Or maybe it’s that there’s something in the Kool-Aid this week. Everyone’s writing about blogging, and not in the way you think. Suzanne McMinn has a great post at Romancing the Blog, and Dan Green of The Reading Experience parodies Suzanne’s nightmares. We’re also working up a little piece, though not nearly as entertaining as the two referenced below, about how to blog or not to blog shouldn’t be the major question authors ask when it comes to the Internet.
5 thoughts on “We Admit That We’re Easily Amused”
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Funny, I’ve noticed lately I spend WAY more time reading blogs than books. Books have lost their edge. What’s up with that? An editor, a marketing dept, and a few royalties suddenly chew away at quality? Or am I just reading the best of the blogworld?
I know why I read blogs — voice. Blogs allow people to unleash themselves. I respond to voice. I can forgive plot weaknesses (to a degree) and inconsistent characterization (ditto) if the author’s voice captures me. I know (really!) that I make fun of Ayn Rand a lot, but the truth is, her voice resonates. If I read a few pages of Atlas Shrugged, I fall into her rhythm. This may be why I don’t open my vintage ninety-five cent copy.
Finding new voices is rough, but when I find someone who makes me sit back, it’s all worth it. The problem with being a book addict is that you read a lot of chaff, and the wheat is rare. Sure, if our favorite authors could pretty much spew thougts onto page and skip all editing, etc processes…
I agree, and I wish you were an editor–all my rejections went like: “Love the voice, just didn’t like the story”.
So many people say “voice” is the hard part, but to me it came easy. When it came to plotting, however, no amount of mental gymnastics could make that easy. I admire people who can do both, but they’re rare.
So I read people like Suzanne Brockmann, who plots like she’s driving drunk (“Obstacle? What obstacle?”) but her voice sings.
I feel you pain — I promise! Great description of Brockmann’s plotting. I may steal it…
I have no problem with your entry in the contest, but here I am and not sure what I’m looking for in terms of review whatnot? Do you mean the meeting strangers thing in Dan Green? as a review of the reviewer of the guardian?
Aeeeiiiiii