Comments on: Writer 1, Actor 0 http://www.angiebenedetti.com/blog/2009/06/28/writer-1-actor-0/ Writing and Reading, Romance and Erotica Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:15:11 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Angie http://www.angiebenedetti.com/blog/2009/06/28/writer-1-actor-0/comment-page-1/#comment-1049 Angie Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:58:18 +0000 http://www.angiebenedetti.com/blog/?p=168#comment-1049 Ellen -- no, there's nothing wrong with reading excerpts -- I do it too. I don't have time to read all the books I know I want to read, so reading an excerpt of something I only <i>might</i> want to read makes sense. But I'd never walk up to a writer and say, "I've read excerpts fromyour books." Because seriously, what does that say? That after reading the excerpts you had no wish to read the books themselves, basically. "I read an excerpt of your novel in a magazine and had to run out and get it!" is great. "I read an excerpt from your series online and I put the first book on my wish list," is great too. The difference is that the excerpt motivated you to want to read the story itself, even if you haven't done it yet. It's not reading the excerpts that's at all disrespectful; I absolutely agree with you there. I put excerpts of my stories up whenever one is published, and post them to various blogs and mailing lists and forums as appropriate, and I have some fairly extensive excerpts up on the new <a href="http://bookworld.editme.com/" rel="nofollow">GLBT Bookshelf Wiki</a>. I definitely hope people in each place read them. :) What's disrespectful, or at least impolite or awkward in a social situation, is saying to the author, "Yeah, I read some of your excerpts and thought they were kinda meh. Sorry, no sale." There's no reason to say or imply that; it's more polite just to talk about something else. It's different if you're posting reviews (although reviewing excerpts would be kind of creative, heh) where you're talking primarily to other readers. Most writers do read their reviews and cherish the good ones and agonize over the bad ones, but reviews are mainly for readers, to help them sort out the stuff they do and don't want to try. To do that job effectively, reviews need to talk about what doesn't work as well as what does; that's not impolite because the context is business rather than social. Same if you're giving the writer a critique, assuming you're in a context where that's appropriate (a banquet probably isn't [cough]) and the writer wants to hear that kind of feedback from you. Personally I love thoughtful, detailed critiques of my fiction, and if something doesn't work for a reader I'd like to know about it, what it was and why. I'd just as soon not be cornered at a party by someone for that purpose, though. E-mail would be awesome. Does that make sense, though? It's not that Heston had read excerpts that I have a problem with. It's that the excerpts didn't motivate him to read any of Sholokhov's novels, but he mentioned it to the writer anyway. That was uncool, even if Heston didn't realize it at the time. And I still love Sholokhov's response. :D Angie Ellen — no, there’s nothing wrong with reading excerpts — I do it too. I don’t have time to read all the books I know I want to read, so reading an excerpt of something I only might want to read makes sense. But I’d never walk up to a writer and say, “I’ve read excerpts fromyour books.” Because seriously, what does that say? That after reading the excerpts you had no wish to read the books themselves, basically.

“I read an excerpt of your novel in a magazine and had to run out and get it!” is great. “I read an excerpt from your series online and I put the first book on my wish list,” is great too. The difference is that the excerpt motivated you to want to read the story itself, even if you haven’t done it yet.

It’s not reading the excerpts that’s at all disrespectful; I absolutely agree with you there. I put excerpts of my stories up whenever one is published, and post them to various blogs and mailing lists and forums as appropriate, and I have some fairly extensive excerpts up on the new GLBT Bookshelf Wiki. I definitely hope people in each place read them. :)

What’s disrespectful, or at least impolite or awkward in a social situation, is saying to the author, “Yeah, I read some of your excerpts and thought they were kinda meh. Sorry, no sale.” There’s no reason to say or imply that; it’s more polite just to talk about something else.

It’s different if you’re posting reviews (although reviewing excerpts would be kind of creative, heh) where you’re talking primarily to other readers. Most writers do read their reviews and cherish the good ones and agonize over the bad ones, but reviews are mainly for readers, to help them sort out the stuff they do and don’t want to try. To do that job effectively, reviews need to talk about what doesn’t work as well as what does; that’s not impolite because the context is business rather than social.

Same if you’re giving the writer a critique, assuming you’re in a context where that’s appropriate (a banquet probably isn’t [cough]) and the writer wants to hear that kind of feedback from you. Personally I love thoughtful, detailed critiques of my fiction, and if something doesn’t work for a reader I’d like to know about it, what it was and why. I’d just as soon not be cornered at a party by someone for that purpose, though. E-mail would be awesome.

Does that make sense, though? It’s not that Heston had read excerpts that I have a problem with. It’s that the excerpts didn’t motivate him to read any of Sholokhov’s novels, but he mentioned it to the writer anyway. That was uncool, even if Heston didn’t realize it at the time.

And I still love Sholokhov’s response. :D

Angie

]]> By: ellen bunch http://www.angiebenedetti.com/blog/2009/06/28/writer-1-actor-0/comment-page-1/#comment-1047 ellen bunch Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:23:26 +0000 http://www.angiebenedetti.com/blog/?p=168#comment-1047 reading excerpts - something i do 60-70 times a week - it's something i always do before buying a book. it in no way disrespects the authors because i read a book a day. i read an article about the reading habits of americans last week and it said most only read 5-7 books a year. they must not have had any erotica fans in the survey. made me sad that so many people are missing out on so many great reads available. reading excerpts – something i do 60-70 times a week – it’s something i always do before buying a book. it in no way disrespects the authors because i read a book a day. i read an article about the reading habits of americans last week and it said most only read 5-7 books a year. they must not have had any erotica fans in the survey. made me sad that so many people are missing out on so many great reads available.

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