as liberals we quite support all this new development
I really hate to bring drab and depressing real world business concerns into this, but I really think it’s something you at least ought to consider ... Having known a few conservatives in my time, and having grown up with one, I would be cautious of painting things too black-and-white when it comes to ‘liberals good, conservatives bad.’ For the most part in this story it makes narrative sense to do so, and you are very good at keeping the labels within the narrative context, but this line in particular stands out: it raises the vestigial hackles of my childhood conditioning, and I worry that it may put off readers who are still on that side of the political spectrum. The small part of my brain that retains its former programming informs me that conservative readers would think smug liberal media thinking they’re so noble brainwashing our youth ignorantly making conservatives look like bad guys we’re the ones with common sense damn hippies and bleeding hearts assume they’re right about everything imposing their way of life proselytizing through the media everywhere you turn here they go again eyeroll etc. I am not suggesting you change any aspect of the story at all, I merely wish to point out that this particular line may be sensitive, for the following reasons: 1. It comes off as a bit crowing; this may be in character for Mrs Jackson but she is not important enough to the story for it to be sequestered to her point of view – we don’t necessarily know or remember her character well enough to rope it off as being her, as opposed to a much broader statement by the author himself. 2. It comes so near the end of the book that it will have a disproportionate influence on the taste it leaves in people’s mouths, how they will look back on the story, and – crucially to you – whether they will recommend it to their friends. This book has so much going for it as a cross-market hit that I’d hate to see it scuppered by a loaded keyword in an offhand line right at the end. It appeals to boys with the action, girls with the characters, adults with the ideas, kids with the adventure; the fact it is a rousing epic story and has themes of upholding goodness without any sex or gore would make it very appealing to large numbers of concerned parents, a significant portion of which might be easily turned off by a rumour that it had a ‘liberal bias’, or worse yet, wouldn’t ever hear about it because people who had been turned off wouldn’t even bother to mention it.
I know this may be surprising, but most conservatives I know are all for racial integration, human rights, standing up for justice, equality and so on; even if they may have some blind spots regarding certain segments of the population, the themes in The Dead Isle are ones they’d want to encourage, and who knows, maybe some of their less-blinkered children will take these ideas and question why they can’t be applied to everyone. The key to persuading people is not to make them defensive, and even though this is such an apparently inconsequential detail, the fact that it reached through years of counter-education and flicked that switch in me makes me seriously concerned it’ll do the same to many other people who probably won’t even consciously realise its effect. Yes, it is completely acceptable in the context of the story, but remember that your readers, especially most of the book’s primary audience, live every day in a fiercely polarised culture where little words like this pack a big wallop. At its best it may pull them out of the story: it’s placed as the book is obviously winding to a close and the story gently letting them go so their minds will be more inclined to drift back to reality anyway, and they'll be more open no making associations between the book and real life. It would be so easy to change the wording here, without doing any harm to everything you’ve accomplished, but I’m worried that not doing so will do far greater harm to the story by way of preventing it from reaching more people. And I really don’t want to call ‘I told you so’ on this one ...
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Date: 2012-05-19 09:15 pm (UTC)as liberals we quite support all this new development
I really hate to bring drab and depressing real world business concerns into this, but I really think it’s something you at least ought to consider ... Having known a few conservatives in my time, and having grown up with one, I would be cautious of painting things too black-and-white when it comes to ‘liberals good, conservatives bad.’ For the most part in this story it makes narrative sense to do so, and you are very good at keeping the labels within the narrative context, but this line in particular stands out: it raises the vestigial hackles of my childhood conditioning, and I worry that it may put off readers who are still on that side of the political spectrum. The small part of my brain that retains its former programming informs me that conservative readers would think smug liberal media thinking they’re so noble brainwashing our youth ignorantly making conservatives look like bad guys we’re the ones with common sense damn hippies and bleeding hearts assume they’re right about everything imposing their way of life proselytizing through the media everywhere you turn here they go again eyeroll etc. I am not suggesting you change any aspect of the story at all, I merely wish to point out that this particular line may be sensitive, for the following reasons:
1. It comes off as a bit crowing; this may be in character for Mrs Jackson but she is not important enough to the story for it to be sequestered to her point of view – we don’t necessarily know or remember her character well enough to rope it off as being her, as opposed to a much broader statement by the author himself.
2. It comes so near the end of the book that it will have a disproportionate influence on the taste it leaves in people’s mouths, how they will look back on the story, and – crucially to you – whether they will recommend it to their friends. This book has so much going for it as a cross-market hit that I’d hate to see it scuppered by a loaded keyword in an offhand line right at the end. It appeals to boys with the action, girls with the characters, adults with the ideas, kids with the adventure; the fact it is a rousing epic story and has themes of upholding goodness without any sex or gore would make it very appealing to large numbers of concerned parents, a significant portion of which might be easily turned off by a rumour that it had a ‘liberal bias’, or worse yet, wouldn’t ever hear about it because people who had been turned off wouldn’t even bother to mention it.
I know this may be surprising, but most conservatives I know are all for racial integration, human rights, standing up for justice, equality and so on; even if they may have some blind spots regarding certain segments of the population, the themes in The Dead Isle are ones they’d want to encourage, and who knows, maybe some of their less-blinkered children will take these ideas and question why they can’t be applied to everyone. The key to persuading people is not to make them defensive, and even though this is such an apparently inconsequential detail, the fact that it reached through years of counter-education and flicked that switch in me makes me seriously concerned it’ll do the same to many other people who probably won’t even consciously realise its effect. Yes, it is completely acceptable in the context of the story, but remember that your readers, especially most of the book’s primary audience, live every day in a fiercely polarised culture where little words like this pack a big wallop. At its best it may pull them out of the story: it’s placed as the book is obviously winding to a close and the story gently letting them go so their minds will be more inclined to drift back to reality anyway, and they'll be more open no making associations between the book and real life. It would be so easy to change the wording here, without doing any harm to everything you’ve accomplished, but I’m worried that not doing so will do far greater harm to the story by way of preventing it from reaching more people. And I really don’t want to call ‘I told you so’ on this one ...