tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post6433870797085483992..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Writers and readers - are they getting too close for comfort? by Ali BaconKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-25457387318275792702015-10-24T11:22:27.401+01:002015-10-24T11:22:27.401+01:00Oh dear - had a busy coupe of days so apologies fo...Oh dear - had a busy coupe of days so apologies for not responding to your comments, everyone, but it looks like we are pretty much in agreement!<br />irect interaction with readers is usually welcomed. If you think about live performance, there is a buzz from the immediate reaction of an audience which is usually denied to the written word (although a fan letter was always an option). <br />I do know some authors are resentful of publiishers' expectations re publicity etc but I heard of one this week who has just decided to withdraw from all interviews, festivals etc - already a best-seller, of course - most of us know we need to get out there if we want to sell anything! AliBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09611113709872287863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-90421737294041039022015-10-22T23:49:56.235+01:002015-10-22T23:49:56.235+01:00Yes an interesting and thought-provoking post. Con...Yes an interesting and thought-provoking post. Conan Doyle brought Holmes back after public clamour - however he'd killed him off in a way which made that easy to do, so he may have wanted that option. I've noticed more readers agonising about the odd comment by a reader or potential reader, and offering to change their books to suit, which is ludicrous imo. Joanne Harris made her name with a very commercial book combining chocolate, sex and France and good for her, but we all should write what we want to write and some people will like it and some won't, and that's ok. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-22276627692230232852015-10-22T22:40:49.865+01:002015-10-22T22:40:49.865+01:00I love Joanne Harris' books, but I feel she...I love Joanne Harris' books, but I feel she's talking through her hat on this - basing my opinion on Ali's analysis, that is, which others judge to be a good one. I confess I haven't read the 'manifesto' and, after reading Ali's account, doubt if I will, because I don't understand why we supposed to need 'a declaration of aims.'<br /><br /><i>Has</i> the distance between writers and readers narrowed? - I don't think so. Readers have always written to writers and popular writers - Dickens, for instance - have always toured, lectured, written for newspapers and magazines.<br /><br />Readers have always tried to dictate what their favourite authors wrote - 'Don't kill Little Nell!' - and writers have always ignored them. Readers have frequently been glad, in the end, that the writer ignored them.<br /><br />Readers have the choice they've always had - read stuff by a particular writer if they like it, or not read it if they don't. How has Social Media changed this? Do emails and FB somehow force writers to do as readers bid, when letter campaigns aimed at saving Little Nell didn't? - I just don't get it.<br />Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-63955941121270599652015-10-22T11:17:47.538+01:002015-10-22T11:17:47.538+01:00I confess I rather like the interaction. I still g...I confess I rather like the interaction. I still get surprised when I get messages from readers and I enjoy their thoughts and ideas on where things might go in subsequent books. I've spent a lot of time on character development, and I was so pleased when a reader told me she thought x and y might happen in the next book as it meant I'd achieved my aim if she thought such a thing was even possible...Debbie Bennetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06761474820689143835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-62169168025532061402015-10-22T10:03:13.923+01:002015-10-22T10:03:13.923+01:00Very interesting piece of analysis, Ali and like a...Very interesting piece of analysis, Ali and like all of us, I'm in two minds.I saw this reblogged on the Passive Voice and (perhaps predictably) the US writers were much more 'robust' in their responses than anyone over here. I have some sympathy with her - but my heart sank at the thought of a manifesto - mainly because I thought it unnecessary. It can be faintly irritating when readers expect something from you that you're not prepared to give - I've been taken to task for bad language, for writing an unlikable character, for writing 'love stories' - and I'm nowhere near Harris's league as far as celebrity goes. I should be so lucky. But we can't have it both ways. A writer who is selling a lot of books, who is active on social and other media, is a writer who is in some sense a celebrity. For every 99 nice supportive readers there may be the odd one who is difficult. But she doesn't have to take any notice. I find myself asking - would an actor find it necessary to write a 'manifesto' about his or her relationship with a fanbase? I doubt it. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-60486652191883396302015-10-22T09:47:14.845+01:002015-10-22T09:47:14.845+01:00Very interesting. Thanks.Very interesting. Thanks.Jan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-74845989836308302352015-10-22T08:51:41.255+01:002015-10-22T08:51:41.255+01:00This has been really interesting to read. I agree ...This has been really interesting to read. I agree that the gap is shrinking and now readers feel that they know authors better. This can lead to saying things which would not have happened In the past. If a reader did not like a book the only recourse was to avoid that author in the future. Now, readers can often tell authors in person, through social media and in book reviews. We are living in a new world, bare or otherwise, and as authors we need to find strategies for dealing with this. Wendy H. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04022089775887274043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-58364743494268418752015-10-22T08:23:34.699+01:002015-10-22T08:23:34.699+01:00It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? There’s no...It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? There’s no doubt that the traditional space between writers and readers has shrunk, largely due to the internet and social media, and in many ways that’s been a very good thing. I love hearing from readers (not that this happens very often in my case!), and I’m inclined to listen to whatever they have to say, whether I agree with them or not. Most, in my experience, don’t have any particular sense of entitlement, and are quite happy to either take or leave a book; they don’t expect books to meet each and every one of their perceived requirements, as if the author had sat down and ticked off various items on a list. Maybe there are a few out there…<br /><br />To be honest, I’m not sure that an author really <i>could</i> allow readers to dictate what he or she writes. You can’t please everyone, and by producing a book that a certain group of readers loved, you’d almost certainly also be alienating another group. I notice that Harris mentioned the CleanReader app in her manifesto. Perhaps that’s less a case of readers dictating what a writer should write, and more about readers being enabled to read a book that they might otherwise avoid due to their dislike of, for example, profanity or sexual content. I’m not saying that such apps are a good thing, or to be encouraged, but I can also kind of see it from the reader’s point of view.<br /> <br />But then again, there’s another issue at stake: that fiction isn’t always comfortable or comforting, though it can be. Fiction can challenge, introduce new ways of looking at things, and encourage the reader to question preconceived ideas. Personally, I quite enjoy books like that, though a few of them have made me uncomfortable while I was reading them. However, I’m sure there are readers who read purely for entertainment and don’t wish to be challenged, and I also think that that is perfectly legitimate.<br /><br />All in all, as you might have guessed, I find this issue complicated, and I don’t think there’s a straightforward answer.<br />Mari Biellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221256993468150226noreply@blogger.com