The Good, The Bad and The Unread: You ARE what you WRITE

I have talked about this before so I won't even get into how silly I think it is to assume an authors values, morals or world views based on the fictional characters she/he creates.

Since an author is one person it seems all they would be able to write is one character. Does it happen? Sure! Can you assume an author is pro life because her character is? I just can't buy that. Do true crime authors have bodies buried in their backyard? What about that happily married author, who has slept with one man, her husband of 30 years who is over there writing threesome stories? Explain her! (I am really not referring to any one author I just pulled that out of my ass but feel free to say if that is you *g*)

oops I just said I wasn't going to go there... but hey feel free to weigh in if you agree or not with LyndaX:

As for assuming that an author's personality and values are reflected by her work, that seems fair to me too. If I read an author who shows cruelty to animals as funny, I do make valid--IMO--assumptions about her. Is it fair to assume that an author who writes sexually explicit material is promiscuous? No. But it is fair to assume that she is in favor of sexual freedom. Whether an author means to or not, her book conveys her values, and I think those values are a fair target. If all the black characters in a book are shown to be lazy, dishonest, and stupid, then I think it's fair game to criticize the author, sometimes in a way that she might describe as vicious. Books elicit strong responses.

I would LOVE examples of books, plots, characters you have written that don't reflect you at all, as well as the ones that might. Or tell me I am wrong and that every book you write reflects who you are and your values. I am always open to learning I am wrong.

Come on you know you wanna play!

(I don't like to quote from other places, meaning the open, public, anyone can access online blogs and message boards. Since AAR doesn't archive all their boards and I keep running into dead links I am quoting [but only the public boards].)

Labels: ponderings, Romance

4 Comments:

I'd dearly love to find out what LyndaX thinks of Jeff Lindsay, who writes the Dexter books, from which the TV series is adapted from.

It's written in first-person, from a serial killer's POV.

I think it'd be fair to say that every writer has themes they like to explore that come from their own life, but I don't think it's true that how a character thinks/acts is necessarily representative of the author.

By May, at 11/11/2006 08:08:00 AM
I think she has a right to assume whatever she wants.

That doesn't mean she's right.

By meljean brook, at 11/11/2006 11:11:00 AM
Meljean hit it on the head. lol. I'll tell ya, I *could* write some nasty, nasty stuff. Does that make me a nasty person? Nah. But I can *imagine* what it's like to be one. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

By Kathryn S, at 11/11/2006 01:03:00 PM
I was tempted to reply to her post on AAR, but just couldn't bother because the assumptions stated were so ridiculous. While there are author's like LKH who've incorporated a twee bit too much of the aspects of their own life in their works, the norm would be more along the lines of the author of Dexter.

By vanessa jaye, at 11/12/2006 01:04:00 PM


<< Home

About Me