Robin Hobb warns would-be authors against the insidious evils of LiveJournal

[pegkerr]

Maybe my life is a living example of what she's talking about here.

It's funny.

But I wince.

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Two words: Elizabeth Bear.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

Actually? I don't even find it funny. I've followed links to several of this woman's blog posts over time, and frankly, I don't see the appeal. For that matter, I see this particular post as hypocritical: why does it make a difference where you host your blog? Does she think that having hers on a website without form-posting makes her holier than most? LJ, Blogspot, independent website, whatever. A blog is a blog is a blog, and we're writers, and we have them. I think she needs to take a chill pill and think before she runs at the fingers so righteously, myself.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

She did a really strident anti-fanfic rant a while ago that was even more so.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

Been there, read that. She's really got a bee in her bonnet. Several bees, actually - possibly even a whole hive. I imagine she doesn't sit still much.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

The odd thing is, I met her years ago when she was the guest of honor at a convention we hosted locally, and she struck me as being so particularly nice and approachable. This rant and the fanfiction rant are both so condescending, and I didn't detect the slightest sign of that in person.

Ah, well. Many people get crankier as they get on in years.

Or . . . everyone needs a hobby. Hers is ranting.

Mine is LiveJournal.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who is such a different person online than in person that timprov really enjoys going to dinner with this person if we're in the same city for a convention or other traveling occasion and absolutely refuses to go near the lj. We use this person's lj handle and given name as though we were talking about two different people, and I will sometimes say on e-mail, "Look, can I talk to [given name] about this? I'm not sure I'm up for talking about it with [lj handle]."

Maybe Robin Hobb is a bit like that. If so, limiting her use of her online persona may be best for reasons other than the ones she's listed.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how "split-personality" some people can be between online and real-life, I agree. Something Dr. Jekyll never dreamed of...

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

Or . . . everyone needs a hobby. Hers is ranting.

Mine is LiveJournal.

Heh, fair enough. As for my hobbies, I have too many things that would probably count as such ;)

[aeditimi.livejournal.com]

I've got to say, on the off chance that it ever gets back to her, that this essay and her one about why fan fiction is omg evil are the reason I *have never* and probably *will never* read a single book by Robin Hobb, who has been recommended to me countless times as an author I might enjoy. Perhaps, but she's a person I don't.

Her experience and her perception of what it means to write are not the only ones in the world.

[ceilidh]

Same here. But mostly because of the fanfiction rant.

[blpurdom.livejournal.com]

That's me, too. And as much as I don't WANT to be influenced by knowing how wanky a writer is prone to be--such as Hobbs and, even more so, Orson Scott Card--and have that affect my reading decisions, it's incredibly difficult for me NOT to think about that when choosing my reading material. I think it comes down to having too many books, too little time, and wanting to be selective with how I'm going to spend that time. Using that time to read the work of the wanky people of the world just doesn't seem worth it.

[aome.livejournal.com]

I guess I consider those separate issues - the writer's personality, and the quality of the product. I suspect there's a great many wonderful authors out there who might not be my friends if I were to meet them in person, due to wildly disparaging perspectives on life. But I can still appreciate their creations for what they are. Likewise, one of my best friends writes in a genre that is NOT MY THING AT ALL - but it doesn't mean I suddenly dislike him.

I suppose if I really disagreed with someone, I might be less inclined to give them money by purchasing the book, but if I still really enjoyed the writing, there's always the library, or borrowing from friends.

To get back on the subject, I agree with swords_and_pens below - it should be viewed as a cautionary comment, and food for thought, but if LJ fulfills a particular social or writing-outlet need for you, Peg, then I don't think you should be swayed just because Ms Hobb happens to be a book-author who doesn't like LJ. (1crowdedhour just told me Patricia Wrede doesn't like LJ either. But - again - I don't consider that a comment on the quality of her work. Only her personal choice for online activity.)

[aeditimi.livejournal.com]

They certainly are separate issues, and you're right-- I will never buy a book of hers, and could still read them. But I have also not been able to get past it in the library either. I see her name and think, 'oh, that's the really condescending lady who thinks all writers must be like her to be any good,' not, 'oh, I've heard her books are amazing' (which I have).

It's not that she's wrong that LiveJournal or any other blogging site, or social networking site, or freaking minesweeper forgodssake can be a distration. I spend a lot of time online and it detracts from my job. That's a fine point to make, and if this were just a post about her resisting the temptation to blog (on LJ, because, hello that post isn't exactly going into a book, unless Bantam is working on a new "Snarking with the Stars" anthology), I wouldn't mind. It's the part where she gets all bent out of shape about what's "real" writing (not being a writer, I'm tempted to tell her I have a "real" job-- how condescending and evil is that?-- but it's the tone I get from her). Writing-- writing your own, original, published novels-- that's respectible. That's art. But blogging doesn't count as writing. Fan fiction (in her other rant) doesn't count as creativity. She's a *real* writer you see, doing *real* writing, and us poets and essayist and drabble writers and aspiring writers and nonfiction writers and blog writers, we're just entertaining ourselves and wasting our time by participating in meaningless discourse such as this. It's the attitude she evokes in her rant (and I know her writing is good enough that she's not conveying something she doens't mean to!) that turns me off. I don't mind if she has views different from mine, and I don't mind if she voices them. I mind that her tone makes me feel like she thinks anyone who disagrees with her is a pathetic hack.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

They're separate if they writer is good, but linked otherwise. If I know that someone is incredibly sexist and thinks that women tempt men into rape, I am not likely to read that person's books-- not because I don't want to give them royalties (although I don't) but because someone writing from that is not likely to produce a book I don't flip off. The correlation between 'unpleasant person' and 'infuriating fiction' is not hugely strong and falls apart at higher levels, but it's there.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

That was my thought, upon reading this.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I think that the essay is ignoring the most important feature of LJ: It's social.

Livejournal is not the same as writing fiction, and no one has ever claimed it to be. But LJ is a social outlet, where you can talk with friends and discuss things, without the pesky issues of time or distance getting in the way.

It always strikes me as an ongoing club meeting.

And the social aspect does not make it any less valuable- yes, writing, and writing for publication is a good and important thing. But so is being able to share and socialize. The world does not revolve around book publishing alone.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

I wish she were entirely wrong -- I do -- especially as she's so bloody condescending in the tone she takes.

But.

*looks at the clock*
*remembers*
*cringes*

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Failure to grasp range of human variation happens all over the place, but failure to grasp that what is a timesink for one is a synergistic enhancer for another I have rarely seen displayed so well though.

I have a lot of sympathy with her position on fanfic, though.

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

I pretty much read this blog post as a cautionary one: don't let blogging become a substitute for writing. For some people, it helps grease the wheels; for others, it is a time and energy sink. I don't buy into absolutist messages when it comes to creativity, but with this post, I think if you take a step back and don't take it personally, it says something pretty valid: don't let LJ (or any blog) become a surrogate activity if you really want to be a writer.

Haven't read the fanfic post, so I may have to hunt it down. I've never really understood the draw of fanfic personally (writing or reading it), so I don't have much of a horse in that race one way or the other.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

The one thing no one said above? She is operating on the assumption that all writers are the same. Need I say more?

[cryptaknight.livejournal.com]

grrm linked to that and winced, as well, if it makes you feel better.

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

I love her books, but it doesn't mean her advice applies to all writers.