Ripped from the pages of Atlas: Not-so-successful author asks uber-successful author to "please stop."

Posted by sdesapio 10 years, 1 month ago to Books
20 comments | Share | Flag

The British crime novelist Lynn Shepherd has found herself at the centre of a storm after she called on JK Rowling to stop writing because she has "had [her] turn", suggesting that other writers need "room to breathe".
SOURCE URL: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/27/crime-author-urges-jk-rowling-stop-writing


Add Comment

FORMATTING HELP

All Comments Hide marked as read Mark all as read

  • Posted by richrobinson 10 years, 1 month ago
    I guess writing something more interesting is out of the question. Typical left wing response---I move up by pushing or forcing someone else down.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 1 month ago
      To me, left is about using gov't to help good people, and right is about using gov't to punish bad people. I'd like to use less gov't altogether, but if I had to pick I'd rather focus on the positive and vote for people who at least talk about hope and positive change, so that makes me sort-of a leftwinger.

      The less-famous author has the flawed thinking of "there's not enough to go around". Intelligent left- and rightwingers should reject this thinking.

      Maybe there should be another spectrum about whether there's enough to go around: cornucopian vs Malthusian. I'm a cornucopian.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by overmanwarrior 10 years, 1 month ago
    What a terrible statement. So she doesn't want to compete with JK. This is just a book. Think how many companies feel the same way and use government to stop competition. Nice example.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
    • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years, 1 month ago
      I would like to know the kind of success Rowling has known, but that's not why I write.

      I write because I have need to tell stories. That I can make money at it would be a wonderful bonus, but, as the saying goes... "writers write".
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by fivedollargold 10 years ago
    A friend of $5's, or more specifically his agent, was negotiating with a prominent movie studio to use his novel as the basis of a screenplay. Then, word got out that some guy named Crichton was writing a book on the same general topic (Airframe?). The studio pulled out of negotiations in the hope of landing Crichton's story. (They didn't get it.) So, what this lady is saying does happen. Note that by publicizing this issue, she may either through clever design or accident have gained enough publicity to boost her career, the substance of her argument notwithstanding.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 1 month ago
    Her nonsense is based on the premise there's only so much reading/writing to go around, and it's just a question of who gets to do it. If Rowling stopped writing, she says, people would read the same amount but read different material. That's not true. Maybe they'd do some other activities. Maybe if she wrote something that appealed to many people and packaged/marketed it right, reading would increase.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by mminnick 10 years, 1 month ago
    Ms. Shepherd - Write better books that people want to read. Don't ask someone better to step aside so you may rise. Think on this - You may not be the one to rise. It could be someone else.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  

FORMATTING HELP

  • Comment hidden. Undo