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Marty (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} life_on_mars) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} fandom_rant,@ 2011-02-07 14:15:00 |
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But I'm a published author!
So, this latest fun and games as reported on <A HREF = "http://www.journalfen.net/community/fa
Why the everliving f*ck do some people think that saying "I'm a published author" trumps all other arguments? It seems to assume that the other people in the argument <i>aren't</i> published authors - never a safe bet on JF or LJ - and that it confers some kind of automatic intellectual superiority. Well, I've seen published work (fiction and non-fiction) that quite frankly I wouldn't use to clean my shoes with, by people who are scarcely the intellectual superior of the average cheese sandwich ... and I have no doubt most of us here could say the same.
I know that in academia being 'published' is a serious matter and considered a professional milestone, but in the rest of the world is it actually such a big deal? When you see some of the crap that <i>does</i> get published, maybe <i>not</i> being published is a more accurate marker of status? And I for one reject the assumption that everyone in any given LJ or JF community is a failed author desperate to be published and actively resenting the success of anyone who is.
Plus, what defines a 'published author'? A few magazine articles, a short story here or there, a self-published novel, an idiot's guide to grooming your Pekinese, the screenplay for the latest blockbuster movie? Authors of all of these could rightly claim to have been published; are we to assume they are all intellectually superior to those who simply don't choose to spend their time that way?
I honestly can't understand why anybody still believes that they can pull out this card as if it was a gold-plated ace and everybody else will automatically accept that they know what they're talking about on all subjects and defer to their every pronouncement. In fact, it has precisely the opposite effect on me; it shows me that they're not self-aware enough to realise that their wondrous achievement of published author status, whatever form it may take, is impressive only to them - and that's when I start to pity them for their incredible naivety and wonder if I have a spare bridge anywhere I can sell them.
Well, there you have it. I feel a lot better now. It was either splurge it all here or steam until the top of my head flew off, and it's hell getting the dents out of the ceiling. If you have been, thanks for listening!
So, this latest fun and games as reported on <A HREF = "http://www.journalfen.net/community/fa
Why the everliving f*ck do some people think that saying "I'm a published author" trumps all other arguments? It seems to assume that the other people in the argument <i>aren't</i> published authors - never a safe bet on JF or LJ - and that it confers some kind of automatic intellectual superiority. Well, I've seen published work (fiction and non-fiction) that quite frankly I wouldn't use to clean my shoes with, by people who are scarcely the intellectual superior of the average cheese sandwich ... and I have no doubt most of us here could say the same.
I know that in academia being 'published' is a serious matter and considered a professional milestone, but in the rest of the world is it actually such a big deal? When you see some of the crap that <i>does</i> get published, maybe <i>not</i> being published is a more accurate marker of status? And I for one reject the assumption that everyone in any given LJ or JF community is a failed author desperate to be published and actively resenting the success of anyone who is.
Plus, what defines a 'published author'? A few magazine articles, a short story here or there, a self-published novel, an idiot's guide to grooming your Pekinese, the screenplay for the latest blockbuster movie? Authors of all of these could rightly claim to have been published; are we to assume they are all intellectually superior to those who simply don't choose to spend their time that way?
I honestly can't understand why anybody still believes that they can pull out this card as if it was a gold-plated ace and everybody else will automatically accept that they know what they're talking about on all subjects and defer to their every pronouncement. In fact, it has precisely the opposite effect on me; it shows me that they're not self-aware enough to realise that their wondrous achievement of published author status, whatever form it may take, is impressive only to them - and that's when I start to pity them for their incredible naivety and wonder if I have a spare bridge anywhere I can sell them.
Well, there you have it. I feel a lot better now. It was either splurge it all here or steam until the top of my head flew off, and it's hell getting the dents out of the ceiling. If you have been, thanks for listening!
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