Terry Pratchett lays into JK Rowling!

there are very few original ideas around, what counts is excecution and style, rowling has both. wonder if she knows what a few throwaway coments were going to cost her?
darn silly firefox! gonna have to fix ie! was gonna quote here, but can't copy paste. anyhoo, point about authors enjoying work of others in their genre. why is this a bad thing? no, it doesn't make me buy a book, and quite frankly i had to laugh when i saw that the little white horse is now being recomended by rowling (hmm, point here, she's read the little white horse which is childrens fantasy). but i like to know that the pople that i read have enough brains to read, and that they enjoy the work of other authors!
 
I think we have discussed Terry Goodkind before, and he too was an arrogant loser.

Both JK and Terry Pratchett offer nothing new to the fantasy genre but make the most money. However, JK's young readers will increase the readership of fantasy.
 
Lacedaemonian said:
JK's young readers will increase the readership of fantasy.
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Hopefully. But my little cousins are reading harry potter but they still don't read other books (both fantasy and general fiction). I also have friends who read the harry potter books but refuse to read other fantasy books because 'they don't like fantasy' :confused:.

I truely believe that if Rowling encouraged the reading of the fantasy genre then more people (kids AND adults) would read more - because a lot of people look up to her. But she doesn't know much about the genre and doesn't seem interested in trying to learn anything about the genre that shes writing in. Its a pity.
 
Yeah, a lot of kids do look up to her. It may be because she's three feet taller than most of 'em.

Sorry, that's really lame. And yet I couldn't resist...

Maybe if Harry spent the next book nose-deep in some fantasy novels, kids would branch out.

'Harry, come on,' said Hermione. 'We have to stop Voldemort.'
'Just a 'sec, Hermione,' Harry said, irratably. 'I think Sam's got a crush on Frodo!'
 
Culhwch said:
'Harry, come on,' said Hermione. 'We have to stop Voldemort.'
'Just a 'sec, Hermione,' Harry said, irratably. 'I think Sam's got a crush on Frodo!'
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:D now THAT'S funny! :D

At his peak, Terry Pratchett got a lot of kids reading as well (They used to be the in-thing in my school library, when I was younger) What's good about Terry Pratchett though, is that he doesn't pretend his work is anything more than it is. He also acknowledges that it's fantasy.

The reason he's never become bigger, is because his work would be very difficult to translate to film, where as Rowling's, (with a bit of compression) is fairly straight forward. As such, the hype around the marketing of the films and therefore subsequent books, has turned it into a phenomenon. (You all know the hype around LOTR. Imagine if Tolkien had been releasing each book, only a year or so before each film came out!) Her first couple of books were big sellers, but nothing on the scale of the latest, which benefitted from the hype.

There are a lot of arrogant film makers and authors, who percieve a genre they are writing in, as beneath them. (9 times out of ten, they aren't any good at it either. Rowling got lucky)

The truth is, there are plenty of great fantasy books out there for kids that would get them reading that are as good or better, but they've just never had the hype.

I don't want to dislike Rowling, her books aren't bad (though nothing ground breaking) and for whatever reason, more kids reading is fantastic. It's just that when you're a fan of a genre, and someone makes their money from it then basically mocks it, it makes it difficult to have sympathy for them. By insulting the genre, she's basically insulting all those who've written in it, including herslef, since there are far more fantasy sterotypes in the Potter books than I've read anywhere else in a long, long time. The mere fact that she's stated she thinks she's bringing adolescent hormones and sex into the genre shows her ignorance, unfortunately.
 
I've noticed that some well known fantasy authors tend to want to distance themselves from the fantasy genre. Terry Goodkin being one of them. So it would seem JK Rowling is another.

The question is why?

Why do authors not feel proud to be writing fantasy. I would say it takes tallent to think up stories that are different from real life. Surely it would be easier to write a story that relates to the real world.

But fantasy authors dont do this. They use their imaginations and create worlds, creatures, characters, magic etc. that though may be familar to us say through myth, isnt based on real world things. I've read books were I've no source to even compare to as the ideas are so different :)
I really admire authors that do this and think (IMHO) they are more tallented for doing this.

So why can't some authors see this fact and be happy about it :confused:
 
rune said:
I've noticed that some well known fantasy authors tend to want to distance themselves from the fantasy genre. Terry Goodkin being one of them. So it would seem JK Rowling is another.

So why can't some authors see this fact and be happy about it :confused:
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I suppose it boils down to the fact that Science Fiction & Fantasy novels are still looked down upon by the mainstream literary establishment and by the general public as 'pulp' stories about dragons & wizards.
Then without batting an eyelid they rave on about Harry Potter.

The need to be recognised as a 'proper' author is what drives on Terry Goodkind & JK Rowling into making these sort of cack-handed & ill thought out statements, which is a bit rich really as, if they craved that sort of attention, why don't they just write that type of story?

Personally I love it when people say that Fantasy books are derivative, samey nonsense about elves & magic and then go off and read John Grisham's 4,000th lawyer novel. :)
 
Winters_Sorrow said:
The need to be recognised as a 'proper' author is what drives on Terry Goodkind & JK Rowling into making these sort of cack-handed & ill thought out statements, which is a bit rich really as, if they craved that sort of attention, why don't they just write that type of story?
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What are they if not proper authors when they've written books:confused:
 
Winters_Sorrow said:
I suppose it boils down to the fact that Science Fiction & Fantasy novels are still looked down upon by the mainstream literary establishment and by the general public as 'pulp' stories about dragons & wizards.
Then without batting an eyelid they rave on about Harry Potter.

The need to be recognised as a 'proper' author is what drives on Terry Goodkind & JK Rowling into making these sort of cack-handed & ill thought out statements, which is a bit rich really as, if they craved that sort of attention, why don't they just write that type of story?

Personally I love it when people say that Fantasy books are derivative, samey nonsense about elves & magic and then go off and read John Grisham's 4,000th lawyer novel. :)
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i'm sorry, but i don't see it as looked down on, sure, my gran won't read it if its not about beople being eaten alive after bizare accidents in the snow, but hell, that is a different generation.
people that i know and socialise with (ok, not idiots on busses and in parks who say things like 'is that any good' or 'i like reading i do') read a lot, and read a lot of fantasy and science fiction. these two genres ae ever increasing, mainly, i feel because they are such a fantastic platform to lampoon the ills and foibles of modern society.
and don't even get me started on been there done that authors of rubish like grisham and clancy. i'm proud to say i've never gotten more than a chapter into clancey, or skimed a grisham.
 
Jeez... Not only some over the top fans, but how can they think it's a surprise???? It's clearly hinted at in the first film, and blatantly obvious by the second that it was going to be Ron/Hermione Harry/Ginny!! It was sticking out a mile! (Ahem!) I guessed that one way back, before I'd even read any of the books! :D
 
You're forgetting that most of the young readers don't have a clue about subtle inferences such as that.

Whoa. What's with the format change midstream?

So Sayeth Rune:
"I've noticed that some well known fantasy authors tend to want to distance themselves from the fantasy genre. Terry Goodkind being one of them. So it would seem JK Rowling is another."

I love the fact that Goodkind refers to his fantasy as "Romanticism". It just proves he's a nutcase. Calling Fantasy Romanticism is like changing the name of a manhole cover to a personhole cover. It stays the exact same thing with a different name in the hopes that people will change their thinking about it. In the end however, I still call them manholes, not really in spite of the feminists, just because that's what I've always called them, many others will continue to call them manholes, and Terry Goodkind's books will still go into the Fantasy section at the bookstore, instead of the Romanticism section (which does not exist).
 
I'm not a particular fan of TP or JK but after reading the stuff here, I find myself leaning towards TP's side of the argument.

But it also makes me wonder - is there a strategy involved here? Is JK repositioning herself for a literary career after Harry Potter?

Just my thoughts:)
 
rune said:
I've noticed that some well known fantasy authors tend to want to distance themselves from the fantasy genre. Terry Goodkin being one of them. So it would seem JK Rowling is another.

The question is why?
Click to expand...

I suspect that it's ignorance about the genre - when I first started writing fantasy, I had little reading experience of fantasy as a literary genre, and therefore had a perception of it as being entirely populated by the lesser clones of Tolkien.

From Rowling's comments at least, I suspect she's doing similar - though Goodkind's motivations are anybody's guess. :)
 
I don't see how Terry Pratchett could have any reason to be jealous of J K Rowling. He's more talented (and much more respected by his peers), he has been around for years and earned his reputation. He's almost a national treasure, really. He probably hasn't got near as much money as Rowling, but he doesn't strike me as the bitter type so he probably doesn't care about that.

So really, I think it boils down to a bit of anger that someone has basically taken a swipe at his chosen field, and hence at himself and his friends/peers, when that person really knows very little of what she's talking about.

Wouldn't we all react the same if someone came to our place of work and make comments like hers after only being there a couple of days?
 
Actually, I don't think Terry Pratchett was attacking JK Rowling at all. Everyone has picked up on one throw-away jocular comment in his letter to The Times (all the witches, ghosts, broomsticks and magic spells etc being a bit of a give away that she was writing fantasy).

Sloppy journalism and not Rowling was Pratchett's target. He was responding to the erroneous belief amongst journalists that fantasy, on its last legs, was single handedly revived by JK Rowling with her Potter books.

It was widely reported as a clumsy swipe at Rowling from Pterry, whereas that was not the intention.
 
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