I have seriously got to be the kind of person people love to hate.
I'm the girl who usually loathes every film nominated by the academy awards and rags on the film makers for their "use of craft" or the "message" of the film. I say, make me laugh, blow some stuff up, and for heaven's sake make sure your leads are freaking hot. When I watch a movie, I want to be entertained. I don't really give a lick whether or not I have been enlightened to some important issue or whether or not my mind was stimulated. What I care about is was it fun? Did I have a good time?
Well guess what, it is the exact same with the books I read. Right now I'm reading a book that is supposed to be intelligent and amazing and has won a bunch of different awards and I'm having a difficult time finishing it. Be advised--this is not the first time this has happened. Not by a long shot. But give me a fluffy, fast read that can in no way be construed as "important" or "life-changing" and I will rave about it forever. I am a fairly intelligent woman and a writer to boot and yet I simply can't appreciate the books that all the critics tell me I'm supposed to love.
I'm sorry, but Twilight will always be one of my favorite books and Meg Cabot will always be one of my favorite authors. I will probably never read a single nonfiction book in my entire life and will purposefully avoid books that I know made it on Oprah's list. And don't get me started on the books that are "required reading" in high school.
Not that I don't appreciate good story telling. Don't get me wrong. I am really really picky when it comes to characters or story structure and pacing. I do enjoy books that are well written. I just think that "well-written" means something different to me than it does to a lot of other people.
I'm not saying that the people who love the classics and cannot see the value in a vampire/werewolf/human love triangle are bad people or that their opinion is wrong in any way. I'm just saying I don't fit in. I will never fit in with them. And what's worse, I have absolutely no desire to ever fit in with them. I'm sure that to these people I must seem like an idiot and it kind of makes me giggle. People like me must be baffling to some.
But I am not alone. Oh no. I'm not. I know I'm not. That's why I write fun fast not necessarily important but always cute books. So that I can hopefully entertain those like me. Also, because the person I like to entertain the most is myself. (Hey, if I'm going to invest months in writing a story you can bet it's going to be something I had fun doing.) No, I don't expect to win a bunch of (or necessarily any) prestigious awards in my lifetime--I know what I am--but I do aspire to end up on a best-seller's list some day. That would be fun.
The End.
PS. Happy endings rock and ironic, downer endings piss me off. That is all.
I'm the girl who usually loathes every film nominated by the academy awards and rags on the film makers for their "use of craft" or the "message" of the film. I say, make me laugh, blow some stuff up, and for heaven's sake make sure your leads are freaking hot. When I watch a movie, I want to be entertained. I don't really give a lick whether or not I have been enlightened to some important issue or whether or not my mind was stimulated. What I care about is was it fun? Did I have a good time?
Well guess what, it is the exact same with the books I read. Right now I'm reading a book that is supposed to be intelligent and amazing and has won a bunch of different awards and I'm having a difficult time finishing it. Be advised--this is not the first time this has happened. Not by a long shot. But give me a fluffy, fast read that can in no way be construed as "important" or "life-changing" and I will rave about it forever. I am a fairly intelligent woman and a writer to boot and yet I simply can't appreciate the books that all the critics tell me I'm supposed to love.
I'm sorry, but Twilight will always be one of my favorite books and Meg Cabot will always be one of my favorite authors. I will probably never read a single nonfiction book in my entire life and will purposefully avoid books that I know made it on Oprah's list. And don't get me started on the books that are "required reading" in high school.
Not that I don't appreciate good story telling. Don't get me wrong. I am really really picky when it comes to characters or story structure and pacing. I do enjoy books that are well written. I just think that "well-written" means something different to me than it does to a lot of other people.
I'm not saying that the people who love the classics and cannot see the value in a vampire/werewolf/human love triangle are bad people or that their opinion is wrong in any way. I'm just saying I don't fit in. I will never fit in with them. And what's worse, I have absolutely no desire to ever fit in with them. I'm sure that to these people I must seem like an idiot and it kind of makes me giggle. People like me must be baffling to some.
But I am not alone. Oh no. I'm not. I know I'm not. That's why I write fun fast not necessarily important but always cute books. So that I can hopefully entertain those like me. Also, because the person I like to entertain the most is myself. (Hey, if I'm going to invest months in writing a story you can bet it's going to be something I had fun doing.) No, I don't expect to win a bunch of (or necessarily any) prestigious awards in my lifetime--I know what I am--but I do aspire to end up on a best-seller's list some day. That would be fun.
The End.
PS. Happy endings rock and ironic, downer endings piss me off. That is all.
