Authors need thick skins

Apparently authors used to need fifty layers of skin instead of forty-nine. This fantastic article by Flavorwire covers the thirty harshest author on author insults in history.

My favourites were:

William Faulkner on Ernest Hemingway (pictured below in 1944)
He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.

Ernest Hemingway on William Faulkner
Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?

And then there was a follow up article on the insults they had missed.

My favourite was:

H.G. Wells on Henry James
A hippopotamus trying to pick up a pea.

And then there was a recent one:

Stephen King on Stephenie Meyer
Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people… The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.

Eek! Although I think the fact that such a high profile author even knows your name or your books is kudos in itself.