Fay Weldon interview: ‘Abandon your dignity and write a racy page-turner’

2763 Views 22 Replies 16 Participants Last post by 2Z18o79JOp4jQO, Mar 11, 2015

I_Love_Vampires

Discussion Starter · Mar 10, 2015

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/fay-weldon-interview-abandon-your-dignity-and-write-a-racy-pageturner-10086140.html

I kind of understand what she means but bloody hell.... That film Idiocracy springs to mind. What next? Only use words of less than two syllables?

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As a reader I'd also find this sort of insulting. Kind of like saying "We saved the big words for the print version. Here's a coloring book for you kindle readers."

I can also imagine the confusion. Print book = Pride and Prejudice. Ebook = Darcy guns down Bingley and his motorcycle gang, then has a kinky threesome with Elizabeth and Jane.

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kathrynoh

· #3 · Mar 10, 2015

Oh, the ebook version sounds so much better than the original Pride and Prejudice.

I actually read the interview as saying make your ebooks more entertaining than the print version. Save all the wafty literary stuff for print.

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Tyler Danann

· #4 · Mar 10, 2015

kathrynoh said:
Oh, the ebook version sounds so much better than the original Pride and Prejudice.

I actually read the interview as saying make your ebooks more entertaining than the print version. Save all the wafty literary stuff for print.

I read it to mean 'dumb down your writing for ebooks' raise it for hard-copy books.

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cinisajoy

· #5 · Mar 10, 2015

NothingsShocking said:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/fay-weldon-interview-abandon-your-dignity-and-write-a-racy-pageturner-10086140.html

I kind of understand what she means but bloody hell.... That film Idiocracy springs to mind. What next? Only use words of less than two syllables?

You forgot 5 word sentences.
I don't think racy is any easier to write.

PS: Rick, love your idea.

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Maria Romana

· #6 · Mar 10, 2015

I found her remarks condescending as well--like people who read paper are smarter and more serious than those who've gone digital. I particularly like this line: "One e-reader company, Kobo, also revealed the most read books last year were romance, followed by crime and thriller novels and fantasy."

Newflash: that's been true for decades, if not centuries! It has nothing to do with digital vs. paper. Romance has always been king, followed quickly by mystery/thriller.

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Tyler Danann

· #7 · Mar 10, 2015

carinasanfey said:
Ah, the Independent...

Independent of a few things too!

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Stephanie Marks

· #8 · Mar 10, 2015

Rick Gualtieri said:
As a reader I'd also find this sort of insulting. Kind of like saying "We saved the big words for the print version. Here's a coloring book for you kindle readers."

I can also imagine the confusion. Print book = Pride and Prejudice. Ebook = Darcy guns down Bingley and his motorcycle gang, then has a kinky threesome with Elizabeth and Jane.

Cause you know I would totally read that right. "Miss Bennett, Miss Bennett, why don't you two delightful coquettes and I take this little soirée back to my boudoir?"

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Rick Gualtieri

· #9 · Mar 10, 2015

Stephanie Marks said:
Cause you know I would totally read that right. "Miss Bennett, Miss Bennett, why don't you two delightful coquettes and I take this little soiree back to my boudoir?"

I will admit I'd considered a while back writing a version of P&P with werewolves, but now...

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Amanda M. Lee

· #10 · Mar 10, 2015

I just like to read. If people give me an entertaining book, I don't care if it has big words or small words. I've read "big word" fiction that was rendered beautifully and others that put me to sleep. I've read "simple" prose that was too stupid to continue with and others that just entertained me for days. Physical books can fit in a little box. The imagination inside of them cannot. There is no reason for people to get offended.

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Deborahsmith author

· #11 · Mar 10, 2015

Please, Fay, keep your dignity and stay the hell out of pop fiction, since you clearly don't read enough of it to comment intelligently.

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I_Love_Vampires

Discussion Starter · #12 · Mar 10, 2015

I like the way she said that she can only read Martin Amis' books on paper. I must have read three or four of his books on Kindle and I noticed no difference between paper and digital. He is still a highly entertaining and highly intelligent writer on both, dripping with cynicism.

Maybe Fay is threatened by self-pubbing?

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C. Gockel

· #13 · Mar 10, 2015

"Miss Bennett, Miss Bennett, why don't you two delightful coquettes and I take this little soiree back to my boudoir?"

Heh, heh, heh ...

As to the article. Meh.

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Christopher Bunn

· #14 · Mar 10, 2015

Perhaps Ms. Weldon is still unaware of the fact that Kindle allows one to enlarge the font? I bet that's the problem.

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· #15 · Mar 10, 2015

She seems to be writing articles just to attract controversy. Here's another: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/fay-weldon-all-that-antiman-stuff-is-no-longer-appropriate-1777990.html

I've considered this a lot.

Why do some books that aren't well written do very well?

Perhaps because people want to read books in that genre/sub genre/from that author, etc.

Is there a need to dumb down writing?

Perhaps. If you want to reach a wider audience.

Is the Kindle audience less 'refined' in their sensibilities?

No. If anything, most of the people with ereaders read more.

*****

I think a lot of people are confused about the changes and are trying to make sense of it. So they are putting forward hypotheses and making guesses.

Her opinion does have a vein of truth in it (writing simpler increases your potential audience). However, it's an over-generalization - one which I suspect she made just to make people aware of who she is.

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CoraBuhlert

· #16 · Mar 11, 2015

ireaderreview said:
She seems to be writing articles just to attract controversy. Here's another: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/fay-weldon-all-that-antiman-stuff-is-no-longer-appropriate-1777990.html

She seems to have gone completely off the deep end.