Cross-posted from my LJ blog.
Quick note: see http://www.freewebs.com/elven_vampire/
for LaVerne Ross's reaction to all the negative comments her published
but unedited book has generated. Since I started following this story a
couple of days ago, she has made her book unavailable, although
initially the reviews - including her own angry reaction to them -
remained on Amazon. Now the listing is gone from Amazon entirely.
What has she learned from this experience?
It's
evident that she's learned firsthand that a meme can spread all over
the Internet, and that people can be cruel. She's learned that Publish
America is a rip-off that doesn't edit books as promised. She's learned
that it's not a good idea to let a book get into the marketplace in the
condition this book was in. She has learned that editing is necessary,
and that 96 pages is a little on the short side. She has learned that
you can't use a copyrighted photo of a movie star without permission,
even if you've added fangs and blood to the picture.
What has she not learned?
*
She has not learned why the book engendered so much negative comment.
She believes that the nastiness is all the work of a handful of
"stalkers" who have solicited the help of friends and relatives for the
purpose of attacking her personally. Sorry, Ms. Ross, that's not it.
Some people may have been a bit malicious, but most of this comment
came about because a lot of literate fans of the science fiction,
fantasy and horror genres were amused by the extreme ineptness of the
prose and by the mixing of genres. They are not a cabal of people who
don't understand the genre. Many of the people who commented have avatar
thumbnails that reference manga or the tv series Angel, and one of the
links to all this is on the blog of a well-known science ficton and
fantasy editor. The meme has spread because large numbers of fantasy fans
find it amusing, and share it around. This is not a conspiracy. The people who laughed at your book
do not care about you personally, except to speculate on the sort of
person who would let a book with such severe deficiencies get into the
marketplace.
* She has not learned sentence structure. The
quotes from the book on her web page seem to be lacking a few of the
mistakes found in the original review, but most of the problems, particularly what my English teachers called "frags and run-ons," remain intact.
I
wish you all the best, Ms. Ross. I really do. And I'm sorry you're so
hurt and angry. But there are still things you need to learn before
your revised, expanded book ventures out into the world. Good luck with
that.
Karen
You are looking at an archive edition of 
5 years ago
6 comments:
Fascinating. Thanks for the link, Karen. If you don't mind, I'll add a link to your post to Presto Speaks! in follow-up. heh.
It's never right to hound someone and let's face it, a lot of folks online are jerks. But along with what you pointed out as things she hasn't learned, I suspect the next version won't be much better, given that she said: "Publish America. I had another publisher lined up for this book over a year ago. But chose wrong, because of what I saw on their site. I have rectified that mistake. I am going to be published next year, this book and another one coming out next year. Those publishers don't have a problem with my writing, or my story. " Which publishers? PublishAmerica? The one lined up before that? The new one? And who's doing the editing? Her?
As for frags and run-ons, I love 'em. But using them takes some skill. Use them well and wisely lest they bite you on the butt. :)
Sure, Shelly, I'm always in favor of people linking to my postings! I'm sure you'll agree with me that there's a world of difference between the occasional sentence fragment for effect (L'Engle does this fairly often) and writing large numbers of fragments and run-on sentences because you don't understand about subjects and predicates or the proper uses of commas. As a stylistic trick, a frag or run-on should be used only to serve a purpose, such as showing the pov character's state of mind or deliberately breaking up the prose. Ms. Ross's frags and run-ons are purpose-free.
And yeah, people can be jerks online. Some people seem to enjoy being malicious from the safe anonymity of their keyboards, while others are simpless thoughtless. - K.
Or as my tenth grade English teacher used to say: "You can't break the rules unless you know them in the first place."
Wow....tough crowd!
LOL I went to her website to read her reactions to the negative comments. What I am left wondering, is English her first language? I can barely read her own thoughts! They are nearly incomprehensible! Yikes.
* Ms. Ross has still not learned how to write well. She is in denial. No effort on our part will change her view on the priceless value of her prose. She is fodder for Publish America's grist mill.
* Ms. Ross has not learned her lesson about self-publishing, it would appear. My father used to say, "a fool and his money are soon parted." She is living proof of the truth of the homily.
Sad. So very sad.
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