There are two types of groups for the Twilight series: Those who loved it and those who hated it. I'm sure those who loved it outrank the latter. But you'll very seldom find someone who says, "It was okay? I could take it or leave it."
The point of this post is my being appalled by a review of Twilight or more so, Stephenie Meyer. I've stuck to one book genre my entire life. (I know, I've lived a sheltered life.) I fell into YA by accident. My son was struggling with his reading assignments. He hated to read. So I bought the first Harry Potter book and planned to help him with his grade. We read it together and I was hooked! I'd been missing a whole world of books that I found I loved! I proudly own every Harry Potter book and movie! When Twilight came out my friends were all in a frenzy to get the book. I didn't buy it at first but later I thought why not? I loved J.K. Rowling's books. I admit, the writing wasn't as lovely as J.K. Rowling's, but I found the characters intriguing and who could forget Cedric Diggory! I was "Team Edward" all the way! I own all the books and movies now!
I should clear up my statement about only reading one genre my entire life. To be honest, I only read one author my entire life, who we'll refer to as "my author" for this post. I fell into this author's world as a teenager and had no desire to venture farther. In my opinion, "my author" was a writing god/goddess. I'd always wanted to write a book, to get published, but my own mind was an enemy. I could never write as well as "my author" so why even try. However, after reading Harry Potter and the author's bio, I thought: "She's a real person, just like me. I can do this! I can write my book!" I'd played up "my author" so much in my mind that he/she wasn't real anymore. J.K. Rowling is a real person. If she can do it, why can't I? So I did!
Then "my author", my celestial being, reviewed Twilight, and nothing nice was said. That almost broke me. What if I did get published? What if "my author" reviewed my book poorly? The fear of my god/goddess possibly reviewing my book and saying I couldn't write, set my querying process back by 5 years. Seriously!
Then I got angry. "My author" had at one time been modest and said: "If I can do it, anyone can." When did he/she move past modesty? When did his/her head grow so big? I don't remember the exact words in the review my author gave about Twilight. But in my mind, what I read was: "You'll never write as well as me, so give up!" Really?!
Authors are not created equally. Some have great stories, but not so wonderful words. Some have poor stories, but great words, and some have both, (they are hard to find). The point to my rant is: Stephenie Meyer was like every other aspiring author out there. The courage it takes to put yourself through querying, rejections and bad reviews is immeasurable. So Kudos to you, Stephenie Meyer!!
As I'm often told I live in a fantasy world. I had this fantastical misconception that authors should stick together. Veterans should encourage the new-comers. I still love my original genre but I've since ventured farther. So I guess I should thank "my author" for that. But the review has left a sour taste in my mouth for any of "my author's" new books and an astounding disappointment in my heart.
So to conclude: Don't ever put all of your stock into one person. Don't ever give up! And when you do make it, please don't ever bash another author. You were them once.
No comments:
Post a Comment