Multiple Personality Dis... Our Constantly Changing Perspective

By Lacey Gunter

Hey MMWs, if you're anything like me, you have a complicated relationship with your manuscripts. Sometimes when I read one of my manuscripts I think it is awesome. I am sure it will make a great childrens book and I am really excited about trying to get it published.

A couple of months later I will read that same manuscript and think, "Uugh, what did I think was so great about this manuscript? It needs a lot of work" I will be disgusted with it and brain storm about how to fix it, or worse, not want to even to look at it or think about it.

Time will pass and someone will ask me about the same manuscript. I will pull it out to try and fix it and think "Hey, this manuscript is pretty good. Why did I think it was so bad? It was really funny." Then I will get excited about it all over again.

Whether the manuscript is truly good or not is difficult to say. It is also not the topic I want to write about. What interests me is how our perception of our writing and our stories is affected by our current emotional status, our outlook and the experiences were are having at the moment.

When we are grouchy or unhappy with ourselves or our current situation, that affects how we react to and interpret the things that happen to us.  It will also affect how we view our writing or our stories. Likewise when we are happy, excited, worried, whatever.

I am sure that this information comes as no surprise to any of you. But how often do we take this into consideration when we are getting feedback on our work from critique partners and reviewers? No matter how good our story or writing is, we should expect that some of that feedback we get will be negative; if for no other reason that the fact that the people who are looking at our work are human and will have good days and bad days that color the way they see and interpret the world.

So think about that the next time your get a critique or review that totally rips apart everything you have done. Stop, take a breath, calm down, go to sleep, and wake up and look at it from a new perspective. It is constantly changing.

To Review or Not to Review? (I Still Haven’t Decided)

- a post by Jeanna Mason Stay

This week I finished a book that I wasn’t certain I was going to enjoy. It was a kindle freebie many moons ago, and I picked it up (because, hey, free!). Then it languished until a week or so ago, when I finally started it.

I really rather enjoyed it. Yes, there were quirks I did not love (I thought the author’s figurative language simply didn’t work in many instances; I also didn’t find the main character’s personality entirely consistent). But I found the story to be overall enjoyable and tense enough to make me nervous reading it at night (it was a thriller). My biggest beef was the ending, which I found abrupt and far too unfinished, even for being the first in the series. This ending probably knocked half a star off my enjoyment level.

Still, I figured that I could give a fairly honest, fairly positive review. I used to write scathing reviews of books I didn’t like, but now I don’t bother with a review at all unless I can honestly say that I enjoyed it well enough to merit at least 3 stars out of 5.* In my opinion, that’s pretty reasonable. Three stars says, “Hey, I liked this. I didn’t love it, but if this is a genre you enjoy, this book is worth a look.” So I clicked over to Amazon to write a review.

And then I saw the ratings.

Out of about 150 reviews, there was only one 1-star review. Every single other review was either 4 or 5 stars. This is incredibly unusual, and it made me suspicious. Out of curiosity, I clicked the 1-star review. Which is when I discovered that the 1-star reviewer had received bucketloads of comments (almost all deleted by Amazon) from either the author or the author’s friends—all because he had given a 1-star review.

Note to authors: Bullying your readers is NOT COOL, even if they don’t like your book.

In skimming through some of the other reviews, I found that the author had told someone else who didn’t like his first book that they should give the second book a try anyway—it was even better. While that might be true, I was really uncomfortable with the tone going on here: like my book or be pressured into liking my book.

Now I’m sitting on what I would have considered a positive review, torn between posting and not posting it. I’d rather not get into a fight with the author of a book I enjoyed, you know? And I’d also rather not have an indie author out there gunning for me when one day I am published. I’m a bit angry at this author’s handling of negative reviews, too. Sure, indie publishing is hard, and negative reviews can hurt; but dishonestly positive reviews feel, well, dishonest.

So I guess I’ll figure it out. Or maybe I’ll just let it all slip because I’ve got better things to do with my time. Who knows?

In the meantime, have you ever faced a situation like this (either as the reviewer or as the receiver of a negative review)? If so, how did you handle it?

* Actually, I will still write reviews of books I hated if the author is either a) dead or b) so rich and famous that my negative review is just a drop in the bucket. But they’re usually not scathing anymore.**

** Unless the book is named Wuthering Heights or Romeo and Juliet. Then all bets are off.