History is never history
An ONTD post lambasting Cassandra Claire kind of rubbed me the wrong way this morning.
Having not been directly involved in her particular kerfluffles, I can't speak to the merit thereof. Also haven't read her stuff, so I can't speak to that, either (though I still think the VSDs were hilarious, and I still have a "Sam Will Kill Me..." T-shirt.)
But I will say this: From what I can tell, she didn't actually kill any kittens. Nor did she do anything nearly on the scale of, say, what VB and Orangeblossom did. So why is it still necessary to grind on her for something that happened nine years ago? Even if she had been found guilty of abject plagiarism and fraud, whatever jail sentence or fines she'd have gotten for that would've been long gone by now. She may well be an asshole for some reason or another now, and she may well be a hack, but if so, people should be focusing on that, and not on whatever she did ages ago.
There are a lot of things that merit long-term anger and grudges. Violence and intentional bigotry, for instance are things that don't--and shouldn't--get easily forgotten. But this? Just sorta smacks of obsessives whose lives revolve around fandom drama rather than truly wounded parties seeking proper justice. (Wikis? Really? C'mon.)
I spose it's obvious where I'm going with this.
If fate smiles on me and my book gets published, I certainly expect criticism. It's not going to be to everyone's taste, and it's not Great Aht and I'm sure some folks are going to consider it less interesting for that fact. (I'm sure it's not broody, tragic and morally ambiguous enough for some lit snobs. W'ev.) Being my first big work, I'm sure I'll get the usual criticisms for a rookie effort, too. I also expect that some people won't be happy with the way I've handled race and gender issues in the story. I've put a lot of effort into treating those things right, but undoubtedly, some people are going to feel I did it wrong.
All that's fine, and part of the process. I'm not looking forward to it, no, but I know it comes with the territory.
What I don't want is a bunch of snarky fangirls lambasting what I'm doing now because of fandom drama that ended seven years ago. I know there's still misinformation and exaggeration about it floating around out there, and the thought of having that nonsense dredged up as some sort of evidence that I'm evil and shouldn't have a chance at a post-fandom career annoys me.
Did I make mistakes then? Sure. Probably the biggest one was trusting someone who was lying to me about the information she had. And I also let my innate stubbornness and tendency to be cantankerous get the best of me. I was on a misguided crusade, and beat that horse into glue, I know. But I did get beyond it, and feel I learned something from what I did wrong. The list of things I've accomplished in my life since then is, I feel, pretty decent. And because of all that, I don't think that something that--let's be honest--boils down to glorified ship wars should still be following me.
It's stupid that I've even questioned whether I should pursue publishing because I'm concerned someone will connect the author of this work with the person who was embroiled in a teapot-scale tempest, and attempt to exhume said teapot and supersize it. Sure, sensible people who know me now will likely ignore such nonsense, but, like high-school rumor mills, it doesn't take much catty misinformation for those histories to morph from waving one's freak flag a little much to baby-eating Nazi.
Not saying, again, that Cassie deserves no criticism. Not my place to judge what she's doing now. Just saying that a little perspective is warranted, and digging up past misdeeds and making more of them than there is is petty and childish. At some point, one starts wondering whether such ongoing drama is coming less from a place of legitimate griping and more from a place of frustrated fic writers who are bitter that one of their own went pro.
Having not been directly involved in her particular kerfluffles, I can't speak to the merit thereof. Also haven't read her stuff, so I can't speak to that, either (though I still think the VSDs were hilarious, and I still have a "Sam Will Kill Me..." T-shirt.)
But I will say this: From what I can tell, she didn't actually kill any kittens. Nor did she do anything nearly on the scale of, say, what VB and Orangeblossom did. So why is it still necessary to grind on her for something that happened nine years ago? Even if she had been found guilty of abject plagiarism and fraud, whatever jail sentence or fines she'd have gotten for that would've been long gone by now. She may well be an asshole for some reason or another now, and she may well be a hack, but if so, people should be focusing on that, and not on whatever she did ages ago.
There are a lot of things that merit long-term anger and grudges. Violence and intentional bigotry, for instance are things that don't--and shouldn't--get easily forgotten. But this? Just sorta smacks of obsessives whose lives revolve around fandom drama rather than truly wounded parties seeking proper justice. (Wikis? Really? C'mon.)
I spose it's obvious where I'm going with this.
If fate smiles on me and my book gets published, I certainly expect criticism. It's not going to be to everyone's taste, and it's not Great Aht and I'm sure some folks are going to consider it less interesting for that fact. (I'm sure it's not broody, tragic and morally ambiguous enough for some lit snobs. W'ev.) Being my first big work, I'm sure I'll get the usual criticisms for a rookie effort, too. I also expect that some people won't be happy with the way I've handled race and gender issues in the story. I've put a lot of effort into treating those things right, but undoubtedly, some people are going to feel I did it wrong.
All that's fine, and part of the process. I'm not looking forward to it, no, but I know it comes with the territory.
What I don't want is a bunch of snarky fangirls lambasting what I'm doing now because of fandom drama that ended seven years ago. I know there's still misinformation and exaggeration about it floating around out there, and the thought of having that nonsense dredged up as some sort of evidence that I'm evil and shouldn't have a chance at a post-fandom career annoys me.
Did I make mistakes then? Sure. Probably the biggest one was trusting someone who was lying to me about the information she had. And I also let my innate stubbornness and tendency to be cantankerous get the best of me. I was on a misguided crusade, and beat that horse into glue, I know. But I did get beyond it, and feel I learned something from what I did wrong. The list of things I've accomplished in my life since then is, I feel, pretty decent. And because of all that, I don't think that something that--let's be honest--boils down to glorified ship wars should still be following me.
It's stupid that I've even questioned whether I should pursue publishing because I'm concerned someone will connect the author of this work with the person who was embroiled in a teapot-scale tempest, and attempt to exhume said teapot and supersize it. Sure, sensible people who know me now will likely ignore such nonsense, but, like high-school rumor mills, it doesn't take much catty misinformation for those histories to morph from waving one's freak flag a little much to baby-eating Nazi.
Not saying, again, that Cassie deserves no criticism. Not my place to judge what she's doing now. Just saying that a little perspective is warranted, and digging up past misdeeds and making more of them than there is is petty and childish. At some point, one starts wondering whether such ongoing drama is coming less from a place of legitimate griping and more from a place of frustrated fic writers who are bitter that one of their own went pro.