Today on Facebook Anne Rice majestically defended E.L. James after James's Twitter event today spun out of control.
Instead of being a lovefest or a cyber tea party, #AskELJames turned into a free-for-all where critics of all kinds told James what they thought of her books and her writing. The responses prompted this furious denunciation from Rice, an author I admire:
![2015-06-30-1435627810-951401-e_l_james_home2.png]()
Note that Rice didn't bother to go on Twitter herself and spend any time scrolling through the tweets. She merely "received word," like some monarch in his throne room receiving reports of disturbances in a neighboring kingdom, and she launched her manifesto. Now, it's hard to disagree with her comments about trolling and bullying, but can anyone seriously compare James to any other writer except, say, mega best sellers? Who else in the writing world would generate so much attention? And who's censoring James, who's stopping her from writing? People on Twitter? To quote Cher in Clueless: "As if!"
![2015-06-30-1435628004-5961128-clueless_cher_as_if.jpg]()
I don't think much of James's writing, though I've used it in a workshop to illustrate how not to write sex scenes, so it's good for something, but Rice's screed made me check to see if she was right to be so angry.
What I found, with few exceptions, was hundreds of witty or just plain funny tweets. Were they barbed and sarcastic? You betcha. But this wasn't an invitation-only event, nobody had to buy tickets or pay $150 a plate for the privilege of banqueting with James. It was open. Wide open. And there were lots of defenders of James, though they could be funny, too, because some claimed that her book was "a fictitious novel" or a "fictional novel." And a good portion of the tweets were simply people relieved to hear others say what they thought: James is an awful writer, or praising other tweets for their cleverness.
Some of my favorite Tweets:
Is this trolling, abuse, or hate speech? The majority of tweets were simply critical of her writing, no matter what the tone. How is criticism bullying? Rice's comments invoke lots of sympathy for victims of bullying ( at last count 5,000 people had Liked her remarks) but they blur the line between ordinary authors and a literary superstar like James who's frankly beyond the reach of whatever Twitter throws her way.
The Twitter feed was filled with many serious questions about the true nature of BDSM and whether James was glamorizing an abusive relationship. Rice didn't mention any of that, and few of those comments seemed to cross the line, but honestly, I couldn't keep reading for too long, because I started laughing too hard and needed a break.
When I went back and looked for
Instead of being a lovefest or a cyber tea party, #AskELJames turned into a free-for-all where critics of all kinds told James what they thought of her books and her writing. The responses prompted this furious denunciation from Rice, an author I admire:
I'm receiving word from numerous sources that author E.L. James is being attacked and bullied and abused on Twitter. I'm shocked and I'm disappointed. How long are we going to put up with this kind of thing? Fortunately E.L. James is a very successful author, internationally famous, and backed by a strong publisher and millions of readers. But this is the same sort of abuse that cripples and silences many self published authors, young authors, and mid list authors, and make no mistakes, they are indeed attacked ---- on Goodreads, on Amazon, on Twitter and the like. I'm fed up with "Censorship by Troll." Aren't you?....And let's not nitpick about the difference between opinion and abuse. People who bring obscenity, hate speech, name calling and vile insults to this page are deleted and banned.
Note that Rice didn't bother to go on Twitter herself and spend any time scrolling through the tweets. She merely "received word," like some monarch in his throne room receiving reports of disturbances in a neighboring kingdom, and she launched her manifesto. Now, it's hard to disagree with her comments about trolling and bullying, but can anyone seriously compare James to any other writer except, say, mega best sellers? Who else in the writing world would generate so much attention? And who's censoring James, who's stopping her from writing? People on Twitter? To quote Cher in Clueless: "As if!"
I don't think much of James's writing, though I've used it in a workshop to illustrate how not to write sex scenes, so it's good for something, but Rice's screed made me check to see if she was right to be so angry.
What I found, with few exceptions, was hundreds of witty or just plain funny tweets. Were they barbed and sarcastic? You betcha. But this wasn't an invitation-only event, nobody had to buy tickets or pay $150 a plate for the privilege of banqueting with James. It was open. Wide open. And there were lots of defenders of James, though they could be funny, too, because some claimed that her book was "a fictitious novel" or a "fictional novel." And a good portion of the tweets were simply people relieved to hear others say what they thought: James is an awful writer, or praising other tweets for their cleverness.
Some of my favorite Tweets:
Will there be a pop-up edition of 50 Shades?
How is your inner goddess feeling about this hashtag?
When does 50 Shades: Infinity Wars come out? Will there be a kick ass after credit scene?
You do realize that if Grey wasn't a billionaire, the 50 Shades trilogy would be one hell of a Law & Order episode?
My boss said no when I asked if I could kiss him and then I did anyway because no means yes right? Things at work are awkward.
Why.
Is this trolling, abuse, or hate speech? The majority of tweets were simply critical of her writing, no matter what the tone. How is criticism bullying? Rice's comments invoke lots of sympathy for victims of bullying ( at last count 5,000 people had Liked her remarks) but they blur the line between ordinary authors and a literary superstar like James who's frankly beyond the reach of whatever Twitter throws her way.
The Twitter feed was filled with many serious questions about the true nature of BDSM and whether James was glamorizing an abusive relationship. Rice didn't mention any of that, and few of those comments seemed to cross the line, but honestly, I couldn't keep reading for too long, because I started laughing too hard and needed a break.
When I went back and looked for