Sometimes, all the barbed wire and ‘keep out’ signs in the world just won’t stop someone determined to slap you with a challenge. On this particular occasion, it happened to be Sarah Zama over at “The Old Shelter” that slipped through the carefully prepared defences and clambered over the ramparts.
I jest, of course. I welcome visitors just as much as Vlad welcomed, well… perhaps I should just move swiftly on.
So, I duly accepted the challenge and have set down here a number of things that I love and hate. There are 20 of them to be exact… 10 for each. All equally loved and all equally hated. None get any special treatment around here. 1 is just as good/bad as 10.
And so, without further ado, here they are…
I LOVE…
(I) as a reader… those moments when one more sentence becomes one more paragraph, which in turn becomes one more page and finally ends up being eight chapters. A glance at the clock and I know that I’m never going to get up on time. I never liked my job anyway…
(II) as an author… those moments when I become oblivious to the world around me and reality bends to the words upon the screen/paper. Time no longer holds any meaning and when I finally resurface I realise that day has slipped silently into the night.
(III) as a reader… those moments when it feels as if the author has written the book exclusively for me.
(IV) as an author… those moments when I’m sat in a darkened pub with a pint, some great tunes in the background and a notepad and paper (beer mats work too).
(V) as a reader… that moment when I walk into an old bookstore, take in the aroma and find the last book of that trilogy that I’ve been wanting to read for the past two and a half decades. Perfect day.
(VI) as an author… Those moments when it feels as if the story is lost and I’m about to topple over the edge into despair. An idea, sporting a worn hat and bullwhip, suddenly throws me a rope and pulls me back from the brink. Ideas and I are the best of friends.
(VII) as a reader… that moment when I pick up a book I’ve already read and shake hands with the characters that I travelled with once before. We all know how it will end, but it’s the journey that counts.
(VIII) as an author… that moment when someone reads a sample of my story and provides a page of feedback rather than just a simple “It’s great.”
(IX) as a reader… those occasions when I no longer notice the passing of page numbers and chapters. All that exists is the story.
(X) as an author… those moments when I get a phone call from an agent/publisher asking me for my bank details so they can deposit a truly obscene amount of money in it. Oh, damn… I must have nodded off there for a moment. Sorry. Of course, that never happens. What I meant to say was… that moment when I’m writing a scene and a song bursts through my headphones that just fits perfectly. There just isn’t anything better than adding colour to that picture within my head with words and music.
I HATE…
(I) as a reader… those moments when the main character’s name is bland (more so in a fantasy novel). It may be picky, but the wrong name kills a story for me every time. I just can’t get into a book if I have to read a name that just doesn’t work for me. The story might be well written, but if I get stuck on that name it just doesn’t matter. It’s dead to me. Dead.
(II) as an author… those moments when I follow someone on Twitter and immediately receive an automated Direct Message asking me to like them on Facebook, buy their book, clean their car and feed their cat. There really needs to be an optional button other than ‘delete’… something like ’Enjoy A Slow, Painful, Death in Hell’ works for me.
(III) as a reader… that moment when I reach the end of a book in an ongoing series and then have to wait DECADES for the next one. You all know who I’m talking about. There is a very good chance of dying of old age before you ever find out how “Game of Thrones” ends.
(IV) as an author… those moments when readers complain about how long it takes me to write the next book of my series. Goddammit. I’m an artist and I’ll take as long as I bloody well want to!
(V) as a reader… those moments when I’m on Goodreads and I have to wear wellies, just to prevent my socks from getting wet in the cascade of tears that pour from the eyes of authors, lamenting the unkindness of readers everywhere.
(VI) as an author… those moments when you see other authors/writers spamming your Twitter feed with their book or 5-star review/quote. SPAM POSTS ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM TYPING IN BLOCK CAPITALS. It’s annoying. Shouting the loudest while waving your book in the air does not make me want to read anything you’ve written or make me the slightest bit interested in you as an author.
(VII) as a reader… those moments when you’re nearing the end of a good story and then… out of f@#!*$# nowhere… deus ex machina. Yes, Mr King, I’m looking at you, but don’t worry, you’re not alone.
(VIII) as an author… those moments when autocorrect thinks it knows better and my words out just come all wrong.
(IX) as a reader… those occasions when an author writes each chapter from a character’s point of view. I get it. I do. I just don’t really care about some of the characters. This means I am very tempted to scan chapters, or even skip them entirely, just to get to those chapters that further my favourite character’s storyline. I’ll probably end up flicking back to the other chapters if I need to know something important and thus read the story in a different order than what you intended.
(X) as an author… those moments when I’m sitting down to write and I get asked if I can “just spare a quick minute”. Of course, time is in the eye of the beholder (or something like that). What might be a ‘quick minute’ for you is more likely to be a goddamn hour for me.
There. All done.
There were a couple of things I could have added to both lists, such as how I love, as an author, that moment when someone reads your work and asks you when your next book is coming out. Then there are those moments as a reader when you get excited upon hearing that an author is going to return to an earlier series only to find that they destroy the very memories you had once breathed. I’m looking at you, Weis and Hickman… specifically the travesty that was Dragons of Summer Flame.
Apparently, I need to nail the challenge to 10 other people now that I’m finished with the hammer. I’ll do that via Twitter since there is less chance for them to see me coming.
And on that note, I shall bid you adieu.
Nice choices!
Cheers, Jenny! I look forward to perusing your own list 🙂
I love all of your choice and realte to every one of them 🙂
I also don’t like authors continously complaining about readers not beingkind with their work. If I saw that many readers don’t like or don’t relate to my work, I’d try to discover why, rather than complaining about it.
Cheers. You’re right. Far too many authors treat sites like Goodreads as ‘hunting grounds’ for new readers. I’m always happy to interact with readers that approach me first, but I’d never pursue readers or even suggest that they read anything I’ve written.
That might seem odd to some authors who are all about the brand and promotion. I just think there are other ways of attracting a readership, other than ramming your fist, book and all, down their throat.
I like to think of it as the ‘Hare and the Tortoise Approach’ 😉
I think that happens because there is a general misunderstanding that promotion has to be aggressive in order to be effective. And this in turn happens because many authors are impatient to find a readership right after they have published their novel.
I don’t have any story published yet, so I can’t speak by experience, but I’ve read time and again that creating ‘your brand’ as an author takes easily years, and that’s why an author should start working on it far before they publish their book.
I have started working on ‘my brand’ a little more than a year ago and it is a hard, time-consuming job, but I’m starting to see the result of a constant, quiet work. And you know what? I know I am indeed marketing myself and an author, but it doesn’t feel like that at all. It feels more like sharing what I love.
Will it be the same when I have a published book? I really hope so 🙂
Excellent comment! An author talks to readers and potential ones through their work(s) first and foremost.
The loneliness of writing sometimes sends me to the library and I think I’ll get tons done without the distraction of household chores beckoning me. At the library, I am inevitable interrupted by a friendly face asking me to join them for coffee. Perhaps, I go to be interrupted. My favorite of yours are 8 in both the love and hate column.
Cheers, Alice. Indeed, the loneliness of the writer is comparable to that of the long distance runner. At least the face that interrupts you is a friendly one, unlike the random strangers I usually see.
I’ve often considered visiting a library in which to write, in an attempt to recreate fond childhood memories of doing such. The only libraries I’ve lived near since have been those attached to universities and I’d probably get odd looks or be expected of stalking the female students (such is the paranoia today).
The best place I found to write (outside the hallowed walls of a darkened pub) was in Waterstones in Cambridge, UK. There were these little window seats, surrounded by walls of books, where you could read or write whilst partaking of tea… or coffee, I suppose.
An inspiring list!
I finally got mine done…I know, I know. It’s about time. After two of these, you should expect my, ahem…delays. (Yes, that’s the word I’ll use.) Mine are on my website.
Looking forward to the next one, but, um…be aware, Christmas is coming up (well, it is!), and the next one might take longer! 😉
Haha! Cheers, Shaila 😉 I’ve just had a butchers at your list and it was well worth waiting for.
Thank you! 🙂