pith: (LKH-needstoedit)
pith ([personal profile] pith) wrote in [community profile] lkh_lashouts2006-12-30 09:55 pm

Blogflog: Dear Negative Reader

This one should be subtitled "And Laurell takes the lead away from Anne in the Wank Race!" Prepare to spit fire.

Link: http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2006/12/dear-negative-reader.html



Dear Negative Reader

Very mature, there. Anyone who disagrees with you or isn't on your side is "negative".

I'm sure there are other books out there that will make you happier than mine. There are books with less sex in them, God knows. There are books that don't make you think that hard. Books that don't push you past that comfortable envelope of the mundane.

"Books that don't make you think that hard"? WTF? I've heard people say they "skipped all the sex scenes" and still understood LKH novels, so clearly, higher brain function is not required. (No offence meant, naturally, to you brave souls who have skipped the sex and read the rest.) "Comfortable envelope of the mundane"? LKH has said that no one will die because it will hurt her/Anita. What the hell is that if not "comfort"? Also, her books have become so repetitive that I would call them mundane, except I'm sure the dictionary (yeah, the one she apparently evicted years ago) would knock on my door, kick my ass, and replace "mundane" with "tripe".

They are books that push my character and me to the edge and beyond of our comfort zones.

So damn not true it's not funny. As I said above, there's the no-death thing. Anita and Merry get to fuck whoever they please because of the ardeur or trying to get pregnant or because it's Tuesday. These characters are not pushed anywhere, let alone to the edge of their comfort zones. It's like a really bad version of Groundhog Day, where NOTHING CHANGES.

Let this post also put to rest the idea that I don't know that a small minority, albeit a loud minority, hates my series. I've known that for awhile.

Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, indeed.

I finally realized that I'm not going to understand this noisy, unpleasant minority of my fans. Because you are fans. Only fans would spend this much time and energy on anything. It's a strange kind of fan, a negative fan, but you spend so much time and energy hating and complaining that some part of you must love the hate and complaining.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I consider myself more of a walking warning. I actively discourage people from entering into LKHville at all costs.

And if you don't think you are the minority, well, sorry, guys but you are. I have the sales figures to prove it.

a) What's wrong with being a minority?
b) Sales figures are worth less than the paper they're printed on.
c) What's good doesn't always sell; what sells isn't always good.

Some people even ask for more police procedural. I want more, too

Newsflash: So do we. Oh, but wait. You can't get past the part of our criticism that says you're going downhill to realize that we actually think there's something worth following in either series. LKH has the same tunnelvision she accuses us of having.

The ardeur is a pain in my, and Anita's butt, too.

And, as lovely Jean-Claude would say, so many other places.

I've done this major metaphysical event. I won't just 'fix it' because it's hard to write around. God, knows, sometimes it is. But the arduer is moving along. I've got my fix in mind, but it's logical, not something that's merely convenient, or because some people hate it. But the arduer is not going away. If that's what you guys are wanting, then it ain't happening. Leave now, because more arduer awaits. The arduer is evolving, as are Anita's powers, but I don't see the arduer going poof.

"Evolving". You keep saying this word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

I have failed as a writer that you could kill them, and feel nothing.

I… you know, I don't think I'll say anything about this line. I will simply let it sit there in its glory, because she actually admitted a failure.

My characters are real to me in a way that makes me miss them.

Yeah, and that's fine, to a degree. BUT PEOPLE DIE. Considering the number of times she's wangsted about her grandmother and her mother and on and on, she knows. But you move on. Both of my grandfathers are dead and one of my grandmothers. Do I miss them? Horribly. But I've moved on. I realize that people are born, they live, they die. It's how it works. It's what makes vampires tragic.

Or maybe this will not move you, maybe you do not feel for the loneliness of the vampires that have not known love for centuries.

We do. Because we read lots of authors who actually deal with it. But the fact still remains that a) people die and b) characters aren't real. There are people at Lashouts who can attest to the fact that I get a bit weird about my characters. Those same people can also attest that I don't shy away from character death. People die. If you want your fictional world to feel truly real, characters have to die too.

Maybe you do not feel any of that. If you don't feel it, then I have failed you as a writer. I am sorry for that. If you do not feel the touch of my characters, the emotional pain, the emotional triumphs, then I have failed you. You should stop reading me. My writing does not weave magic for you.

This is turning into the worst Dear John letter ever. "It's not you. It's me. Oh, no, wait. It really is you. You don’t understand my vision!"

Go, and find someone who does speak to you. Someone who's characters are plot devices, so the books are neat, understandable, clinical, and utterly organized.

Oh, wait. It is us. Silly me, thinking Laurell might actually be accepting some blame!

They are big, messy books, a lot like life.

Except in real life, people die. They fall in and out of love. They move, they change jobs, they have kids.

Oh, and they shower.

I'll give you guys a few minutes to stop reading this, or to go into another room. I'll give you a few minutes, before I talk to the positive readers that are staying.

*L* Mass exodus, anyone?

here are hints about THE HARLEQUIN. First, Edward is in the book in a major way. Second, so is Olaf. Yeah, serial killer guy is back. Anita ends up feeding full blown arduer on three characters she's never been with before.

Oh joy. Run, Edward, run!

One of the wereanimal groups will betray Jean-Claude, and Anita.

Oh dear sweet gods. Please let Richard reclaim his spine, gather the wolves, and create some motherfuckin' havoc that Loki (and Samuel L. Jackson) would be proud of.

I hope it whetted your appetite

I… I…she…. used "whetted" instead of "wetted". I…. okay, who slipped her a dictionary when I wasn't looking?

[identity profile] salveo-opes.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
Three characters Anita hasn't been with brings to mind Edward, Olaf and...?

Are there actually any characters left which would make three?

Re: "Oh, and they shower." -- AHAHAHAHAHA!!

[identity profile] salveo-opes.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
Nicely said!

[identity profile] acostilow.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
She hasn't slept with the hyena leader yet.

Is s/he still pregnant?

[identity profile] dracoliciousss.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
Asinine little drippy-goth wench might be my new favorite phrase.

[identity profile] world-of-eos.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:28 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, my god. Oh, my dear, sweet, spell-checking god. I think I might have peed myself from laughing so hard but the oxygen deprivation is making my head all tingly and it's difficult to tell!

[identity profile] lovefromgirl.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
Seconding the Blood and Chocolate rec. Much with the delicious plot twists and the well-fleshed-out characters. ^_^

[identity profile] world-of-eos.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
OT! Have you got your hands on the new Tiffany book, yet? I just got it today and it smells like deliciousness.

*also - GREEBO!*

[identity profile] klmorgan.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
They're making a movie of it! Did you see? (http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/bloodandchocolate/)

I say, yay to AC Klause (who is such a nice person!) for getting the royalties, but the flick itself doesn't look too keen. It seems to have caught the Underworld bug, where everyone's wearing swoopy leather outfits and talking in Euro-American accents.

[identity profile] tsula.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
see her refusal to kill characters just floors me. And if someone says, "thin the herd" she's all like "you hate mes! WAH!"... I just don't understand.

Character death can actually further a character and give them depth. Many of my most beloved characters from various books/comics/movies have DIED, it made their "life" all that more vibrant and added a poignancy to their memory. It also forced the other characters to face certain truths either about life, themselves, or the world... they grew in depth, and the story grew in depth all by taking away one ficticious life.

As a writer who likes to push the envelope on her own comfort zones, you'd think she'd have the gusto to face that one personal squick factor she has in Character Death. Or at least have the presence of mind to know that when someone says "thin the herd" that it's not meant to be cold-hearted, but as a means to truly make these tragic, tragic character that are oh so tragic and REAL actually come off as TRAGIC and REAL by throwing their mortality into the faces of the readers as well as the other characters involved.

Wow, that was a run-on of a run-on for that last sentence.

[identity profile] lovefromgirl.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
Bucharest?!

Poor dear Author.

[identity profile] dracoliciousss.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:46 am (UTC)(link)
My response:

To LKH and associates:

We, the unsilent minority, are tired of you attempting to use us to bolster your sales. No one is forcing you to read our criticisms, and just as you are entitled to the opinion that your characters are real, we are entitled to our opinion that your characters are not. We do not pretend we're going to run into Asher at the grocery store, nor do we wax poetic about what it would be like to find a man like Micah, the most linearly drawn and boring character in all of supernatural fiction. We gather together, online or in person, to discuss your work because it amuses us, and the snark acts as an anesthetic to our disappointment.

True, your sales are higher than ever before, but let me remind you, millions of people bought pet rocks in the '70s. The only explanation is that cheese sells, sometimes. I'll let you in on a little secret: the .1% that you are complaining about have been your most loyal supporters. We challenge you, and are unwilling to accept poorly edited texts and plot points. We know you are capable of better, and we hate to see a once-talented writer, who built a universe that we all care about, ruin her life's work in an attempt to indulge fantasies and placate the sex-starved masses. We will be here long after the posers who love your recent books are gone, and we will continue to discuss, rant, rave, and snark about them. Because you need us, like it or not.

Sincerely,
Dray, who has snarked you inside out.

[identity profile] klmorgan.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
But the royalties! The ROYALTIES!

Plus maybe now she'll get some more well-deserved attention.

(I always think of an anecdote in situations like these where a prominent mystery author was being interviewed. A reporter asked his opinion about his works being optioned into films, and how some fans thought they'd "ruined" the books. The author turned to deliberately look at the bookcase behind him -- particularly the shelf on which he kept his own stuff -- and pointed, saying "Ruined? They're right over there, they're still fine.")

[identity profile] klmorgan.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
P.S. Though yes, Bucharest, blech.

[identity profile] poor-toms-acold.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
Lions? Cobras? Gil?

[identity profile] tsula.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
eh, we can have a block party... throw a BBQ and roast things!

[identity profile] klmorgan.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
Micah!

[identity profile] poor-toms-acold.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:00 am (UTC)(link)
You need an antidote (or my icon). May I prescribe the graphic novel series 'Preacher'? Cassidy is pretty much the opposite of the type of vampire you've described, being hard-drinking, cynical, snarky and Irish, and around book seven (of eight or nine) there's an interlude where Cass is in New Orleans and meets WHAT IS NOT AN ANNE RICE VAMPIRE AT ALL *pointed stare*. I laughed out loud through the whole thing. I love Cassidy.

[identity profile] mariakatarina.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:00 am (UTC)(link)
To Laurell,

We snark because we once cared. Some of us hold onto that fragile hope that you will revert the series to its former glory by going back to some of the old solid ideas that hooked us in the first place.

Your books have lost their edge because you have lost your nerve in killing characters off. It used to be about blood, gore, getting the bad guy. You, unfortunately, wussed out.

We will continue to snark because we CHOOSE to (Note the spelling, because you screw that word up enough times to make Webster roll over in his grave). Our autonomy (y'know.. that thing like free will that you stripped most of your characters of when you introduced the arduer?) allows us this. You cannot decide what we do or do not do with our time. This is the double-edged sword of publishing your work to the masses.

PS: most of your chars are gay. Let them actually enjoy their sexuality outside of Anita.

Sincerely, a former fan.

Anyway. WTF emo pretentiousness.

I am entirely frightened by the idea of Edward and Olaf coming back? And OMG betrayal. Wanna bet Merita will save the day with her crotch?

[identity profile] tsula.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
the book or the ficticious character? because the latter will probably require some rubber tubing, duct tape, a cloved-hooved strap-on and a detailed map to the lamer levels of hell.

[identity profile] poor-toms-acold.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
At least he's value for money - we can feed a family of four on his singleperfectemotear!wang alone.

[identity profile] thesaneminority.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
I've read random bits of Preacher, and it looks really good. I'll have to remember to grab the first volume the next time I have money to spare and I go on a book/manga binge.

[identity profile] mariakatarina.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
Narcissus?! ODG. Who would be the bitch in that pairing? I think that one would be too much of a lesbian experience for her to handle.

Likely it'll be one of the many stock vampire characters that showed up in DM that she didn't have a chance to get to.

The idea of Anita and Edward shagging it's just.. No. gah. Hell no. **scrubs brain**

[identity profile] klmorgan.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
No no no no -- a werebug.

Another ten says if she goes that route, she names the damn character after the species genus, like "Danaus" for a monarch butterfly or "Aeshnidae" for a dragonfly, so that the character can go into long and boring detail about their speshul speshul name.** BECAUSE OMG LKH HAS A BIO MAJOR!!!! SHE IS RILLY REALISTIC!!!

Except wait, that would require an application of actual science.






**LKH & Co, if one of you is trolling this blog and uses this I will KNOW, because there is an ERROR in there, so HAH.

[identity profile] klmorgan.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
This is totally my logic, man. I figure we pass that salami around and take a symbolic bite -- each of our 371 members. (Well, the less squeamish of us. Which means I will sit it out.)

[identity profile] klmorgan.livejournal.com 2006-12-31 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
If you bring the strap-on, I can have that map in four days. And a bit, considering the holiday.

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