Negative Reviews
Guest Post by Janine Ashbless
Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.
- Christopher Hampton
Gah ... I don't want to write a post about negative reviews! I don't want to think about negative reviews. And I certainly don't want to recall the ones I've received.
Did you notice that? “... the ones
I've received.” Yes, it feels
that personal, especially if you're a new author. There you are, having spent a year or so writing your first book.You've struggled for more months or years to gain acceptance from a publisher. You've made countless changes and improvements, and you finally think it's as perfect as it can be. Proud and
completely terrified, you take it out into the big wide world, like a mother taking a new baby out in its pram to the park. And you innocently, fervently hope that everyone will adore it.
That's when someone does the equivalent of pointing a finger and shouting “Bwa-hah! Take a look at that ugly little bastard!” - and everyone stands round and laughs.
Yes, it hurts. It might even hurt because it's true – maybe the reviewer puts a finger on weaknesses in plotting or pace or writing style, and that makes you angry that you didn't do a better job. Or it hurts because it's true but it's not your fault – maybe the publisher did a godawful job of typesetting. Or it hurts because it's completely and demonstrably unfair – maybe you wrote a book of short stories and they trash it because they were expecting a novel. I’ve seen that happen.
Fact: reviewers get out of bed the wrong side some days. Fact: some reviewers have personal emotional triggers, regarding sexual mores in particular, that seem to send them into an apoplectic rage. Fact: it is far easier to be entertaining and look witty and perceptive when you're being nasty, and many reviewers love to grandstand to their audience. The smarter the reviewer, the more prone they are to this. Fact: the internet gives anyone the right to be a jerk, especially on Amazon.
And you have no right of reply. No chance to defend your creation. No power to even wipe off the shit that gets flung.
Tough luck.
You hurt. You get depressed. You feel like never writing again (I know talented authors who've stopped writing for years after one vicious review). You lie awake at 3am entertaining increasingly violent revenge fantasies (You’ll never admit to this, of course). You mentally compose countless snarky ripostes that will never be posted. (“Dear Reviewer. Given that you saw fit to rubbish my EROTIC NOVEL on your EROTICA SITE because it “starts with a totally gratuitous sex scene” and, I quote, “the theology is hardly original,” does it ever occur to you that you are in the WRONG BLOODY JOB? Perhaps you would feel more at home reviewing for
Methodist Weekly?”)
Then, one day, you get up and go back to the laptop and you get on writing the next book. A lot less innocent, a lot less hopeful. And probably a little bit better at your craft.
So they stay, the bad reviews, wedged under your skin like embedded grit from a traffic accident. Permanent. Even when they don't hurt anymore they're still there. Scar tissue. You'll never be as pretty again.
But they serve this purpose, those scars. When you write your second book, and your third, and you keep on writing – and keep on gaining more scars - they are proof. That you're not doing this because writing is easy. You're not doing this to be admired. You're not doing this to stroke your ego.
You're doing this because you have stories to tell. And there's no choice, really. You have to tell them; it's what makes you
you. Battle-scars and all. You're a
writer. You have to write. And so you do.
Just remember – there’s no law that says you have to read your own reviews.
xxx
Janine Ashbless
BOOK BLURB
And on the One-Thousand-and-Second night, Scheherazade told this story…
By day, Taqla uses her forbidden sorcery to move freely about the city of Damascus in the guise of an old sage. Her true identity known only by her faithful servant woman, Taqla is content with the comfortable, if restrictive, life that keeps her safe from the control of any man. Until she lays eyes on a handsome merchant-traveler. Suddenly her magical disguise doesn’t rest so easily on her shoulders.
When long-time widower, Rafiq, hears that the Amir’s beautiful daughter has been kidnapped by a scheming djinni—and that she will be given in marriage to her rescuer—he seeks the help of “Umar the Wise” to ensure he will be that man. Yet as he and the disguised Taqla set off, he senses that his prickly male companion is hiding something.
In a moment of dire peril, all of Taqla’s secrets are stripped bare—her fears, her sorcery and, worst of all, her love for Rafiq. Yet the princess’s life hangs in the balance, and there is no running away or turning back. Even though passion may yet betray them all...
Warning: Scary monsters and creepy ruins in the desert—check. Pagan gods that demand blood-sacrifices—double check. A handsome hero who looks good in a robe and even better out of it—oh yeah. Check, check and check. That’s worth a heroine dropping a veil or two.
BOOK EXCERPT“What manner of painting?” the Amir asked.
“Ah,” said the artist. “The boast of this scroll is that upon it are depicted all the most beautiful things that exist in the world, without exception.”
“Then it must include the Great Mosque here in Dimashq,” said Jamil with a little smile, “and my own daughter.”
“So it must.” The artist lifted the scroll over his head and let it unfurl all the way to his feet.
“Vizier?” The Amir was too dignified a person to get up and squint at a picture himself, so his highest official did the honors for him. He bent and peered at the middle ground, his brows furrowed.
“Where do you start? There is so much detail—cities, bridges, people. Oh—there! Yes, there it is!” He pointed at the scroll. “It’s the Great Mosque of Al-Walid! I see the minarets and the shrine of the head of John the Baptist! Such detail! You can even see the mosaics on the inner walls!” His expression of pleasure warped. “That isn’t possible. You could not paint such fine detail. And the trees there, the water—they’re moving!”
“The picture is magical,” said the artist, as if the vizier were a simpleton.
“Is it safe?” Jamil asked, frowning.
“It is only a picture, oh father of wisdom. Do you not wish to see if your daughter is depicted among the most beautiful things in the world?”
Jamil’s frown deepened.
“I will,” Ahleme said quickly. She itched to see the marvelous painting, and that it might include her made it irresistible. She sprang to her feet.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janine Ashbless is a multi-published author of erotic romance and erotica. Her first book was published in 2000 by Black Lace and she currently writes for Samhain and Ellora's Cave among others. She’s always used elements of fantasy, mythology and folklore in her writing, with occasional forays into horror.
Janine loves goatee beards, ancient ruins, minotaurs, trees, mummies, having her cake and eating it, holidaying in countries with really bad public sewerage, and any movie or TV series featuring men in very few clothes beating hell out of each other. She’s a roleplaying geek and can still sometimes be found running round in the woods hitting other geeks with a rubber sword. It is unlikely she will grow up anytime soon.
Janine lives in Yorkshire, England, with her husband and two rescued greyhounds, and is trying hard to overcome her addiction to semicolons.
GIVEAWAY!
Janine will be giving away a PDF copy of her previous fantasy/erotic romance novella, "The King's Viper" to one randomly drawn commenter and a special sweet treat to the tour host with the most comments.
Follow the Tour and Comment for more chances of winning!
See the tour list
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Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber
