Just Saying....

Love them or hate them, the fact is that critics and reviews play an important part in the life of an author.

Like good and bad authors, there are good and bad critics. The critic that writes up an insulting review with demeaning adjectives and way too many exclamation points is just as annoying as the critic that writes a love letter review with happy/shiny adjectives and way too many exclamation points. The best critics and reviews fall somewhere in the middle.

I like to read and I do it a lot. I taught myself how when I was four and never looked back because the kids with the picture books were just too cheerful for me. When I'm desperate, I read cereal boxes and phone books. You would be shocked at just how many mistakes make it through final editing. And, like everyone else, I have my opinions about what I read. I read the Potter books. I was embarrassed to admit it in the beginning, but the little things that were based on fact kept me rooted to the story. I never stood in line for one of the books, but I still read the series and when I got to the last book I could only shake my head and know that my level of respect for the story as a whole had just dropped several degrees. That was MY opinion and sometimes I shared it, but I also shared the good parts too. I've read Shakespeare and Stephen King, Plato and comic books, and plenty of porn. What I have never read is something so perfect that the entire population spoke of it with stars in their eyes and honey in their voices. If such a book is ever written, I would be very afraid and watching for other signs that the end of the world is coming.

The good thing about a critic and a review is the fact that not only did someone read the book, but it evoked enough emotion that the reader had to share how they felt about it. Obscurity is not your friend when you're an author.

Our writers are going to be in for their fair share of criticism and little of it will be constructive. Why? For one thing, they're writing about sex. I've never been to war or killed anyone but I could write an entire page on the experience with all the blood, jagged edges of torn flesh, exposed loops of intestines and the wet rattling cough that marks those last few seconds between life and death. I actually have had sex, though. And I could write about it with the sweat and the groans and smells that often get weighed down by the humidity in the air and seem to choke the senses. Want to bet me which article would be reviewed as unrealistic? Violence is often easier to accept than sex. Don't ask me why, because I really don't know.

I do know that the authors writing about sex in ways that push boundaries will be hit the hardest and my advice is this: If a comment resonates with you, then give it some thought and put it into practice later if you agree. If critics bully you with a review that is meant to make you feel as if you pulled the entire story out of your ass with no research to back it up, then understand that people usually write like that when they are afraid. Afraid, because you've stroked something deep inside of them that they've tried hard to resist. The firmer the strokes, the more likely it is that they just might let go and for some people that is the scariest thing of all.

To the readers: If you give a review, be fair and remember that someone exposed themselves completely in the making of their story.

To the authors: Keep on pushing buttons. Explosions are not always a bad thing.