Discussion on eHarlequin with Diana Ventimiglia
Have you always had a burning question you’ve wanted to ask a Silhouette Desire editor? Well, if so, now’s your opportunity. My very lovely editor, Diana Ventimiglia, is currently on the eHarlequin.com board here!
Hi Diana I wanted to find out, do you have to do added research as well on the books you edit to “get a feel of them” or do you rely on the author research work done already.
Comment by Avi J — 14 April, 2008 @ 10:05 pm
Oops, Avi, I didn’t make myself clear. You’ll need to click on the link to the eHarlequin board, i.e. the word ‘here’, in my blog to go to the board where you can ask questions. Sorry about that!
Comment by Yvonne Lindsay — 14 April, 2008 @ 10:30 pm
Does it bother you to produce works without any lasting literary merit, created for commerce rather than any sense of art of talent?
Comment by Cliff Burns — 14 April, 2008 @ 10:46 pm
Cliff, thanks for popping by my blog.
I’m curious about your opinion of “lasting literary merit.” For me, I just love to write books that millions of people around the world love to read. With translations so far in Spanish, German and Greek, on top of my books being circulated in English speaking countries, I know I’m reaching people and providing reading pleasure to many.
So, we don’t all like to read or write the same kinds of books–we’d have a pretty pathetic selection to choose from if we were only permitted books advocated by whatever panel of judges deemed had “lasting literary merit.”
Does it bother me that I earn a good living from my writing and that I’m meeting the demand of an ever growing group of readers who like a happy ending? Not at all.
Comment by yvonnelindsay — 15 April, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
Dear Mr Burns,
No, we’re not related.
I’m extremely insulted by your question and only wish you would not judge other forms of fiction. Have you actually READ any romance novels? I wish you could read the mail so many romance authors have received over the years telling them how their books helped a grieving mother get through sitting by her child’s hospital bed for weeks or months while the child had chemo or was dying, how reading a romance novel saved a marriage or enhanced one, or helped a woman get through ANY hard time in her life. Is that not what any “ART” form is supposed to help us do? To lift us out of our grief or improve our lives?
And who is to say what has “lasting literary merit”? YOU?
What about Jane Austen, or the Bronte sisters? After almost 200 years, do their romance novels have no lasting literary merit? No art or talent?
You’re certianly entitled to your opinion. I just wish you’d keep it to yourself.
Comment by Juliet Burns — 16 April, 2008 @ 12:04 am
Dear Cliff
But we’re bringing so much joy to those who like to feel morally superior…
Comment by Paula Roe — 16 April, 2008 @ 1:44 am
I went to his blog and could not believe his arrogant attitude about his book. Then I read the first few pages and understood why it was rejected. Why do people seem to think they should build themselves up by slamming someone else. Great replies, ladies. Too bad he probably won’t see the comments aimed at his ignorance.
Comment by Vanessa — 16 April, 2008 @ 5:37 am
Ai yi yiiiiiiii!!!
See ya Cliff.
Yvonne - CONGRATS on the online job!!! I LOVE those - am so totally addicted and have been for years (I used them to ‘research’ the lines in fast fashion when I first started writing - you can get heaps in the online reads library at the M&B UK site… love them,love them and SO looking forward to reading yours!!! When will it be up??!!!
~Nat
Comment by Natalie Anderson — 16 April, 2008 @ 8:29 am
Folks, I’m a literary writer who spends YEARS on a work while the hacks in romance stamp their “product” out with the equivalent of a cookie cutter mentality. Romance novels are frequently excreted in days or weeks, conforming to elementary and pathetic formulae. Vanessa, anyone who reads bad romance novels is not qualified to pass judgment on fine fiction. It’s like asking someone who’s only tackled “Dick & Jane” readers to grasp the appeal of Melville’s MOBY DICK. My novel SO DARK THE NIGHT has been downloaded hundreds of times in the past month and you’re the only one who isn’t singing its praises. That’s telling, don’t you think? And if you read my postings, you’ll see my work is turned down by traditional publishers not because of the quality of the writing but because it doesn’t fit into a marketplace dominated by hacks and airheads.
The vast majority of romance writers are low-grade talents who have little or no respect for their readership, who (regardless)are undemanding when it comes to exceptional prose…and think “syntax” is what you pay when you buy junk food or pop. I’ll stack up the love story at the heart of SO DARK THE NIGHT against any of your favorite bodice-rippers any time, anywhere, any year.
Comment by Cliff Burns — 16 April, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
“you’re the only one who isn’t singing its praises. That’s telling, don’t you think?”
Uh… maybe it’s telling me that you have a lot of lemming friends who read your book and posted on your blog. I’ve read my share of literary prose (university, you know) and CHOOSE what I read now. I much prefer a story about love than one filled with post-modernist angst.
As far as hacks and excretion and low-grade talents — it’s pretty sad that you’ve sunk to name-calling in order to boost your own ego. I’m sure Ms. Lindsay has better things to do (like excreting her books that are published by a world-wide publisher and probably offer her a tidy living to boot) than bear the brunt of your anger at the publishing industry.
There’s room for every genre. I haven’t heard Stephen King slamming romance lately. Maybe because he’s intelligent enough to realize it constitutes over half the paperback book sales. Who’s idiot enough to slam that? Oh yeah… you.
It’s a rough publishing world out there, Cliffie boy. If you can’t take the heat, perhaps you should start ordering take-out.
Comment by Vanessa — 16 April, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
Hi Natalie, thank you for your congratulations on the “online read” contract. It will be live from 21 July with chapters posted until 17 August and will tie in for promotion for my August release. I love how eHarlequin works in with their authors this way.
Comment by yvonnelindsay — 16 April, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Cliff - see, now the writers I know (ones who are also teachers, university lecturers, physicists and other degree-educated people) would NEVER EVER stoop so low as to genre-bash. It seems to me that you have tried the traditional route but are now so disillusioned and bitter that you feel the need to crap all over a genre you obviously have no understanding about. I find those who are vocal about ‘how crap romantic fiction is’ generally haven’t bothered to read them… and if they have it’s less than a handful that were published in the 80s (and let’s face it, literature, like everything, CHANGES to suit the times). The best argument against something is knowledge, of which is sadly lacking here, because you’ve resorted to tired old cliches. The cross section of our readers run the gamut of society - intelligent, educated women and men, middle to high socio-economic background, single, divorced, happily married… For more details and stats, I suggest you check out the press page at http://www.rwanational.org
Oh and one last thing - they’re not ‘bodice rippers’. They’re books. As is true of other genres, some may not be good, or well-written, but you have to read widely to get that gold. The majority are rich, well-rounded stories about survival, acceptance, love, triumph over adversity and personal growth. It’s really amazing when you get fan mail saying your book helped someone overcome a difficult time in their life, gave them hope, took their mind off some tragedy and generally uplifted them. That’s what romance is all about.
Comment by Paula Roe — 16 April, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Romance novels are frequently excreted in days or weeks, conforming to elementary and pathetic formulae.
Can someone please share the formulae with me? No one gave me one, you see, and it’s taking me months and months and months of hard work to produce a romance novel when it seems I should be able to do this in mere weeks.
But, wait…perhaps that’s because I don’t believe in the cookie-cutter myth.
Comment by Bronwyn Jameson — 17 April, 2008 @ 1:00 am
Me too, Bron! Months and months and months…
Days? Weeks? Just where does this guy get his information? Um…Cliffy? Maybe you should research your subject more thoroughly…
Comment by Juliet Burns — 17 April, 2008 @ 4:24 am
I find it interesting that Cliff Burns has decided the best way to vent his anger and bitterness at the world of publishing is through drive-by postings at blogs of writers of whom he has little or no knowledge. Was the spleen vented on his own blog not enough of an outlet? Why choose Ms. Lindsay? Why not a blog written by one of the editors or agents who rejected his work in the past instead of a writer who enjoys success in a genre he does not write nor read?
Mr. Burns seems to think that publishing is a zero-sum game — that there are a fixed number of books that can be published and that each novel published reduces his chances of getting a slot. Even if that were the case — which it is not — literary fiction is not in direct competition with genre fiction for those slots. And while the line between literary fiction and commercial fiction can be a blurry one — and it often changes as years pass (see Shakespeare, Dickens, etc.)– good fiction (and good writing) speaks for itself. It does not need to denigrate other genres.
His bitterness is obvious, so there’s no need to lend any credence to his outcry. (The ravings on his blog would be enough to make any editor or agent think twice before signing him.) Mr. Burns has enjoyed “hundreds” of people reading his work for free in the last month. Ms. Lindsay has had thousands of readers pay their hard-earned cash — and times are tight, folks — to read her books last month. If all Mr. Burns wanted was praise for his genius, then the praise from those who have read his book would satisfy him. But Mr. Burns’ wants commercial success as well. He can shout his noble purposes from the towers, but this comes down to cash and fame.
I could call Mr. Burns’ work pretentious, navel-gazing crap. I could say it’s derivative in style and juvenile in execution. But I can’t back up my argument because I haven’t read it. Mr. Burns’ comments should be weighed the same way. Without specific examples, his argument has no grounds. To what, specifically, does he take literary insult? Language? Style? Content? Lack of symbolism? Until Mr. Burns has read enough of the genre to form an adult, rational — and dare I ask scholarly — argument, he needs to keep his mouth closed. And his fingers off the keyboard.
I *do* have the creds to argue the finer points of literature, but that does not seem to be what Mr. Burns wishes to do. And even if he did, I shudder to think what he would consider an appropriate forum. After all, he thought this was the proper place to stop by and rant about not being appreciated for his work.
Wild lashings at a genre as a whole (or its writers, publishers, or audience) cannot form the basis of any argument of literary anything.
Comment by Kimberly — 17 April, 2008 @ 1:32 pm