Dishing Junk: When Authors Write What They DON’T Know
Author’s names, book titles, cover and synopsis are all a product of this blogger’s imagination and are not based on any “real” authors or books. Any resemblance to existing authors or books is purely passive aggressive coincidence and should not be given much thought. Please pay no attention to the girl behind the curtain.
Today’s Dishing Junk is more of a musing, instead of its usual bitch-fest. A discussion, so-to-speak, about a topic that pops up in my head every now and again. Mainly when I’m reading a synopsis of a book, this thought that pops in my head usually leads to me NOT reading the book. But, am I doing myself a disservice? Am I being — wait — judgement? I am judgmental, I will admit it, it is a character flaw. It is why I don’t have a large group of close friends in my real life. You tell me your problems, I usually open my mouth and tell you what I think and not always in a nice cuddly bunnies sort of way. It usually leads to me losing friends. I know this about myself, I try to correct it…but it’s there. That judgmental nature inside my head. It applies to acquaintances and it applies to books. Let’s get off people and onto books, why don’t we.
I read a synopsis that goes, maybe something like this:
José Smith is a half-Mexican, half-black, half-Native American gay man living in the wilds of Alaska. For years he has been hiding his true sexuality from many people in his life, including his family. His family is from a long line of Native American medicine men and Voodoo priestesses…they wouldn’t understand his sexuality. José has also been hiding his love from his best-friend, Marco – who is a man-whore, but deep down inside loves his best-friend. Together they must piece together a murder mystery that points straight to Marco as the killer, whom the townspeople think is a Chupacabra, all the while exploring their love for one another – and the waitress Sophie who has stumbled into their path. Can they find love? Or will their blooming flame get frostbite?
I might have exaggerated that synopsis a bit, but admit it — you’ve seen worse…
The sketchiness of the synopsis isn’t what stops me, though. My brain suddenly says, okay, an über minority hero, cool. You don’t get many of them — and this one is over-the-top minority, he is even gay to round out the extreme nature of his minoritiness – make him a card carrying Republican and you just hit a .01%er. Nice to see some new perspectives, right?
I’m intrigued. Being a white-sort-of, American, it is rather cool to read about different sub-cultures within the scope of my own world. Meaning, it is one thing about reading about the Indian culture — which seems so different from my American culture and then it is another to read about a group within my own scope of existence and looking out from different “eyes”. How do they see the same world? How does the world treat them differently then they treat me?
The piqued interest slams on the brakes though the moment I read the author’s name:
Annie Lynn {fake name}
And then her bio:
Annie Lynn is from a little town in Kansas, called Middletown, where she has lived all her life. Annie hopes to one day travel to the places she writes about, but for now she must visit only within her imagination. Annie is married to a wonderful man whom she met in high-school and they have three beautiful children. Annie loves to write m/m erotica and paranormal romance of the spicy variety. Annie’s most scariest high-light in life was when she visited Las Vegas and talked to a pimp without even knowing he was a pimp!
Am I being judgmental?
Am I wrong to think that @!%!&ing Annie Lynn could reasonably write a story about a minority gay man? Living in Alaska? How could she even know how to exist as a gay man, on top of that, as a minority man, then combine them together? The politically correct angel on my shoulder tells me I’m an asshole, because I think an overweight, white, housewife, living in Middle America couldn’t possible know what it is like to be a minority gay man, much less write from his perspective. Much less depict the Alaskan wilds in all it’s glory? Her only knowledge base is the fact that she enjoys watching MTV Real World and Yukon Men.
It would be like a person writing a story about seeing the ocean, when they themselves have never before set foot upon a shore. They might have watched a movie that depicted the ocean…they might have heard the narrator’s commentary, but could they actually convey TRUE thoughts and feelings, instead of regurgitated “other speak?” (Meaning an interpretation of other people’s thoughts and feelings with no real substantial feelings behind them.) Like, writing a research paper on a topic that you have no belief behind, you basically just regurgitate other people’s information.
I don’t want to read regurgitated other speak.
Again, am I being too hard on Annie Lynn? Should I just accept these novels for what they are? It’s a damn erotica novel RACHEL! What do you @!%!&ing expect?
Instead of being too hard on myself, I just casually reject these review requests. Later Annie Lynn. I won’t be reading you.
But, I swear, one of these days, I’m going to talk my friend, who happens to be gay, into reviewing a m/m romance novel, written by a female, for me. Just to get his perspective, is it real life? Well, as real life as any Romance novel can be. Unfortunately his ass doesn’t read, which is his character flaw. But, one day. Just wait.
Till then, I’m stuck being judgmental and 86ing some review requests, primarily based on the author bio.
So, I ask you dear reader, a few questions, pick one or just let me have it:
- Do you think an author can write “what s/he doesn’t know?” Especially in the form of a character’s perspective?
- Have you read a m/m written by a female? Do you think it was “real?”
- Do you read author’s bios before you accept review copies? Do their bios sway your opinion?
Again – please note. EVERYTHING depicted in this post, from author name, to cover is FAKE. It is an “example” to use a real book/author I thought would be way too harsh. My opinions are also exaggerated. Remember, I’m dishing junk… 😉
I know you wrote this post like forever ago, but I just read it and I thought it was hilarious. This seems to be a common thing with m/m romance. In fact, I rarely see any written by men. It’s weird.
“Do you think an author can write “what s/he doesn’t know?” Especially in the form of a character’s perspective?”
Absolutely, but it really depends on the writer and what it is they’re writing because there’ll always be exceptions.
I think the most important thing is that if a writer is writing something totally outside their realm of experience (I’m talking race, culture, sexuality here, not things like mythical creatures) then they should take extra care to not screw it up – to research it right (and, if possible, maybe have someone read over it who does know what it’s like to be in the position the characters are in).
One of my biggest writing pet peeves is accents written phonetically (particularly my accent). I’m Scottish and I’ve seen so many American authors thoroughly butcher the Scottish accent, and then they usually mess up the culture aspect too and write stereotypes. It’s ridiculously frustrating and it feels like the character is just written to be Scottish, to be a stereotype, to be a novelty.
So…that was a very rambling way of saying yes, I do think authors can write what they don’t know but they should just make sure not to mess it up.
“Have you read a m/m written by a female? Do you think it was “real?””
Nope, but then I haven’t read much m/m stories in general. Not because I avoid them, I just don’t like reading books where it feels like the character is a Gay Character and the book is a Gay Book. I prefer books where it’s like… being gay feels natural, like it’s just one part of who the character is and it’s not all that they are (and it’s usually easy to tell from the summary whether a book is the former or the latter type).
I think that gay characters written by (straight) females often end up being the ones written like their only purpose is to be gay, so that’s my biggest issue with m/m written by women.
“Do you read author’s bios before you accept review copies? Do their bios sway your opinion?”
I tend to make my decision to read a book based on the summaries and then if I’m curious, I look up author bios and stuff when I’ve finished, so they don’t really sway my opinion. If I read them first or if I found out some things I don’t like about an author, it can make me not read a book.
…Sorry, this comment got a bit long.
Very interesting topic Rachel. But I can’t completely agree with you about writing about what one knows only. I don’t think that authors who write about killers have necessarily killed someone. Or that authors who write about strippers have ever worked in Vegas taking their clothes off in front of strangers. This is actually what fascinates me so much with fiction. A good writer can make me believe s/he knows what s/he’s talking about – and make the characters feel real.
I don’t usually check out author bio’s – I don’t really care all that much who they are or what they did before – it’s the story that interests me. I had to chuckle a little because of your fake bio, though, because I’m not sure how someone whose highlight in life was to chat with a pimp while in Vegas… could then write a hot and steamy M/M romance 🙂 But if the book was recommended to me by someone I know, I’d still read it.
Wow, what great post! And eye opening for me as an author who has written about Alaska and m/m characters. LOL Historically, I don’t think I’ve gone to an author’s site to check out their bio until after I’ve read them, so it never occurred to me that an author’s bio could be off putting to a new reader if they check it out before the fact. Especially if they’ve written something in a niche genre or setting. Granted, as an army brat, I have lived in Alaska and Europe, but I don’t believe I talk about having been well traveled in my bio. So I can see your point. You have me thinking that I may come across just like your example. Eeeck! And you have me scrambling over to my website to take a hard look at what I’ve shared about myself and how it could relate or clash with what I write. LOL
I’ve read tons of m/m written by females. The quality varies, but usually the deciding factor is the author’s ability to write, rather than the fact that they’ve never experienced gay male sex themselves.
“Write what you know” gets thrown around a lot, and in one sense, it is good advice. When you write what you know, there’s an element of reality to what you’re writing. It has the fine detail that people associate with quality. It makes it less likely someone’s going to come along and tell you, “Erm, that’s not how it works.”
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean people should ONLY write what they know. Look at science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal novels as perfect examples. If I decided to become a PNR author and wrote about a vampire finding love with a werewolf, I don’t think anyone’s going to tell me that I can’t because I am neither a werewolf nor a vampire and so can’t understand their perspective. Or even something less drastic as an example: because I am female, can I not write male characters? Because I am culturally Canadian, can I not write an American? Because I identify as asexual, does that ruin a sex scene? Is fanfiction automatically and unconditionally bad because the writers aren’t the creators of a universe or its characters?
I can definitely see where you’re coming from, and yes, I’ve seen plenty of authors make supid mistakes in their fact checking. But I think it’s less of them not writing what they know and more of them writing what they don’t know. I draw a distinction. ‘Knowing’ is relative, and knowledge can come from many forms. I know some disabled white females who write some really good gay male romance with able-bodied minority characters, and who have won awards for doing so. They can do this because they’ve done their homework, and even if they haven’t experienced a thing first-hand, they’re good enough at writing and research that it still comes out well in the end. So Annie Lynn may be a straight white married female from Kansas, but that doesn’t mean that by default she’s unable (or unwelcome) to write something other than her own life experiences.
I don’t write what I know. If I did, I wouldn’t write. But I also don’t write what I don’t know. Down that road lies madness. And ridicule.
I think people can write well about things they don’t know about first-hand. Research is a wonderful thing. And real emotion can be transferred, i.e., the feels of a first kiss to the feels of a first kiss in Paris.
I think it gets harder when writing thoughts and emotions for someone of the opposite sex. I know it can be done, and at times quite well. But when it isn’t just someone writing a character “who happens to be” female/male, but someone who is involved in a complex love story or other situation where men and women tend to respond differently by virtue of their sex, I have a harder time with it.
There are often these moments where I think, a girl wouldn’t have said that/reacted that way. And I can only imagine a buttoned-up housewife (from your ex.) wouldn’t be able to put herself into the shoes, let alone the mindset, of a racially diverse gay man.
I suppose those actors that take those classes that help them tap into certain wells of emotion to play roles that aren’t who they really are – serial killers, etc. – might be able to envision worlds and love stories in a way that resonates. So, I suppose there are writers who can do the same. But I do tend to shy away from books that involve difficult life decisions and complex emotions when written by authors of the opposite sex of their main character.
Oh and while I don’t typically read bios when searching for a book as a reader, as a blogger I do. And if a bio makes me cringe, it makes me question their writing. Even if I wonder half the time if the author actually wrote it and not an agent or publisher. But I see the bio as a sort of calling card. And a bad one reflects badly.
really enjoy your work i recently visited this website which is fanastic do visit as well http://www.thejetstream.com
I can’t say my first impressions of a book are influenced by author info, most of the time I don’t take any notice unless it is a series or truly amazing. But I do get your point, it can affect your mindset which is why I tend to distance a story from the personal deets until I have read it. I like to avoid the “they only write that way because of X personal factor”, and why I keep my work anonymous. For me, unless the author climbed a mountain or lived with wolves a bio isn’t need to know, they’re just like fun facts 🙂
Nice post. I don’t read erotica or m/m, but I’ve come across this problem in the genres I do read. I think that an author CAN successfully write a book about a place, time (I mean, come on; how else do we get good historical fic?), or race they don’t have direct experience with. BUT, I believe that the only way to make it good is research. Read a lot (more than wikipedia, hem). Talk to people who live there or who are actually the race you’re writing about. And know that you’re taking a huge risk, especially with race, because you’re going to be imposing your own biases on the way you write that character whether you mean to or not.
I’ve had the exact opposite thing happen to me whenever I go to industry events or book fairs. I wrote a book about characters with cancer and their loved ones, and as soon as people hear that they almost always say, “Oh, so you/a loved one must have had cancer?” They’re right, but the assumption bugs me, because they’re asking about my personal life in an otherwise professional situation.
As far as reading books about subjects/lifestyles that the author seems to know nothing about, I’m always suspicious too. I find I hold those books to a higher standard, because I expect them to have researched the topic exhaustively. Unfortunately, not all of them do, and that’s a bummer.
I don’t know what DTF means.
I agree with you 100%! I’m always skeptical and judgmental when it comes to anything that has to do with psychology or medical info and the author has no background in those areas. I went to school for psych and nursing and have worked in mental health for several years, so I’m pretty picky with wanting details right lol.
I recently read a book about an author who while writing an erotica novel about BDSM decides to do some research and get a little hands on experience in a fetish sex club. The whole time I kept wondering if the real life author did her own hands own research. I finally googled a picture of her and she is this gorgeous, middle aged woman who totally looks DTF. I am not sure if it made the book better or worse for me but it definitely gave me some unwanted mental images!
This is one of the best posts ever! Especially because of all these comments these comments trying to defend this FAKE author! Haha, I love it! I’ve never read any book like this, but I think I agree with you. How could she really know? EIther way, I love this post!
I missed the little disclaimer at the top saying the author and synoposis were completely made up and spent a long while astounded thinking that this was a real thing written by a real person. Wow did I laugh when I went back and re-read that part.
You are one funny lady! I have been laughing, rather inappropriately, in my office for a good fifteen minutes now. Thanks for that! I am counting my time spent with this post as an abdominal workout.
I find that most of the time, I rather hate reading anything about the author or even seeing their picture because I feel like it could spoil a perfectly good book. Though in your example, the book sounds like shit – yet I am intrigued to meet this half of a half of a half 150% man.
Another thing that bothers me: When female author tries to add to rotate in the male characters prospective. I wish this concept worked! But I find that most of the time it falls flat. Woman are woman and we think differently. When female authors try to guess what the man would think it always comes across as precisely that – a woman sounding like a man or a woman sounding like she is trying too hard to sound like a man. Either way – meh!
Oh and the bit where you write “You tell me your problems, I usually open my mouth and tell you what I think and not always in a nice cuddly bunnies sort of way.” boy, oh boy do I know that feeling!
I agree PJ. It’s hard to distance the writer from the work. I don’t think I could pull of a piece of work from the POV of someone “other” than myself. I’m also not a very talented writer. We each bring our own experiences into everything we do.
So yes, I would be more suspect of a woman writing a m/m erotica. Especially if she paints herself as a housewife, goody goody woman. I’d think hmmm….so she has some repressed sexual desires, that she wants to experience but can’t IRL. I’d also wonder if she had met a real gay couple.
Does that mean she can’t do it? No. I would be willing to give her a chance, but if she failed miserably, I would unfortunately blame it on her being a naive woman. Which sucks.
My hang up is that I ridiculously I believe women are better at writing men that men could ever be at writing women. As in, I really truly believe that no man ever could write a true woman. Which is pure stupidness on my part and is not true, but I have that idea stuck in my head and it isn’t going anywhere.
I accidentally commented in an Amazon Forum and they gutted me, which I later found out was de rigeur. Of course they made all the remarks about which of my reviews were fake, but the only thing they could say was wrong was the wrong use of a “there” in on of my blurbs. I don’t think it is too easy to judge how another writer characterizes a fictitious person. Within any group there are too many differences in characters. On the other hand, I never go to far afield because I am uncomfortable dealing with what I find unbelievable. Like vampires. Even though I can enjoy reading about them. I have actually had discussions on the bio mechanics employed on Walking Dead. Even so I have met remarks where people say “That could never play in real life” when I know it has.
“You can’t please ’em all.”
Nope. You never can.
I understand what your saying… and I can’t help but agree with you. I once read the bio of a crime novelist… his picture was taken on his bed all provokative like… that made me want to not read it. to me that was unprofessional and not fitting for the target audience he wanted. just my opinion.
Wow an author picture on a bed, lol. I like headshots. Professional.
It all comes down to research and hard work. If authors were to write only about what they know, most romances would only have female characters, and there would be no historical fiction, no science fiction, nothing. Sure some books are filled with stereotypes and errors, and even the most researched story won’t please everyone, but that doesn’t mean people should only write what they know.
Also, if we follow your logic, the same would apply to readers, right? So occidental white women should only read about occidental white women, because there would be no way for them to connect, understand or relate to other cultures, genders and sexualities. I might as well quit reading now.
You’re making a lot of harsh assumptions, even for a fake example.
Yes, I guess so. Better the imagination…the better the book 😉
But, why should it apply to readers? If you follow my logic? My logic is basically if you don’t know Math – don’t teach it. But, technically in reverse…if you don’t know math – you should learn it. So logic reversed actually encourages the reading of stuff outside the box to experience what you don’t know. 😀
Because what I got from your post was that those who don’t know math *can’t* learn it. I agree with your response; I think those who don’t know should learn, especially in order to write about it, which is why I said it was all about research. When people work hard in understanding and portraying the other in ways that are as nuanced, complex and fair as their culture and/or particular backgrounds, everyone benefits from it.
The culture details in Cinder/Scarlet by Marisa Meyer was very stereotypical…and in some cases, wrong (the use of honorifics, the portrayal of Asian culture.) I am usually forgiving when I read sci-fi, but I found myself EXTREMELY annoyed at the use of honorifics which not only were used wrong, but only made the writing a pain to read.
I was annoyed that I had to read about the author to figure out where she was getting this information.
Turns out the author only went to China for a week as a kid on vacation…and she consulted a Chinese professor (the guy was not Chinese)–which scares me. Either: 1) I don’t know my own culture 2) the professor has no idea what he’s doing 3) the author didn’t really consult the professor
Oh, and she watches Firefly.
But the apparently most people love the book to death and didn’t mind (or didn’t know) the culture references. I suspect I would’ve liked it as much as them…if it wasn’t set in China.
I only hope people don’t take the book seriously and speak Chinese like that.
Reading Cinder has taught me not to take fiction seriously. Many times, authors don’t do research.
On the other hand, I have to read the book to judge for myself. But as you said, it’s erotica…so…I tend to be much more forgiving.
I think you might be a bit too harsh on this author though. To put her picture and biography like that, and to call her overweight.
I think it is because most people don’t know the real thing so they have no clue…lol. I like the books but have no clue about Chinese traditions, or honorifics. And of course being a science fiction book you do give it some credit, they are not writing of real Chinese culture.
It is a fake author BTW.
oh. my bad.
fudge.
now this is awkward.
*hides in a hole*
I think using sci-fi as an excuse only goes so far, especially when the author totally thought she was doing it right and started littering the book with extraneous honorifics (basically tacking on extra syllables to ALL the names.) It was especially jarring because I speak Chinese and it was like “we don’t use that word like that” every five seconds.
if only she consulted a Chinese person…
And it was set in China, in “New Beijing”…but the incredibly Western behavior the characters exhibited the book made me think it would have been better set in Europe or the US. Or is it hinting that in the future, China will be taken over by Western culture?
hmmmm…Maybe I am reading too deeply.
No I totally get you — the cultures I do know something about and I read a book about – well a fiction book emulating the culture – totally turns me off. This is what I’m getting at…if you read a book about being a doctor – and they get medical terminology wrong – but it’s fiction – doesn’t that strike you as bad?
This is something I completely agree with. If an author writes about a culture or a mythology I know something about, they better get it right! Even if it is fiction. It just makes me feel like an author found a stereo-type and ran with it if the culture isn’t right at all.
I am not an author so I’m weighing in from a readers perspective. I do think you are being a bit harsh. I admit there is a LOT of crap being peddled to us these days but I base whether or not I’ll read a book on a few chapters not the bio or a pic of a “fat housewife” (ouchies! I’m underweight and an employed Mom of 2 and that raised my hackles.).. If I did that I probably wouldn’t be reading any fiction at all. I doubt Stephen King ever experienced a sh*t weasel crawling out of his bum but he sure as heck painted a vivid picture of it in “Dreamcatcher” that still haunts me. If I only read m/m novels written by a man I probably would only read Josh Lanyon (who is fabulous) but I would’ve missed out on Amy Lane and so many other great reads. It’s all in the talent and discovering if an author has a vivid imagination. I’ve read m/m by both men and woman with mixed results for both. Some people have natural talent, some notsomuch but I think that can only be figured out by reading a few chapters of their work, Yeah, most of it will be crap but some if will be spectacular.
I technically used the more PC term overweight – you know, a couple pounds could be overweight. Not necessarily fat. Coming from a fat person…that is, being empathetic to the discrimination of obese people, I could probably write about that. Just saying. But, yeah, I know to each his own, read a chapter…totally get it. Some suck, some don’t…
Overweight then. Guess I’m not PC but I don’t comment on people’s weight in general and was surprised by your comments. I would never take an authors weight, sex, color, employment, marital status or sexual preference into account when choosing a book but to each his/her own. I’m just glad we have so many choices now.
Josh Lanyon is a male pen name.
Great post. I actually don’t ever look at author information, whether it’s a picture or a bio or anything. I don’t read any acknowledgements or anything that will change my opinion of a book based on how I judge the author. So, I’m sure I’ve read something about a minority character by an author who grew up in a small town and not even thought twice about it.
I think authors, through enough research, can write about what they aren’t. And sometimes, I think they have the ability to do it better than someone who has lived it.
For example, I’ve read a lgbt book written by a person who is bi. And the book just sort of threw me into a lifestyle I was completely unfamiliar with without so much as an explanation. I needed a baby step, a reason, a perspective that could explain the situation and I think someone who wasn’t bi or into the kind of relationship presented in the novel would have realized the gap and eased me into it where someone who IS bi may not realize others might be a bit lost.
It’s like inside jokes… you need a little bit of backstory in order to share the joke with outsiders. Without a backstory, I’m lost. I mean, sometimes I’ll read British books and I have to google some of the slang and jokes because I don’t get it. And someone who isn’t British but writes a British main character might recognize this and refrain from putting in some of the slang that Americans might not get and still leave in some of the slang we do know. If that makes sense.
But I get what you’re saying. How can someone who has never known about a certain way of life write about it well? I think that’s where intense research comes into play. After all, I read tons of books about things that don’t exist and the authors typically research mythology and legends and are able to give me something plausible. Obviously I’m never going to read a vampire book written by a vampire. (right?!) So I give authors the benefit of the doubt here.
See – but how can they know? An author that writes a scene with three men and two women — have they actually been in that situation. Then you meet the author and it’s this seventy year old woman — and you are like OMG OMG OMG get the mental image out of my head!!!
+JMJ+
ROFL!!! I think this is my favourite “Dishing Junk” post yet! =D
I’m not a huge fan of the kind of author bio you have parodied here, Rachel, but I dislike it for different reasons. It gives me the sense that the author is trying to appear “girl next door” (or “author next door”) and that she doesn’t really take herself seriously. And then I think that I have to relate to her in order to enjoy the book at all, which signals to me that it’s not going to be my type of book.
Now, I happen to have a good friend who is white, happily married, the mother of two boys, and a resident of suburbia. She is also working on the second draft of a Historical novel set in sixth century Britain. It is an era she has been doing research on for years, and she has gone as far as to try medieval planting techniques in her own backyard and to hike over terrain similar to a setting in her story just to be certain how long a journey would take on foot. Do I find her to be credible? Of course! But not because of her “girl/author next door” qualities. So I think a bio which focussed entirely on those would totally sell her short as an author.
Now to answer your questions (as if this post weren’t long-winded enough!) . . .
1. Do you think an author can write “what s/he doesn’t know?” Especially in the form of a character’s perspective?
I think a good imagination, a strong sense of empathy, and enough serious research can do wonders where experience is lacking. But there isn’t much in “Annie Lynn” type bios to indicate that the author has or even values these qualities.
2. Have you read a m/m written by a female? Do you think it was “real?”
I’ve never read an M/M Erotica by a woman, but sometimes I read regular M/F Romances and don’t think the males in them are “real.” =S
3. Do you read author’s bios before you accept review copies? Do their bios sway your opinion?
I actually don’t read bios when I’m deciding whether or not to read a book. This post has made me reflect, in some surprise, on how big a factor bios seem to have become. They’re clearly a marketing tool–and inasmuch as marketing is about putting books and readers into neat little pigeonholes, it can be stultifying.
You are made of awesome!
Great Post! I think that if an author is writing a paranormal or fantasy novel, it is unlikely that they have and expert knowledge of that topic. However, if the author is writing about something that is real, I would like them to have reasonable knowledge about the topic they are writing about. If they have never been to the place they write about or experienced the issue, I would hope they at least did a lot of research and that should be mentioned in the bio so I don’t feel like they pulled the information out of their ass. Looking back, I don’t know how often I read the bio of an author but you have definitely made me think more about it. Thanks!
Well who knows, they might have met a vampire before. I swore Anne Rice knew a vampire, by how well she knew the subject. She has to know one!
I think your example is a little extreme, but yes, authors can write what they do not know. It’s all about how they execute and explore their craft. 😉 Annie Lynn could have some kind of experience with what she writes about as well. No need to jump to assumptions and judgements just because she’s a housewife and has lived in the same place all her life. Although, any author who writes a bio like that deserves to be judged. “High-light” in life? Who knows, maybe the pimp was gay.
Maybe the pimp was gay…who knows.
This is why I really limit where my picture is posted…and I try to keep my bio neutral. I want the reviewer to read my words, not wonder if I have any idea what it’s like to be the characters that my imagination created. I want them to speak for themselves…they are the ones to be judged, not me.
I write M/F erotic romance, but my gay cousin has read many of my books. He likes them. He says that any hot erotic scene has the same effect on him, whether it’s gay men or a man and woman, or any combination thereof. Plus he tells me I create interesting characters, but he could just be saying that to get invited to dinner again!
I’ve read some M/M romance written by white hetero women. Some rang so true that I wondered if it was a pen-name for a man. Some didn’t. But I’m judging through the limits of my own experience and what I’ve talked about with my cousin and other gay friends. If the novel is well-written, the characters should be 3-dimensional and real.
There was a very interesting and substantive discussion on another loop I’m on, talking about whether or not the genre of M/M romance written by hetero women is a reaction against the roles that women are usually supposed to play in our society. By making both protagonists men, the writers are free to create characters that are more “whole”, and less restricted by what women are told they can or can’t do. I’m not sure what I feel about that, since I never have gay men telling me their stories in my head, demanding I write them.
But one of the most interesting books I’ve read recently asked many questions about what it means to love someone, and if that person changed radically, would you still feel the same about him/her? “Static”, by L.A.Witt. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I don’t read in the genre I write in. But this book stayed with me, I still talk about it, and I bought paperbacks to give to my friends, including my gay cousin.
Very interesting post. I like when I’m challenged to really think about what I’m reading.
Thanks.
+JMJ+
I actually started reading two Romance authors because I had heard they were men who were writing as women, and I wanted to see if their stories read any differently from the female-penned majority.
One of them turned out to be a woman, so never mind her for the point I’m trying to make (LOL!) . . . The one who was man was also a pretty average writer. I can easily think of women writers who could write circles around him. But I continued to read his books because I found his male leads to be automatically credible in a way that Romance heroes written by women are not * –and I like that in a genre that often goes over the top.
Now, this is not to say that women cannot write convincing men. It just means that if a besotted hero written by a woman does something I find unrealistic, I’d probably go to all my male friends and ask if a man would ever do anything like that. And if the majority give it the thumbs-down, then I wouldn’t be able to suspend disbelief for the rest of the book.
Thanks for the comment. I guess it all depends on the talent of the writer really. I think that the m/m romance works for women because it’s written for women, not for gay men. It probably wouldn’t work the other way around. Like anything else right?
This makes me laugh….and these thoughts have crossed my mind, too. But at the same time, what does ANYONE know about vampires or werewolves when they write them? Or do we just give them free license because they aren’t real?
I once read a book by Jodi Picoult about the Amish (I forget what it’s called) and I did wonder how much she could really know about the inner culture, since they are so reclusive to outsiders.
I guess you are not alone. Contemporary fiction is much less believable unless the author has had some world experience in it.
You are also not alone in expressing opinions to friends. Mine have found me very opinionated, and I often have to bite my tongue so I don’t alienate people. It’s hard, it’s one of my flaws. At least my mother loves me, right!
Yes, my mom loves me too, but then again she is just as opinionated and judgmental as me. I try to keep my more aggressive opinions to myself, but unfortunately people usually tell me things after a few glass of wine. Shoots my restraint to hell.
I get the fiction thing. I do. But, I guess I’ve read so many great novels where the author has done tons of research on a subject that I set the bar high?
Hey Rachel,
This is a great post, I think of these types of things as well. I still read the books though. The only time a bio will put me off is if its written with grammar mistakes in it and doesn’t make any sense to me.
As far as the summary, I think authors write what they don’t know all the time. It’s fiction! A Fantasy author doesn’t really know what a Vampire or Elf really would look like, they make it up as they go. Even authors, like the one above, write real world situations and have no idea how those situations would make them feel or act. It doesn’t make it a bad book.
But, that’s my opinion. Your entitled to yours.
Ali
Fantastic! That is what I’m talking about. I totally feel your opinion, I guess it is just me – if it’s real, I want it to be real..lol. Vamps and werewolves can be made up for days…isn’t that crazy? But, if you put a setting in “real” Alaska – I want it to be a depiction of real Alaska. I guess it is just my judgmental insanity.