Bloffles galore
Sara’s invention of a new word for Romance blogosphere kerfuffles came just in time for the season. There’s a fresh batch of Romancelandia scandals every summer, you know. They’re a vital part of the ecosystem. If we didn’t have them, crops wouldn’t grow. The Earth might even stop spinning.
Random thoughts on this month’s bloffle cornucopia:
- I’m still displeased with the RWA Board’s unfortunate misuse of language in their new definition of vanity/subsidy publishers. How they managed not to see the implications of this is a mystery to me. As I was saying in the comments on Courtney’s post, the first rule of a major policy change is to make sure it’s going to have the desired effect. Without a correction to the language, certain unquestionably legitimate publishers are now classified as vanity/subsidy, thereby rendering authors who sign with them ineligible for PAN and for the RITA awards. I know some Board members have said this was never their intention, but until they either fix the wording or rescind the policy, the definition from last Wednesday still stands.
- The flap about Caridad Ferrer’s RITA for Single Title Contemporary blows my mind. She wrote a great book, people. If Adiós to My Old Life got past two rounds of judges without being disqualified as Not Romance or Wrong Category, the win is valid — end of story.
- I also don’t get why some people are angry about bloggers and reviewers attending the conference. If they want to pay the money, let them come. So what if they gave your book a bad review? Introduce yourself and show them what a consummate professional you are, even if you have to grit your teeth to do it. One side note: people who’ve been raving about blogger Candy’s rack have obviously never been to Dragon*Con.
- The bloffle over costumes at the literacy signing has now branched into several arguments, with varying levels of discourse. On one hand, I don’t see a problem with people dressing up in costumes for the signing, since it’s geared toward fans. Those tempted into acts of extreme promo should be forewarned, however, that it may be viewed as a ploy to unfairly grab attention away from others. That’s the main reason I wouldn’t wear a costume, to be quite honest.
Something I noticed in the last day was this “Rebels of Romance” web site, which is run by two of the aforementioned costume-wearers. I do have an issue with some of the language in their promos, frankly. I mean, it’s one thing to promote yourself, your books, your own hawt-ness. Hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. Knock yourself out, baby. But when you aggrandize yourself by perpetuating regressive stereotypes, I’ve got a problem with that. Here’s one gem from their web site:
When you think “romance author”, what first comes into your head? A farm wife, penning a steamy saga while her fifty cats play at her feet? How about a shy librarian, acting out her forbidden fantasies on the page? Well, it’s time to look beyond the stereotypes and introduce readers to the Rebels of Romance–two authors whose real lives are as exciting as the tales they tell. From an LA based, world traveling Reality TV writer who once spent a winter in Antarctica driving trucks across the barren tundra to an Emmy Award winning TV News producer from NYC who splits her free time dancing to eighties music and rocking the videogame world. These women are living life to the fullest, writing the books they’d want to read, and hoping to convince the world that today’s romance novels can be evocative, hip, and a great choice for the urban professional.
Gah. Where to even start explaining what’s wrong with this and why it doesn’t work?
Oh, and unless you’re actually designing or coding game software, I’d probably avoid any claims of “rocking” the video game world. Just sayin’. :-)
Posted: July 19th, 2007 under Publishing Industry.
Comments: 12
Comments
Comment from Liz Maverick
Time: July 19, 2007, 9:54 pm
Obviously, everybody’s going to interpret things the way they want to. That statement came from a section of our media site called STORY IDEAS for the media. The idea is that there is more to romance than the stereotypes. Note that we call them STEREOTYPES and it was meant to directly address how the media constantly plays up romance writers as the images we mentioned. Without the header STORY IDEAS or the title of that particular story idea “MEET THE REBELS” it’s an even less helpful quote.
Maybe you’re still itching to go ahead with your explanation of why it doesn’t work (for you). But it would nice if you could just let this thing die.
You don’t want to like me or my socks or my approach to life and writing, that’s certainly your privilege. But I welcome you to sit at my table anytime and have a drink. Get to know me and ask me questions about what I really think before you rush to judge.
Liz
P.S. Marianne totally rocks the video game world. She’s a level 71 (I think that’s right.) WOW player amongst other things. She’s awesome.
Comment from Lynne
Time: July 20, 2007, 7:39 am
Hi, Liz! Thanks for stopping by.
I recognize this message as the same one you posted in response to someone else over at SBTB, so I’ll give a similar response here.
I can accept that you may not have intended for things to come across this way, but to me, and apparently to others, the “story ideas” on your web site encourage the stereotypes. You build up the stereotypes so you’ll have something to be “rebels” against.
No, I’m not “itching” to write more about it. I was trying to express a sense of “where to start?” when I wrote what I did.
I thought the outfits were cute — I see that kind of thing all the time here in Atlanta and at SF&F cons — but I had a big problem with the text on the site.
If someone like me — a GenX computer geek and SF&F fan from way back, who’s pretty squarely in the Shomi line’s target audience — can take offense at the press materials, then revisiting them may be something to consider.
Best of luck with the books. Seriously. They do sound like great fun.
Comment from Seressia
Time: July 20, 2007, 12:57 pm
I think of designers and programmers of successful video games as “rocking” the video game world, or someone who actually runs a MPORPG. I know way too many people so deep into WoW that earthwuakes can’t pull them away, and I don’t think they consider themselves rocking the video game world.
I thought the point of the website was to get buzz. I’m sorry that some of it was negative, but really, you wanted people talking, and they are. Some poeple (myself included) have been critical because your site is critical of other romance authors through the perpetuation of a sterotype and you setting yourself up as something different. Romance authors are lawyers, fighter pilots, TV writers, execs, doctors, nurses, cops, miltary personnel–just as varied as the readers who love their stories.
I would have rather you said, “Romance authors aren’t shy librarians penning their repressed desires or farm wives surrounded by 50 cats. Meet two authors who take that tired old media view and kick it to the curb.” Just flip the script, is all I’m sayin’.
Hey–my anti-spam word is akiro. Almost like Akira, which was arguably considered one of the best animes of all time.
Comment from Jody W.
Time: July 20, 2007, 1:37 pm
Er, Lynne, where in this particular post are you saying you hate the socks or that you’re judging the author(s) in question?
I took “rockin’ the video game world” to mean an intimate acquaintance with some version of DDR. Or is that not cool enough compared to WoW?
Speaking of rockin’ video games, we just got a Wii, miraculously available from a nearby Waldemort. Iiiiii want to play! However, I doubt I’ll burn so much time doing it I’m a level 70 anything :).
Comment from Lynne
Time: July 20, 2007, 1:51 pm
Exactly, Seressia. That phrasing wouldn’t have raised so many eyebrows, IMO.
Comment from Lynne
Time: July 20, 2007, 1:58 pm
Hi, Jody! I said that I didn’t personally have a problem with the costumes, so I dunno where the socks bit came from. I suspect after a while all those posts on SBTB start to run together, so maybe I’m being assigned an opinion I never expressed.
I simply disagreed with the practice of perpetuating negative, unfair stereotypes as part of a promo package. As Seressia pointed out above, there’s a way to do this that doesn’t come at the expense of others.
I have studiously avoided playing WoW and EQ because I know I’ll be addicted. I’ve watched friends spend thousands of hours playing them. I’m more of a single-player fantasy RPG (Oblivion, NWN, etc.) kind of gal, I guess.
DDR looks cool, but I’ve never played it. The line at the mall is always way too long. And then there’s the fact that I’d look like a total n00b in front of a bunch of ten-year-olds. :-)
I’m so jealous of your Wii! What games did you get for it?
Comment from Jody W.
Time: July 20, 2007, 2:17 pm
Sports. No others so far. I haven’t researched enough yet. But I will tell you, watching my sweet, nonaggressive DH do the boxing last night made me laugh so loud I woke the baby! I myself perfected a golf “power drive” using nothing more than a wrist twitch when he’d been throwing his whole body into the movement. I am a lazy wii-er.
Comment from Lynne
Time: July 20, 2007, 3:11 pm
Does the boxing work through the controller, or is there a separate interface for that?
I’m loving Oblivion ever since I got this new quad-core PC and 24″ LCD! I haven’t bought a controller for it since the mouse and keyboard are mostly sufficient.
Comment from Jody W.
Time: July 20, 2007, 4:08 pm
The boxing uses the joystick plus a thing called a nunchuck that’s really just a second handheld attached by a wire long enough to allow for a lot of movement.
http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Nunchuck-Controller-Wii-Nunchuk/dp/B000IMYKQ0
Comment from Edie
Time: July 20, 2007, 4:46 pm
I’m surprised Jody didn’t say anything about the 50 cats reference. *g* Of course, she only has two (I think), but Mean Kitty is worth 49. I know my Belle is worth 50. And just think how many librarians the other line might offend. When you’re a writer, it’s not a great idea to piss off librarians.
I saw Liz at the FF&P party and our whole table commented how great she looked. I think I said if I was younger, thinner and taller, I’d wear those socks too. Somehow I misssed Marianne, but from her pics, she looks equally cute. I did see Sherri Kenyon at the signing and got a big kick out of her hat. I don’t know what that fuss was about.
Comment from Lynne
Time: July 20, 2007, 6:09 pm
Hi, Edie! I’m with you on the not pissing off librarians. Having librarians and booksellers in your court is worth more than gold, if you’re a writer.
I was saying on another blog that I’m immune to costumes after years of attending Dragon*Con. I’ve seen it all, and these three outfits were extremely tame. I have no problems with the costumes themselves or the wearing of them in a public place.
That said, I think a launch party or a much smaller (or individual) signing is a more appropriate venue for a costume. You wear a costume to get attention, right? With 400-something other women in the same room who ALSO want attention, anything that draws the spotlight to a handful of people is bound to make some feel ill-used. I’m not saying *I* would feel that way, but I can well understand that some might. And that’s a valid point of view.
I also need to make it clear that I wouldn’t avoid wearing a costume out of prudishness or whatever. I’ve worn things much more revealing and outlandish than these women did. My reason would be that I’d prefer not to hog the spotlight away from others who deserve it as much as or more than I do.
Comment from Lynne
Time: July 21, 2007, 11:07 pm
Heh. Some friends of mine told me tonight that the max level for The Burning Crusade is actually 70.
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