(no subject)
Jul. 21st, 2009 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jon_chaissonElizabeth Bear has an interesting take on the latest Hugo kerfuffles.
Apparently there are those out there who think this year's titles are all kind of meh. Personally, I've read only two--Durham's Acacia (which I found insanely dull and overly pompous) and Doctorow's Little Brother (which I LOVED, but it's based in San Francisco and is a YA and I'm biased like that. ;) )--but still, some of the blogs she links to are kind of interesting...it's likeeditors fandom turning around to the authors and saying NOT GOOD ENOUGH DO IT AGAIN *WHOOPISSSH*.
As a reader, I agree with her--I read for the enjoyment, and a goodly amount of people do also. The last thing I want to do at the end of the day or on the commute home is to read a novel that makes my brain explode. On the other hand, if I'm in the mood for something challenging, I'll give it a try.
As a writer, I also agree that sometimes "good enough" isn't. I learned this recently when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dancinghorse (Judith Tarr) read the first few chapters of my novel Love Like Blood and came away thinking that it was good but I did a half-assed job on it, which I wholly agree with. Sometimes writing it off as "well, I did what I could" isn't good enough, when you know that's not true. Or as Judy said to me, phoning it in only pisses the reader off. ;)
All in all, it's apples and oranges. I personally dislike dystopian novels and find them boring and tedious, yet some love them (The Road is one case in point, and yet it won a Pulitzer). You're not going to please every reader out there, but the fact is that with those you do, that's really what counts.
[Word of warning: Bear rarely pulls punches in her posts, so if you're easily offended, well...you were warned. ;) ]
EDIT: As an aside, the original kvetch was written by Adam Roberts, a UK author. I read his book The Snow a few years back. Hey, guess what? It's a dystopian novel. Had a lot of good ideas, and I liked it for the most part, until the end, where in my opinion he pulled something out of his ass and called it done. Oh the irony. :p
Apparently there are those out there who think this year's titles are all kind of meh. Personally, I've read only two--Durham's Acacia (which I found insanely dull and overly pompous) and Doctorow's Little Brother (which I LOVED, but it's based in San Francisco and is a YA and I'm biased like that. ;) )--but still, some of the blogs she links to are kind of interesting...it's like
As a reader, I agree with her--I read for the enjoyment, and a goodly amount of people do also. The last thing I want to do at the end of the day or on the commute home is to read a novel that makes my brain explode. On the other hand, if I'm in the mood for something challenging, I'll give it a try.
As a writer, I also agree that sometimes "good enough" isn't. I learned this recently when
dancinghorse (Judith Tarr) read the first few chapters of my novel Love Like Blood and came away thinking that it was good but I did a half-assed job on it, which I wholly agree with. Sometimes writing it off as "well, I did what I could" isn't good enough, when you know that's not true. Or as Judy said to me, phoning it in only pisses the reader off. ;)All in all, it's apples and oranges. I personally dislike dystopian novels and find them boring and tedious, yet some love them (The Road is one case in point, and yet it won a Pulitzer). You're not going to please every reader out there, but the fact is that with those you do, that's really what counts.
[Word of warning: Bear rarely pulls punches in her posts, so if you're easily offended, well...you were warned. ;) ]
EDIT: As an aside, the original kvetch was written by Adam Roberts, a UK author. I read his book The Snow a few years back. Hey, guess what? It's a dystopian novel. Had a lot of good ideas, and I liked it for the most part, until the end, where in my opinion he pulled something out of his ass and called it done. Oh the irony. :p
