Comments on: Do Not Threaten to Report Your Negative Reviewers to the FBI, Or On Dealing With Criticism

By: JK Evanczuk

JK Evanczuk — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:27:12 +0000

Hi Dave–thanks for stopping by!

What you said here:

And this is the thing that enrages us, I think: the suggestion on the part of readers that if we’d only been using our noggins we’d have done a neater, more polite and civilized job.

is a good point. It can be easy for readers to drop the ball as well, and it’s funny how often during the reading experience logical thought seems to be forgotten. I’m guilty of this as well–there have been some books about which I was convinced the writer had fallen asleep halfway through and their fingers just continued typing. How simple it is to forget that someone slaved over a book for years and scrutinized every page several times over, and to instead chalk it all up to the writer, as you put it, not using his or her noggin.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:07:34 +0000

Hello, Julia, and thanks for the mention! Actually, the guy wrote something like, “I’m sending you the page because I won’t have it in my house, and then I’m going to throw the book away because no one wants a book with a page torn out.” Still, you had the general idea.

But the thing that bugged me (and the reason I wrote back) is that the reader seemed to think I’d made some kind of mistake. That the cunnilingus had just slipped into my novel while I wasn’t paying attention; as if I’d gone out with my shirt on backwards or my fly unzipped, and this was the result. It was really such a scold. And this is the thing that enrages us, I think: the suggestion on the part of readers that if we’d only been using our noggins we’d have done a neater, more polite and civilized job.

That’s the point I made to the guy who wrote to complain. Basically: you have the right not to like the passage, but please don’t assume I didn’t give it serious thought. I do think the reading experience gets a little richer if we ask ourselves why the writer employed a particular strategy before rejecting the strategy out of hand, and I find the thumbs up/thumbs down approach a bit of a dead end.

Whew! Sorry to be so long-winded. Anyway, Julia, happy new year to you and to all the readers of Lit Drift. You’ve built a great site.

By: JK Evanczuk

JK Evanczuk — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:59:26 +0000

True. And awkward for you. Writers (as well as filmmakers, musicians, etc) who insist on refuting criticisms point by point tend to drive me a little bonkers; it’s the writer’s responsibility to make sure the work stands on its own, and not the reader’s fault for “not getting it.”

By: Charlotte Rains Dixon

Charlotte Rains Dixon — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:06:10 +0000

I wrote what I felt was a balanced review of a book on my blog this year, and the author wrote me a looong letter, not only refuting the one negative point I had made, but also telling me which parts of the book I should have featured. The tone of the email was so defensive and desperate that it didn’t serve the author well at all. I have to admit, the email made me feel bad, even though I didn’t think I had written a bad review. I’m pretty sure she didn’t glean anything about her writing from this review, because she was so wrapped up in refuting it. And therein lies the problem.

By: SMD

SMD — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:50:58 +0000

Bill: I completely agree with you there. Writers should definitely pay attention to negative reviews as well as good reviews. You can learn a lot from negative reviews (at least from good negative reviews, as confusing as that sounds). That’s not always the case, obviously, but sometimes it is.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:44:41 +0000

I’m glad you ended up where you did by the end of this post. Yes, not letting the bastards wear you down is definitely a rule worth repeating. However, if you insist on tuning out every bad review, how honest is it to revel in the good ones? It’s all part of the mix, and there are definitely times when a negative comment can prompt more introspection and learning than a pat on the back. The secret, it seems, is to neither pay attention to nor become one of the batshit crazies.

By: SMD

SMD — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:05:11 +0000

You guys are just getting to this, huh?

I think the thick skin rule is one most authors should follow, because half the time authors haven’t a clue how to properly respond to negative comments. If you can’t act like a professional, then you haven’t any business being among professionals. The problem with Sams and others is precisely that they don’t act like professionals. They flip out. They have their little WTF moments and it’s like a switch goes off. Maybe that would have been curious and redeeming stuff in the 1950s, but these days, it’s not…it makes you look like an asshat.

So, the rule for me is this: if you don’t know how to respond properly, then don’t.