Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Influential Reading

I've been very quiet this month.  However, I haven't forgotten you guys; it's only because I've been busy with a few other things on my plate and these things have taken up my time.

But today, I looked onto another writer's blog because the title mention J.D Salinger and was pulled into the plot of 'The Salinger Contract' on The New Dork Review of Books site.  What he writes there is very interesting about authors; and poses a great question about something.  Is it right to blame authors for what our readers do which is wrong?  It's okay to praise us writers when readers are inspired to get out there and do what is right, or to get their lives in order, or to help others in situations that nobody else will help them out of.  But when fans and readers who follow authors go and do something they've seen in books - fictional books - is it right to blame the author for putting that thought into the reader's mind in the first place?
I think not.  If the reader can't make up their mind of what is right or wrong in real life - and can't see what's right and wrong from what they're reading is actually just a story made up from another's mind - well, it's not the author who is to blame.  Authors write something from their imaginations in such a way that readers are invited to enjoy themselves in the story - and only the story.  It's not an invite to go out and do what authors have written down; it's not a How-To manual to do something... it's a novel, a book... it's fiction, and should be taken as such that it's not real...

...just like vampires, werewolves and wendigos aren't real, and neither are demons or anything you see on 'The Vampire Diaries', 'Supernatural' or 'Fringe'.  It's all just good television which has some great writers to suck us all in for an hour or so.  Books are very much the same way, but more detailed, less physically visual and more likely to take the time to explain things to you because it's just how writers have to be.

So, what do you think?  I'd love to know what you all think about this subject.  Leave a comment or two and we can discuss it... and remember, no flaming... it's just a dicussion.  Until my next post, happy reading.

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