i completely agreeeeee

WELLL SEVEN BOOKS IS A REALLY GOOD JOB AND THE STEFANS DIARIES BTW ARE NOT BY LJ THEY ARE BY THE FRICKIN CW NETWORK PEOPLE AND ON THE COVER IS SAYS CREATED BY HER BUT IN TRUTH SHE HAS NO AFFILIATION WITH THEM SO NEEHHHH!!!!!!!

So, what you're saying is you support Alloy Entertainment's choice to fire the person who created the entire world and brought it to life in her books? You completely agree with their decision to cut off LJ's passion, her career, her life?
Well, that shows what kind of a person you are.

Hayden wrote: "So, what you're saying is you support Alloy Entertainment's choice to fire the person who created the entire world and brought it to life in her books? You completely agree with their decision to c..."

W00T! Go angry Hayden! And I don't even like anything LJ's written.

Heatherlee wrote: "WELLL SEVEN BOOKS IS A REALLY GOOD JOB AND THE STEFANS DIARIES BTW ARE NOT BY LJ THEY ARE BY THE FRICKIN CW NETWORK PEOPLE AND ON THE COVER IS SAYS CREATED BY HER BUT IN TRUTH SHE HAS NO AFFILIATIO..."

Seriously? Firstly, please get your capslock fixed, for the sake of us all, because it is obviously broken.

How can you even get the courage to press the "post" button after you've written something that atrocious?

Heatherlee wrote: "WELLL SEVEN BOOKS IS A REALLY GOOD JOB AND THE STEFANS DIARIES BTW ARE NOT BY LJ THEY ARE BY THE FRICKIN CW NETWORK PEOPLE AND ON THE COVER IS SAYS CREATED BY HER BUT IN TRUTH SHE HAS NO AFFILIATIO..."

Heatherlee, Caps Lock and "NEEHHHH!!!!!!!" are not the way to disagree with someone or look intelligent while doing it. Quite frankly, you look like an immature child.

Hayden, various other people, don't kill me for this, but I can't disagree with Alloy Entertainment's decision to fire LJ Smith on a certain level. It really, really sucks she is no longer allowed to write the books she spent years writing. My heart goes out to her on that and on a writer's level, I disagree with the decision. Then on a business level, they owned the rights to the books, she was employed to write the books a certain way, and she was not doing her job as she was directed to do it. Just as an employee in an office would be fired for not doing their work as directed, she was fired for not writing the books as directed.

I never expect anyone to agree with my point of view or even like it when I see fit to express it, but that's how I see it. If you're going to tackle me, give me a minute to put on some padding. My e-bones break easily.

She did take forever to make the last nightworld book which is still not out. But they can fire her from writing her books? Really? Are all book contracts like that?

Jahlia wrote: "Are all book contracts like that?"

No, no way! You just have to be careful with what you sign (as with everything).

Jahlia wrote: "She did take forever to make the last nightworld book which is still not out. But they can fire her from writing her books? Really? Are all book contracts like that?"

No, not all book contracts are like that. She owns the rights and such to all her other series because those deals were made directly with the publisher. For TVD, she made a deal with the book packaging company Alloy Entertainment and then they made the deal with publisher. The contract Smith signed gave Alloy Entertainment ownership of the TVD books and all the characters in them. She has the copyright, but ownership is really what matters.

So yes, they could fire her from writing her own books. It sucks so much, but they had the legal ability to keep LJ Smith from writing more TVD books because they owned the rights, not her. When it first happened, I did some research and wrote about the situation here if you want a more thorough explanation.

Paige wrote: "Jahlia wrote: "She did take forever to make the last nightworld book which is still not out. But they can fire her from writing her books? Really? Are all book contracts like that?"

No, not all ..."

Nice rundown.

I know some writer-peeps who work for packagers/similar outfits. Though I wish them the best with it, the deals kind of make me uneasy. They tend to be much better financially for the packaging companies and publishers than the authors, though the authors often get some immediate benefits--easier sale to publishers, bigger marketing push, and so on. But when it comes down to it, working with a packager means that your ideas aren't yours and that you shouldn't get too attached to them. That would require a level of distance that I know I'm incapable of, when it comes down to it.

However, I'm not really sure what Harper or Alloy were expecting. Smith's heroines NEVER end up with the first guy they fall in love with. Her love triangles are pretty much the inverse of Stephenie Meyer's, and I suspect they wanted to force Smith into a Meyer-like mold after Twilight's success. Which just sucks.

Phoebe wrote: "Paige wrote: "Jahlia wrote: "She did take forever to make the last nightworld book which is still not out. But they can fire her from writing her books? Really? Are all book contracts like that?"
..."

Thanks for the explanations! I don't really understand what Harper/Alloy were expecting, either. I think if LJ wanted to, she could've lost the ballsiness and written them the way requested while still doing what her heart told her to, but for some reason she didn't. I am glad, however, that she is accepting the consequences and didn't cave in and write what she didn't feel.


Paige wrote: "Heatherlee wrote: "WELLL SEVEN BOOKS IS A REALLY GOOD JOB AND THE STEFANS DIARIES BTW ARE NOT BY LJ THEY ARE BY THE FRICKIN CW NETWORK PEOPLE AND ON THE COVER IS SAYS CREATED BY HER BUT IN TRUTH SH..."

Thanks for sharing your opinion, and while I can't say I completely agree with it, I do respect it, and I won't fight you or anyone else over what you believe because that's just inane and pointless.

Paige wrote: "Jahlia wrote: "She did take forever to make the last nightworld book which is still not out. But they can fire her from writing her books? Really? Are all book contracts like that?"

No, not all ..."

Thanks for this, too. That helped me understand it better.

Cory wrote: "Hayden wrote: "So, what you're saying is you support Alloy Entertainment's choice to fire the person who created the entire world and brought it to life in her books? You completely agree with thei..."

I know, right? I'm never angry on Goodreads. Never. I laugh at reviews in which trolls get pwned. Never thought I'd be the pwner.

youn know what hayden it may not have been to your liking but i happen to like what she is writing and with every book that she puts out it makes me like her writing more and i wanted to type with the caps lock on for emphasis!!!!. but you should read some good books i recomend kafkas metamorphisis!

Well, I'm glad you have an opinion on the matter, but from now on, it's not her writing, so you'd better get used to that.
I've never heard of that before. I'll have to look it up.

ok then
And kafka is really old so go to a used book store

For the love of all thats holy will this woman stop writting this drival the first four books were great alright Elena was not my choice of heroin to selfish if you ask me but the second triliogy WTF and now another trilogy Damon is dead Elena is with stefan end of story good night vienna.

damon os still alive in like the last sentance of midnight. and he comes back so yeah i mena elena was not so much my first choice as much as bonnie and meredith, so yeah but i am curious to see how badly they will frick this up without LJ or how much better it will get

well i liked the first four because Elena and the group grew. Elena became less bitchy/self-centered, Bonnie and Meredith were really powerful for best friends of the main heroine and i loved creepy/crazy/psycho Caroline. But Stefan and Damon were eh... and NOW THEY'RE DRAGGING THE BOOKS OUT.


I just can't even.... UGHHHHH.

can we PLEASE just have Strange Fate?
PLEASE?!

frankly it was LJ's fault, she got too reckless with the return series (an series that wasn't even needed period.) while i know she created the series that doesn't mean she can do WHATEVER she wants with them, there has to be some boundaries and limits, hence editors otherwise it's an nonsensical mess, but LJ fought with hers continuously, and i don't blame them for giving up on trying to reason with her, she obviously wouldn't listen to reason, are we really suppose to believe even though elena came back to life as an regular normal human being again to being retconned as an spirit child who can't talk and has wings? that elena went from being an headstrong, decisive girl to being downgraded to an level that's below katherine?

So this book The Hunters: Phantom wasn't written by LJ? I heard she got fired but what was the reason behind her firing. And what exactly is a ghost writer? And how can they continue a series that belongs to LJ?

Courtney wrote: "So this book The Hunters: Phantom wasn't written by LJ? I heard she got fired but what was the reason behind her firing. And what exactly is a ghost writer? And how can they continue a series that ..."

LJ was hired by Alloy Entertainment to write these books. They were her idea, and she was given a strict set of rules to follow. She, however, had different ideas, which is why The Return series was created, and why she got fired. Imagine it as any other job: when you don't follow the rules, you get fired.
However, now that the Vampire Diaries franchise is so popular, they're not just going to quit cold turkey. Someone needs to continue the series the right way, and it's not going to be LJ.

its was partially written by her and you can tell in between the 2

I'm only on page 150 and I can tell that it isn't her. They didn't do a very good job with the ghostwriter. He/she is very repetitive and makes the dialouge stiff and boring. To be honest it's just annoying that they fired her. I don't even care why they did it. It was her original idea she should be able to express it in whatever way. Or maybe she should have not signed that stupid contract.

this ghost writer didn't do a very good job writing the characters. he/she made them boring and i had to continually tell myself to keep reading and finish the book! it was the hardest Vampire diaries book to finish..... it was just upsetting.:(

I just don't get the point of a ghost writer. Why did they do that? Hate them for doing this but a very tiny part of me is curious that what plot point did this "ghost writer" come up with that managed to match The Return?