Angie

Yes, Nonny, you’re absolutely right. It *is* only in romance that I see this “You better be nice OR ELSE” attitude, which frankly is no small part of the reson why I’m not really writing romance anymore. (The biggest part, though, is simply that I’m better at UF; my voice fits it better. Which isn’t to say I’m great at UF, I don’t mean it that way, just that it suits me better.) It’s extremely irritating. Since when are women such fragile li’l flowers that we just can’t take somebody being meeean to poor ol’ us? And “being mean” is defined as, oh, having dissenting opinions, or not jumping up and down and squeeing with delight over your every utterance, or independent thought of any kind? Groan.

Oh, I know LW…sigh, I know.

Well, Angie, it’s not *ALL* women, to be fair. Like that guy who a few weeks ago started leaving comments on an editor’s blog encouraging the editor to kill himself (and take his cat with him when he did), which was just vile to the millionth power. So you do see men pull this crap on occasion. But yes, it’s mostly women, and it does make us all look bad, and I want to scream and tear out my hair when it happens. I’m tired of those women’s behavior reflecting on me.

And yeah, like I said, King’s comments weren’t even that bad, what the hell was the big deal? Sigh.

We’ve seen these people online. We see them all the freaking time, in fact. They’re the ones who stalk Amazon reviewers or decide to name transexual AIDS-riddled prostitutes after people who give them mediocre reviews (and let’s keep in mind, btw, what sort of person thinks “transexual” is a worthy insult) or send nasty emails to reviewers or start blogs where they put up nasty cartoons or send hate mail or have hissy fits in comments or whatever the fuck it is, and thus make all female writers look as though we too have never progressed beyond the 9th grade.

Absolutely. [nod/applause] What’s frustrating is that these women (and yeah, it seems to be all women) seem to be completely unaware how bad they look. I want to smack every one of them just for being the same gender as me.

To say nothing of the fact that if they hadn’t kicked up such a flaily, whining fuss, the whole thing would’ve died down a lot quicker than it did. Many people who’d never heard King’s opinion of Meyer normally, did hear it because of the stink they raised. Good job, kids! [eyeroll]

Angie

nonny, it’s the gd pc crap… again!

LOL, V95!! {{hug}}

Sigh, I know, Seeley. I know.

Exactly, laughingwolf. I have had a few commenters on my livejournal mention how it’s a kind of good thing this has happened because people are talking about books in a positive way now instead of screaming how publishing is broken and the sky is falling and everything is wrong, all wrong. So that is good, and I’m all for the idea of discussion abut books and which are good and what good writing is and all of that.

Oh, kis, yes!! Only writers are qualified to review but they’re not allowed to go against “professional courtesy.” FFS, really. I just find that so irritating. I mean, yes, I wouldn’t publicly criticize another writer in my genre, generally, simply because I might run into them somewhere and it might be awkward, and because between myself and my friends, I’m semi-connected to pretty much everyone who writes UF. But the idea that someone like Stephen King can’t offer an opinion on something? That any of us can’t offer an opinion on something? What the hell kind of world is that? (It’s actually the kind of world where people go on gun rampages in public places because of all the bottled-up rage and craziness, IMO.) Sigh. Get OVER it, not everyone is going to like everything!! And they have a right to not like things!!

See, Written, I do agree that people should be careful what they say and about whom. And honestly, I think had he chosen someone else to criticize I might have felt differently; I do think that fact that Meyer is so popular and successful makes it harder to fault him, if you know what I mean. It’s less like picking on someone beneath you. I think the thing that really gets me is just that his comments aren’t even that bad, you know? It’s not like he went on a ten-paragraph diatribe about everything he hates about her work. But yes, we should be careful.

Exactly, Bernard. Meyer doesn’t *need* his endorsement, at all. It’s not like she’s a beginner he’s called garbage. Anyone who really cares about his opinion probably either hasn’t read her or has already formed thier own opinion, and those who love Meyer aren’t going to turn around now and say “Gee, this isn’t very good.”

who really give a rat’s ass about what is said… by anyone?

(because I don’t do the amen thing)