by: Joelle Charbonneau
I’m an author. Which
means this is perhaps a dangerous subject for me to write about, but it is also
one I believe I need to speak to.
So…here goes.
The Internet is a wonderful thing. It gives us access to information (although
not always accurate information) at lightning fast speeds. It allows us to quickly communicate and send
documents with a click of a button.
Social media gives us the ability to with very little effort keep in
touch with those we might have otherwise not taken the time to connect
with. What’s not to love?
And yet, the Internet is also a terrible place. Because it is a world that is explored from
the seemingly anonymous and safe place behind the computer screen, many people
say things on the Internet that they would never say in real life. You see evidence every day of this on
Facebook, Twitter, and in the comments of every political news article. Words that would never come out of someone’s
mouth if they were having a discussion face to face rear their ugly heads.
Why?
Well, I can only guess.
However, it seems to me that many people feel words typed on a screen and
posted on the Internet have less meaning than those said aloud. And you know what, if that is the case those
who believe that are wrong.
Words have power.
I believed that long before I became an author. Words have the power to lift people up, cause
great joy, instill fear or inflict injury far greater than many weapons. And unlike a misplaced comment said at a
cocktail party or on the phone, the words on the Internet live on and on and
on, which gives them even greater power.
Which is why I wish people would treat them with more care. The lack of care when attacking other
people’s political, religious or social beliefs makes me want to scream. Especially when I know the people posting and
know they would never choose the words they typed if they were speaking face to
face.
The Internet and the screen we sit behind desensitizes
people to the power of their words. And
because of that those words do damage.
As an author, I see signs of this desensitization in the
reviews that are posted online.
(Yes…this is where the author in me treads dangerous ground. I know it.
I’m walking it anyway because I believe in what I say.) Now…don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe book reviews should be
universally wonderful. What would be the
point? Not all people love all
books. That is as it should be. Books that I love will be disliked by
others. Good. We are all different. We should have different opinions. Reviews should state what the reader liked
and disliked. Reviews should be critical
of the storytelling moments that didn’t click for them and praise the writing
that made them read into the early hours of the morning. That is what reviews are for. Critical reviews are just as important as wonderful
reviews. Without one, we cannot have the
other…at least not in any meaningful way.
But, over the years I’ve seen critical reviews turn
personal. Reviewers not only stating
that they hate the book, but make personal attacks on the author. I have more than one review of THE TESTING that not only hates the story, but goes on to say that they hate me and that
they think I should die. I’ve seen
reviews that attack me as a person. They
tell me I was trying to rip off other books.
They suggest I should be hurt or worse because of their beliefs.
Those reviews are scary.
I stumbled across them in the days before THE TESTING came out. I haven’t read any reviews on Goodreads or
searched out reviews on blogs since. So
there could be worse out there.
Do I believe they really want me dead? No. Do
I believe they would use those words to my face if they met me at a bookstore
or on the street somewhere? Heck
no. Yet, for whatever reason, they chose
to type those words. They chose to share
them with the world and sign their name (or online pseudonym) to them.
Why?
I wish I knew. Do
they get more hits on their blog by publishing implied death threats? Do they want me to see those words?
Not long ago, ALLEGIANT by Veronica Roth was published to an
enormous print run and great fanfare.
Fans who disliked where the story went in that final installment of the
trilogy took to the Internet and blasted the story. That is fair.
If you don’t like the story, you can criticize the story. But it went so much farther than that. Lots of death threats. Lots of words of hate and feelings of
betrayal were spewed directly at the author on social media. She was told she should drop dead more than
once. Because she wrote a book and they
chose to read it.
Wow.
I’m sorry, but under no circumstances does an author deserve
to be told they should die. Not me. Not Veronica Roth. Not anyone.
I don’t care how invested you are in the story or how much you value
your time and hate that you feel it was wasted.
Telling an author they deserve to die or making personal attacks on them
is just plain wrong. I don’t care how
you justify the words…those words are wrong.
Can you criticize the story?
Yes! Do it! Jump up and down on it. Throw the book against the wall if you’d
like. Heck, I’ve done it. We all love different things. Different
stories speak to different people.
Criticize the story.
Now, I’ve seen lots of people say that they can’t leave the
author out of the review because the author is active on social media or
because the author wrote the book and therefore has put themselves out there to
be reviewed right alongside their story.
No. Just no. I’m sorry, but telling the author that
writing a book has invited personal attack is akin to telling a girl that
wearing a tight dress to a frat party is asking to be raped.
Both are wrong.
I am an author. I
hope readers will like my stories, but I respect when they don’t and appreciate
opinions that applaud my books just as much as I respect those who tear my
books down.
But, I am a person. And I have a child who will someday search the Internet for posts on his mother and reviews of her work. And that child will see people’s posts that make threats on my life for writing a book.
Which is why I am asking - how can that possibly be okay?
