| Apr. 27th, 2008 @ 08:43 pm accepting the one (er two?) star challenge |
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So, John Scalzi has challenged authors to post excerpts from one-star amazon reviews. (mostly I guess to counter a different online fiasco about authors who go in and defend themselves against these reviews).
Well, I only have a handful of reviews, and my lowest is a two-star, but I'll post from that and from a 4-star which also had a little bit of useful criticism.
Both snippets are for Lavender Secrets:
Surrounded by a family of pompous jerks (in this case her future in-laws), Nicole works her way through a tortuous metamorphosis as she gradually comes to realize her growing physical attraction to Emma. Think Susan Sterling in Gerri Hill's "Dawn of Change." Same. For her part, Emma struggles to accept Nicole's straightness and maintain their friendship. But it's tough. Think Shawn Weber in "Dawn of Change." Same.
I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say I wasn't exactly shocked.
Haven't read this Gerri Hill's book, but yeah, I sure agree the premise for Lavender Secrets wasn't original! And Nicole's future in-laws were one-dimentional gits.
This next snippet is a 4-star, but the reviewer admits it's only that high because she disagrees w/ some of the earlier 2-star reviewers comments. Anyway:
Some of the stuff in this book reminds me of the old days. The sex scenes aren't so hot; they read like they were written in the Eighties. A protagonist freaking out when somebody is found smoking a joint? Gimme a break! A disagreeable character seriously proposing therapy as a cure for being gay? Nope. If the manuscript for this book was found in a thirty-year old time capsule, it would make sense. Even though I have grandchildren (or maybe it's because of their influence), a lot of the material was a little too "old school" for me.
The above snippet is one of my biggest 'lessons learned' from a review. She's got me right on the mark. I DID write it the way remembered life just after college (and oo wooopsie! that would be the eighties!) I've learned since then to put some effort into making the characters real to their own age and their own TIME not mine. I really should write this woman and thank her for that one.
Her next snippet:
This isn't the greatest book in the world---the writing is a bit stilted and the plot is a bit contrived---
She actually goes on to say some nice things, but nice isn't the point of the 1-star challenge, so I'll leave folks to go read the full review on their own. My point in including this part is that it too is correct.
My writing is getting better, bit by bit. And thanks to beta readers, some of that plotting weakness is being kicked out.
So anyway. There's truth in these snippets and I'm kind of glad of them. Anyone reading them will at least know what they're getting before they drop $$ on the book. |
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