You believe this? Sucks for you Man.

So, I was over on Alicia Blade's live journal and I saw she had reviewed a writing book, Pep Talks, Warnings & Screeds: Indispensable Wisdom and Cautionary Advice for Writers, by George Singleton. And this book made the following points:
- Fan fiction is a waste of time.

- If you go to a coffeeshop to write, you're not a real writer.

- Bestsellers are to literary fiction as bologna is to filet mignon.

- People who major in creative writing have nothing to write about.

- You should never write anything that takes place in a foreign country or a big city.

- You shouldn't be friends with too many other writers because they might steal your ideas.

...Anger cannot begin to describe how I feel towards this man.

I'm going to try and address this point by point.

"Fanfiction is a waste of time." Really? Because, I've been told that any writing practice at all was good. You are practicing and refining part of your craft, whenever you write. No, You can't practice making your own characters. But that doesn't prevent you from practicing description, dialogue, plot, pacing and other generally important things. And you're not just practicing those things, your practicing getting inside a character's head and deciding how they'd react in the situation you've given them. No, this isn't the same as making characters, its no where close. But it's a start. I know when I write fanfiction I'm practicing everything but making characters, and sometimes I even do that.

"If you go to a coffeeshop to write, you're not a real writer." I can't personally attest to this one quite perfectly. I don't write at coffee shops, yet. However, I know J.K. Rowling did plenty of writing at various cafes near her home and I think we all know what happened to her career. Is her prose a shining beacon for those around her to look up to? No, not quite, but her plot was one of the most complex and intriguing things I have ever seen. Her characters were beautifully developed and highly realistic. Finally, the best cure I know of for writer's block is to change scenery. Not in the story, for yourself. For a long time I used to write primarily at home (I was trying to be a good little student). Now, I write a lot at school too. That place seems to be drying out, so I'll try another place.

"Bestsellers are to literary fiction as bologna is to filet mignon." Is every best seller out there going to be the most thoughtful, the most well written, and the best executed book out there? No. Twilight I'm looking at you. (BTW I know I used to like Twilight, but I'm over it. WAY over it.) But this does not mean that every bestseller is a piece of garbage. For example, the final book of the Malloreon, The Seeress of Kell, is a great book. The dialogue in any Eddings book is usually far better than most fantasy novels of the same genre and that is why its a best seller. People love his dialogue. His plots are old and used, he realizes that, but its the banter between the characters and the actual skill when he writes that brings his novels alive.

"People who major in creative writing have nothing to write about." ...I'm still in high school so I can't really say much. However, I read something by a writer (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2006/04/27/10-things-teenage-writers-should-know-about-writing/) that one doesn't necessarily need to major in English, Writing, Creative Writing to be a writer. I think that is a valid point. Saying they have NOTHING to write though? That seems a little extreme. My current, and favorite, English teacher says, "Everyone has something to write about" and I believe her. My Grandma, who never went on to have any education past high school and grew up in a town that barely exists anymore kept journal after journal and wrote pieces of a novel for herself. If there is one woman who shouldn't have had anything to write about it was her. Yet, she did.

"You should never write anything that takes place in a foreign country or a big city." I can understand why someone shouldn't write about places they've never been to (Again, Twilight I'm looking straight at you). It can make the locals very unhappy when you muck up their town/city/country. However, staying away from Big Cities and Foreign Countries all together? I don't think so. In one book I'm trying to read (as well as twenty others) The Painter from Shanghai, the author lives in America but has visited China, and Italy, and France several times and knows enough about the cultures in all of those places to keep it authentic (the main character lives at all of these places at one point). Could she get some details wrong? Probably, but doesn't every writer make some mistakes?

"You shouldn't be friends with too many other writers because they might steal your ideas." While there certainly might be some truth to this statement, as people are a vile disgusting lot (see previous entry), I don't see the point of it. I enjoy having other people who know what they're doing (or more importantly, what I should be doing) read over my work and give it a good honest critique. I'm happier when people tell me whats wrong with my work, then I can fix it and get better. Also, I think this has to do with quality of friends. If I kept certain people close to me I'd be worried about losing things too. However, if you have good friends they won't steal your work. For example, Dracula and Frankenstein written by two different people in the same group of friends. Took the same inspiration 'A Ghost Story' and ignited the Gothic Horror genre as we know it. I can see people might steal a kind of premise. But eventually every story boils down to roughly the same story.

SO Mr. Bigshot, I don't see your point. I didn't read your book, if this isn't what you meant by any of it correct me. Until then, I see your points as null and void.