Skeletal Writings

I apologize for any potential typos...I am so ragey about this right now (and I'm not even an author!).

If anyone happens to be a horror/mystery/romance reader, you might be interested to know about this really bad company.  So, last year (2010) Leisure/Dorchester stopped paying authors for their books because they were sort-of-but-not-really going bankrupt.  Around this time, the Leisure website had a post about "Hey everyone, we're going to stop publishing Mass Market Paperback and focus exclusively on ebooks!  Because we are innovative!"  Yeah, sure, not because you were late in the ebook game and now you've screwed yourself!  So anyway, writers stopped getting paid and there was a time when Leisure wasn't releasing any books.  So a bunch of writers did one of two things: find another publishing company  and start fresh or find another publishing company and get all rights to their backstock (um, not sure if that's the right word).  Sounds like that's the end, right?

WRONG!

In 2011 (actually, new reports are saying as early as late 2010) Leisure/Dorchester began putting unauthorized copies of their big-name authors in ebook form on places like Amazon.  I always thought if an author said "Okay, publishing company, you screwed me over and I want my books back so I can do whatever with them" then the author gets to do whatever they want with their work and their relationship with the publishing company is done.  Which would mean the publishing company has lost all rights to the work.  Except Leisure/Dorchester is all "Oh no!  How did this happen!  Oh, wait, it's Amazon's fault.  We'll look into it" and "Oh no!  Why are all these readers so upset?  We are innocent!"  Also, they've been making it difficult for people to comment on their Facebook page.

You know what?  This is absolutely the sign of a bad publishing company.  It's bad enough that they didn't pay their authors the first time around.  It's worse that they agreed to revert all rights back to their authors and then go back on that.  It's even worse they're acting like they have no idea what's going on and everyone (authors, readers) is making a big deal about nothing.  This is most definitely something. 

Anyone who wants to get the word out can go to Twitter and use hashtag #BoycottDorchester.  It's interesting to read the tweets already there.

First of all, I will get it out of the way: I am/was a genre loyalist (of sorts) myself.  Not that I haven't read much in the way of horror novels since the big publishing company went in a very, very, VERY bad direction (ebooks and trade paperback), but when I DID, I was.  As in, loved, loved, LOVED my horror.  Had to have two or three horror novels in my To Be Read pile.  Would not enjoy novels that didn't have some sort of horror element (although, at this point, urban fantasy was getting extremely formulaic; if it had been awesome and every author's work had been their own, I would've also loved, loved, LOVED my urban fantasy for different reasons).  Here's the biggie:  I did not want to hear people say "Oh, the horror genre sucks!"  I also had problems with this idea that some book reviewers and commenters on their articles said "Only scary people read horror."  Uh, absolutely not.  I think, in the case of this comment, I was justified in being insulted.  But I had genre loyalty and it was BAD. 

This brings me to my point.  Right now, there are a bunch of romance readers and writers up in arms over a woman saying "Romance as a whole is rapey and there is nothing feminist about reading romance." 

I semi agree on point number one and completely agree on point number two, and I promise this is important to my overall point.  I tend to stick with paranormal romance because I like supernatural elements in anything I read, and oh boy is it bad relationships all over the place.  I wouldn't say they're "rapey" as much as "guy calls all the shots."  Even books that are "progressive" where the man and the woman agree to work as an equal unit end up with the guy making most of the decisions and getting all possessive and so on.  Never mind that a lot of these relationships are based on claiming, and sometimes it doesn't even make sense.  I could get the claiming if the man is, say, a part-time creature.  I don't understand it when the man is a god or demon.  As for the second point, I think most women read romance for the fantasy of it.  A few even admit to inserting themselves in place of the female lead at all times.  It just seems like, with all the garbage in the genre (not that all of it is garbage, by the way), you'd want to read it as an escape but say "I'm glad that's NOT me."  Unfortunately, I've never heard THAT from anyone.  Oh well, I have high expectations, so...take from that what you will.

Really, the only reason I read romance is because I can't write relationships.  I've never been in a relationship and it doesn't seem like something that'll happen anytime soon (for various reasons).  There is so much more to this paragraph, but I'll wait a few paragraphs down to make it.

The larger point I wanted to make is this: Romance readers/writers, there are going to be people who hate your genre.  I know, it sucks.  Try thinking you're a well adjusted person, only to be told you can't possibly be a functioning, decent member of the community because you read horror novels.  It's a part of life.  But more importantly, it's okay that people hate your genre.  Not everyone is going to love it just because you do.  In fact, I'd take it a step further and say most people hate the genre, not YOU.  So please, please, PLEASE for the love of everything cute and fluffy stop getting insulted over people saying stuff that may even possibly be true about your genre.  Now, it's different if someone actually does hate you for what you read.  You might be able to make a better case for yourself then.  But from what I've been seeing, it's you folks not being able to handle negative comments because you're such genre loyalists.

And here's some food for thought.  Okay, let's take me.  The two paragraphs above, I say I only read romance so I can write relationships in my own work.  There's more to it.  See, a lot of women read romance for the steaminess and such (which is part of the escape, I guess).  I can't physically/mentally get turned on by that.  I don't know why, I just can't.  I'd also like to add that there are a few book blog websites that have this feature where they post an image of this hot guy.  A lot of people get a lot out of this.  I look at those images and think "Hmmmmm, interesting scenery." or "Odd, I've never seen anyone off the street look like that." or even "Meh."  I do, however, love when these book blog websites post images of locations inspired by the books they read.  Here's another thing: When I read romance, I base my opinion on the book on how the female lead is written.  I like a good female lead (which kind of contradicts my love of horror novels but perfectly explains why I like some urban fantasy).  A book could get a "Oh hey, that was actually really good" because the female lead was engaging, intelligent, someone worth reading about, sarcastic without going over the top, or other related stuff.  The men may be interesting as well, but I do not give books high ratings because of them.  The men just do not do it for me in any sense.  Of course, I read romance novels for different reasons than most (it really is research, and I have learned a lot).  Still, the genre just doesn't appeal to me the way it does to others.

I'd like these genre loyalists to consider that.  Maybe their favorite genre is just not doing it for others.  It doesn't necessarily mean we hate you (and if someone comes across that way, whether it's me or Mr. Random, feel free to ignore/walk away), it just means we don't like the genre.

On a very related note, I am not, by any means, a scary person.  I have a part-time job that I am reasonably capable at.  I want a much more substantial part-time job, and I know I can do the work.  I will be going to college either this summer or this fall (whichever semester I can get into) on a partial scholarship (that I intend to keep all four years by working my butt off).  I may not look like the traditional girl, but I use good hygiene (please excuse the possible misspelling) and take care of myself.  I live at home at the moment, but I help around the house and take care of the pets (a tortoiseshell cat and tuxedo cat; they are fantabulous, usually).  I am a writer (unpublished as of right now) and although I'd love to write in my favorite genre (which is still horror in spite of not being able to keep up with it at the moment) I can't write my novel the right way for it.  I do not have the right edge, which is actually a good point.            

The thing that spawns all this is that apparently I am writing a Young Adult novel.  I hate to admit it, but I actually loathe the genre.  Like, will not touch a Young Adult book EVEN if it was written by an author I love and EVEN if it sounded awesome.  I'm not a teen anymore, which might be part of the problem, but I didn't even read much in the way of Young Adult when I WAS a teen.  Here's the thing that gets me: The most popular books tend to be teen paranormal romance, but they push the most dangerous ideas.  For example, this disgusting idea that the guy in the relationship is allowed to be abusive and overly controlling and flat-out creepy and it's okay because he's HOT!  Usually intelligent readers are like "Awwwwww!" and "Best book ever!" and "I want a *Name of guy*!"  A couple friends of mine, in fact, bought into it, and they were two of the smartest people I knew.  Uh, I think I'll pass.  The few books that seem positive in that respect/progressive are real-world based.  Not necessarily that they're literary fiction geared towards teens, but everything feels like it could happen right in front of you.  With that out of the way, I'm writing a Young Adult novel.  Young Adult Supernatural Fantasy, if you'd ask me for a specific genre.  It's only Young Adult because the female lead tends to be in the teen range when stuff happens to her (although the first book is more when she's a preteen), but I'll accept it.  I would absolutely love to contribute GOOD Young Adult fantasy to the genre, so yeah, I'm fine with it.

Here's the rest of the thoughts, which are only related because they deal with the Young Adult Genre.

Today, I read this post where a mom (I think it was a mom, could've been an aunt or cousin) had this daughter who was getting into the Young Adult genre and she had no idea where to turn.  There were a lot of suggestions, most that had me rolling my eyes.  Okay, I was surprised my eyes didn't drop from my head and bounce across the floor.  Never mind that half these books were the teen paranormal romance I griped about above, some of the authors themselves are unpleasant folks.  I don't know about anyone else, but I would not want to support authors who can't accept up-and-coming writers, who chase after people who DARE to say "Your book sucks, here's a comprehensive review to back it up", who have no idea that there are genuinely people who dislike their books, who write horribly abusive relationships and say in interviews, "I've been getting criticism, but these relationships are hot and the guy is hot and I wanted to write a bad boy, so...".  One reason I prefer reading from the adult speculative fiction (umbrella term) sections is the writers tend to be less moon-batty (my term for disconnected, wonky) and the fans seem to have a better grasp that "Okay, this is fiction.  This is not real."  Anyway, this post made me sad.  Also, I wanted to come up with my own suggestions (which would turn out to be adult novels that are "clean" or whatever) but off the top of my head, I couldn't think of any.

There's this interesting trend in cover art, which I think is both Young Adult and Adult.  It's where there's a woman on the cover, and she has this long hair that billows out.  I would not mind having a cover like that on my own book, as long as it was a bit different and distinctive.  Yeah, I know authors don't have much say in their book covers, but I'd kind of like to stand out as much as possible.

I find it weird that a lot of writers in the adult Urban Fantasy genre also write in the Young Adult genre.  Is it like a requirement?  I think I'd find it hard to say "On this day, I'm writing my adult novel.  On this next day, I'm writing my young adult novel."

I know there's a lot more I have to say on this topic, so I'll keep you all posted as it comes to me. 

Couple of things spawned this post.

First, I finished my first draft of Borrowed Life and realized it was still not working.  Part of the problem was just, it did not read like a real book.  That's something I think I'll be struggling with for quite some time.  The bigger problem was this: The ending was rushed.  Don't get me wrong, that is the ending I want.  It just felt like while the rest of the book details this character's life, the ending was one paragraph that said "So this is this and that is that.  The end!"  Ugh!  I mean, again, it's the ending I want as far as what happens.  It's just that I as the author felt ripped off.  Imagine what future readers would say.

Second was this post right here: http://thebookpushers.com/2011/01/11/hea-hea-why-art-thou-happy/.  It deals specifically with the romance genre, and this thing called HEA (Happily Ever After), and this reviewer's opinion is that all romance must have an HEA and she hates any book that does not.  Also, she believes that people who do not like HEAs look down on the romance genre (which I disagree with but can see where she's coming from at the same time).  Everyone who has commented agrees with this reviewer.  To be honest, I'm a bit scared to share my opinion because it is VERY dissenting.  But I will share it here because it's relevant to what I'm writing about book endings.

Here's the thing: I want a believable ending.  If you have all this buildup throughout a series and the ending fizzles out, for example, I will most likely take that book and chunk it against the nearest wall.  Can we talk plot twists here, as well?  Because I'm all for a good plot twist, but not at the very end when there was no evidence throughout the book/series to support it.  And as you might've guessed, if this happens I will take that book and chunk it through the nearest wall.  Now let's get specific-ish, because there have been some fantabulous books that have been ruined by one little topic.  Okay, although I'm not really interested in reading about characters having kids, sometimes it happens.  Fair enough.  However, the ending I think I hate most is the one where after you have a character who okay, wants a family and is okay with their pregnancy and so on, ends up with three or more kids and...that's their happy ending.  No no no, not even that.  I mean, I hate the idea that it can't be the things the character has accomplished/overcome that is the happy ending, it's that they have kids, I hate it very much.  It's that characters you think would not want kid after kid after kid (or heck, kids in general)...does that and that's their happy ending.  But that is just my personal gripe.  In short, the ending must be believable.

This reviewer says she feels that a downer ending is a way to mess with the readers.  Hmmmmm, I find that interesting she says this, because I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum.  I feel like a happy ending (particularly when it is not justified) does the same thing.  Now, I will give her some props (or, uh, not really sure of the word) and say that I don't like a downer ending like "Rocks fall and everyone dies."  Like, that exact phrase.   Um, okay, so WHY were we reading this series if that's the ending we get?

I could be completely biased on this topic because I'm more of a horror (well, used to be, before it became hard to find books in the genre)/urban fantasy fan than a romance fan.  See, I like reading a book where I don't know the ending.  I could guess, but that doesn't mean I'd be right.  If I know that the two lead characters are going to end up together and everything will be sappy-happy, then why am I reading the book?  Here I'll add that there's one good thing about the paranromal romance subgenre (and there's other stuff too, but this is the one that jumps out most), and that is this:  There must be a strong emphasis on the paranormal as well as the romance.  I love reading about supernatural stuff.  Therefore, I'll probably enjoy the paranormal aspects.  So, there is that.  Still, my main thing is that I want to be kept guessing, and have to follow the story to know how it ends.

Okay, so those are the two things.  

Now I'm wondering, how would you react to an ending where the main character, who you expect to die (whether it's because of a prophecy or because they have a high-risk job or...fill in the blank) and who had come close to it before, does die?  

I read an article today that made me, well, not really mad, but kind of unhappy.  The article began quite well: When a reviewer reviews a book, they need to be honest.  It continued in a decent vein (while I disagreed with the statement made, it was valid and backed up): Writers should be more than allowed to respond to reviews about their own books.  The conclusion of the piece bothered me: Writers should never ever be personally attacked.  In fact, there are some writers that are so immature and nasty to everyone that doesn't think their writing is absolute gold that maybe a (accurate) personal attack is appropriate.  But the thing that bothered me most about the conclusion was the comments it spawned.

One commenter said, not necessarily word for word, that it is never okay to attack and author OR her writing.  Excuse me?  If a book is horribly written , then I see no need to say "Well, I didn't like it, but it wasn't for me."  That writer would do well hearing "Well, I did enjoy this piece (because as the conventional reviewing wisdow states, you should always start with a compliment) but these ten (or whatever number) things kept me from enjoying this book.  Granted, this method is in no ways an attack.  I most definitely would not start a review with "You suck!" even if that was how I felt (I hate to admit it, but there are those few books and authors I am not at all impressed with) and do not recommend anyone doing it.

The thing that bothers me most about this person's comment is that they don't seem to understand that being honest and blunt is not an attack.  Because as long as you can back up your statements and you're not diving into personal insults that have no tie to what you read (accurate personal "insults" are a different case) I see no problems with the review.

Now, I have to go back to what the article said about writers should be allowed/welcomed, even to respond to reviews of their books. 

Some of the authors I like actually do this, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  If they're saying "Thank you reviewer!" it almost sounds like "Thank you for the ego-stroking!"  If they're saying "Well, yeah, if you knew anything about my books you'd know why your review is so wrong" then it makes the author look immature/not that great.  I do appreciate author responses where they clear things up for reviewers, because that's kind of like the "If you knew anything about my books..." but instead of telling the reviewer how horrible they are for "misjuging" the writing, they give them useful information for future reference.  In fact, one reason why I (used to) avoid my favorite authors' websites was, I didn't want to find out they were jerky when responding to questions/comments/interviewer questions.  Turns out, most of the authors I like are reasonable people who handle praise and criticism well, so that was a pleasant discovery.

In short, there was this article and its comments that didn't quite do it for me.  

 

Wow, I can't believe I'm writing another rant here!  I thought getting a fresh start would mean less rants, more content.  But, the more time I spend online, the more it seems I discover things to rant about.

I am really beginning to hate the writing forum that I said I used to love/still like because of some of the new people that came on this year.  I love differing perspectives, but there's this one user who has some ridiculous things to say.  The topic that prompted this rant deals with fanfiction and character pairings. I should add that it's not so much her official stance on character pairings (which admittedly bothers me, and I'll explain that the best I can), but how she can't seem to justify her views without dissolving into "I'm done!  I'm out of here!"

So, there's this person who believes that all fanfiction character pairings need to be strictly canon.  There are a sizable number of fanfiction writers that believe this, so fair enough.  In a similar vein, she claims that she isn't anti-gay but "straight" characters must be absolutely one hundred percent "straight" even if readers/viewers don't know their true orientation.  This is significant to mention because, well, fanfiction writers love pairing their favorite characters together in spite of/even if/because they can/just because, no matter what the characters' canon relationships are.  

I find her thoughts on the second part a bit concerning on both a personal and literary level.  

First for the personal.  She added that a lot of people on the forum have been saying her views on "straight" characters being "straight" does mean that she's anti-gay, which is kind of telling.  If you have to say "Well, I'm not anti-gay!" when enough people have been making the observation, maybe you're coming across like you are.  Just a thought that was gnawing at me after reading other posts from her and thinking to myself, "Wow, she sounds really intolerant/close-minded!" 

On a literary standpoint, I firmly agree with the folks that say if an author hasn't said "This character is one hundred percent straight" then readers/viewers are allowed to think whatever they want.  A quick related note: Sometimes there may be slashy subtext that the author had no intention of writing that way but it came out as such anyway, but in my reading experience (yes, I'm more of a book person) I've observed that usually it's intentionally there.  In any case, readers/viewers should have the freedom to make up their own minds about character relationships where the author didn't specify.  But if you know anything about fanfiction writers, you'll know it doesn't matter what the author says is canon.  That's the fun of fanfiction (while I never personally got into it myself, a lot of people say that's what keeps them in).

So we have this user with these views, which in short has some issues (see above explanation) themselves, but there's more to it than that.  If she could have a calm discussion on the forum where she says "This is what I think.  This is my opinion.  Like it, hate it, whatever" it would be fine.  I take the most issue with how she reacts when people disagree with her.  She gets upset and writes a post about "I'm right and if this is what you all act like I'm leaving this forum forever!"  In her defense, she did write a later post apologizing for being so quick to anger, but having read other very similar posts by her, I personally find it unbelievable.

I firmly believe that you can say whatever you want, but you also have to be able to justify it.  And when I say justify, I mean that you can have a reasonable discussion explaining why you disagree with the majority view.  If it becomes clear that you're not getting anywhere then by all means back out (sometimes it's the only way to maintain your sanity).  But if you back out, a simple "I stand by my statement" is sufficient. 

There's this woman I follow on Twitter, and although she's more of a paranormal romance fan and I'm more of a horror fan I like reading what she has to say.  One of her tweets was about how she went to review a horror novel on Amazon and people responded to her with "Oh, you can't review a horror novel.  You're a romance fan."  While I absolutely synmpathize with her rage, because nobody has any right to tell you what you can and can't review, I'm split on how I feel about people reviewing outside of their genre of choice.

And like in any post I make, I'm going to explain why.

First of all, consider if it was me instead of her.  The roles would be reversed.  I read horror (as well as dark fantasy and some urban/contemporary fantasy and once in a while sci-fi) and tend to avoid paranormal romance (unless it's a novel that's a blend of genres, and paranormal romance happens to be one of the genres).  So, I would be more at home reviewing a horror novel.  I may not review it correctly (and the fact that there is a correct way to review something is a subject I intend to journal about later) but I would definitely get some words on screen.  So what if one day I decide "Hey, I read this paranormal romance novel and I really want to review it?"  That's one of the reasons I'm taking her side, because one day I could be reviewing a book outside of my genre.

That out of the way, I wanted to say why I'm not so sure I'd be comfortable reading a review from someone who doesn't usually read or review in that particular genre.  I personally read reviews to know whether or not to spend my hard-earned (usually lousy) money on a new book.  I want the review to be reliable. Well, if the reviewer isn't familiar with the genre, some of the critique might be a little misguided. 

For example, say you are someone who reads non-supernatural mystery novels.  When you pick up an urban fantasy novel, where you're likely to have a mystery as a huge part of the plot but there's all sorts of supernatural twists to it (maybe someone killed someone else with magic, or someone released a dangerous creature and main character has to find out who released the creature and then stop it from destroying the world), you might not be prepared to review it.  Your review might say "Well, the mystery was there, but what is with all this magic?  Why couldn't you just have everyone be human?"  Any urban fantasy fan will tell you that's the whole point of the novel, but that's just it. Fans will tell you that.  Someone who is new to the genre themselves could write this review and turn off potential new fans because they weren't aware themselves of what they were getting into.

The other issue I have stems from knowing that readers have favorite genres for a reason.  In this woman's case, it's not a stretch to see her read and review horror novels.  She has said she likes the horror genre, even though she's more of a romance reader.  It's just that romance has spoke to her the most.  Well, if she (or anyone, I'm just using her as an example because that's what I've been doing this entire post) is aware going into the horror novel that there's not going to be the romance she loves and it will get disturbing (hopefully) then I have no doubt that she can write a good review.  But what if a reviewer judges the new genre based on criteria from their genre?

We'll use an example of my favorite genres.  It' isn't entirely fair since I'm aware enough of both genres to know "Oh, yeah, that's going to happen" but I'll ask you to go with me for a bit. 

I can enjoy an urban fantasy novel if it has some blood/gore, more than one scene of action, strong supernatural elements, and a strong lead character.  I can enjoy a horror novel if it has a noticeable amount of blood/gore (unless it's psychological horror, and then it gets a pass), more than one scene of action, strong supernatural elements, and a strong lead character.  Both genres (or genre and subgenre) are similar in what I can enjoy.  Here's the things that would take me out of each genre.  I will give up on an urban fantasy novel if there's all this world-building and no action, no supernatural elements to speak of, no magic (implied is fine if that's the point, but there's got to be evidence), a weak character that relies on everyone around them to solve their problems, and extreme romance (such as, there's a dangerous situation going on and the female and male lead take time out to hop into bed)  I will give up on a horror novel if it's not psychological and there's no blood/gore, if there's no action, if it takes half the book to get to the point and then the point is lost at the end, and if I find myself wanting everyone dead, even the "good guys" I'm supposed to cheer for. 

I have different requirements for what makes a good horror novel and what makes a good urban fantasy novel.  When it comes to what I like, the two are very similar.  When it comes to what I don't like, there are important differences.  If I'm reading an urban fantasy novel I can't say "Well, there's no point and I'm wanting everyone dead, so it is a terrible, terrible book!"  If I'm reading a horror novel, I can't say "Well, there's no magic so it's a terrible, terrible book!"  

I keep saying I may have been using an unfair example and I'm beginning to see why, but let's keep going with it.  I might get my review written and it might make me feel better getting it off my chest, but it wouldn't work as a review.  Because I went in with a checklist from my favorite genre expecting something I wouldn't get from the new genre.

Since I've gone on and on, I think I should close this post.  And I'm going to close it with this.  Anyone should be able to review whatever they like.  Nobody should be telling them "Oh, you can't review it because it's out of your genre!"  However, there are things to consider when reviewing something out of your genre.