Perception Perschmeption

Perception is a funny thing. How we see the world may greatly vary from how others see it. The same goes for writing.

A friend of mine recently gushed about The Historian, referring to it as "one of the greatest vampire novels ever written". "Now, tut tut, my dear," I said. "Greatest? Maybe longest...but not greatest by a looooooooooooong shot." She proceeded to use one of those you-are-in-dire-need-of-a-straight-jacket-if-you-don't-agree-with-me tones. "Excuse me," she remarked. "But just because you can't understand the complexities of it doesn't mean it's not brilliant." Granted. But, I tell you now what I told her: I understand the so-called complexities. I still didn't care for it and wouldn't be assumptive enough to refer to it as "one of the greatest vampire novels ever written". It may well be brilliant...to someone else. And heck, I'm first to admit that Ms. Kostova has an incredible gift for description. But...c'mon...greatest of all time? Somewhere, Bram Stoker is rolling over in his grave, I'm sure.

But then it occurred to me that, to her, The Historian is perfection. It's everything a vampire story should ever be. To me it's lacking, but who am I to stand in her way of loving what she loves? Just as I am certain that there are people who will love my books, I'm equally as certain that there are people who won't give a fig about them. It happens. I'm cool with that.

But it got me thinking about perception. And then, later, after a few friends directed me to some enormously hysterical twists on old movies, I realized that our perception of things can be easily altered. While watching the tongue-in-cheek spot for Sleepless in Seattle as a horror flick, I thought, wow...what a shame it wasn't a horror. At the same time, though I laughed at The Shining as a romance, I never would have seen it.

Anyway, the whole point of this blog entry is...

...huh...

I guess there is no point.

At least, that's my perception of it.