Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » Entitlement
| Entitlement [message #16068] |
Wed, 13 May 2009 20:01  |
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Entitlement
ETA:
Missing Link
[Updated on: Thu, 14 May 2009 09:50] by Moderator
Smooshes!
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16088 is a reply to message #16068 ] |
Wed, 13 May 2009 21:20  |
 kfoster2047
Messages: 138
Registered: January 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC |
Senior Member |
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I must admit I really don't get that letter - Sunshine seemed to me to be complete in and of itself. If you want to write more in that world, great; if not, I can live with that too. But I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to get that type of correspondence as frequently as you seem to get it.
However (don't hate me!), I do think there is a difference between a standalone novel that is written as such and a novel that is published as part of a series. If you buy Book 1 in the Trilogy of Mischka the Magical Mummy, I think there is a reasonable expectation that there will be a Book 2 and a Book 3 - although perhaps not a reasonable expectation of how quickly Books 2 and 3 will be available.
Karen
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16098 is a reply to message #16094 ] |
Wed, 13 May 2009 22:25 |
kfoster2047
Messages: 138
Registered: January 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC |
Senior Member |
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My husband is a college professor so he runs into this as well. His last two "entitled" students ended up with D grades - and even that was due to the fact that they finally saw the light enough to actually study for the exam.
Karen
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16102 is a reply to message #16068 ] |
Wed, 13 May 2009 22:40 |
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That's...some email. Very dramatic!
As far as entitlement to further books that have been announced, sometimes yes, it's the author struggling or missing deadlines for their various personal reasons, but sometimes it's the publisher. Not under the author's control at all. It's money, or orphaned books, or whatEVER. There are so many reasons why some books never get out, even if they've been "promised."
(I'm remembering particularly a few books that was supposed to be a trilogy. The first two came out, and the third, which they had advertised in the second book and she mentioned it on her website...never came out. Never heard anything about it. Last I'd checked her website, it hadn't been updated in years and she didn't say anything about the book. I always wondered what happened to it. I liked her, though; she had ferrets.)
Smooshes!
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16103 is a reply to message #16100 ] |
Wed, 13 May 2009 22:41 |
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| blondviolinist wrote on Wed, 13 May 2009 22:33 |
Drat you, Jodi! I wanted to be the heroine who posted the link. *pouts a little over her wasted ten min. on Rothfuss' blog* ;)
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I have ferrets. I can do anything. Sorry, dude. ;)
Smooshes!
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16107 is a reply to message #16068 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 00:13 |
librarykat
Messages: 566
Registered: October 2008
Location: Redneck Riviera |
Senior Member |
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I like to think that I ran interference for a number of science fiction and fantasy authors with one particular fan in Hawaii who felt compelled to tell me (at great length) why those authors should write sequels, and what those sequels should be about, and ... I dealt with this woman when I worked at a bookstore - she came in several times a week and always wanted to talk to me because I "knew" science fiction and fantasy. And then, when I became a librarian, she found me and would come in to the library several times a week and talk to me about the same stuff. The same authors, the same books, for 19 years, oh lord. Talk about entitlement. But, I don't think she ever wrote to any of the authors (Robin was in the bunch, along with Anne McCaffrey). I think my listening to her satisfied her. She was also the type who would go into a bookstore and read without buying. Then she'd come to the library and put in new book requests. She did borrow the books over and over and over ...
The funny thing, as I write this, I kind of miss her ... we ended up in a peculiar but amicable relationship. She would come in and vent to me for 15-20 minutes several times a week, and I would listen sympathetically and make noises of agreement (um hmm, yes, etc.) and not argue with her. She would then borrow her books and go away happy. She often said nice things about the YA department to other librarians, so it sort of worked out okay.
But yes. I remember Anne McCaffrey telling our small group of fans at lunch one day when she visited Hawaii, something along the lines of what Robin has said. She can't write what isn't there, whether it's a continuation of a series or a sequel to what she intended to be a standalone book.
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16116 is a reply to message #16068 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 05:21 |
kmallon2002
Messages: 2
Registered: October 2008
Location: United States - Delaware |
Junior Member |
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OOOOOO, Tam Lin!
God laughs at those who make plans.
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16117 is a reply to message #16068 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 06:50 |
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We should all be grateful that we get new and interesting material--complete with footnotes--every day, and it's almost always a sequel to yesterday or the day before. I can barely keep up with READING the quantity.
Tell those people to read your blog if they want new stuff. Sheesh! How rude of them!
Scar
"People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around."
T.P.
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16122 is a reply to message #16068 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 08:41 |
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Katherine
Messages: 72
Registered: October 2008
Location: Michigan, The States |
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Wow. Just...wow. That twaddle is surprisingly well written for someone with, shall I say, "cajones" of steel and brains of mush. Who has the temerity to think that a) it's appropriate to send something like that to your "favorite author" and b) thinks it will suddenly make you leap up, writing loins a'girded with the sudden realization that the fan is right, and dash to your computer on fire with inspiration and determination?!
And may I just add that, until I started reading your blog and heard the tales, it never even crossed my mind that Sunshine might have a sequel? It ends! It ends beautifully! Of course I'd love to know what happens in the world after that. That's what MY imagination is for.
Every time I read it my mind wanders down a different track of possibility. Sometimes she ends up with Con. Sometimes she ends up with Mel. Sometimes they track down a long-forgotten colony of beneficent dragons and obliterate everything evil and live happily and Edenically ever after in fields of daisies. Sometimes -- *gasp* -- I kill everyone off in a horrible baking accident that destroys the world. But, more often than not, I don't imagine anything else. I just revel in the joy that is the book I just read and the story I was able to lose myself in so thoroughly for those two hours. THAT'S what I want from an author. A well-told tale in which I get to take part.
So, from a very satisfied fan, thank you.
Every day for the next year, I'm taking and posting at least one picture. Stop by and take a look!
http://project365lummox.blogspot.com
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16136 is a reply to message #16068 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 13:45 |
EMoon
Messages: 664
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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Omigod, YES! Yes, and yes again, and yes, (bad word omitted) twice more with feeling. Lots and lots of feeling.
A ton of work was interrupted yesterday by someone who thought I would appreciate his finding an error on a map I drew 20-something years ago (in a book where someone else put the labels on because they didn't like my printing style), and then suggested that I should not only draw a new map (which I'm doing at editor's request) but draw detailed little maps of everything that ever confused him in all the books in that story-universe. I've had con-chairs furious that I didn't get back to them within the hour (um...I wasn't home to get the message, and no, I don't carry communications equipment with me to go to the grocery store down the road.) I'm particularly glad Neil (and you) nailed the "I bought your book so I own your life and you owe me all the attention I want" attitude.
There are fresh green beans in the garden. I "wasted" a half hour this morning picking them and munching a few raw. I don't care; I was going bonkers after not being outside enough all week plus sleep problems. I smelled the bean flowers, and inspected the nubile ears of corn (not yet...but soon...) and the little hard green tomatoes (something has lain in the big tomato plant, pressing it flattish. I suspect a certain feline, not ours.) I let the problems with last night's choir practice rise up enough so I now know which measure I need to work on (it's an Ireland anthem, hideously late-Victorian, but with some interesting if ugly half-ton skidding dissonances. I've got them all but one.)
And some of the readers will be nipping my heels and trying to "make" me "make" the publisher put the book out sooner. And the story won't be the way they imagined it should be, and so forth.
(Sorry--but reading what someone said to you about a sequel and then Neil's post completely blew the control valve...)
E
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16137 is a reply to message #16136 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 13:49 |
EMoon
Messages: 664
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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That would be half-TONE skidding dissonances, not half-ton ones. For half-ton dissonances you want Britten's "Festival Te Deum" or that awful thing of Walton's we have to sing once a year.
Says the Mozart addict. With (reluctant) apologies to those who love singing Britten or Walton...to each her own throat-lozenges.
E
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16139 is a reply to message #16137 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 15:40 |
Jeanne Marie
Messages: 320
Registered: October 2008
Location: Kansas City |
Senior Member |
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I liked "half-ton" dissonances, too! Having sung some half-ton dissonances recently...
And, everyone else has said this so eloquently already, Robin - but, your writing is lovely, just as it is, just when it is, and the occasional adjaquel (sp? remember when some forum-er invented this fabulous word? I need to add it to MSWord...) is also lovely.
"the second book is already crafted and fully-formed within the first, like a baby kangaroo in the pouch of its mother."
Holy Marsupials, Batman. Clearly this individual is on some illegal and scary substances.
Jeanne Marie
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16140 is a reply to message #16123 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 16:05 |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2594
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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| Krystolla wrote on Thu, 14 May 2009 09:07 |
Personally, I don't ready series unless they've already been completed.
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I'm inclined to do this as well. Chiefly because I read fast and I prefer grabbing each book in turn straight away. Also one off books don't have the pressure that a series can have . Especially if you struggle to get reading time!
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16141 is a reply to message #16101 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 16:12 |
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| ChrisW wrote on Wed, 13 May 2009 22:33 |
| kfoster2047 wrote on Wed, 13 May 2009 21:25 |
My husband is a college professor so he runs into this as well. His last two "entitled" students ended up with D grades - and even that was due to the fact that they finally saw the light enough to actually study for the exam.
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My favorite entitled student complained that his poor grade in my class was MY fault because I did not tell him to not surf the web and play on facebook in class. Sigh.
That said, I have some really great students who work very hard and are massive overachievers.
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You are absolutely right about the entitlement syndrome: I love the vast majority of my students, but a few have made me goggle with outright disbelief (the words "perplexed" and "dismayed" spring to mind-and don't even get me started on my "student-athlete" stories). The first year that I taught, a student actually filed a formal grade dispute over a B minus, despite the fact that I had already done her the tremendous favor of accepting her work late. She handed in her first paper a month after the due date (she had some kind of sad,sad excuse and I didn't feel like arguing with her, so I took it with only a minor penalty-much to my lasting regret) and the second paper at least a week late. She missed scads of classes (each excuse more pathetic and implausible than the last) and had never actually gotten a grade better than a B during the entire semester but she was angling for...you guessed it, the big 4.0, and evidently felt that I should do my part to protect her GPA. Her whole argument hinged on her claim that she had turned in an extra credit assignment, that, as it turned out, she had neglected to put her name on. (It is shocking how often that happens, but still...give me a break.)
She was laughed out of the hearing. Sadly, despite the tremendous satisfaction of seeing the look on the student's face when the chair of my department suggested it, I was profoundly disappointed to learn that it is not possible to lower a disputed grade-it seems to me that a crucial component of the entitlement syndrome is that the complaining party has nothing to lose-if Amazon could somehow blacklist the jerks who harangue writers and thereby ensure that they never get their sweaty little hands on sequels, there would be a lot less of this nonsense going around.
[Updated on: Thu, 14 May 2009 16:29] by Moderator
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16144 is a reply to message #16110 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 19:18 |
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graham
Messages: 12
Registered: November 2008
Location: Pittsburgh |
Junior Member |
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| Diane in MN wrote on Thu, 14 May 2009 01:26 |
| Black Bear wrote on Wed, 13 May 2009 21:03 |
Yes, I wondered this, myself. Then I thought, Robin moves in mysterious ways.... Perhaps if I were more pure of heart I could see the link. :)
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Or maybe less pure of heart? ;)
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Ha! Yes, that's just what I thought... I'm glad the missing link was inadvertent, because I think my heart is just pure enough, thank you, and I'd rather not tend toward either extreme!
Thanks to Jodi and Robin for the link. :)
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| Re: Entitlement [message #16145 is a reply to message #16143 ] |
Thu, 14 May 2009 19:23 |
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ChrisW
Messages: 43
Registered: October 2008
Location: Kansas City Missouri |
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| Black Bear wrote on Thu, 14 May 2009 17:56 |
For each student who's an utter idgit like the one you're describing, there are so many more who aren't. I just finished teaching a class that largely consisted of members of the "me" generation, and I didn't have a single one (this time around) who got up in my face about ANYTHING. Which they certainly could have, I'm horribly absentminded, I mislay their papers, and I sometimes let my lectures wander verrrry far afield....  But really, students who are the "omigod you've imperiled my 4.0 by giving me the grade I deserve" types are few and far between in my experience.
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I wish I had your experience. I've had most of my non-majors courses go wonderfully well, but some of the majors classes, wheww!
Unfortunately I've had almost all of my majors classes composed of a fair number of the "me first and only" crowd. I suspect it's the type of classes I teach. I get mostly freshmen who are all premed. They are all going to be doctors because they want the prestige, the money and that's what their parents told them to do. None of them have actually realized that their chosen profession involves taking care of other people, and they care very little about good science. Whatever the textbook says is good enough for them. Gahhh!!! Trying to teach this crowd to question the validity of any scientific research is maddening.
In my grumpy and curmudgeonly opinion, this is why you see so many problems with medical research. Grrr. I research physiological ecology and evolution (the interaction between animal physiology, ecology and evolution). Some of the things that get published in good medical journals would not even make it into the worst journals in my field. And I do not kill or harm my research subjects at all.
Disclaimer: grades are due today and I have been grading for 13 hours a day since Monday. My brain is foggy and very grumpy. Oddly my body feels dandy. Hmmm.
"Crazy is like prune juice. Too much is a disaster, but a little can be just what the doctor orderd."
Gordon Korman
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Re: Entitlement
