Plenty.
I can enjoy a great UF book every once in a while but it has gotten to the point where if you've read one, you've read them all.There seem to be recurring themes in quite a few of them. The UF book that doesn't deal with these sterotypical characters will bring a new day in UF and if crafted right, could make a killing with Hollywood beating down their doors. Not to mention agents fighting to sign them to multiple book deals.
Here are a few of the stereotypes that I would like to die a quiet but certain death:
1. The Bad Bitch
There is a bad bitch in every novel. Her skin color runs the gamut from pecan to honey. Her hair is long, past her shoulders due to her Indian heritage. She is no taller than 5'4" and the baddest bitch on the block. Every girl wants to be her while every dude wants to have sex with her. There simply isn't another girl badder than she is in the game.
2. A Drug Dealer Named Nino
Does this need any explanation?
3. Label Dropping Fools
Everyone wears Prada, Gucci, Fendi, etc. It sounds like a really bad rap lyric. Everyone is fresh to death wearing the latest in fashions from these designers. The label dropping in Urban Fiction is just atrocious and over used. Boring and no imagination.
4.The N Word
A few of these dropped in an UF book is to be expected but only in dialogue. I was reading a book the other day where the author was using the N word in her exposition!!! Not to sound like a broken record, but if we want people to stop using the word, then we need to stop using this so much in our literature, especially when it's not in the dialogue. The omniscient voice of the narrator should never refer to the characters as N*****s. It's demeaning.
5. No Editing Whatsoever.
Too many Urban Fiction books are written so poorly, they are unreadable. I was recently accused of attacking UF writers and making them look stupid. I had to think about that for a moment. Was that my ultimate goal? Making UF writers look stupid? Of course not and the thought makes me sad. What really makes me sad is that some of these self published books with poor grammar are a reflection on the educational system in this country.
There is nothing wrong with a gaffe here and there (I know my books have a few) but some books are so unreadable it makes you wonder how the author got through life without the ability to construct a sentence. It's embarrassing. Some authors choose to argue over these reviews instead of taking the constructive criticism and working on their novels to make them better.
Showing posts with label urban fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban fiction. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Monday, December 10, 2012
AND THE AUTHOR RESPONDS.....URBAN FICTION CONT.
Browsing through Urban Fiction, I decided to download three books. Of the three, two were unreadable because they were so bad. The grammar and English were that of an eight year old and even I've seen plenty of them do better.
I enjoy many genres and with some of the great covers and interesting storylines, (not to mention many of them are priced at .99, I decided to give this genre a chance since I don't read many authors that write there.
It made me so angry, mostly at the educational system. I don't know these writers at all. But we come from such great writers like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, is THIS acceptable?
My father was illiterate but he didn't have the oopportunity that we did, growing up as a sharecropper in the early 1930's. Why is illiteracy acceptable today in 2012? Why do we turn a blind eye to authors that write books devoid of English and peddle it on Amazon for profit? Why is this acceptable?
I left my review here....
ME:
I tried to enjoy this book but had to delete it after reading it. I could not understand much of what was going on because of bad English, run on sentences, and no concept of elementary grammar. It was that bad. The author can paint a picture and tell a story well if they just understood the rules of grammar. Too bad, because the story had great potential.
I tried to enjoy this book but had to delete it after reading it. I could not understand much of what was going on because of bad English, run on sentences, and no concept of elementary grammar. It was that bad. The author can paint a picture and tell a story well if they just understood the rules of grammar. Too bad, because the story had great potential.
This is where she responded and it got ugly.
First she responded to a review I made on someone else who agreed with me.
no you need to get some glasses or maybe stay out of urban fiction all
together its sad how people are so judgmental when they haven't got a
clue . I do think editing is a must with anyone's novels but to be so
sadistic and leave a nasty review for anyone it just shows where your
mind is . I have seen all your reviews and you seem to be a bitter
person maybe you should stop reading all together. ---AUTHOR NAME DELETED
Then she responded to my review below in the comments section.....
Initial post:
Dec 9, 2012 10:35:33 PM PST
AUTHOR NAME DELETED
says:
of course you have an opinion like money so you are able to use the
both but as for your comment I find them to be down right stupid and
very untrue. you need to maybe try getting a class in reading 101 sad
and down right horrible
SONYA says:
Instead of taking the constructive criticism ( I take you to be the
author, no?) and making the book better, you decide to resort to name
calling. I can hardly understand your reply because it's NOT in English.
If you're going to be serious about your craft, you need to perfect
your English. It's like someone who wants to be a Doctor but they have
the slightest clue of Anatomy. It just can't be done.
Even your author's bio is riddled with errors! That should have NO errors PERIOD! It tells the audience to expect the same in your books. Readers are persnickety when it comes to grammar and English. You, as a writer, should know that.
Learn to be humble and listen to the criticism of potential fans if you would like to go far in this business. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Read other great African-American writers in different genres and learn from them. Study English and pick up "The Elements of Style" by William Stunk and see how to really craft a story.
This is not an insult, but your material is unreadable. I'm sorry. Reading and studying is the only way to get better as a writer.
And I find it downright insulting for you to tell me to get a reading class when you can benefit from a writing class. No matter how mad a reviewer makes you, never attack your audience. I learned the hard way that this looks very bad on the author. It's upsetting to get a bad review, but even Stephen King will tell you (as he's said in a few interviews) you get mad, you scream, don't respond, and keep writing.
Keep writing dear. It will get better.
Peace
PS. I can help you edit your Author's Bio to get rid of the errors so that will be cleaned up. I'm from the "Chi" as well.
Even your author's bio is riddled with errors! That should have NO errors PERIOD! It tells the audience to expect the same in your books. Readers are persnickety when it comes to grammar and English. You, as a writer, should know that.
Learn to be humble and listen to the criticism of potential fans if you would like to go far in this business. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Read other great African-American writers in different genres and learn from them. Study English and pick up "The Elements of Style" by William Stunk and see how to really craft a story.
This is not an insult, but your material is unreadable. I'm sorry. Reading and studying is the only way to get better as a writer.
And I find it downright insulting for you to tell me to get a reading class when you can benefit from a writing class. No matter how mad a reviewer makes you, never attack your audience. I learned the hard way that this looks very bad on the author. It's upsetting to get a bad review, but even Stephen King will tell you (as he's said in a few interviews) you get mad, you scream, don't respond, and keep writing.
Keep writing dear. It will get better.
Peace
PS. I can help you edit your Author's Bio to get rid of the errors so that will be cleaned up. I'm from the "Chi" as well.
Hopefully our discourse will end here. Hopefully she will do some reading of her own and get better as a writer. I'm not on a mission to help everyone learn English, but it's disappointing.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
The Sad and Sorry State of Urban Fiction Novels
I may catch a lot of flack for this one but it needs to be said.
I love my Kindle and not a day goes by where I'm not on the Amazon website trying to find new and awesome books to read.
As a Black woman, there is a certain genre that I stay away from, but only because I don't find it very interesting. I grew up very sheltered in a middle class family so I can't relate to many of the stories. It just wasn't my life experience.
I don't consider myself to be some great scholar of the English language and have made quite a few grammatical gaffes myself. It's all in the process of learning and trying to do better as a person and perfecting my craft which is the goal of all writers.
With that being said, I have downloaded a few of these Urban fiction novels out of curiosity and I have not been pleased with what I've found.
I don't mind the violence as much or the liberal use of the dreaded "N" word. But what I do find challenging is to even figure out what the book is about because the sentence structure is terrible with many of the books that I come across. I can overlook typos but when they take up most of the book, it becomes a huge distraction.
Please keep in mind that I'm not speaking of EVERY black author out there that writes in the genre. I'm sure there are many books out there that are well written and edited for clarity. It's just I haven't had much luck finding any.
I reviewed a book yesterday that seemed to have a lot of promise, but I couldn't get past the writing style of the author. Quotes were not used properly so I had a hard time trying to figure out who was speaking.
His book is not alone. It is very easy to identify an Urban book. There is usually some scantily clad dressed woman on the front along with some tough looking men with guns or other weapons in their hands.
I had another "discussion" with an author over her book (which shall remain nameless). She marketed as a true story about a mother who loses control over her children to the streets. But from the very beginning, you could easily see why the mother lost control. She was violent, often had physical confrontations with people in the neighborhood, and yelled and screamed at her own children. Then she was "flabbergasted" that her children turned out to be killers. When I pointed this out to her, her answer was simply that black women have to raise their children differently, a myth that I've heard from many other black people.
Really? Children should never watch their mother go "upside someone's head" with a baseball bat, constantly use profane language, and scream at them on a daily basis. Children will act out the things that they see at home.
If an alien from outer space touched down and wanted to know what Black people were like, downloaded a few of these books on his kindle, he would have a very low opinion of us. It is just downright disheartening. Yes, I find it wonderful that black people, young and old, are finding ways to creatively express themselves. Not only are they using their talents, they are also creating material for other Black people to read and enjoy. Many young people are actually READING more!
But if they have THIS to look up to, then we have a long way to go. One can read Zora Neale Hurston and see the type of slang that Blacks use to communicate with each other, but there is a clear message in her writing that can be enjoyed by everyone.
A lot of the Urban fiction have gangbanging, prostitution, drug dealing, and just over the top violence. Is that all there is to Black people? I understand that it is apart of the genre "urban fiction" but some of the stories aren't even put together that well and the point of the story is just lost.
Most women in these stories are gold digging hussies that strip for a living. The men are pimps, gangbangers, and drug dealers. It's like a thousand black writers wrote the same story over and over again just under a different name and cover.
So I stay away from this genre. Hopefully I'll find a gem out there that I can write about and give a glowing review to. Hopefully we can do better and put out material that people from other cultures can enjoy as they learn about us as a people.
And it is not gangs, drugs, sex, violence, and money. We have a rich history and that needs to be center stage.
I love my Kindle and not a day goes by where I'm not on the Amazon website trying to find new and awesome books to read.
As a Black woman, there is a certain genre that I stay away from, but only because I don't find it very interesting. I grew up very sheltered in a middle class family so I can't relate to many of the stories. It just wasn't my life experience.
I don't consider myself to be some great scholar of the English language and have made quite a few grammatical gaffes myself. It's all in the process of learning and trying to do better as a person and perfecting my craft which is the goal of all writers.
With that being said, I have downloaded a few of these Urban fiction novels out of curiosity and I have not been pleased with what I've found.
I don't mind the violence as much or the liberal use of the dreaded "N" word. But what I do find challenging is to even figure out what the book is about because the sentence structure is terrible with many of the books that I come across. I can overlook typos but when they take up most of the book, it becomes a huge distraction.
Please keep in mind that I'm not speaking of EVERY black author out there that writes in the genre. I'm sure there are many books out there that are well written and edited for clarity. It's just I haven't had much luck finding any.
I reviewed a book yesterday that seemed to have a lot of promise, but I couldn't get past the writing style of the author. Quotes were not used properly so I had a hard time trying to figure out who was speaking.
His book is not alone. It is very easy to identify an Urban book. There is usually some scantily clad dressed woman on the front along with some tough looking men with guns or other weapons in their hands.
I had another "discussion" with an author over her book (which shall remain nameless). She marketed as a true story about a mother who loses control over her children to the streets. But from the very beginning, you could easily see why the mother lost control. She was violent, often had physical confrontations with people in the neighborhood, and yelled and screamed at her own children. Then she was "flabbergasted" that her children turned out to be killers. When I pointed this out to her, her answer was simply that black women have to raise their children differently, a myth that I've heard from many other black people.
Really? Children should never watch their mother go "upside someone's head" with a baseball bat, constantly use profane language, and scream at them on a daily basis. Children will act out the things that they see at home.
If an alien from outer space touched down and wanted to know what Black people were like, downloaded a few of these books on his kindle, he would have a very low opinion of us. It is just downright disheartening. Yes, I find it wonderful that black people, young and old, are finding ways to creatively express themselves. Not only are they using their talents, they are also creating material for other Black people to read and enjoy. Many young people are actually READING more!
But if they have THIS to look up to, then we have a long way to go. One can read Zora Neale Hurston and see the type of slang that Blacks use to communicate with each other, but there is a clear message in her writing that can be enjoyed by everyone.
A lot of the Urban fiction have gangbanging, prostitution, drug dealing, and just over the top violence. Is that all there is to Black people? I understand that it is apart of the genre "urban fiction" but some of the stories aren't even put together that well and the point of the story is just lost.
Most women in these stories are gold digging hussies that strip for a living. The men are pimps, gangbangers, and drug dealers. It's like a thousand black writers wrote the same story over and over again just under a different name and cover.
So I stay away from this genre. Hopefully I'll find a gem out there that I can write about and give a glowing review to. Hopefully we can do better and put out material that people from other cultures can enjoy as they learn about us as a people.
And it is not gangs, drugs, sex, violence, and money. We have a rich history and that needs to be center stage.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
The Urban Fiction Plague Part One
Lately, I've been in an Urban fiction mood. I used to read Urban Fiction back in the day but stopped since my tastes changed and I began a career in writing for myself. It's also safe to say that because I lived a sheltered life, I really didn't find myself relating to many of the plots that are characteristic of such fiction...especially in my adult years. I have moved away from the inner city and I live in a small town.
I recently decided to give Urban Fiction a chance because...well why not? Some of the plot lines are interesting and I discovered new and exciting authors that are really talented and I enjoy their work.
But as I began my search for good urban fiction, I began to see the same patterns all over again. Here are some of my complaints that are going WRONG in that particular genre.
1. Books With "Bitch" In The Title
You'd be amazed (maybe not) about the amount of books out there with the B word in the title. Gangster Bitch, Gangsta Bitch, Baddest Bitch, Welfare Bitch, EBT Bitch, Light Skinned Bitch, Wannabe Bitch, Stupid Bitch, Dime Piece Bitch.....so on and so forth. Some of the titles are a bit facetious but you get the drift. Every book has this Baddest Bitch character where she is the best looking girl on the block and all the men want her. She has a banging body and her skills in the bedroom can't compare.
2. There Is A Drug Dealer Named Nino....ALWAYS
Yes. No UF book is complete without a drug dealer named Nino. In fact, if he isn't Nino, then you need at least a few drug dealers scattered throughout the book. If the book is heroine based, then there is a good drug dealer (if there is such a thing) that really cares for the heroine and her children. They just want her to see the error of her ways or choose him over the big black ugly drug dealer that once made her eat Jell-O off the floor and beat her senseless.........yeah...some of these plot lines.
3. Light Skin, Long Hair, Don't Care
The heroine of these books almost will never be a short dark skinned girl with "nappy" and "unruly" hair. Nope! Her hair, thanks to her so called Indian heritage, will sport long hair draping down her back. She will have pecan colored skin so she will definitely pass the paper bag test. (If you don't know what that means, then put down one of those books and read some real African American literature) She is flawless and always the baddest bitch in the game (see example #1)
I'll be posting a part two to this series. It really is disturbing sometimes when almost all of the UB books are literally the same! Same plot lines and same characters. One would think that this is all UB has to offer when there is so much more to Black culture than bad bitches and drug dealers.
I'm looking forward to the day where an author can let some of these stereotypical characters go and craft an ingenious story with characters that I can believe in. That will be an author worth reading. Until then, the situation looks hopeless.
Urban Fiction writers out there. Let's get some new material. Think outside the box. And for the love of God, if you write one more drug dealer named Nino into your storyline, I'm bashing my Kindle against the wall.
I recently decided to give Urban Fiction a chance because...well why not? Some of the plot lines are interesting and I discovered new and exciting authors that are really talented and I enjoy their work.
But as I began my search for good urban fiction, I began to see the same patterns all over again. Here are some of my complaints that are going WRONG in that particular genre.
1. Books With "Bitch" In The Title
You'd be amazed (maybe not) about the amount of books out there with the B word in the title. Gangster Bitch, Gangsta Bitch, Baddest Bitch, Welfare Bitch, EBT Bitch, Light Skinned Bitch, Wannabe Bitch, Stupid Bitch, Dime Piece Bitch.....so on and so forth. Some of the titles are a bit facetious but you get the drift. Every book has this Baddest Bitch character where she is the best looking girl on the block and all the men want her. She has a banging body and her skills in the bedroom can't compare.
2. There Is A Drug Dealer Named Nino....ALWAYS
Yes. No UF book is complete without a drug dealer named Nino. In fact, if he isn't Nino, then you need at least a few drug dealers scattered throughout the book. If the book is heroine based, then there is a good drug dealer (if there is such a thing) that really cares for the heroine and her children. They just want her to see the error of her ways or choose him over the big black ugly drug dealer that once made her eat Jell-O off the floor and beat her senseless.........yeah...some of these plot lines.
3. Light Skin, Long Hair, Don't Care
The heroine of these books almost will never be a short dark skinned girl with "nappy" and "unruly" hair. Nope! Her hair, thanks to her so called Indian heritage, will sport long hair draping down her back. She will have pecan colored skin so she will definitely pass the paper bag test. (If you don't know what that means, then put down one of those books and read some real African American literature) She is flawless and always the baddest bitch in the game (see example #1)
I'll be posting a part two to this series. It really is disturbing sometimes when almost all of the UB books are literally the same! Same plot lines and same characters. One would think that this is all UB has to offer when there is so much more to Black culture than bad bitches and drug dealers.
I'm looking forward to the day where an author can let some of these stereotypical characters go and craft an ingenious story with characters that I can believe in. That will be an author worth reading. Until then, the situation looks hopeless.
Urban Fiction writers out there. Let's get some new material. Think outside the box. And for the love of God, if you write one more drug dealer named Nino into your storyline, I'm bashing my Kindle against the wall.
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