People. People. People.  I’ve been on the web for something like 3 days and someone has written to me to explain how offensive I am.  Isn’t that something?  Usually it takes me say 7 or 8 days before I offend someone.  Really, I swear.  This is new.  Since I don’t like to take personal responsibility for anything, I blame Wendy for this mess. Or, to be completely correct, I blame some of the cranky folks I now know hang out and read her blog but choose to write to me rather than comment on her site.  Nothing like going straight to the source to solve a problem.

Wendy talked about profanity in fiction and the arguments between those who think profanity and "real" language are needed to create realistic stories and those who, well, think the first group  is bound for eternal damnation.  I commented and, I thought, was more charming than usual.  Certainly more charming than anyone ever should expect me to be.  LeezaW thought differently.  She wrote me an email explaining what an idiot I am.  Okay.  Everyone has a right to his/her opinion but I really don’t see what I said that was so horrifying this time. 

My comment on this issue:

The point is important and one we should be able to talk about without name calling. Frankly, I should be able to write what I want and read what I want without being told I don’t have a soul, am going to hell and am an immoral slut.

Hmmm, LeezaW?  I have to say I don’t see anything too terrible there.  Hate to tell you this but the only problem I have with this part of my comment is that I didn’t actually use profanity in my explanation.  Sure, I said "hell" but as a description of a place.  Kinda of like Kansas.  So, let’s move on.

Tho I do have to wonder if this really is just a romance genre issue. I read a lot of mystery/suspense and never feel as if my sensitive ears are being protected by the publishers and writers. The opposite is true. If the mystery/suspense is done right, you’re dumped into a harsh world/harsh circumstance and told to hang on. I doubt anybody tells Michael Connelly, Philip Margolin, or any of these folks, that the language of their cop/military guy/PI needs to be toned down to protect the reader. Maybe romance is unique - or maybe even uniquely out of touch - with the real world in this respect.

Again, LeezaW, this seems harmless unless you don’t like Michael Connelly which is hard for me to imagine.  Come on, did you read Concrete Blonde?  The guy is amazing.

LeezaW was so incensed with my stupidity that she wrote me an email that said, in its entirety:

You and your condescending attitude are what’s wrong with romance fiction today.  You excuse the fact you write trash and condemn those who don’t think like you.  You are not helping the genre you pretend to admire.

Wow.  I mean, wow.  LeezaW, do you really think I am what’s wrong with the romance genre?  Not bad writing.  Not poor conflict and characterization.  But, me? I gotta admit.  I don’t see that.  I also have to wonder when exactly you saw my work and how you know what I write since I’m not published, but I’ll let that go.  I do however have a few points to make in response.

1.  LeezaW, you actually come close to making Wendy’s point.  She was talking about the need to pump emotion into stories and the need for straight talk.  See what you did when you got angry?  You didn’t like something I wrote (obviously),  so you got mad, clicked on the link on Wendy’s site to get to mine, came to my site, and clicked on another link to send me an email.  LeezaW, that’s a commitment.  My wedding took less planning.  And, you went through all that effort because you felt something and you wanted to express it in strong terms - although I’m still unclear what it is that touched off the fury.  Sure, you didn’t use profanity but everyone knows that calling what I write trash is really just cover for what you want to say - HelenKay is a bitch.  Next time, go ahead and say it.  I think it will feel more real if you say the words.

2.  LeezaW - trash?  Really, it’s time to put these silly labels away never to be dragged out again.  See, when you get to the point where your only argument is to label something or someone in an offensive way, you have hit rock bottom on the argument scale.  You can do better.  Work on your arguments.

3.  So, LeezaW, why the private email?  I commented in the open.  Sending the private email seems to be a way for you to ignore Wendy’s good points and just attack me (and for some reason, not Wendy).  Oh, and LeezaW, I think the first line of my comment on the blog was that it was time to stop the name calling.  Did you not read that line?

Thanks Wendy.  This is just fabulous.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 29th, 2005 at 7:37 am and is filed under About Me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.