So, I got my first really bad review of my book "Spilled" last week and it bothered me a little at first. I realize that I am no Hemingway, Hawthorne, or Twain, but I don't think I am the worst writer to ever turn a phrase. So, I read the review, because I wanted to see what this reader considered the detracting points of my work. She stated that the book needed far more editing to be good and sited three spelling errors as evidence. She was correct there were three spelling errors, but I don't think three spelling errors makes for horrible editing. I also often write things a certain way for a reason knowing full well that there is a grammar error or the like. Sometimes I want things to come across a certain way. One of her other complaints was that the author spent so much time talking about "Jane" and her supposed "bad day" that you end up thinking her petty and not liking her. Well, news flash lady, you're are not supposed to like her at all. So, in a way I guess I did a decent job with the story. I mean, in spite of the fact that this person obviously missed the didn't understand what was going on, she still completely disliked the main character, which is what was supposed to happen. The review opened with the statement that the reviewer couldn't figure out what was wrong with the book. She stated that she felt like it was a short story that ran long, a screen play, or the summary of a longer story. Initially, I wanted to respond by telling her that if she could do a better job she ought to, but I didn't. I also looked at the rest of her reviews on Amazon. Out of the three to four books she review, they all had a two star rating except one. When I saw that I made the assumption that her idea of average must be two stars.
Suffice it to say that even though it was a negative review it was definitely a learning experience for me. I learned that I shouldn't worry about what others think. I'm not doing this under the delusion that I am going to strike it rich and if people don't understand my writing I'm not too worried about that either. If someone who reads primarily romance and detective novels reads my book they are not going to like it. It's not a romance or a detective novel so imagine that. Here's another thought, read any famous fictional writer and do a grammar check. I bet you find some things that don't fit perfectly into your high school grammar curriculum. No matter what I'm going to keep on writing and if people like it, good. If they don't like it, that's okay too. I do know it goes a long way toward keeping me from choking people. Have a good night everybody.
