I read a lot of books and will collect them from authors I adore. The list includes James Patterson, Stephen King, Bentley Little and Agatha Christie. I am always on the lookout for a “new” author to discover and enjoy. At the moment it is Jason Pinter. My bookcases are pretty tight. I have six bookcases, four in my office, one in the sun room and one in the garage that I have to make room for. I won’t even bring up how many my husband has.
And while I love the authors above, it goes beyond that. I will defend them against people who belittle them. They and I have a loving relationship as I refer to them as James, Stephen, Bentley and Ms. Agatha. As many as I own, some the entire collection, I feel I have earned it.
Not everyone agrees with the choices of books I treasure. That is okay, everyone has different taste. However there are a few writers in my writing groups that have sneered at Patterson and King. My friends know, even if they agree with the sneers, to not bring this up with me. I will stop mid-step and look at them. They know I am gearing up for an argument.
The remarks have been that they are relics and they are not great writers. This last reference was to James. I explained that his style was more along the lines of story telling which is not an easy thing to do successfully. But my words have always fallen by the waste side.
I tried a different approach now. With them being writers who are trying to make it big, I say this instead, “When you become as successful as King and Patterson, then we will talk. When you can command the contracts they have, I will sit down with you and we can compare notes. But until then, I don’t want, no that isn’t right, I won’t hear of it.”
That tends to slow people down. I try my best to not belittle authors that are out there. Whether I like their writings or not is really a moot point. They are doing what they love and being a success at it. Who am I to toss darts? They are doing what I am trying to do. For me, I say more power to them. Congratulations. Hopefully I will get there where we can have a round table discussion on the writing. Until then to the writers who belittle the ones doing it well, I say back off. And only come back when you are in a position to talk.
Sharon C. Williams-Author 