One and a half hours to go

[ksmith]

I should get offline now.

Gacked this from james_nicoll. Ok, more proof that writers should not respond to negative reviews. Yes, LKH goes overboard and repeats the same points over and over and over--much like she does in her books--but...

...I haven't read an Anita Blake book since Obsidian Butterfly, which I bought in hardcover since it was an Edward book. Edward is my favorite character in that series. The sociopathic monster killer with the nickname Death. Go figure.

After OB, I waited for the next book, then heard rumbling about the turn the series was taking. Reviews weren't good, even though sales were through the roof. I have nothing against good sex scenes, and LKH does a decent job, but I really liked the police procedural aspects of the older books, and that seemed to have fallen by the wayside. So I stopped reading.

But I read this diatribe, and what do I see about the next book,The Harlequin? Edward plays a major role. So does the ardeur, apparently, which has me wondering whether Anita and Edward...

Now I doubt this, because Edward is married...I think...and mortal besides, and I don't think the ardeur works with mortals. But I may buy this book, which I read about in the author diatribe against reader/critics, because Edward's in it.

There's a moral in here somewhere, but damned if I know what it is.

Comments

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's ... wow. Well, I'm definitely learning um ... a lot from her example. First Anne Rice, then LKH? Is it something in the water with the grande dames of horror?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Riveting, isn't it?

Did she misspell arduer/ardeur throughout her post? It doesn't look right to me, but what do I know?

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

I mean, I understand the frustration -- she's right, and that's annoying when people go out of their way to tell you they hate you ... but hell. That I should be so lucky. If I were here, I think I'd eschew the internet in favor of going home to cry into a big bag of money.

I'm just sayin'.

[coppervale.livejournal.com]

You just said everything I wanted to!

My first thought was her sales figures - I mean, her AND Anne Rice are not lacking for devoted readers - and their dollars.

If I sold their numbers, I think I wouldn't care about the negative readers. I understand, certainly - bad reviews get under everyone's skin. But I find myself caring less and less as the sales keep going..

My current response to such readers is: "Sorry you don't like my work - but here I am anyway!"

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

Haha! Thanks. And here I am, all new year's eve tipsy and stuff -- I meant, "If I were her." Not "here." Yes. A tiny bit soused, I be ...

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

I've always figured that if someone points out what they consider flaws in your work, you take a look, think about it and either go "oh, man! they're *right*! I screwed up!" and don't do that any more... *OR*, you think about it, shrug and move on. If you want to bitch, do so, but do it in private while looking at your bank balance.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Join the club. It's tres select, and a little bit dehydrated...

Not to play devil's advocate, but if a small but vocal percentage of readers wanted you to revisit an aspect of your story that you'd left behind, would you find a way to give them something of what they want? I know this isn't always possible--you can't spend your career writing the same book over and over--well, some writers do, but that's another post. But would you be inclined to think that maybe you had jettisoned something that you shouldn't have, and that you should make the effort to reinsert it in your work?

LKH does mention that readers are still requesting the police procedurals. And she seems to be saying that they aren't out of the question. She's also saying that the ardeur will resolve. So is she telling her critics things they want to hear even though she's telling them to suck rocks at the same time?

You do reach a point where you have to move on, with the full realization that you may lose readers along the way. But at some point, you do need to leave it alone. Arguing too much makes you seem weak, and scoring points makes you look like a bully...unless the critic has their own widely-read venue, in which case they can make you look like an ass.

[affinity8.livejournal.com]

Pretty icon!

[affinity8.livejournal.com]

What's funny about her response is the false sincerity at the beginning.

"It's okay if you don't like me work . . . it's great. I understand . . . it's okay to stop reading me . . . "

which immediately segues into the

" . . . some works are just too hard, too edgy, too uncomfortable."

Or, you know. Just badly written. If you're going to be sincere about people entitled to their own opinion, you don't assume they're abandoning you because *they* fail to get *your* edge-pushing work.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's where she lost me.

[redheadedfemme]

Don't waste your money, even for Edward. I'm not going to.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I've never, ever seen responding to a negative review--or any review--serve the writer well. I've seen plenty of folks I respect do this, but ... it never works. It just doesn't.

Better to stand back, and let the discussion of your works go on without you. The last thing any of us want is for the author to step in when we're having a spirited discussion of that book we just read anyway.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The last thing any of us want is for the author to step in when we're having a spirited discussion of that book we just read anyway.

Yup. Nothing brings a discussion to a halt faster than the author weighing in with the Definitive. I remember, iirc, a discussion about one of Lois Bujold's Miles books. Lois entered the conversation and answered whatever burning question was being discussed, and someone posted, essentially, "I didn't want to know the answer, I just wanted to keep talking about the possibilities."

It sounds dumb, but I understand it. Once you know, then you Know, and you can't Unknow, so you'd rather not Know.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

But it's Edward.

Maybe I'll wait for the reviews...

[janni.livejournal.com]

And the thing is, I actually don't know. Every reader's experience is their own; I can't tell someone else what a story should mean to them. That's between them and the text, not them and me. They bring their own story to their reading, and that's as it should be.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

It's sometimes very, very hard to keep one's fingers off the keyboard. To just close the door and find something else to do.

It's better, though.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Danke! I've got to find something appropriate for Early Summer (what most folks call 'Spring') and then Real Summer (as in hotter'n the light side of Mercury).

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

I like to see writers weigh in on questions about their work (note I'm talking about reader discussions, not reviews). I'm perfectly capable of running an alternate universe in my head if they're taking their 'real universe' in a direction I'd rather they didn't. :-) I'm also perfectly capable of continuing to argue my point even after The Authority has said otherwise and left the conversation. ;-):-) (Me? Stubborn?)

[equesgal.livejournal.com]

Very mesmerizing icon...or maybe i've had too much to drink. LOL But I want to pull on my boots and hurry down the road to see what's at the other end.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

hehehehehe! Could be too much to drink, but then I find myself doing the same thing stone cold sober. I went out looking for a holiday icon and stumbled on this one.

Now I want to go find my Night Gallery DVDs.