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Authors have fans and fans have knives
Sep. 11th, 2010 07:05 pmThe problem with being a book whore is that inevitably people will discuss which books they don't particularly care for. Which is fair enough. I quite like a good rant and rave about something that's so god awful that it must be purged from your system in some way. Thing is, when discussing the suck that is Book or Author A, we invariably bring up other authors that we think suck. (We, in this case, happen to be royal. I try to avoid this whole paint them all with the paintbrush of suck approach to things, but other people refuse to join me!)
Sigh.
The problem with this is that just because a group of people can agree that author L sucks, it does not mean this same large group of people is going to agree that authors J, K, and Z also suck. This is just not how things work. Sometimes you get lucky and an author really is that awful that the group agrees. And sometimes you have just stomped all over someone's toes and insulted an author they love.
Or like.
Or respect.
But the most fun part comes when you insult the author's fans without even trying to the point that even someone who isn't a fan or hasn't read the books can tell, dude. You're asking for your ass to be handed to you.
( Because... )
There are some authors whose work I think is awful. Thing is, aside from one notable exception (and she had/has the power to do better which is the source of the frustration) I... don't read the things I don't like. I'm not in school anymore. No one's holding a grade to my head and threatening to fail me if I don't read and pretend to enjoy a certain book.
Maybe this isn't entirely true. I've read books by authors I like and love and some just don't measure up, but in most cases I try very hard not to mock people who do enjoy that particular outing. I try to err on the side of "I do not read ___'s books because I don't think they're for more" rather than "___'s books are complete crap. WTF is wrong with people buying them by the truck loads?" Which, I should point out, was not said about the aforementioned author. It was a different one. One, I imagine, who can laugh all the way to the bank, even on a Sunday when they're closed. :P
To counter this, I still get a stupid grin on my face whenever someone mentions Christopher Pike and I stumble across it.
Sigh.
The problem with this is that just because a group of people can agree that author L sucks, it does not mean this same large group of people is going to agree that authors J, K, and Z also suck. This is just not how things work. Sometimes you get lucky and an author really is that awful that the group agrees. And sometimes you have just stomped all over someone's toes and insulted an author they love.
Or like.
Or respect.
But the most fun part comes when you insult the author's fans without even trying to the point that even someone who isn't a fan or hasn't read the books can tell, dude. You're asking for your ass to be handed to you.
( Because... )
There are some authors whose work I think is awful. Thing is, aside from one notable exception (and she had/has the power to do better which is the source of the frustration) I... don't read the things I don't like. I'm not in school anymore. No one's holding a grade to my head and threatening to fail me if I don't read and pretend to enjoy a certain book.
Maybe this isn't entirely true. I've read books by authors I like and love and some just don't measure up, but in most cases I try very hard not to mock people who do enjoy that particular outing. I try to err on the side of "I do not read ___'s books because I don't think they're for more" rather than "___'s books are complete crap. WTF is wrong with people buying them by the truck loads?" Which, I should point out, was not said about the aforementioned author. It was a different one. One, I imagine, who can laugh all the way to the bank, even on a Sunday when they're closed. :P
To counter this, I still get a stupid grin on my face whenever someone mentions Christopher Pike and I stumble across it.