SPEAK and Free Speech

I usually steer clear of controversy on this blog. I don't like making people mad (and I hope I won't make anyone mad today!). But this is something I've been thinking about for a long time.


Last week I finally read SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. I've had it on my list ever since all the hubbub last fall. For any of you who missed it, this should give you the gist of what went down.


I know I'm super late to this discussion, but I wanted to say a few things now that I've read the book.


First, I thought SPEAK was excellent. A must read. The subject matter (recovering after rape) was painful, but so important. I felt like both of the scenes dealing with rape were done well. They were not gratuitous at all, but still showed the violence and horror of the act. I agree one hundred percent that the Missouri professor was WAY off base calling it soft porn.


It is absolutely a book I want my kids to read when they get older.


All of that said, I want to address one of the issues I had with the uproar last fall. While Laurie Halse Anderson and all the bloggers and writers who rushed to her defense had the right to speak up and defend something they believed in, so did the guy in Missouri. And though I don't agree with what he said, I do believe he had the right to say it.


In the U.S. free speech is a right for everyone, not just writers and artists. Not just people with whom we agree. EVERYONE. Whether a person is conservative, liberal, communist, or just plain crazy they have a right to say what they believe. Sometimes I think we forget this.


Here's an example:


About a year ago, I was on Twitter when a published author tweeted about reading a Goodreads review of her book. She was livid. The reviewer found some of the things in the book offensive and rated it low.


So, the author went to the Goodreads review and left a scathing comment about how the reviewer was an idiot, and the review was tantamount to censorship. AND THEN the author posted a link to her reply on Twitter and encouraged her followers to leave more mean comments on this poor person's Goodread's review. Goodreads! This was not some national reviewer. This was just a reader who picked up a book and didn't like it.


I thought the whole thing was very TACKY. And wrong. The author had the right to write her book. She had the right to include any content she wanted to include. But the reviewer also had a right to voice her opinions. Having the author and twenty of her twitter followers jump down the the reviewer's throat, and attack her personally, for sharing her thoughts was more than a little hypocritical.


Needless to say, I deleted the author from my twitter feed.


I think the issue I had with both this situation, and to an extent the SPEAK uproar, was that people did not simply defend the books in question, they also attacked the person voicing their opinion. It is one thing to say, "I totally disagree with you. I believe this book was good and important for XYZ reasons," it's quite another to say, "Because you made this comment you are a pervert/homophobe/idiot/insert- overblown-insult-here."


I think we need to accept that not everyone will like what we write. We may offend people. Our books may even get banned. And while we have the right to defend ourselves against criticisms we find unjust, we should try to do it in a civilized manner. It's importatnt to respect other people's right to speak freely, even if we strongly disagree with their opinions.


Thoughts?

It's All About Taste

It occurred to me about a month ago that all of the steps in the publishing process come down to one thing: personal taste.

You can write the most brilliant novel ever about sea slugs, and if you only submit it to one agent, and that agent happens to detest sea slugs, it won't get published.

Or perhaps you'll find an agent who is crazy about sea slugs and loves your chatty MC and thinks the story is wonderful, but when he submits it to editors, one editor doesn't like the chatty MC, and one likes the MC, but thinks the story is lame, and another just hates sea slugs.

And then if you manage to sell the book you have to worry about reviewers who hate sea slugs or chatty MC's or books with alternating points of view. And then readers... you get the point.

Every person in this world has their own set of likes and dislikes. I dislike books where people seem to fall in love/infatuation for no clear reason. This scenario drives me crazy. But there are a lot of books like this that are popular, so just because I don't like them doesn't mean someone else (or millions of someone elses) won't.

I think it's important to remember when you query agents, or your agent submits to editors, that in the end it comes down to taste. The agent has to love your book in order to take it on. And if one agent doesn't love it, that doesn't mean it isn't great. It could be the hottest book since Harry Potter, but it just didn't fit with that agent's interests. I think this is why we're told over and over again to query widely.

So there you go. Don't feel bad about rejection, it's all (or at least a lot) about personal taste.

Have you ever read a bestseller that you hated? Or have you ever read a quiet little book that you loved?

I was supposed to unplug this week, but I didn't. So, I'm going to officially unplug tomorrow and stay unplugged until a week from Monday. I'll miss you!

My goal during unplugged time will be to FINALLY finish this first draft. It's close. I just need some time to focus.

Taking Criticism

(There's something wrong with this post, so if your comments got deleted I am so sorry!)

Criticism can be a really great thing for our writing. I love getting my manuscript back from my writing group (or my family members when they aren't being too nice) covered in red marks. It reminds me that they care.

I'd feel bad if my story was so awful they didn't bother pointing out that I used "your" when I should have used "you're," or that Chapter 25 felt rushed, or that the third paragraph in Chapter 14 was confusing. Criticism is almost always a good thing.

Except when it isn't that good.

I once got a comment from someone in cyberspace that he/she thought my idea was stupid and that my book was sure to be a "dud". OUCH!!! But, even though that criticism was NOT constructive, it did help me to see some of the weaknesses of my plot and work to compensate for them. It also served as a reminder not to take criticism personally, and never to say such a thing about anyone else's work.

I think I've gotten better and better at taking criticism and incorporating the good and throwing out the stuff I don't totally agree with. With every beta read my manuscript gets better, and I am convinced I never would have made it this far with my writing if I trusted entirely on my own skills.

Do you take criticism well? How have good critiques helped your writing?