Comments on: Authors vs. Critics — Round One, FFFFight!

By: Murder Mystery Novels and Suspense Stories of Deadly Medicine

Murder Mystery Novels and Suspense Stories of Deadly Medicine — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:45:59 +0000

[...] You recently blogged on Nerd World about how, thanks to the Internet, readers and authors are no longer divided. Authors read their [...]

By: Top Posts « WordPress.com

Top Posts « WordPress.com — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:29:54 +0000

[...] Authors vs. Critics — Round One, FFFFight! Sorry about the recent posting rate. It has been teh infrequent. This is not the shape of things to come. The shape of [...] [...]

By: crealizate

crealizate — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:20:18 +0000

Forgot the link!

http://paperpools.blogspot.com/2009/07/but-but-but.html

By: crealizate

crealizate — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:19:45 +0000

Helen Dewitt has a beautiful blog that also posted about this sturm und drang.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:48:37 +0000

It’s like they used to go out, then broke up messily, then somebody forgot and invited them both to the same party. That party being the Internet. Awkward!
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Been there before. Hoo boy.

By: dennitzio

dennitzio — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:17:21 +0000

There’s a difference between reviewers and critics, in my opinion. Critics are experts in a subject who take a work apart, tease out hidden meanings, point out philosophical weaknesses and strengths, and to use their knowledge of the medium to show how technical failings (direction, lighting, soundtrack, composition, etc.) can turn off certain audiences. Critics are usually writing for the artist, students, and other critics. And most people probably find their writing boring, and many others will think they are simply wrong.
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Reviewers just give their opinion, and often don’t know why they feel the way they do about something. Sometimes, it’s something technical that turns them off and they don’t even know it, or they attribute a problem that could be fixed with tighter editing to poor writing. Moreover, there’s no wrong or right with opinion.
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Professional reviewers are stuck in between, because they often are semi-experts and have some technical knowledge but are writing for general audiences. They create a meal that can never satisfy – it’s too general and based on opinion for the technical crowd, and too technical for the general audience. 90% of audiences just want to hear “I liked it”.
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My advice, carpevis: read the last paragraph of a professional review. That will usually give you the lack of detail you’re looking for.

By: Kemper

Kemper — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:42:55 +0000

@ carpevis – “They are too few and too detached from the life the rest of us live in to give a credible opinion of anything.”
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So critics exist in some rarified bubble, and they have no earthly concerns, but Hollywood filmmakers or big-time authors are the salt of the earth? Riiiiigggghhhhtttt…
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I don’t agree with all reviews, but critics by and large have studied their respective fields and offer a (usually) free opinion on what a subject has to offer. They’re the ones trying to save you $10 by steering you away from the new Transformers movie. Michael Bay is the multi-millionaire hack taking your money. But according to your logic, I should cheer Bay? For what, exactly? Making a crappy movie? And I should begrudge the ones who offer up some critical analysis on the film/book/tv show that might save me some time and money, or possibly tell me about something cool I might otherwise have missed?

By: carpevis

carpevis — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:36:44 +0000

I believe what is happening is people are learning that despite the anonymity of the Internet, the ability to respond instantly and the inevitable friction between people in general, manners still count. If one posts with the thought in mind that you are physically saying the things you’re posting (whether in a review, response or opinion) to the face of those you are addressing, up close and personal, then it’s unlikely you will cross lines.
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Regarding reviewers, as I paraphrase what I once said to a politician to his face, I like reviews, but I have little use for reviewers. I prefer unprofessional reviews (people like you and me saying what they thought about what they’re writing about) to the professionals who comment about direction, lighting, soundtrack, composition, and other things about which I almost never notice and rarely care. That they can get their comeuppance from those they review in real time is marvelous and long in coming.
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I fully agree that reviewers are giving opinions, all based on how well medicated, nourished or intoxicated they are when they encounter whatever it is they’re reviewing. Given that, one can’t take a single individual’s opinion as being definitive or even necessarily accurate. Some of my favorite movies were panned by critics – excuse me, reviewers. I found them delightfully entertaining. Some movies praised by professional reviewers I found boring, dull, pretentious or incomprehensible. It would help, I suppose, if reviewers lived in the real world with the rest of us and saw it as we do.
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Bottom line: Ignore individual reviewers. Ignore the cadre of reviewers as well. They are too few and too detached from the life the rest of us live in to give a credible opinion of anything. And cheer when those they review hit back.
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By: anon76

anon76 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:11:31 +0000

Did nobody catch Lev’s subtle reference to ‘the shape of things to come?’ I think the little fella is secretly watching BSG, and this is his way of apologizing to us.

By: yogi

yogi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:58:10 +0000

There is usually an unresisting urge in me to read a book/ article / see a movie/ etc. after I’ve read a critic just totally trashes it regardless if the author tries to defend it. If an author does fight back, then I feel obligated just so I can take a side.