Dealing with reviews

[JanG]

If a review gives you pointers on where you made actual grammar mistakes or if there were plot holes or any other advice then that's a good constructve review. But if the reviewer wants you to write *your* story the way he/she wants, then it would no longer be your story. Also you have your writer's *voice* and if you change it to please others then it's no longer your voice.

You should continue to write to please yourself, not everyone else in the world.

I don't mind bad reviews, they can help sometimes. What I don't like, is when a reviewer gets personal. This happens more with fanfiction than original fiction, but it can still be quite spiteful and hurtful. Writing is writing, and fanfiction writers often put a lot of work into their stories (yes I know there's an awful lot of garbage out there in the fanfiction world, but there are also some real gems amongst the dross.)

Just my two cents...

--JanG.
P.S. Although Dead(ish) was not my 'cup of tea,' I read and enjoyed Red Riding Hood.

[J. Dean]

I actually like Flannery O'Connor.

Back on topic, the reviews I like to read are the ones that, if they don't like what was written, explain clearly and concisely as to why that was. I had a review about my novel (posted on a separate thread somewhere here I think) in which the critic politely made it clear that my book was not her cup of tea, but gave credit for the editing job and the writing style. That's fine with me.

[lmpreston]

Well as an engineer by day - my work gets reviewed - A LOT (painfully so - lol!) So when I started to get back reviews from Explorer X - Alpha I took all of them well. I appreciated all of them - the good, the bad and the ugly. Why? because some of them helped my publisher and myself improve. We made some changes to marketing, staff, and were happy because even those bad reviews were helpful in the big scheme of things. It has made me a better writer and promoter of my work.

Also - let's face it. You don't write a book, get it rejected by tons of agents, and then publishers to finally get it out then - get all sensitive because someone said they didn't like it. Part of being a published writer is a road filled with rejection. Only the strong and creative survive.

We have thick skin :-D

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by J. Dean

I actually like Flannery O'Connor.

I like her, too. I don't want to *be* her, and I don't write like her.

There are a lot of writers I appreciate without wanting to imitate.

[nomesque]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I don't necessarily recommend workshops. I took one once with a moderately well-known writer who is married to a big literary mucky-muck, and it was a disaster. She had very form ideas on how one must right and believed that literary fiction was the One True Way. So, for example, a guy in the class wrote a gangster story for one of the assignments, and rather than working with him on making it a very good gangster story, she criticized it for not being literary fiction. She found me far too genre for her liking, but did come to develop a grudging respect for the way I stuck to my guns with her A workshop for a writer who is more my speed might be a far different animal.

Yup. I think workshops and critique groups probably work best where all participants have a fair amount of humility AND self-confidence - they know where to say, "no, that doesn't need to change" and where to say, "oh, no, you're right, that's horrible!".

Originally Posted by ficbot

Fwiw Nomesque, I too read your book and if I had picked it up in a store, I would not have bought it. I do think that it was a little rushed-feeling and might have benefited from being longer and having some time and space to really develop things. I'm not sure I would read another book by you, but I think that's more of a 'not my thing' kind of issue than anything about you as a writer and nothing to take personally :-)

Yup. I think it was slightly too rushed all through, and the ending in particular. I suspect I will rewrite it someday, when I've got a lot more experience behind me - although I'll be making it MUCH longer.

[alvico]

Originally Posted by nomesque

Yup. I think workshops and critique groups probably work best where all participants have a fair amount of humility AND self-confidence - they know where to say, "no, that doesn't need to change" and where to say, "oh, no, you're right, that's horrible!"

And it's for this reason that when it comes to new writers, some workshops and critique groups can do more harm than good. Especially when it's the blind leading the blind (excuse the cliche).

[J. Dean]

Originally Posted by khalleron

I like her, too. I don't want to *be* her, and I don't write like her.

There are a lot of writers I appreciate without wanting to imitate.

Understood completely.

[Kemp]

This also might be a mistaken perception on my part, but it seems to me that many unpublished and/or newer writers are attending these conferences, not primarily for the purpose of honing their craft, but more for the purpose of networking and getting their name and/or face connected with their work.

Then they may or may not go into these workshops with the idea that they don't need improvement. With that, there ends up being a fairly high number of people sitting there with the idea they're awesome and the best, so they take their haughty opinions out on those more timid/humble.

Of course, I'm generally cynical, so my impression of that sort of thing may be quite far off.

[alvico]

Originally Posted by Kemp

This also might be a mistaken perception on my part, but it seems to me that many unpublished and/or newer writers are attending these conferences, not primarily for the purpose of honing their craft, but more for the purpose of networking and getting their name and/or face connected with their work.

Then they may or may not go into these workshops with the idea that they don't need improvement. With that, there ends up being a fairly high number of people sitting there with the idea they're awesome and the best, so they take their haughty opinions out on those more timid/humble.

Of course, I'm generally cynical, so my impression of that sort of thing may be quite far off.

You're closer to the mark than you might think.