The Good, The Bad and The Unread: I know I always say I am gonna stop throwing myself under the reviewbus

Some authors are never, ever, evah gonna like reviews. (hey monica is jealous cuz at least someone read your book to bitch about it)

And we can say over and over and over that reviews are opinion. Because that is what they fucking they are - OPINION.

My question is can you have an opinion on FACT?

We read romance fiction (among whatever else), does that mean in order to have a view on if something rings true to us we have to research it first?

I adore Elizabeth Lowell. One thing she seems (note SEEMS) to be is very well researched. But really, for all I know her books are riddled with errors. She comes across well. She makes me believe she knows her shit.

But really, really, I know nothing for sure cuz I didn't go pick up books on gems (or whatever) after reading her book.

I have really enjoyed some scottish historicals before I started to chat with maili. She killed my lurve of them because she had to point out shit I didn't know was wrong. Donna know how that pissed in my cheerios. I couldn't read a scottish historical after that without going into fact check overload.

le sigh I miss maili...

Maybe ignorance is bliss... but either way, does the reviewer have to research something in order to say it feels wrong?

Isn't it up to the writer to make us believe in their world? No matter if it is based in fact,

completely made up or a mixture of the two the writer has to sell it to me because if it is written well enough I can believe in anything. Well until I know better... maybe romance books should come with cliff notes.

But who do we put in charge to make sure those are correct?

5 Comments:

It is, but I think one problem--and you might want to give the writers of those Scottish historicals a wee break, because I think Scottish historicals have the most "baggage"--is that correct research can "feel" wrong, simply because so many other people have had it wrong. So an author is sometimes obliged to write something they know isn't actually true, because people will not believe it otherwise.

Case in point: I posted the first chapter of my soon-to-be-released historical on a critique site. I was amazed at how many comments I got questioning the accuracy of the scene I'd described, even to saying they would stop reading because obviously I didn't know what I was talking about. Problem was, everything had been carefully researched and was all true.

So what do I do? Stay with the truth, knowing some people will put the book down, or alter it to make it acceptable to readers, but knowing that I'm writing something wrong?

I avoided the question by deleting the whole thing. But not all writers have the option.

I'm not defending bad research. It drives me crazy. But if the untruth is a generally accepted "truth" (did that make sense?) I try to let it go.

By Stacia, at 8/17/2006 06:48:00 AM
OK. I am responsible for what I write. Yes. I am.

However, I am not going out of my way to moderate what I write so that someone else's viewpoint of professional behavior can be assuaged. Because I'm not a professional reader, nor am I a professional reviewer.

People say brilliant things in public. People say stupid things in public. Simply because the utterance was made in public does not make the opinion behind the stupidity or brilliance any more or less damaging/uplifting.

We all need to sigh and let a lot of this just go. (Although I admit to being really startled by the idea that I also needed a decal for my blog since I have not yet read, oh so many, many types of books written by many varieties of authors. But I let that one go too.)

By Suisan, at 8/17/2006 03:38:00 PM
Don't worry suisan. Just type up your tbr pile along with your reasons for each choice and send it over to monica.

She will than decide how you really think and feel, then you know, tell you so you can make sure you are behaving to her standards.

I love the selflessness of others.

By sybil, at 8/18/2006 02:06:00 AM
police blog... that so should be a button

By sybil, at 8/18/2006 02:07:00 AM
Sybil, I NEVER said what you had to read or feature on your own dang blog. You're the one who said I did. I'm sick of people saying I said things that I didn't. I said many times you have the right to your preference. How did you miss that?

And why can't I respond to your comment that you don't read black authored romances? If I were Jewish and you said you don't read romances by Jews, wouldn't I have a right to ask why?

The only thing I said was that I wish blogs and sites who exclude black authors would label themselves.

Not that I think it will happen, but I wish it would.

By Anonymous, at 8/18/2006 08:41:00 AM


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