I say this because I am now harangued on the daily by folks who want me to conform to some preconceived notion or predetermined activity based on my role and their relationship to me in that role. Meaning, they want me to dance, monkey, dance.
-
-
Show this thread
-
This comes in a lotta forms. It comes here on Twitter -- yesterday I failed to answer's someone's question about something and they tweeted at me again, "You didn't answer my question," and it's like, no I didn't. I can't reply to everything. Twitter is a fast river; I miss shit.
Show this thread -
I mean, JFC, if you're Pat Rothfuss or GRRM or anybody writing a legacy series, you can't tweet, "Had breakfast with a friend!" without a hundred Rando Calrissians swanning up and demanding you CEASE FRIVOLITY AND WRITE THAT BOOK, TYPEWRITER CHIMP
Show this thread -
Then you get those Very Special Friends, the ones who don't want you to say anything *gasp* untoward. Vulgarity with which they disagree with. Or worse, shudder, POLITICAL OPINIONS.
Show this thread -
(Spoiler: wanting authors and books to be apolitical is itself a political opinion, and actually means you want them instead to espouse political opinions that align so neatly with yours that you're a fish who doesn't realize he's swimming in water or that water is even a thing.)
Show this thread -
Writers and artists are not really in the customer service business. We do not cater to your needs. That cannot be how this relationship works, because we don't make widgets and dongles. We don't make "products."
Show this thread -
Products are a thing you judge by how well it does the thing that thing is supposed to do. If a coffee maker sprays scalding cat urine in your face, I think you have a pretty good case to complain; it has failed in its essential task.
Show this thread -
Further, services are a thing you judge by how well the task you need gets completed -- if I hire a plumber and he blows up my toilet with a quarter-stick of dynamite, I'm gonna be pissed. I won't pay him. I'll complain.
Show this thread -
But a book (or a painting or a movie or whatever) isn't a thing with a singular task, and those who come to that story with a binary expectation are likely to be disappointed. It's why I resist suggesting we create "content" -- because content is snugly adjacent to "product."
Show this thread -
And I recognize here there is a little discomfort when it comes to things, like, say, GAMES, which are both creations of art but also products that are meant to "work" -- but that balance is essential, as is our view of the art as subjective.
Show this thread -
The books I write are not meant to balance your table, or swat flies, or bludgeon mooses. They are containers for stories, and stories are themselves not things you can say WORK or DON'T WORK universally; it's not plug-and-play, not a narrative with a clear objective.
Show this thread -
You are not my customer. You are, I hope, my audience.
Show this thread -
Now, that doesn't have to be true, and it's okay if you're not -- it's okay not to like things! It's okay not to like me or my books or the things I like or the things I say. In fact, that's expected of you to have a wild, untamed jungle of opinions.
Show this thread -
You are free to be my audience at any time, and free to get off the ride at any time.
Show this thread -
(Unless you're a diehard Trump fan, at which point, you're no fan of mine, and I hope my book learns to bite off your fucking fingers.)
Show this thread -
See what I did there? I had an opinion. A controversial one, maybe. And you would be free to say, oh my, oh no, pooh-pooh to THAT piffle, and then you can step off my Story Trolley, ding-ding, and go about your day. But I don't owe you squat. Our relationship can just be over.
Show this thread -
The reverse is also true: I don't owe you, and you don't owe me. Our relationship is what we make it. You don't owe me a review, or a kind word, or anything. We can do that. We can chat -- I try to be open here and accessible! -- but that's a cookie, when you bought a cake.
Show this thread -
What I will do and continue to do is write the best stories I can, and in as timely a fashion as I can manage, and I hope you're into that. And we can talk and have a good time and I'll be as accessible as I can be within the limits of my sanity.
Show this thread -
That's likely true of most of the writers here, to a varying degree. But we are not your dancing monkeys. I mean, we're AT LEAST a galloping unicorn, c'mon.
Show this thread -
-
p.s. for an example of some of what I'm talking about, this comment thread at
#terribleminds -->http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2018/06/18/macro-monday-and-the-fuck-trump-tweet/comment-page-1/#comment-825023 …Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.