tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post7479493186729282014..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: I swear I made you up - Apology to Vellanoweth, by Roz MorrisKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66213390894297103762012-06-24T14:38:11.864+01:002012-06-24T14:38:11.864+01:00Oh dear. It happens. As sure as, just as you type ...Oh dear. It happens. As sure as, just as you type "The End", you come across a book, already out and successful sounding suspiciously like your own. Same with characters' names and, you got it, places you think you've made up! <br /><br />I read MMOAFL, all the time thinking that Vellanoweth was an anagram of The Law Novel or The Awl Novel! And that I'd guessed some writerly trick of yours :)<br /><br />I google virtually every name I come up with. Whatever it is, it always seems to exist somewhere. Probably prior to the internet , we would never have known. Never mind. This stuff happens and at least you took steps to put things right with the real inhabitants!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66201542111308458982011-10-25T20:45:28.852+01:002011-10-25T20:45:28.852+01:00Thanks, Margaret - it's funny how what you wri...Thanks, Margaret - it's funny how what you write with complete abandon might come back to bite you! If I were you I'd swap the personnel around too so they don't recognise themselves...Roz Morris aka @Roz_Morris . Blog: Nail Your Novelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088813423467048081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-47574392457029934322011-10-22T20:26:44.125+01:002011-10-22T20:26:44.125+01:00Love this. I often wonder what the reponse will b...Love this. I often wonder what the reponse will be to the locations in my novels when they are published. I real towns, just change the names of the shops, restaurants, etc., to protect the innocent. You handled this with a great sense of humor.Margaret Duartehttp://www.enterthebetween.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-60215440788683868482011-10-22T00:30:56.263+01:002011-10-22T00:30:56.263+01:00Thanks for anointing my post with such fine quotat...Thanks for anointing my post with such fine quotations, Ray!Roz Morris aka @Roz_Morris . Blog: Nail Your Novelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088813423467048081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-10777782497808433742011-10-21T21:37:40.963+01:002011-10-21T21:37:40.963+01:00Ms. Mixon, perhaps you're thinking of Edith Wh...Ms. Mixon, perhaps you're thinking of Edith Wharton, who in her autobiography <i>A Backward Glance</i> wrote this: <br /><br />"All novelist who describe what is called 'society life' are pursued by the exasperating accusation of putting flesh-and-blood people into their books. Anyone gifted with the least creative faculty knows the absurdity of such a charge. 'Real people' transported into a work of the imagination would instantly cease to be real; only those born of the creator's brain can give the least illusion of reality.... Nothing can be more trying to the creative writer than to have a clumsy finger point at one of the beings born in that mysterious other-world of invention, with the playful accusation: 'Of course we all recognize your aunt Eliza!'"<br /><br />And there's also this:<br /><br />"Every writer uses the people in his life -- what other experience does he or she have? For every Dubliner who was scandalized by the publication of Joyce's <i>Ulysses</i> and every East Side socialite who was shocked by Capote's 'La Cote Basque,' there are probably as many people who felt hurt that they were not included. What's worse: to read something scathing about yourself, or to be deemed unworthy of comment?"<br /><br />(Betsy Lerner, <i>The Forest for the Trees</i>).<br /><br />As an aside, I will note that I <i>emphatically</i> agree with Edith Wharton: nothing is more trying than a clumsy finger point.<br /><br />My thanks to you all,<br /><br />RayJournalPulphttp://journalpulp.com/2011/10/06/interview-with-slagheap/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-60817435935440155422011-10-20T22:15:01.851+01:002011-10-20T22:15:01.851+01:00Hello, Cat! Definitely got to look on the bright s...Hello, Cat! Definitely got to look on the bright side about that!<br /><br />Hi Victoria! Oh that's so true. I have a friend who has repeatedly hinted he'd like to have a walk-on at least.Roz Morris aka @Roz_Morris . Blog: Nail Your Novelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088813423467048081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-79607329143584126132011-10-20T17:20:46.361+01:002011-10-20T17:20:46.361+01:00"I'm sorry about the spiritualists."..."I'm sorry about the spiritualists."<br /><br />:))<br /><br />It's driving me nuts that I can't remember who said it, but a great writer once pointed out that all your friends will be offended when they see themselves in your novel whether they're there or not---or else they'll be offended when they don't.Victoria Mixonhttp://victoriamixon.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-8248937937608390622011-10-20T16:35:51.381+01:002011-10-20T16:35:51.381+01:00Your groveling is quite sincere.
The good news is...Your groveling is quite sincere.<br /><br />The good news is that someone from unexpected (and previously unknown) reaches of the world has read your book!<br /><br />That has to count for something.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-80950484078678581812011-10-20T14:18:37.564+01:002011-10-20T14:18:37.564+01:00Katherine, that is priceless. Send them a unicorn....Katherine, that is priceless. Send them a unicorn. <br />Susan - Thank you (and your handsome unicorn...)Roz Morris aka @Roz_Morris . Blog: Nail Your Novelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088813423467048081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-25271218078714083972011-10-20T13:43:41.652+01:002011-10-20T13:43:41.652+01:00I'm laughing myself sick, Roz! Memories is on ...I'm laughing myself sick, Roz! Memories is on my "to be read" list -- but after this post it's moving to the top.Susan Schreyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11902407971890082541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-34301054835386819722011-10-20T13:24:35.007+01:002011-10-20T13:24:35.007+01:00I had a similar experience with my book "Spel...I had a similar experience with my book "Spellfall", which has an imaginary parallel universe called Earthaven. After the book was published, someone from America wrote to say there really was an Earthaven, they lived in it, and it was an alternative community... strangely with much the same philosophy as my Earthaven, though without the unicorns (I think!)<br /><br />So maybe it's more a case of the names belonging to certain types of places... you can invent the place, but not the name? Even the spelling is not necessarily wrong - many towns and villages have had various different spellings through the years.Katherine Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-46110244920124007732011-10-20T10:53:07.475+01:002011-10-20T10:53:07.475+01:00Dan - hmmmm, sensitivity. Guess I'll find out ...Dan - hmmmm, sensitivity. Guess I'll find out if they're 'Most Sensitive Town of the Year'. <br />Jo - I think I grovelled pretty comprehensively there. <br />Madwippitt - perhaps I'll go in disguise. I am very curious to visit them now, though. <br />Jan - LOL! There's always one...Roz Morris aka @Roz_Morris . Blog: Nail Your Novelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088813423467048081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-71174196992291942252011-10-20T10:37:27.661+01:002011-10-20T10:37:27.661+01:00I had a worse experience with my Wagstaffe the Win...I had a worse experience with my Wagstaffe the Wind-up Boy. Seventy three people wrote to say they really did have clockwork insides and a dirty big key sticking out of their back. I didn't necessarily believe them, but I did apologise, just in case. Anyway, is there any real evidence that Cornwall exists?Jan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-60294700429169998872011-10-20T09:15:38.103+01:002011-10-20T09:15:38.103+01:00Maybe they'll invite you over to find out what...Maybe they'll invite you over to find out what it's really like! (Although if they meet you off the train carrying burning torches and pitchforks, probably best to stay on till at least the next stop ...)madwippitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02595748471651052552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-25432358793387996532011-10-20T09:07:57.780+01:002011-10-20T09:07:57.780+01:00I so hope your apology is accepted, after all that...I so hope your apology is accepted, after all that grovelling!JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-4788439864409737872011-10-20T09:07:00.054+01:002011-10-20T09:07:00.054+01:00ouch! It's a real minefield (the making it up ...ouch! It's a real minefield (the making it up thing, not Vellanoweth, in case anyone gets further upset). The advantage of writing about real places is that you can knowingly fictionalise them and be pretty sure you've eradicated any sensitive bits. Writing about people and places fictitious is a whole bundle more fraught it seems. Funny old business!Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com