Clean Reader

What's on my mind today? The Clean Reader App. An app I absolutely oppose. An app that is complete bullshit. And frankly, I can't say it any better than Chuck Wendig has. Click here to go to his blog post.

A big yes to this:

When I write a book, I write it a certain way. I paint with words. Those words are chosen. They do not happen randomly. The words and sentences and paragraphs are the threads of the story, and when you pluck one thread from the sweater, the whole thing threatens to unravel — or, at least, becomes damaged. You may say, Well, Mister Wendig, surely your books do not require the profanity, to which I say, fuck you for thinking that they don’t. If I chose it, and the editor and I agree to keep it, then damn right it’s required. It’s no less required than a line of dialogue, or a scene of action, or a description of a goddamn motherfucking lamp. Sure, my book could exist without that dialogue, that action, that goddamn motherfucking lamp.

But I don’t want it to. That’s your book, not my book.

My consent matters when it comes to the book.

If changes are necessary to the book — then I consent to making them.

An editor sends me edits, I can say whether those edits fly or not.

Just as the publisher can consent to the book they publish.

That’s the deal. That’s how this works.

According to The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2013 there were 304,912 books published. I am pretty sure that if you want a "clean book" you can find a couple in the nearly 305k published. So leave the content alone. A novel is a work of art. To deface that art by changing the words the author has chosen should be illegal.

As I learned yesterday when a blown transformer knocked out our power, as well as damaged our servers, technology isn't always a good thing.