Tuesday, May 20, 2008

JKR's Little Lawsuit

So JKR is suing someone for publishing a lexicon of HP stuff.

Orson Scott Card's Take on Things


I love Orson Scott Card, first of all. It's always nice to hear someone complain in a literate and well-spoken manner. And the jibes about child-heroes are just too entertaining to pass up.

What strikes me as the real issue is that she, Rowling, wanted to have written this lexicon and someone else got there first. I'm sorry, lady, but that's your problem. As OSC says, write it yourself! And stick your name on it. And people will buy it. Except she can't. And why not? Because something tells me that she was planning on using the HP Lexicon website to write her own. And now she can't because it will be published and protected.

I don't mean to be obnoxious...that's a lie, of course I do, but it's always upsetting to listen to people for whom you would like to have respect make absolute idiots of themselves for no good reason. There are authors who I have more or less respect for based on their personalities (and should probably create an "I Love Robin McKinley's Work, but Would Like to Strangle the Woman" club, based on the number of people I've met who feel that way), but this is different. This is about how you, as an author, show respect for your own work. And I wonder, sometimes, how much respect anyone actually has for Harry Potter. Oh, people enjoy it, to be sure, but who really respects it?

1 comment:

Erachet said...

"I Love Robin McKinley's Work, but Would Like to Strangle the Woman" club

Ooh, ooh! Can I join?!

She was so mean to me when I wrote to her as a kid. Honestly, you do not tell a kid she shouldn't be a writer. You never dash a kid's dreams like that. That's when I swore off Robin McKinley's books.

Also, there are people out there who give Harry Potter faaaar too much respect. People seem to forget that it's just a book series. Not real life! :)

I'm not sure whose side I'm on in this Rowling/SVA fight, but I think it's gotten way out of hand already. Let SVA write his lexicon. What harm could it do? I'm sure JKR can still write her own and people'll DEFINITELY buy it because it's by JKR.