Writing is Aggressive...
Oct. 8th, 2019 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSaw this in a friend's blog and was rather taken with it..."Writing is an aggressive action" - I never thought of it that way before. But I guess it sort of is? OR it is if you choose to share it. If it stays for my eyes only -- probably not. But if I put it down somewhere -- it may not stay that way.
I've been told by more than one person -- more as an accusation than anything else -- that I'm aggressive. Actually I've been accused and/or complimented for being "too aggressive for the library industry", "an alpha female", "tough", and "a strong person or personality". People are threatened by aggressive women. If you are male and aggressive, it's okay. Also, to be honest, you can't work in a male profession and not be aggressive. I'm a legal professional working for a rail road with contractors (think Trump) on a daily basis -- if I weren't aggressive, I'd be dead or unemployed.
But here's the thing -- I think everybody is to some extent. Some people however are passive aggressive. And I've discovered over time that I don't handle "passive aggressive" at all well. I always feel this overwhelming urge to squirt a water gun in their face. Wouldn't that be nice -- if we could carry around squirt guns filled with water. Just squirt people with water whenever they irritate us. I really wanted to squirt a woman today who was wearing a black sweat shirt hoodie that stated she supported a woman's right to choose any gun that she wanted.
Speaking of aggressive? I've decided I'm a bit masochistic when it comes to semantics.
I'm still discussing - comic books: genre or medium.
This round on FB. I thought it was the English Lit major's fault, but no, it's the librarians who have been mis-classifying it and the book stores -- as a genre. Which is hilarious, if you know anything at all about the comic book medium (I do, because I've explored it). Most librarians and book store employees don't -- well not unless they own a comic book store, and those guys wouldn't call it a genre. The reason is that up until rather recently, comic books weren't available in libraries or book stores. You had to go to a comic book store to find them. The best you could find a book store or library were compilations of comic strips, such as say the complete collection of Bloom County or Doonsebury or Calvin & Hobbs. But comic books? And if they were to be found -- they were in the magazine aisle of Barnes and Noble. Libraries? Forget about it. Comic books were considered pulpy magazines beneath their notice. It really wasn't until the 21st Century (somewhere around 2002) that they started to become available and that's when people began to call them "graphic novels" or comic book genre.
I figured this out talking to my cousin on Facebook. She thinks comics are part of the graphic novel genre, because that's how it appears to be categorized in libraries and book stores. Except audio books aren't classified as one, nor are DVD's or paperbacks or hard back books or electronic, or novels or short stories, or novellas, or CDs, or magazines, or journals, or periodicals -- so why comic books?
I think because they don't think of comic books as separate from the fiction category? But see, comics encompass all the genres. It's too broad to be categorized as genre. Also Libraries and Book Stores really don't carry wide selections, so most people do not know this. Think about it -- would you call an audio book a genre? Or a film script a genre? Or an anthology of stories - a genre? Or an art book - a genre? Well maybe the art book -- not sure about that.
The problem human beings have is we are label happy. One of my favorite bits in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Riley stating in Buffy's dream sequence that he needed to name everything, everything needed a label or a name. When Buffy asks why. He states so we can organize everything and put things in order. But we often mislabel things, or call things the wrong name. I used to sit behind a bunch of indexers at the evil library reference company and struggle to contain my laughter, when I heard them on the opposite side of my cubical wall argue on what a certain item should be indexed under. They'd go on for hours.
That experience has made me realize that you can't trust indexers as far as you can throw them or librarians or anyone who sets themselves up as an expert or authority on anything. Question, question, question -- my pappy always taught me.
So poor comic books they've been so mistreated and misaligned over the ages...and now the little stores that sell them are jumping out of business. For years I had a recurring nightmare of going to a comic book store and not being able to locate the comic books I wanted and getting lost hunting for them through the stacks. I find the digitial age reassurring in one major aspect -- you can get them digitally.
Comics aren't even read the same way a book or magazine is read -- it's a whole different process.
Comics are sort of like reading visual poetry. Or another way of looking at it -- a film in print. It's a purely visual medium. Comic books are a film without sound on paper. It's a story-board. Films adapted from them are a natural fit -- because you don't have to do the story-board first, it's already there, and so is the script and the dialogue. You basically have a screen play with pictures when you read a comic book or a play with pictures.
Calling comics genre, is sort of like calling animation a film genre. It's not, it's a separate style of film making -- there's live action, film shorts, 3 D, animated, computer animated, silent, black and white, and color. Those aren't genres.
And there's a broad range of animation styles. Just as Comics -- has a broad range of styles. You can have a hip-hop comic book. I've seen it. And novels are adapted to comics, so are poems, plays, movies, television shows, music videos, songs, short stories, video games...
It's mind-boggling to me that people don't get this. And I feel somewhat aggressive about it. I think one of the reasons I feel the need to write aggressively about comics is for so long I hid them in shame, under beds, in closets, and now in an HD Fire Kindle. I also feel embarrassed writing reviews -- but I finally thought, fuck-it, I love these things -- I'm writing about them. And I'm going to be aggressive about it. I will post them on Good Reads. I'll post here. And now I have a little following of comic fans on Good Reads. Also hunted them down on Twitter.
I am aggressive about the things I love. I will fight for them. I will advocate for them. Now, if I just loved things that were a little less wonky. Yes, I'll fight, but I will do it making fun of myself and everyone else along the way.
Well, that didn't end where I thought it would.
I've been told by more than one person -- more as an accusation than anything else -- that I'm aggressive. Actually I've been accused and/or complimented for being "too aggressive for the library industry", "an alpha female", "tough", and "a strong person or personality". People are threatened by aggressive women. If you are male and aggressive, it's okay. Also, to be honest, you can't work in a male profession and not be aggressive. I'm a legal professional working for a rail road with contractors (think Trump) on a daily basis -- if I weren't aggressive, I'd be dead or unemployed.
But here's the thing -- I think everybody is to some extent. Some people however are passive aggressive. And I've discovered over time that I don't handle "passive aggressive" at all well. I always feel this overwhelming urge to squirt a water gun in their face. Wouldn't that be nice -- if we could carry around squirt guns filled with water. Just squirt people with water whenever they irritate us. I really wanted to squirt a woman today who was wearing a black sweat shirt hoodie that stated she supported a woman's right to choose any gun that she wanted.
Speaking of aggressive? I've decided I'm a bit masochistic when it comes to semantics.
I'm still discussing - comic books: genre or medium.
This round on FB. I thought it was the English Lit major's fault, but no, it's the librarians who have been mis-classifying it and the book stores -- as a genre. Which is hilarious, if you know anything at all about the comic book medium (I do, because I've explored it). Most librarians and book store employees don't -- well not unless they own a comic book store, and those guys wouldn't call it a genre. The reason is that up until rather recently, comic books weren't available in libraries or book stores. You had to go to a comic book store to find them. The best you could find a book store or library were compilations of comic strips, such as say the complete collection of Bloom County or Doonsebury or Calvin & Hobbs. But comic books? And if they were to be found -- they were in the magazine aisle of Barnes and Noble. Libraries? Forget about it. Comic books were considered pulpy magazines beneath their notice. It really wasn't until the 21st Century (somewhere around 2002) that they started to become available and that's when people began to call them "graphic novels" or comic book genre.
I figured this out talking to my cousin on Facebook. She thinks comics are part of the graphic novel genre, because that's how it appears to be categorized in libraries and book stores. Except audio books aren't classified as one, nor are DVD's or paperbacks or hard back books or electronic, or novels or short stories, or novellas, or CDs, or magazines, or journals, or periodicals -- so why comic books?
I think because they don't think of comic books as separate from the fiction category? But see, comics encompass all the genres. It's too broad to be categorized as genre. Also Libraries and Book Stores really don't carry wide selections, so most people do not know this. Think about it -- would you call an audio book a genre? Or a film script a genre? Or an anthology of stories - a genre? Or an art book - a genre? Well maybe the art book -- not sure about that.
The problem human beings have is we are label happy. One of my favorite bits in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Riley stating in Buffy's dream sequence that he needed to name everything, everything needed a label or a name. When Buffy asks why. He states so we can organize everything and put things in order. But we often mislabel things, or call things the wrong name. I used to sit behind a bunch of indexers at the evil library reference company and struggle to contain my laughter, when I heard them on the opposite side of my cubical wall argue on what a certain item should be indexed under. They'd go on for hours.
That experience has made me realize that you can't trust indexers as far as you can throw them or librarians or anyone who sets themselves up as an expert or authority on anything. Question, question, question -- my pappy always taught me.
So poor comic books they've been so mistreated and misaligned over the ages...and now the little stores that sell them are jumping out of business. For years I had a recurring nightmare of going to a comic book store and not being able to locate the comic books I wanted and getting lost hunting for them through the stacks. I find the digitial age reassurring in one major aspect -- you can get them digitally.
Comics aren't even read the same way a book or magazine is read -- it's a whole different process.
Comics are sort of like reading visual poetry. Or another way of looking at it -- a film in print. It's a purely visual medium. Comic books are a film without sound on paper. It's a story-board. Films adapted from them are a natural fit -- because you don't have to do the story-board first, it's already there, and so is the script and the dialogue. You basically have a screen play with pictures when you read a comic book or a play with pictures.
Calling comics genre, is sort of like calling animation a film genre. It's not, it's a separate style of film making -- there's live action, film shorts, 3 D, animated, computer animated, silent, black and white, and color. Those aren't genres.
And there's a broad range of animation styles. Just as Comics -- has a broad range of styles. You can have a hip-hop comic book. I've seen it. And novels are adapted to comics, so are poems, plays, movies, television shows, music videos, songs, short stories, video games...
It's mind-boggling to me that people don't get this. And I feel somewhat aggressive about it. I think one of the reasons I feel the need to write aggressively about comics is for so long I hid them in shame, under beds, in closets, and now in an HD Fire Kindle. I also feel embarrassed writing reviews -- but I finally thought, fuck-it, I love these things -- I'm writing about them. And I'm going to be aggressive about it. I will post them on Good Reads. I'll post here. And now I have a little following of comic fans on Good Reads. Also hunted them down on Twitter.
I am aggressive about the things I love. I will fight for them. I will advocate for them. Now, if I just loved things that were a little less wonky. Yes, I'll fight, but I will do it making fun of myself and everyone else along the way.
Well, that didn't end where I thought it would.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-09 10:53 am (UTC)I've fought this indexing thing myself. I have several gay writers who do mysteries whose work I love. I'd go into bookstores to find their work and it wouldn't be on the mystery shelves. It's be in the "gay studies" non-fiction section. DROVE ME NUTS!
I became very vocal about it in Barnes and Noble once and really pissed off the manager. (grin)
no subject
Date: 2019-10-09 12:52 pm (UTC)Thanks. (Sorry for the typos in the post above, will have to edit when I get home tonight -- noticed I said not until the "20th Century" when I meant "21st Century" or closer to 2010.)
I've fought this indexing thing myself. I have several gay writers who do mysteries whose work I love. I'd go into bookstores to find their work and it wouldn't be on the mystery shelves. It's be in the "gay studies" non-fiction section. DROVE ME NUTS!
They've gotten slightly better about it recently. But they really don't know what to do with things that are outside the mainstream or the categories they were taught. When the Fifty Shades thing took off -- they didn't know where to shelve the books. They didn't take books like Fifty Shades or they buried those books in the sexual health section under erotica. Suddenly they had all these erotic romance novels that were best-sellers -- what to do with them? Same problem with the Twilight books where to put books like this? So suddenly they created a new section YA Supernatural Books. But when all the YA took off, they had to expend that section. They created a genre category. Same with Fifty Shades -- it became erotic romance. And they won't take non-traditionally published books at all -- I tried to get them to do it with my father's book and then my own, and gave up. It's not because they don't like the books, it's because they can't make money off of them -- the books are costly to shelve, and if they don't sell, the book store has nowhere to send the remainder. So if you want them to shelve something that isn't obtained through a publisher or catalogue, you have to give them the book (so you buy your own books and you pay the store to sell them). Libraries? They won't take your book at all. Not even as a donation. Both discriminate heavily against independent publishers (self-published), comic books, non-mainstream books, etc.
Comic books and graphic novels? Libraries and Book Stores tend to mainly offer graphic novels, they don't know what to do with comics in the individual magazine issues. Many of them think of comics as well "comic strips" or books for children or teens. And librarians and traditional book sellers are somewhat snotty about it. They don't understand the medium or its appeal, and have no knowledge of it. Fighting them on it -- is akin to punching a brick wall. They've gotten better, but not by much.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-09 09:56 pm (UTC)Emphatically medium. I mean this seems like such a weird question to me, given all the different types of works available in any medium.
I suspect people are confused by mediums having specific conventions but that's not the same as a genre.
It really wasn't until the 20th Century that they started to become available and that's when people began to call them "graphic novels" or comic book genre.
I would say it was practically until the 21st that they became known as graphic novels. My impression was that this was the period where compiled storylines began being published in book form but perhaps that was just a coincidence. I was also under the impression that this happened at the same time as manga boomed in popularity and also began being stocked in bookstores if not libraries.
Except audio books aren't classified as one, nor are DVD's or paperbacks or hard back books or electronic, or novels or short stories, or novellas, or CDs, or magazines, or journals, or periodicals -- so why comic books?
Exactly.
I find the digitial age reassurring in one major aspect -- you can get them digitally.
Yes. We have a comics store (maybe even more than one) locally and it's moved 3 times since I've been here. I remember at the time I first visited it there was heated debate about whether bookstores would put comic book shops out of business because of the compilations being sold there for more popular lines. Clearly not. We had a local independent bookstore close instead, while the B&N and the comics store are still open.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-10 02:44 am (UTC)I suspect people are confused by mediums having specific conventions but that's not the same as a genre.
I got into two insanely irritating debates with folks on scans daily. One was a high school teacher, and the other an English Lit major, and both were convinced that comic books were a genre. And in the interview -- the media studies professors were convinced that comic books were a genre and were comparing comic book fans to hip-hop fans and romance novel fans in regards to privilege, which is just...
My suspicion is that they are confused by movie/fan/comic conventions that seem to focus primarily on DC and Marvel and superhero comics, also that seemingly cater to a certain demographic that is also catered to by Hollywood -- the white heterosexual cisgendered guy. SDCC is not a good picture of the comic fandom, any more than it was of the Buffy fandom. That's the one where Hollywood likes to premiere all its offerings. NYCC is actually a better indicator in that it focuses more on the fandom, and it's offerings are geared to the fans not Hollywood's marketing folks. Also most of it's offerings are NOT geared to white male cisgendered but LGBTQA, women, and minorities -- which I found fascinating -- when I looked at the schedule.
Unfortunately, the comic book medium has been associated with the little boys from Big Bang Theory for as long as I can remember by mainstream media. When in reality, the majority of comic fans aren't that at all. But I'm guessing if you're only experience with the medium is the Big Bang Theory or working at DC -- that may well be how you perceive it?
I would say it was practically until the 21st that they became known as graphic novels.
It was typo. I'm so sorry. There were so many typos. I need to stop writing posts right before I head to bed. No time to edit. LOL! I caught it when I saw wpadmirer's message today, but couldn't correct it until now. Definitely 21st Century. (20th Century makes no sense...comics weren't really around until the 20th.)
My impression was that this was the period where compiled storylines began being published in book form but perhaps that was just a coincidence. I was also under the impression that this happened at the same time as manga boomed in popularity and also began being stocked in bookstores if not libraries.
Magna and the compilations were definitely part of it. The other was that technology made it possible for adaptations of comics to be made into film. So -- suddenly the mainstream audience became aware of comic books. We suddenly started having really good adaptations of comics -- with Chris Nolan's Batman series, Bryan Singer's X-men series, Brian De Palma's Spiderman series, adaptations of Ghost World, Persepolis, and Harvey Pekar's work American Cancer. Not to mention the fact that Disney started distributing various anime films adapted from Magna. Anime was suddenly available on DVD and on Cartoon Network.
Then people like Joss Whedon, Warren Ellis, and other brand names started writing comics -- and that pulled more people in to it.
In 2006 -- the first Iron Man film dropped.
A lot of the current X-men fans came to the comics through the animated series and the films.
So the films pulled in the mainstream fans, who in turn went to their book stores and libraries and asked where the comics were? They weren't the sort of fans to be caught dead in a comic book store. Although high end comic book stores popped up for a bit to cater to them -- there was one in Brooklyn for a bit that catered to the hipster crowd -- it had to be the neatest and cleanest comic book store that I saw in my life. That is until digital drove them all out of business, but digital also brought even more people into the medium and broadened the medium. (Not to mention made it more affordable.)
So I think it was a combination of technology, Hollywood embracing comics because of the technology, and the availability of a compilations and magna. (I remember when you had to really hunt for magna. It was impossible to find. And finding comics required a hike to the comic book store, and a lot of searching. Now? It's all available electronically.)
no subject
Date: 2019-10-11 01:59 pm (UTC)Makes sense -- change is often a confluence of things.