I thought Rice's early books weren't bad, but she's definitely one of those writers that fame and adulation affected badly.

I don't think I know of a worse case than Rice of believing her own press. And FWIW, honestly, I fell asleep trying to read "Interview". She did one character that I could get into at all, one character that she seemed to me to be writing with genuine passion and echoes, and that was Claudia, the child vampire. And of course, Claudia was based on her own child who'd died. But everything else of hers, put me to sleep.

She even writes boring porn. If that's not a criminal offence, it SHOULD be.

COP: I'm gonna have to cite you.

WRITER: What for? All my works are cited, all my song lyrics are paid for and I got two orgasms here. His and hers.

COP: Do you think I'm stupid or something?

WRITER: No, Mister Literature Cop. I definitely do not.

COP: Well, even I know it takes more than huffing and puffing to be hot. I'm writing you a ticket for Felony Lack of Sexy.
WRITER: My mother liked it.

COP: Tell it to the judge, man

WRITER: My mother liked it.

COP: Tell it to the judge, man

erika, will you marry m - oh, wait. You already did.

For which I am profoundly grateful.

we ought to reaffirm our commitment while I'm there.

that was Claudia, the child vampire

She does write some interesting children -- there were kids in The Witching Hour and the two subsequent books about the Mayfairs who were some of the most fascinating and well-drawn characters in the book. I haven't read Rice since then, though, and the one time I tried to read her porn erotica (one of the Sleeping Beauty books, I guess? I misremember), it was awful with a capital Aw.

Well, my life was getting dull anyway.

Allyson, I was one of the anonymous posters on your LJ. I did not identify myself because I wanted to state my opinions without prejudice. I'm not angry about your relationship with the various powers that be, I'm not jealous, I'm not a--what was it--"no-life-having nutjob." I simply believe that--possibly completely unknowingly--you have a tendency to a bit of "I have access and you don't" attitude.

Seeing the reactions here to those anonymous posts has been very interesting. Say as you will, my opinions are my own, your reactions are your own, no offense where none is offered.

FWIW, I don't think I called anyone a no-life having nutjob, unless I did and can't remember. Doesn't sound like me.

I do think that the tone of most of the entries was angry at me. A sort of a, "I just can't stand you" tone. Which is part of what I found fascinating.

I'm not sure if you were expecting an argument out of it, but I had thought it was you when you mentioned things that were being said in GWW in my LJ, and it hasn't changed the way I think of you or post with you.

ETA: What has changed is how to quote your posts in my chapter, which is right now credited to Anonymous, and I'm not sure if you'd like that changed. Let me know.

I don't think I called anyone a no-life having nutjob

Nope. That was me, and as it happens, going by the two posts I saw in your (editing for proper pronouns, which seem to have left me for a young telephone repairman: "your" meaning "Allyson's") journal? That's how they read to me.

Connie, as a veteran of the receiving end of the "how dare you have more than I do/enjoy your life more than I do/not feel guilty about it" school of 1970's style envy - usually by people who wanted something I had, were desperate for a piece of something they had no idea how to get, and were unwilling to admit their own motivations - I'm reserving my short-temperedness on the subject. It's one reason - since I don't do polls - that I disallow all anonymous posting in my own journal. The no-life and no-name types who shat all over Ayelet Waldman in my journal brought back too many memories of the "how dare you" brigade. I no longer have the faintest tolerance for it.

OTOH, I don't know if yours was either of the two I saw in Allyson's journal. (Two, not four; at least, at the time.) But I'd tend to doubt it, since I thought the two I read were rancid, week-old envy green.

"how dare you have more than I do/enjoy your life more than I do/not feel guilty about it" school

That vibrated through a couple of posts, I thought.

The post I thought was Connie's read, "perceived specialness isn't actual specialness," (paraphrased) in regard to my "connections."

That stuck out for me big time and is the root of the essay about being so hugely lonely, and a desperation to belong when I moved here. It occured to me pretty quickly that who I know doesn't make me special, but who I am does. Like I say in Minearest and Dearest,

"I needed Tim’s approval. He was my hero, afterall, and if he thought me worthy of his time, that would prove that I was cool and interesting. Tim’s enormous talent made him special to me, and to about four-million other weekly viewers. If he’d just talk to me, I’d be special by proxy."

And that story is about getting the fuck over that. Perceived vs. Actual was interesting to me. But a lot of the posts are assuming what I think, like, "I think you like it when people fawn over you for your connections."

I don't. I like it when people fawn over me, but if it's about Tim or Fury, then it's EXACTLY like when a guy walks up to me in a club and flirts with me then asks if my friend is single. It's awful. It's just an example of how one perceives that I feel, and how I actually feel.

I like those ideas, and that's pretty much the root of what I'm writing about in that essay.

In the other, I'm going with the person who says, "I think that you think you are close to Minear, but I don't think he'd say the same about you." Because that ripped my heart out. The poster also said something about a fan never being able to be a friend (paraphrasing again) which put my heart back in. That all read to me as dried up and angry, and designed to put me in my place out of an intense dislike for me. I didn't think it was Connie, but maybe it could have been. It doesn't change what I think the motivation is.

Cereal:

I should add that Tim does make me feel special in a lot of ways. I spoke with Strega a little bit about it. He's a handsome, bright, funny, successful boy. And he loves me to pieces even when he's furious with me. So sure! When Tim says, "I don't actually care about that thing for myself, but you're so passionate about it, I want what you want" (paraphrase) it makes me feel pretty good.

But that comes from the same place as when Bev, deb, or Amy say I'm a fine writer. They're smart, funny, successful women and deb is a HELLA writer, so it warms me up in the same way. Not exactly the same way as when a handsome boy thinks I'm hilarious, but that's a gonad thing.

I'm explaining into the wind and maybe using this thread to shape my thoughts for the writing. Forgiveness begged.