A LETTER OF non-APOLOGY

[JamesSavik]

A few weeks ago I posted a story called the Barlow Boy.

 

It turned out to be a little controversial because of a specific element of the story.

 

Here is a sampling of the response that I got:

 

"The Barlow Boy" absolutely blew my mind. Usually by mid-story I can anticipate the end of the story, but I had no idea with this one. Wonderful! Fantastic! Phenomenal!

 

Holy shit!

 

if only such stories were unnecessary. If only they were pure fantasy. Or perhaps if they were of purely historical interest.

 

An astonishingly thoughtful and thought provoking story. Thank you.

 

 

 

I refuse to say I enjoyed a story where a young boy comits suicide. However, the message you delivered via the story was unmistakeable and very correct and needs to be heard more often.

 

 

 

 

 

This was a GREAT story till I got to the end. Its bad enough gay kids sometimes kill themselves in real life so their straight family and church members can get on with their own lives without this annoying problem. Does it have to be so in fiction that we read too? Can't a kid get happy ending at least in a STORY? I hate you for this story and wish I never read it!

 

 

 

A storyteller has a choice. He can give you what you want to hear. He can write propaganda or be a cheerleader for the way things ought to be. In short, he can jerk you off in all sorts of ways and you will forget it.

 

Or a storyteller can tell you something, perhaps something ugly, about yourself, humanity or the world. This kind of storyteller will take a little slice of hell and smack you in the mouth with it.

 

Fair warning. I'm the type that is going to challenge you. I'm the type that is going to cause you tears of anguish and outrage. I'm the type that will take you to the edge and let you look over it into the abyss.

 

Wear a helmet. It's going to be one hell of a ride.

[Graeme]

There are different types of authors and different types of readers. Some people read/write as escapism, some people read/write as a release for something they have experienced, some people read/write for education, and some people read/write as a statement on the human condition.

 

No one should expect any author to meet all of these (and many other) reasons. And no one should complain that a story wasn't in the category that they were expecting unless the story was advertised as being in that category (eg. a blood-and-gore horror story that was marketed as a romance).

 

James tends to write about things he's experienced, or about the human condition. He's not a romance author (though I suspect he could write such if he ever felt inspired) and no one should expect that everything he writes has a happy ending.

 

I tend to write romances, but that's not all I write. Not everything I write has a happy ending. While some have sad endings, some are just neutral -- because that's the way life is.

 

As I keep telling my boys: we're all different. We shouldn't expect everyone to like or want the same things.

[TetRefine]

And that is exactly why I love reading your stuff James.

[Hoskins]

Yeah, me too. I love reading your stuff James. Different writers have different stories to tell and different ways to tell them. Yours are hard hitting, and I've never been disappointed by your writing, ever.

[thatboyChase]

james i hope when you file your tax returns that your occupation says: gangster

[JamesSavik]

james i hope when you file your tax returns that your occupation says: gangster

 

LOL... gangsta riter?

[Lugh]

James: never apologize.

[KJames]

A writer should never have to apologize for fiction they write!

 

That The Barlow Boy dealt with a tough topic is merely indicitave of the situation the world is going through right now; today and every day there are hundreds of kids for whom suicide is but one of the myriad of thoughts running through their heads in an illogical scramble to find some peace, calm and quiet from the madness that their world appears through their eyes. I think James did a wonderful job! I was walking that fence and it's not fun!

Edited May 12, 2010 by KJames

[Benji]

A writer should never have to apologize for fiction they write!

 

That The Barlow Boy dealt with a tough topic is merely indicitave of the situation the world is going through right now; today and every day there are hundreds of kids for whom suicide is but one of the myriad of thoughts running through their heads in an illogical scramble to find some peace, calm and quiet from the madness that their world appears through their eyes. I think James did a wonderful job! I was walking that fence and it's not fun!

 

............I agree 100% with KJames! JamesS that was a great story! If people want 'fluff stories' please direct them to the Children's section of the library. And if anyone reading that story thought that the suicide was the the message, then they did not get anything out of a story. The Barlow Boy was clearly a social injustice piece, outweighing the hypocrisy in the end.

[Rilbur]

That was a great story, and don't let anyone tell you differently.

[thatboyChase]

LOL... gangsta riter?

 

wurd or a thug scripta

[Arpeggio]

I lol'd.

 

Thug Scripta <3

[Nicholas J. Covington]

I liked this.

If only I could belive all the lost and tortured souls of suiside became angels.

 

 

Unfortunately, I see this is art imitating life far to often.

[Douw]

Most people don't want to see the pains or horror's in society but thy are there and sum times it's in our best interests to be reminded of them so we can change it or at least try but sum feel so uncomfortable or even pained by it that thy don't want to see it.

 

And just with sum words of comfort and understanding can make a huge different in sum ones live i say this because it rocks you to your core wen you here that sum one that you know or love chose to end his or her life because of fear and prosecution, but these story's make you think about maybe you shod take a close look at your friends or family and be loving and understanding for a change it mite make all the difference...

 

Sum people use the Bible as a weapon rather then a guide to love!

 

Thats is just how i see things!