The latest LJ sci-fi writer bee in the bonnet.
This one's been simmering in my head for a while now, but other people are bringing it up so I may as well send out my own piece among all the others. Cut for language below.
I am fucking sick to death of writers getting negative or even not 100% glowing reviews, and then posting online or e-mailing the reviewer to argue about it. No. Fuck you. Fuck off.
You're a writer. What you do is write. That's your job. So go the fuck away and do what you're good at.
The critic/reviewer has a job. They are going to read your work, and write whether or not they liked it. You don't interfere with their job. You don't usually complain if they like your work, so why the fuck would you complain if they don't? That isn't cool. That doesn't come across like the intelligent author debating their work with some hack critic. It makes you look like a sad, petulant child who can't take criticism.
And if you can't take criticism, then don't share your writing with an audience.
I mean it. I don't care if you're the best author in the world, or the worst. If you put any art work out in front of an audience, they get to have an opinion about it. And your job is finished - you've provided the work. Now you sit back and let people read/view it. You don't argue with them. You don't insult them.
And this is a growing trend. I've seen Baz Luhrmann do it because critics hated Australia. I've seen science fiction writers do it in recent days. I've seen TV series creators head online to ridicule their critics as stupid because the critic didn't recognise their apparent genius. I once got verbally assaulted online by an editor because I didn't like the books they were publishing.
You don't get to do that. You're the writer. Go away and write. You don't review the reviewer. If you can't handle this simple and obvious piece of information, then fuck off and don't share your writing with people any more.
I mean it. Fuck off. I don't want to read your stuff any more.
I am fucking sick to death of writers getting negative or even not 100% glowing reviews, and then posting online or e-mailing the reviewer to argue about it. No. Fuck you. Fuck off.
You're a writer. What you do is write. That's your job. So go the fuck away and do what you're good at.
The critic/reviewer has a job. They are going to read your work, and write whether or not they liked it. You don't interfere with their job. You don't usually complain if they like your work, so why the fuck would you complain if they don't? That isn't cool. That doesn't come across like the intelligent author debating their work with some hack critic. It makes you look like a sad, petulant child who can't take criticism.
And if you can't take criticism, then don't share your writing with an audience.
I mean it. I don't care if you're the best author in the world, or the worst. If you put any art work out in front of an audience, they get to have an opinion about it. And your job is finished - you've provided the work. Now you sit back and let people read/view it. You don't argue with them. You don't insult them.
And this is a growing trend. I've seen Baz Luhrmann do it because critics hated Australia. I've seen science fiction writers do it in recent days. I've seen TV series creators head online to ridicule their critics as stupid because the critic didn't recognise their apparent genius. I once got verbally assaulted online by an editor because I didn't like the books they were publishing.
You don't get to do that. You're the writer. Go away and write. You don't review the reviewer. If you can't handle this simple and obvious piece of information, then fuck off and don't share your writing with people any more.
I mean it. Fuck off. I don't want to read your stuff any more.