I took a look at all the things I’ve rambled on about this year and discovered I’ve talked about just about every aspect of indie writing and publishing … except one.
Criticism
If you really want to be a writer, you’d better get used to it. I don’t care who you are in the literary world, someone, somewhere is going to criticize your work.
When Stephen King’s book The Shining was published in 1977, a reviewer at The New York Times called him “a writer of fairly engaging and preposterous claptrap.”
I know a lot of readers who still feel that’s true.
Ouch.
However, a lot of people felt the same way about Charles Dickens.
The novelist George Meredith, a contemporary of Dickens, went so far as to say: “Dickens was a caricaturist who aped the moralist. If his novels are read at all in the future, people will wonder what we saw in them.”
Another Dickens contemporary, Oscar Wilde, once commented: “I can’t read Dickens. I start getting the urge to commit suicide.”
Even the revered American storyteller, Mark Twain, had detractors. One critic wrote: “Mark Twain’s humor is deadpan at best.”
When Huckleberry Finn, today considered a children’s classic, was first published in 1885 it was banned by the Library Committee of Concord, Massachusetts for its coarse language.
How do you deal with it?
If you’re smart, you learn from the experience.
I’m guilty of severe criticism, too. I’ve dissed “best sellers” like Glenn Beck, the Kardashians, Snooki and Ayn Rand as untalented hacks and I’m entitled to my opinion.
Do they care?
No. They all made tons of money (as successful adherents to what I’ve called earned media) and they don’t even know (or care) who the hell I am.
Does it matter?
It’s a good question. Does criticism matter? There’s only one real answer: Only if you let it … and only if you don’t learn from it.
I’ve been fortunate in the reviews I’ve received for my own work … but they haven’t all been phenomenally good.
Take this review for instance, left for my novel REICHOLD STREET:
C. Kevin only rated it 3 of 5 stars:
“Reichold Street” delves into several issues: dysfunctional families; alcoholism; strained friendships; unsympathetic educational professionals; the ravages of war including death; and suicide.
As you read, you get a sense the author is pulling from real-life experiences either from his own life or people he knew over the years. The circumstances described are sometimes too detailed not to believe they are, at least, rooted in someone’s real life.
This book is not a “feel good” read in the “puppies running in meadows filled with flowers” sense, but if you are into this genre and like gritty, character-driven stories, with some rough language from time to time, then it might be up your alley.
You might even see it as a “feel good” story because the main characters do develop strong ties. I only rated this 3-stars because I’m not into this genre very much. However, if you are, you might like it.
Wow!
Some friends have seen this and think I must not like to hear it. But they’re wrong. The reviewer didn’t praise it to the skies, but he left some very good feedback.
The line I particularly like: “…you get a sense the author is pulling from real life experiences. The circumstances described are sometimes too detailed not to believe they are rooted in someone’s real life.”
As a writer of fiction, hearing that is tantamount to a pot of gold! I don’t care he only gave it 3 stars.
He actually praised it far better than most, because he’s telling you the characters didn’t seem like characters … they seemed like real people. What more could any fiction writer hope for?
He made my year.
Happy New Year!
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My books have actually garnered some terrific reviews. You can see the ones I have available by using the Amazon link below.
You’re also invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or like my Book of Face page. You can also follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.
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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.
Painting With Light 