Mini-flog

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

Just because she annoys me so.

Writers Digest



LKH in bold, and me snarky.

Of course the first few sentences are a mini-wangst about getting back to normal. For someone who likes to think she's so edgy she has a preoccupation with normalcy, which is subjective in the first place.

I am on the cover of WRITERS DIGEST magazine. I knew they had done the interview, but I didn't realize my picture was on the cover until Darla brought it to my attention on the web.

Writer's Digest Anyone? Anyone? I am unaware of this publication, and why is Darla around? If I were her 'boss' I would have been like 'two weeks of vacation, go be with family, don't worry about a thing' etc. I'm hoping she is taking a break from being LKH's slave and this was something she found in passing.

When I was an aspiring writer in my teens, WRITERS DIGEST was one of the places that I learned how to be a professional writer.

...Uh huh, professional writer. So that's where you learned to write lots of bad sex scenes and drivel? Good to know. I'll avoid it.

To be on the cover of the magazine now, would have blown my mind at the age of sixteen. It would have been inconceivable, to quote one of our favorite movies. But apparently, inconceivable really doesn't mean what I thought it meant, because there I am on the cover.

The botched commas and sentence structure aside she butchers Princess Bride quotes with her terrible commas and sentence structure. I swear...everything that I love *head-desk*.

"He didn't fall? Inconceivable!"
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Most of the time stuff like this puzzles me. I never quite know how to feel about it.

Neither do we LKH, neither do we.

Comments

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Writer's Digest is actually well-known and popular. It's full of information and articles etc. for published and aspiring writers.



...no, I don't know why they interviewed LKH. :/

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

Oi, well the woman can't take a hint so I doubt no matter how much Writer's Digest she reads that we won't see any improvement.

[manekikoneko.livejournal.com]

I work in a rinky-dink indie bookshop, and we sell Writer's Digest. I actually bought it when they did a feature on Chuck Palaniuk.

You'd think they'd have more sense.

[estllechauvelin.livejournal.com]

My Readers' Advisory professor distributed some copies of Writer's Digest to my class. Yes, I got the LKH issue. No, I haven't actually read the interview; I'm taking the same approach as I do to her books and letting this community deal with it for me.

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

Is it telling that I misread "nifty" as "nutty"?

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

They also put out a series of industry-standard reference books for writers.

Re: OMG SHE REACTED TO SOMETHING I MUST SNAAARK

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think in this case her reaction is normal human reaction. I known that's how I'd feel if I wound up on the cover of a favorite magazine.

Re: OMG SHE REACTED TO SOMETHING I MUST SNAAARK

[summersdream.livejournal.com]

... um, flogging isn't always "for lulz." Sometimes it's just because someone needs to express the feeling of "omg can she stop being so made of fail already?"

Anyway LKH doesn't seem to be flattered so much as she is trying to be flattered and coming off as just... well, LKH. In any case, why did Writer's Digest choose her? Is it the numbers of books she's selling or did she win an award recently or what?

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

If you hadn't translated the Princess Bride quote I would never have known what she was trying to communicate in that mangled paragraph. :s Writer's Digest cover girl? Indeed.

As to how LKH got on the cover there is no denying Hamilton is topical and successful. (sad, I know) Talent alone doesn't land authors a lot of magazine covers. It would be awesome though if an article accompanying the cover was something like "How Not to Ruin a Book Series". I dream. ;)

[othellia.livejournal.com]

If you hadn't translated the Princess Bride quote I would never have known what she was trying to communicate in that mangled paragraph.

I would have gotten it... if only because the Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies/books of all times, but maybe it would have been better if she said "to quote the Sicilian" instead of "one of our favorite movies."

[drygo.livejournal.com]

I subscribe to Writer's Digest myself, and when I got the issue with LKH on the cover, I had mixed feelings. Part of me still remembers a time when I really loved LKH's books. That part of me is actually semi happy for what I used to consider a compelling writer getting her due. And, it even made me feel a little guilty about how I feel about her right now.

Then there's the part of me that pretty much thinks that what she churns out these days is pure and utter crap and she doesn't deserve to be on the cover right now. As someone who enjoys Writer's Digest, the idea that they'd be interviewing someone who I unequivocably would advocate to not emulate makes me wonder how seriously to take the magazine. That may seem a little harsh, but it really did go through my mind. What can I get from a magazine that interviews LKH as if she's currently a respectable writer?

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Well, she is a currently rolling-in-cash writer. *sigh* Did they ask her about marketing and things like that? Advice on how to find a pulp niche? Getting an agent?

[drygo.livejournal.com]

The magazine's at my home right now, so I can't refer to it. But, if I recall correctly, she didn't really say too much about anything that you asked about. If I go back and look at the interview again and see something like that I'll post it. Or, if anyone else has read the interview, they can feel free to post it as well.

But in the article, I remember reading a bunch of the same old crap that I've read about with her for a long time. For example, she went into the whole spiel about getting kicked out of a creative writing program because she was corrupting the other students. (yeah, I'm sure that's why--that whole story has always seemed very suspect to me.)

One thing that did stand out to me was when she was asked about how she felt about the criticisms she's received about the sex in her books. Instead of actually answering the question, or even acknowledging that her readers might have valid opinions, she goes on to say that it's because Americans are squeamish about sex. She says in Europe they don't care about it but have problems with the violence. I suspect she's somehow using that as an excuse to dismiss people's complaints about the sex. But, she clearly misses the point. Most people who I've talked to, and most things I've read online, imply that the issue is not that there's sex in the book. The issue is that poorly written unerotic sex has replaced plot. She continues to fail to grasp this.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to make you go out of your way! Your summary here is fine, and if I have questions about the other things, well, I get Poets and Writers. :-)

But clearly she hasn't been reading European reviews of her work either. (Although to be honest, I don't think it's too healthy for any author to look themselves up on Amazon.) I wonder if she's just gotten to the point where she has to brazen it out, because admitting that she's been portraying the sex in a skewed way would cut into her fanbase, jeopardize her image or something. (Not that she has to make a public announcement. She could just... write it a little differently.) I wonder if she quite believes herself when she talks.

[jeza-red.livejournal.com]

OH Gawd... sorry, but every time I'm hearing that about America vs. Europe sex talk, I'm more and more pissed-__- I live in Central Europe, and I lived in US for some time, and NO, We don't like sex THAT much! Not enough to read that crap she's writing! And NO, we're not "squeamish" about violence either... I would say that in this instance, I would prefer a healthy dose of violence... preferably ending in death. Deaths. Lots of them!

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

(I am so glad you posted that. Have some cheesecake. ^_____^)

[jeza-red.livejournal.com]

A cheescake!! YUM! *eats* YUM!

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

I'm probably going to get my head chopped off for this... but here I go.

There probably is something to learn from Hamilton and it's not all a cautionary tale. She's created a series that even disgruntled fans keep returning to. Somehow she's created a bizarre sense of loyalty to her world, her characters, something. I doubt the article touches on how she did this or how she feels about it though. Anyway, she is super successful and it makes sense she'd be on the cover of a writer's magazine at some point. I don't hold it against WD. I wish they'd have pursued her more for an answer regarding the criticism though. Oh well.

Second thoughts about renewing my subscription...

[bludflower.livejournal.com]

Anyone who's even semi-serious about writing knows WD. They're a major source of info and advice for aspiring writers--which really sickens me. Being on the cover of that particular mag would have me floating for the rest of my days--meaning that I'm FINALLY someone to admire on the writing front--but now it seems that they're featuring ANYBODY these days. What happened to craft and talent?

And just because you've never heard of it...No offence. Google. You're already on the internet. You just pulled an LKH.

[brightlyiburn.livejournal.com]

I uh...have to admit, I'm a little baffled as to how you can be completely unaware of Writer's Digest.

On the other hand, I'm also not sure how you can be unaware that you're on the cover of a magazine. I would have thought they'd, you know, need your permission for that. Or at the very least that they would have told her "Oh, by the way, we're featuring you on the cover!"

[cicipsychobunny.livejournal.com]

And how would they have gotten a photo of her (though I'm fairly sure it's from the same ol' photoshoot where she's sitting on the stairs looking Tres Anita) to use on the cover without someone in Team LKH being involved?

[evewithanapple.livejournal.com]

I used to have a subscription to Writer's Digest, but I never renewed it. I'm kind of glad now.

[moonsinger.livejournal.com]

Writer's Digest is one of the biggest writer magazines on the market; you can find it at any bookstore news stand. I was a subscriber for about two years until I realized that I didn't need to read the same old, same old. They have several writer's contests (you have to pay to play, but it is cheap).

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

I apologize for not being able to look it up, but I ran out of time before I had to run off to work. As for not hearing of it...the world isn't so small? Many thanks to those who did explain it. I enjoy the irony. I will have to look it up now that I know of its existence.