The Clean Reader Ap Uproar

laurieboris:

Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the wrong one is the difference between lighting and a lightning bug. I choose my words with care and like to think I get them all in the right order, but it’s done for a reason. With intent. I hate the idea of some app that will strip my intent because of a few words some readers might find “objectionable.” I don’t think I”m all that salty, but still. There’s a reason I’m all over the interwebs crowing about Banned Books Week every year. Because words mean things. And a watered-down version does not have the same meaning. Thank you, DV Berkom, for posting this.

Originally posted on DV Berkom Books:

[image error]Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (or editing your manuscript, or are on safari in the depths of the DRC) you’ve probably read about the uproar surrounding the Clean Reader Ap. I’ve read several posts about it and thought I’d share the two I enjoyed most: Charlie Strossand Chuck Wendig.

Gotta say, Ernest Hemingway’s turning in his grave right now. I remember picking up a used copy of For Whom the Bell Tolls years ago and being puzzled by his word choices (unmentionable was used several times in place of his original text. I freely and somewhat sheepishly admit it took me a couple of pages before I realized I had a censored copy as I’d never run across one before.) The replacement words absolutely destroyed Hemingway’s intent, not to mention totally messed with my reading experience. Talk about jarring the reader…

Thankfully, Mark Coker over…

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