule for writers is that the writer can never talk while we're workshopping hir work, 'no not even answer questions, no not make faces, no not use sign language, stop smiling/frowning/wiggling in anguish, just sit there and write down everything we say and go away and think about it, you're the writer, you can decide later on, but you cannot tell us what to see in your work, and whatever you think now you'll probably think differently in a couple of weeks' time and then we'll talk about it, so hush.'

And why my unalterable rule for readers is that the people workshopping don't just get to say any variant of it is good/bad, they have to describe what they see happening, what they think is going on, what they think is good or bad, specifics, specifics, specifics. Heck, once you're heard eight different summaries of what a poem is about for readers, or five different descriptions of the protagonist, you know there's a range of responses and early drafts need work, and a piece is never done just turned in.

It takes from 4-6 sessions to train them, then I can pretty much sit back and let them do all the work after that. The hardest part is for the writers to keep silent. We all really want to tell people what we mean, snicker.

I think Anne Rice needs a good writing workshop. Too bad she's apparently made so much money that editors can't touch her work. Maybe that will change....

p.s. I did like Interview with the Vampire, but it all went downhill after that one I thought and I gave up reading her many books ago.

I came here through

metablog.

The only thing I will say in Anne Rice's favor is that some of the Amazon reviews were speculating about the state of her emotions and her personal life. In that, she has every right to be irate.

Of course, she has the right to free speech, just like the rest of us, but her rant made me quite sad. I used to enjoy her books, but with time, I did so less and less. When I discovered that she stopped using an editor, I felt that was probably a big contributor.

Yes, she's a professional and yes, she has a great deal of experience, but when you start acting like you have NOTHING to learn from the opinions of others, you stop growing. I work in health care and I once worked for a weeks for an elderly surgeon. He always wore a hip length white coat, which is usually reserved for students. Usually, the long white coats are reserved for those who are still in school. This surgeon said that he wore the short jacket to remind himself that he always had something to learn. I loved that about him. The fact that Anne seems to take the opposite tact really puts me off her.

I won't go so far as to say that I won't ever read anything by her, but certainly won't be buying anything by her that I've never read. Truthfully, I'm not in any rush to read stories by someone who is so enamored of her own writing that she can't tolerate criticism.

I suspect I brought it all on myself. I've never had this much response to anything I've posted... ever.

How do you know my lurkers don't outnumber yours?

I'm a recovering member of Queen's Own. I feel your pain. ;D

I hadn't gotten around to the Exile books yet, and then the whole Herald-Chronicler Myste thing was pointed out to me, and now I really don't want to touch them. Which is a pity, because Alberich *is* a cool character. But I just can't get over Myste. I mean, what, does she adopt "Larry" as a pet nickname for Alberich? ;P

She's a BAD WRITER. Who can't stand ANY criticism. And obviously doesn't have the class to just bitch about the bad reviews in private and display serenity.

Preserve us all from hackery.

I did also like Interview, though.

Oh, and hi.

This was my point -- but it's a new thing with her. Small steps!

*falls over and dies of high-larity*

Here from

metaquotes.

And, please please, seconding the plea that you write this one. "Myste" utterly ruined Alberich's story for me...which I was also reading out of a lingering teenage fondness for her first trilogy. It breaks me. I'm in a masters fiction program, and it bugs me just as much when classmates write obvious Mary Sues, entire Maurice Stu novels, but appearently it's allowed in "literature"...sigh.

You know, I love what you've written about this. I also just realized - the poor woman can't use commas either!

There are readers out there and plenty of them who cherish the individuality of each of the chronicles which you so flippantly condemn. They can and do talk circles around you. And I am warmed by their response. Their letters, the papers they write in school, our face to face exchanges on the road -- these things sustain me when I read the utter trash that you post.

I remember a person at FF.net who wrote something similar to that. Except it had no punctuation marks, and numbers substituted letters.

LOVE

Here via

elynross and loving the rant. I gave up on Rice long ago, when it was clear that she'd fired her editors, and really had only one idea, which was veering perilously close to a rocks-off fantasy most of the time. That she thought it was a good idea to get down and dirty with the peons makes me laugh because nothing makes any creative person (and lordy, I do use that word loosely in her case) look more foolish than engaging in fights over whether her/his work is good or not.

Now, see, while I agree with the spirit of what's being said, I disagree with the specific example. If I leave someone a note that says, "Meet me at McDonald's at 3:00" and they go to Burger King, then they can't read. I did nothing wrong as the writer of the note except assume that my friend knows the difference between Mickey Dee's and BK.

And I'm rather glad to have found that out, since I don't want any idiot friends.

If the message sent is the message received, and there are 500 readers who all get different messages, then what's the bleedin' message? That's just silly. (And note the corner you and flummery have been painted into: I think it's silly. If you tell me it's not because I just don't understand the point, then, welllllllll...... ;) )

I don't think it's at all inappropriate for an author to wonder about readers who completely misunderstand something. I just think it's galling for them to write petulent condemnations on Amazon. Everyone's going to read things different, and some people just won't like some things. Deal, Anne.

Agree absolutely about the private speculation, but at that point, if you have to say something, why not just say "I'd appreciate it if you all would restrict your remarks to my work, and leave my private life out of these reviews. They're entirely different things."

It is sad, isn't it?

It seems to me that she was just as angry (or angrier) about the criticism. Otherwise, she would have done just as you suggested. She seems to be a victim of believing her own good press and not seeing that what she compares to a virtuouso performance is really rooted in arrogance...with a dash of insecurity because if she were so confident in her work, I think she could withstand a pre-printing 2nd opinion.

And to think that I used to haunt bookstores and libraries, looking for her new books. No more.

*wipes eyes*

Oh. My. God. The pretentiousness. The arrogance. And yes, her comments sound *exactly* like a lot of bad fan writers.

Hey, if you haven't already heard about it or read it, you should check out "A Reader's Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose," by B. R. Myers, which skewers some of the bloated, overblown, *crapastic* writing that passes for "literature" these days, and is absolutely hilarious.

Came here via

deleterius, and I must say very well done. Never read Anne Rice before, never planned to either and now I'm very glad that I made that decision.

The woman reminds me of the trolls that like to invade

deleterius every so often, whining and bitching that we don't like their story or their oh-so wonderful Mary Sue character and if we don't like it than we shouldn't read it.

Except the trolls are a tad more entertaining.

And you know, she may refuse to work with an editor, but think about it: What editor would want to be the one who worked on a book of hers that didn't sell well? And it's bound to start happening one of these days because she really is pretty much a one-trick pony and eventually people are going to catch on.

And I wouldn't be surprised if she put the blame on the editor rather than taking a hard look at the material she produced.

I was under the impression that her popularity was already diminishing, but I may be living in a bubble. She seems less prominent to me because I stopped reading her stories. I got bored with all the melodrama and purple prose that seemed to take the place of good character development and world building.

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