Namedropping
I have a problem. It's related to blogging and I don't know what to do about it. Essentially, I've been writing this thing since the end of 2005 and in that time I've endeavored to be as candid as good taste allows while relating my honest opinions. I've always said that while we're all unique as individuals, it's because of our particular combination of traits and what not that make us so. Each individual trait, though, is likely common to untold numbers of our fellow humans.
So if I have a strong feeling about something, I gotta believe that I'm not the only one. Expressing a point then becomes an intersection for common thought among strangers, something that can make us all think about things we may agree with but may not have thought of in quite that way. If reading a blog like this is entertaining, than this is probably why. Maybe.
Anyway, whenever I've reviewed a book or movie, or whenever I've discussed the work of a particular writer, I've justified my opinions even if it's been only to say that I don't understand the appeal, or that I don't appreciate the work. What I've never done and never would do is to assert that fans of so and so are insane and ought to have their brains or personalities overhauled by certified professionals. I don't read romance novels, and I don't care for the writing in any of the ones I've ever looked at. But I've never derogated the folks who do read and appreciate the work.
So I name names. I don't like Dean Koontz's writing at all. He may be a fine human being and someone I would treasure knowing, but the vital thing is that I don't transfer my taste for his work to anything else. I think James W. Hall's first two books were incredible; he then fell into a routine of writing books with what are to me gaping plot holes that place style over storytelling. As a human whom I've seen in conferences, I find him engaging and entertaining and charismatic and someone that I would like to know. But I can no longer get through one of his books. I could say similar things about any number of writers but I've probably made my point and I've turned half chicken.
I've written several blog entries about the exploding number of typos I've come across in recent years, one of which expressed deep disappointment in a volume of two reprinted out of print books that was so error filled I could barely get through it. While I was at it I believe I also questioned the, to me, odd choice of font styles for the cover titles. Some time after I wrote this entry, I wrote to the publisher about this and the upshot is that I have been doing proofreading for that same publisher. Recently somebody posted a comment to that particular blog entry and said that he wouldn't be happy with a book filled with errors like that and that I had saved him twenty bucks.
Ouch, kind of. While if someone told me about the typos before I had bought the book, I'd have passed, too. But the publisher is trying to stamp out the problem and I feel guilty for potentially costing them a sale. On the other hand, I've also prevented the birth of an unhappy consumer and there should be some value to that. (My response to this gentleman was to keep the door open on the publisher; the new books should be clean, and subsequent editions of the older ones cleaned up.)
But notice I'm not repeating the name of the publisher. I enjoy the small role I've had in helping some of their books come to print and I don't want to jeopardize that relationship. But I don't want to feel like a rat shirking in the dark and take down the entry in question. I'd like to think that if they read it they'd understand where I was coming from. They may read it and choose to mail me a letter bomb. I guess at this point I'd rather be nervous than feel hypocritical so the entry remains unaltered.
Author Ken Bruen says he won't say anything bad about another writer because the business is hard enough. At this point I'm still unpublished but if that ever changes I may start to agree with him. I really don't know. The other day I got an e-mail from the son of an author I've mentioned several times by name and it brought home the fact that when we do things like this, Google assures it's not done in a vacuum.
It makes me wonder, though, just how much I should feel like a bug under a log: what do I do when someone rolls it over and exposes me to the sun? I can't smile sheepishly and point to the guy next to me -- there's no one there. I'm torn between scurrying for cover (I'm not here to upset anybody, that happens enough accidentally) and standing tall in the light. Only then I'm waiting for the boot heel to come down. Ouch.
So if I have a strong feeling about something, I gotta believe that I'm not the only one. Expressing a point then becomes an intersection for common thought among strangers, something that can make us all think about things we may agree with but may not have thought of in quite that way. If reading a blog like this is entertaining, than this is probably why. Maybe.
Anyway, whenever I've reviewed a book or movie, or whenever I've discussed the work of a particular writer, I've justified my opinions even if it's been only to say that I don't understand the appeal, or that I don't appreciate the work. What I've never done and never would do is to assert that fans of so and so are insane and ought to have their brains or personalities overhauled by certified professionals. I don't read romance novels, and I don't care for the writing in any of the ones I've ever looked at. But I've never derogated the folks who do read and appreciate the work.
So I name names. I don't like Dean Koontz's writing at all. He may be a fine human being and someone I would treasure knowing, but the vital thing is that I don't transfer my taste for his work to anything else. I think James W. Hall's first two books were incredible; he then fell into a routine of writing books with what are to me gaping plot holes that place style over storytelling. As a human whom I've seen in conferences, I find him engaging and entertaining and charismatic and someone that I would like to know. But I can no longer get through one of his books. I could say similar things about any number of writers but I've probably made my point and I've turned half chicken.
I've written several blog entries about the exploding number of typos I've come across in recent years, one of which expressed deep disappointment in a volume of two reprinted out of print books that was so error filled I could barely get through it. While I was at it I believe I also questioned the, to me, odd choice of font styles for the cover titles. Some time after I wrote this entry, I wrote to the publisher about this and the upshot is that I have been doing proofreading for that same publisher. Recently somebody posted a comment to that particular blog entry and said that he wouldn't be happy with a book filled with errors like that and that I had saved him twenty bucks.
Ouch, kind of. While if someone told me about the typos before I had bought the book, I'd have passed, too. But the publisher is trying to stamp out the problem and I feel guilty for potentially costing them a sale. On the other hand, I've also prevented the birth of an unhappy consumer and there should be some value to that. (My response to this gentleman was to keep the door open on the publisher; the new books should be clean, and subsequent editions of the older ones cleaned up.)
But notice I'm not repeating the name of the publisher. I enjoy the small role I've had in helping some of their books come to print and I don't want to jeopardize that relationship. But I don't want to feel like a rat shirking in the dark and take down the entry in question. I'd like to think that if they read it they'd understand where I was coming from. They may read it and choose to mail me a letter bomb. I guess at this point I'd rather be nervous than feel hypocritical so the entry remains unaltered.
Author Ken Bruen says he won't say anything bad about another writer because the business is hard enough. At this point I'm still unpublished but if that ever changes I may start to agree with him. I really don't know. The other day I got an e-mail from the son of an author I've mentioned several times by name and it brought home the fact that when we do things like this, Google assures it's not done in a vacuum.
It makes me wonder, though, just how much I should feel like a bug under a log: what do I do when someone rolls it over and exposes me to the sun? I can't smile sheepishly and point to the guy next to me -- there's no one there. I'm torn between scurrying for cover (I'm not here to upset anybody, that happens enough accidentally) and standing tall in the light. Only then I'm waiting for the boot heel to come down. Ouch.
posted by Rick Ollerman at 8:18 AM
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