Lauryn’s Comments (group member since Mar 14, 2012)

Lauryn’s comments from the Connecting Readers and Writers group.

I agree that bad reviews can be positive. When I'm looking to buy a book I read a few good reviews, but then I find one or two that only give the book a couple of stars.

Knowing why someone else didn't like it can help me decide if I will like it. Maybe they rated it low because it wasn't "their kind of story" but it is my kind of story. Or maybe they had issues with something else that I can, either overlook, or even possibly enjoy in a story.

Great idea to get them all listed in one place. Here's my info.


April, Lauryn
April Books
http://laurynapril.blogspot.com
I review, share my opinion on current topics and post info about my books and writing

Available August 2012

What would you do if you knew everyone's secrets? What if someone's secret was that they were planning to blow up your high school? And, what if you didn't know who they were?



http://laurynapril.blogspot.com

Karen wrote: "I did a blog post two months ago about Fifty Shades, copyright law, and why I think Ms. James has a decent defense re copyright violation. It's at http://looking-around.blogspot.com/20......"

You make some excellent points in your blog post.

Of course.. this will also put the legality of Fan Fiction once again front and center. We know that some things are out right off the table based on the rules regarding the Harry Potter Lexicon and their efforts to publish a complete handbook of the Potter-Verse.

This is exactly where I fear this issue with 50 shades will go. I don't want to see fanfiction become illegal or for there to be restrictions put on people's creativity and their ability to share their love of other people's work.

It's legal to write and sell parody's of other people's work which gives someone the ability to make money off another's existing fanbase and in turn they make fun of the work they represent. I don't want to see fanfiction, which no one (should) makes money off of, and is written with respect of another's work, become illegal.

To copy someone else's work and make money off it is wrong, but it would also be wrong to take this too far and make fanfiction illegal. Where does it end? Should we be upset about "West Side Story" because it's based on "Romeo and Juliet"?

Inspiration is powerful, and maybe there's a thin line between being inspired by and stealing. But it's not worth it to persue thievery so far that we make inspiration illegal.

Also, as a side note, Joss Whedon has always supported fanfiction, and I think fanfiction is in part how his characters still live on years after their shows have ended. I dare to say that without fanfiction keeping Buffy alive, his Season 8 comic which came out four years after the series ended would not have been as sucessful. It's wrong to steal, but anything that grows your fanbase, including fanfiction, helps your sales.

After reading your comments in the link you listed above I understand why you are so outraged by Ms. James. It appears that this is not just converted fanfiction but possibly a rewriting of Twilight with more sexual themes. Converting fanfiction is one thing but copying character for character and using the same relationships and story structure are another.

I personally would never take one of my fanfic stories and rework it as my own. I wrote them to be fanfic and they should stay that way, but I think if you have a new and origional story line in your fanfic piece that you could sucessfully make it completely your own. It would appear that 50 does not do this.

Sandra, I think you and I probably agree on this subject much more than we disagree.

Sandra wrote: "Hi Lauryn,

at 89% the same, she basically changed names. And possibly Edward's eye color from green to grey. Also, some of the numerous ellipsis were removed.

These status updates are an example..."

I agree that if all she did was change their names then those characters are not her own. My point was that we shouldn't take this case and use it as a reason to think poorly of fanfiction or of writers who used to write fanfiction.

Fanfiction is written out of love for anothers work and no one should make money off it. But, that doesn't mean that anyone who writes fanfiction just takes their stories and gives their characters new names. There are a few authors who have done this, but there are also authors who started writing fanfic and grew their skills and then started developing their own characters.

I'm not trying to debate whether or not this particular author did things correctly or not, and from what you've said she hasn't. What I'm saying is there is a fine line between being inspired by and copying. (Though maybe it's less 'fine' in this case, I can't say as I havn't read the book). And, as writers do use other characters as inspiraion, we should be careful about how we handle issues like this.

I have not read it, so I can't comment on the work itself. From what I've heard it's very different from Twilight, and the subject matter alone doesn't seem like something I can visualize Edward and Bella being apart of. So, just because it started out as fanfic doesn't mean that it's not her work.

I like to think that the point of fanfic is to write about characters that already exist in books and on TV in a way that readers recognize them as those characters, and then putting them in your own storyline. If this started as a piece of fanfic, and when you read it you said "that's bella" and "edward is so in character" then thats a good piece of fanfic, but if you're going to publish it as your own you shouldn't still be able to say that about the characters in your own work.

From what I know about 50, the storyline is definatly hers, but if she just took Bella and Edward from her fanfic piece and gave them new names then I don't think the characters are really hers. But, if she really re-worked it and made them new and different then I don't see anything wrong with it.

There's nothing wrong with having your characters inspired by other characters. Even Stephanie Meyer's Bella and Edward are inspired by something. Maybe people she knows, maybe she puts a little of herself into them, and maybe she was inspired by other starcrossed characters in literature, like Romeo and Juliet or Buffy and Angel from Buffy the vampire slayer, because in all honesty I always wondered if Twilight started out as Buffy fanfic.

When I first started writing using an outline didn't work for me. I spent a few years writing without one and was much more creative this way. However, I found while it was easier to get started without an outline I would hit road blocks later on and not know where to take the story next. I started a lot of books but finished few.

Now I research and take notes for a long time before starting a book. I'll write up little bio's for my characters and jot down things they might say. Then, I just let them sit in a word doc and add things as they come to me, then I do a really rough outline and add to it as I go.

Being in love with my Kindle I'll download a sample of whatever book I'm looking at on Amazon and read that. Usually within that sample (about the first 10% of the book) I have an idea of what the book is about, it's style, voice, and if I'm still interested I buy it. Once I actually buy a book I'll read the whole thing even if I lose some interest half way through.

I would certainly say I read more books now, but I don't read faster. I'd agree that my Kindle makes it easier for me to get books, I can buy books faster. But, mostly I'm able to read more often with my Kindle.

I always have my Kindle with me, where I wouldn't always carry my book around with me. My Kindle is much smaller and easier to keep in my purse. So I have it with me when I have those five minutes waiting for an appointment or inbetween classes where I can read a few more pages.

You might find this article useful The Rise of the 99-cent Kindle e-book: cnet

I've thought the same thing. Usually when I see a book for .99 I assume it's indie or self-pub, but when I see a book worth a little more I associate that with a larger publishing company, better editing, ect... For me the price of a book doesn't effect my choice to purchase or not. If I like the blurb I download the "sample" for free, read the first chapter then decide if I want to buy it. If I like it I'll buy it regardless of price.

I have yet to publish my book, but when I do I plan to set it's price at 2.99 then run sales where I put it up for .99. "This week, only .99". I do think that .99 price can attract readers to unknown authors if used correctly. Also when I publish the sequel to the book I'm writing now, I will probably drop the first book's price down to .99 to help get more people into the series.

I found your blog post interesting and useful. However, I think knowing what is trending should be used more as a guide of when to publish a certain piece, and not so much for what to write. I think writing to try and "follow the crowd" is part of the reason for so many poorly written books. Write what speaks to you and then use whats "trending" to know when and where to publish. For example, say you have a few "trunk novels" sitting around and are unsure of which to publish first. In this case I would publish the one that relates most closely to what's trending at the time. Or, maybe you can use what's trending at the time to get ahead of the curve.

Also, I think the popularity of topics will cycle, this won't be the last time we see Dystopian novels, or vampire novels, ect... being popular. And, I certainly don't think YA is a phase that will dissapear. I don't think it's a phase at all.

YA is about writing for teens and adults about coming of age issues, and it's been around for a long time. It's only just recently that we've labled it as such. I remember reading many books about teens and young adults when I was in grade school and high school. We just hadn't invented the term YA yet. What would you consider "Catcher in the Rye" for example? It's a classic, but it's also a book about a teenage boy who goes on an adventure while dealing with growing up. I would call that YA.

That said I completely disagree with the idea that YA is just about "writing style and explicit sex". Books that are just about explicit sex are erotica not YA. Most of the YA I've read has been rather clean, often lacking sex completely. In my opinion YA should tacle adult issues like sex. It's more about just having a steamy scene, it's about talking about real issues and how they effect people, how they change people.

(I recently wrote about my thoughts on YA and Adult themes on my blog, which you can check out here. YA and the Need for Adult Themes)

I do agree that YA can sometimes be unclear about whether or not it is appropriate for young readers or mature readers. But I don't think there will be any backlash for this that would result in the "end of the YA 'phase'". Parents can find out the content of a book through reviews and forums. They don't need to read every book their children ask about to know if it's appropriate.

Nora aka Diva wrote: "Perhaps a rating system for YA books would be a good idea although I wonder how effective that would be, since the younger reader will more likely want to read that which is rated for the older rea..."

I would agree, this is why I think the type of rating system we have for movies won't work; but I think it could be beneficial to have more information about the content of a book.

Right now I think reading reviews is probably the best way to find out about the content of a book. The back cover blurb can be decieving, but usually you can find a review that gives a good synopsis. Many reviewers take a lot of time to not only talk about what they liked or disliked, but also comment on if they thought it was "steamy," "graphic," or "clean," ect...

Rating systems for a book are such a tricky thing. I think whenever this topic gets brought up people start to worry it'll lead to "censorship". However, I think giving people more information about a book is always a good thing. And, if we could do a rating system similar to how you've suggested, where you don't have to have one and we're not going to prohibit anyone from buying books rated in any section, then it very well could be a great idea.

Personally I don't think something like the movie rating system would be the best option, I'd want to see something that says more specifically, Hunger Games for example: "Intense violence related to the theme of war," Then people know that there is some graphic content, but that it is there for a purpose. There's not just random graphic violence. I think how a book broaches a subject and why makes a huge difference in deciding who should be reading it.

Overall, I think I agree with this idea if it's done right. YA in particular is too broad/vague a category for anyone to really judge what any YA book is about if that's all they know about it. I think YA would benefit from this greatly. Recently I blogged about YA and talked about how in a category that reaches children from age 9 or 10 to adults in their 20's 30's ect, many of the adult themes that would be useful for young adults to read about, are left out.

If anyone is interested in checking that out here's the link YA and the Need for Adult Themes

Rob wrote: "So.. lots of good ideas here to build on:

Death: Jos Whedon wanted to do two sets of opening credits for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one just for the pilot that had a certain character in them, and..."

To comment on Joss Whedon and Buffy, I don't think he was trying to make death meaningless. Yes, I think he was trying to say "no one is safe," but it was more about making death real.

You couldn't watch Buffy and say, "well we know that person isn't going to die because they're too important to the show," it certainly kept things from being predictable. He killed Buffy, the main character... twice. But, it was never meaningless. For Buffy in particular her death(s) had great meaning, and I don't want to get into that show too much here, and I also havn't watched Serenity or Firefly ect... so I don't know if he's killed off people in those shows that was unnecessary.

I do know that part of what Buffy was about was dealing with loss and Joss explored that feeling by killing off characters that people cared about. Episode "The Body," where Buffy's mom dies is a perfect example of having the characters go through something very real.

I think if a character dies that you don't care about, even if their death is symbolic then that's meaningless.

And, I will also agree with whoever was talking about being mad that a character didn't die. I think that's far more likely to be something that bothers me. Sometimes letting everyone live in the end just feels too easy and I can be skeptical of perfect happy endings.

Meagan wrote: "I agree with Rebecca. I've read way too many young adult books with that particular pet peeve.

I also hate it when the second book of the series is merely a linking book without its own unique plo..."

I agree, I want each book in a series to have it's own beginning, middle and end. They can, and should, all tie together but I like it when each book in a series brings you to a conclusion of some kind. Obviously not everything may be resolved, but I want to feel like whatever the big issue was, was resolved.

While I do think there are a lot of adult themes in The Hunger Games, maybe I was wrong to say that middle school kids shouldn't read it. I still think it's a book more suitable for teenagers Katniss's age and up (maybe 15+)but with how graphic war is depected in tv, movies and video games I think I'd rather my kids read about it. I just don't know if they'll understand all the refrences, and there is a lot of violence, some of it graphic.

I feel like that 12-15 age range is kind of tricky. I remember reading "The Gift" around the age of 12 which was dystopian, and I liked it, but I also remember reading it again a few years ago and realized that there was a lot of it that I hadn't understood the first time. Also, I feel like "The Gift" alluded to things more where The Hunger Games showed more.

Kids do need to learn about these subjects at some point, maybe The Hunger Games is a good introduction into them, maybe not. To me The Hunger Games feels like it's more like "Lord of the Flies" which I didn't read until I was 14 or 15, then "The Gift".

What if she didn't have the bow, is this prop the only reason people are having a problem with the cover? And, if she didn't have the bow would she no longer be recognized as the actress who played Katniss? (I doubt it) Furthermore, what if she had another movie coming out in say a month where she portrays an adult character in an adult movie and is displayed on magazine covers in a provocative way which is perfectly acceptable for her role in that movie. Will because she's on a cover for a different movie keep people from recognizing her as the actress who played Katniss?

My point is Jennifer Lawrence is an actress, she's an adult on the cover of an adult magazine. She's not portraying Katniss in this image, she's portraying herself. We can't keep kids from recognizing her, and we can't ask her to dress in a way that's appropriate for a teenager when she's an adult. What we can do is not allow our kids to read adult magazines if we have a problem with them.

Also I disagree that this image is portraying the sexualization and objectification of women. Jennifer looks good on the cover, shes not "slutty". She looks like a strong, confident woman and I think that's something to be embraced.

And I do agree that this movie and book are not for young kids and thus they should not be reading or watching it anyway. The Hunger Games is a complex story dealing with the concept of war, survival, and death. It's not a love story. I think this movie is for young adults (note the word "adult" in that phrase) it's not for middle school kids.