jasonandrew (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jasonandrew) wrote2006-08-30 09:27 am
jasonandrew) wrote2006-08-30 09:27 am
(no subject)
There’s been a lot of talk about the incident with Harlan Ellison and Connie Willis. My summery of the incident is simple. Don’t be an asshole to people. There’s a difference between being an asshole and being funny.
Speaking of which, something else has happened which I think maybe should be discussed. First, I’m the sort of guy that can get along with almost anyone. I rarely get into fights with people. I get along with the unlikeables for some reason. I think sometimes I collect lost souls. [Note: I will admit that the exception to this was a certain vampire LARP club I was in for a while where it was difficult for me to get along with some of the members.]
There are a ton of people that loath Nickolaus Pacione. While I have had friendly discussions with him, I can’t really blame anyone else for hating him as he’s a fairly unlikable guy. If you want to engage him in a flame war or make fun of him on your livejournal/forum, go ahead. If you hate him with the red hot passion of a thousand suns and it works for you, then great. There is still a guy that I can’t stand from the vampire LARP that I try to avoid.
I recently visited http://www.nakedsnakepress.com/. Naked Snake Press is going to publish one of his books and it appears that they have been getting harassing emails. Harassing Naked Snake Press because you don’t like Nickolaus Pacione is childish.
I’ve never read anything by him so I don’t know if he is a good writer or not. Maybe he is the worst writer ever as many claim and I’m sure he has poked enough bears to make people mad at him. Some of the complaints that I have heard say that Nickolaus is insulting, threatening, and he harasses people. I can’t and won’t defend that. However, I can point out that whoever is sending the harassing letters is insulting, threatening, and harassing Naked Snake Press. If you become the very thing you are fighting against, you lose.
Here is my story.
I started writing seriously a year ago after my wife encouraged me.
When I started, I didn’t know anyone. I found ralan.com and started sending out my stories. At first, it is very scary sending out your stories into the abyss. I edited several of my old stuff and started sending it out while writing new stories. One of the stories was “the Art of the Deal.” I love this story, but it is a bit of an albatross. It was the first sale I had ever made way back in the early 90s to Aberrations. It folded and it took me a while to realize it. I started sending it out to the big boys, but no one was interested in it. I saw a posting for Tabloid Purposes III on www.ralan.com and submitted it. I had never heard of Nickolaus Pacione. Six months later, I received a reply that he was accepting it, but that people really hated him and I should be warned. I pointed out that I had never heard of him and that he was likely exaggerating things.
And then I started seeing posts about him on live journal, in forums, and almost everywhere. I’ve only recently started networking and working my way up the ladder. The sheer amount of vile kind of surprised me. There’s even a “national I hate Nickolaus Pacione live journal post day.” And yet, when you act like an asshole to people, you can’t be surprised if they respond in kind. Nickolaus Pacione has been an asshole to people so I don’t really feel all that sorry for him.
Does that mean that Naked Snake Press deserves harassing emails? Am I going to get e-mails for submitting a trunk story for Tabloid Purposes III?
Speaking of which, something else has happened which I think maybe should be discussed. First, I’m the sort of guy that can get along with almost anyone. I rarely get into fights with people. I get along with the unlikeables for some reason. I think sometimes I collect lost souls. [Note: I will admit that the exception to this was a certain vampire LARP club I was in for a while where it was difficult for me to get along with some of the members.]
There are a ton of people that loath Nickolaus Pacione. While I have had friendly discussions with him, I can’t really blame anyone else for hating him as he’s a fairly unlikable guy. If you want to engage him in a flame war or make fun of him on your livejournal/forum, go ahead. If you hate him with the red hot passion of a thousand suns and it works for you, then great. There is still a guy that I can’t stand from the vampire LARP that I try to avoid.
I recently visited http://www.nakedsnakepress.com/. Naked Snake Press is going to publish one of his books and it appears that they have been getting harassing emails. Harassing Naked Snake Press because you don’t like Nickolaus Pacione is childish.
I’ve never read anything by him so I don’t know if he is a good writer or not. Maybe he is the worst writer ever as many claim and I’m sure he has poked enough bears to make people mad at him. Some of the complaints that I have heard say that Nickolaus is insulting, threatening, and he harasses people. I can’t and won’t defend that. However, I can point out that whoever is sending the harassing letters is insulting, threatening, and harassing Naked Snake Press. If you become the very thing you are fighting against, you lose.
Here is my story.
I started writing seriously a year ago after my wife encouraged me.
When I started, I didn’t know anyone. I found ralan.com and started sending out my stories. At first, it is very scary sending out your stories into the abyss. I edited several of my old stuff and started sending it out while writing new stories. One of the stories was “the Art of the Deal.” I love this story, but it is a bit of an albatross. It was the first sale I had ever made way back in the early 90s to Aberrations. It folded and it took me a while to realize it. I started sending it out to the big boys, but no one was interested in it. I saw a posting for Tabloid Purposes III on www.ralan.com and submitted it. I had never heard of Nickolaus Pacione. Six months later, I received a reply that he was accepting it, but that people really hated him and I should be warned. I pointed out that I had never heard of him and that he was likely exaggerating things.
And then I started seeing posts about him on live journal, in forums, and almost everywhere. I’ve only recently started networking and working my way up the ladder. The sheer amount of vile kind of surprised me. There’s even a “national I hate Nickolaus Pacione live journal post day.” And yet, when you act like an asshole to people, you can’t be surprised if they respond in kind. Nickolaus Pacione has been an asshole to people so I don’t really feel all that sorry for him.
Does that mean that Naked Snake Press deserves harassing emails? Am I going to get e-mails for submitting a trunk story for Tabloid Purposes III?
Re: I know I can be mean to the critics
You have the energy and drive, but what you don't have is the discipline. I can tell that you want to make it as a writer so much that you can taste it. That is good, it will keep you going.
I've made my living solely from writing for ten years now. Granted, most of that was through technical writing, but the same principles apply here. Here is my advice.
It takes quite a bit of discipline to keep from blasting your critics. Every time you get involved in a flame war, it makes you look unprofessional. Every time you lose your cool in a forum it adds to the problem. You are losing sales and connections because of this.
Yes, I concede that there are others also acting unprofessionally towards you. I submit that they are also hurting themselves. This sort of thing doesn’t help anyone.
Here is my advice. Ignore them. I know how hard that is for you, but I’m going to walk you through why it is important. If you ignore them, they will likely still attack you. As long as you don’t reply with threats, you will actually gain sympathy and respect from the rest of the community. And rather quickly I imagine, they will be pressured to leave you alone. When you act like a professional, you are treated like a professional. This will get you more paying gigs and increase your sales.
I’m not saying that you need to be a bitch. You don’t have to lay down for people and agree with them and take it in the ass. On-line discussions can help your career. Flamewars can kill it. All we need now is to some how tie this into Chuck Norris and we have a fiasco.
I would post a message saying on your site saying that you are trying to remove the negativity from your life and that you are ending all feuds from your end and if people want to waste their time, they can do so. If the usual suspects continue their side of the feud if will only help you and hurt them.
However, it takes courage and discipline to follow this path. I’m not saying it will be easy. All I am asking you to do is think about it.
And no, I don’t care about the details on either side of the feud.
Re: I know I can be mean to the critics
Re: I know I can be mean to the critics