But hey, like mikkeneko said, attention, even negative attention, is still attention, and maybe that's the point.
Possibly. As I said to Mikke, I think this is a rather counterproductive way of going about it.
Thing is, I don't really care enough about the story, and I've learned that it's very hard to be put on the defensive when you don't actually care. Despite the author's shrill accusations, my dislike was never personal nor was it so strong that I'd expend any effort outside that one review to make the book fail, let alone the author's career. I think of Scalzi's analogy of poking the shrieking monkeys with a stick -- if you stop poking, the monkeys find some other source of humor -- and I've realized, he's right, because the monkeys are in it solely for the humor. If you're not being humorous, then the monkeys get bored.
The problem is that this requires the author to see hirself as not that important -- to realize that lack of poking means no shrieking from monkeys. If you firmly believe the monkeys originally shrieked because they dislike you, personally, and are Out To Get You -- then you're likely to believe that poking makes no difference, because the monkeys have never stopped plotting against you and thus you might as well defend yourself.
Of course, nothing disarms laughing monkeys (or dogs) faster than laughing along with them, but that requires a sense of humor, and that in turn seems to have a fundamental requirement of not taking yourself so seriously.
no subject
Date: 7 Apr 2010 03:03 pm (UTC)Possibly. As I said to Mikke, I think this is a rather counterproductive way of going about it.
Thing is, I don't really care enough about the story, and I've learned that it's very hard to be put on the defensive when you don't actually care. Despite the author's shrill accusations, my dislike was never personal nor was it so strong that I'd expend any effort outside that one review to make the book fail, let alone the author's career. I think of Scalzi's analogy of poking the shrieking monkeys with a stick -- if you stop poking, the monkeys find some other source of humor -- and I've realized, he's right, because the monkeys are in it solely for the humor. If you're not being humorous, then the monkeys get bored.
The problem is that this requires the author to see hirself as not that important -- to realize that lack of poking means no shrieking from monkeys. If you firmly believe the monkeys originally shrieked because they dislike you, personally, and are Out To Get You -- then you're likely to believe that poking makes no difference, because the monkeys have never stopped plotting against you and thus you might as well defend yourself.
Of course, nothing disarms laughing monkeys (or dogs) faster than laughing along with them, but that requires a sense of humor, and that in turn seems to have a fundamental requirement of not taking yourself so seriously.