So I got angry reading this article: If JK Rowling Cares About Writing, She Should Stop Doing It.

I tried to post my comment but Huff Post required multiple accounts to connect with and after permitting it to read my tweets, access my basic Facebook info, post to my Google Plus circles and basically browse my soul it still did not react to my pressing the post it button. Anyway.

The article claims that JK should stop writing, because all the credit and attention she has been receiving stems from her Harry Potter fame and she should take her leave to allow unfamiliar but far worthier writers wallow in the spotlight. I disagree. I think it irresponsible to diminish the merit of a skillful writer for the sake of a faceless crowd of generalizations. I agree there are a lot of talented writers out there, who might never get a chance in the game of big names and Hollywood franchises. The way the publishing industry works and its recent spin toward self-publishing and social media might obscure the small guys, who have talent and are great with words, but just can’t market themselves. But JK is not the problem – she is the inspiration, the hope that it can all actually happen.

The author admits she never read the books and immediately goes on to chastise everyone who has found them worthy and enjoyable (unless read to kids – this she finds admissible). Before the above-mentioned disclaimer she also makes a pretense of excuse for her opinion – she admits it might be unpopular. I think she sought to it to be so. Because this is what gets you attention, re-tweets, comments and related blog posts (like this one). I would say – If you care about writing, you should stop doing that.

And there goes my actual article comment. It never saw the light of Huff Post day, but I can allow it a shimmer here:

This is a very irresponsible article to write in my opinion. A simple disclaimer ‘I can’t comment on whether the books were good, bad or indifferent’ does not justify the commentary that follows, but negates it.

The Harry Potter books’ merit is in the great writing style and the masterful storytelling.

It is the only massively popular series of recent that do not deserve such criticism. Take Twilight and say it is guilty of denying budding writers the opportunity to make their voices heard, because of cheap vampire romantic story, which could not be called literature. Take 50 Shades and blame it for obscuring far worthier chick-lits, not to mention actual literature. Go blame pubescent vamp-loving teens for devoting time and attention to a story a simpleton can tell in less than 10 minutes; or housewives for wasting brain cells on reading cheap erotica.

But, please, leave JK Rowling out of it. The HP books are not children’s books (especially after the number 3) and you would know it if you had read them. I would rather had every adult reading 50 Shades swap it for Harry Potter. Or everyone reading Sex and the City for that matter. JK is a magnificent storyteller and if anything, I am grateful to her that she has extended her talent to other genres, so that we can enjoy it. 

There are millions unappreciated writers out there, who deserve otherwise. But it’s not JK’s fault. Or Hemingway’s, or Tolkien’s, or JaneAustin’s.

And if you have not met Cormoran Strike, yet :

The Cuckoo’s Calling

The Silkworm