If my opinions were falsehoods, I would be right in being rebuked. Feelings matter, but not when those feelings hinge on lies.
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How descriptive to be with romantic scenes.
- Thread starter Finchbearer
- Start date
The Dark One
Auror
Sure... but that's the thing about publishing. The instant you put something out into the world you lose control of it. It becomes the purchasers' property and they can do what they like with it.
If you have a problem with this then publishing will only break your heart.
Bad or ignorant reviews are part of the gig.
I often read statements like these from authors, but I never see a reason as to why. It seems more of a truism than a truth. In reality, the work remains yours and you still fully control it. You own the copyright, you decide in what state it enters the market and you certainly know best what is factually contained in the work.
My heart isn't made of glass, but neither is my mind arbitrarily distant from the mortal world. Stupidity is stupidity, callousness is callousness. These I can accept, but to return to the crux of my theoretical, outright lies are to be outed as such.
- Thread starter
- #64
Finchbearer
Istar
I’m going to be annoying and say that all opinions are lies. They are simply how people interpret the world around them.
As soon as you put something creative out into the world it is no longer just yours.
You make a painting of a blue boat in a grey sea and the person who bought it looks at it and sees a dog running in a field. So what?
As soon as you put something creative out into the world it is no longer just yours.
You make a painting of a blue boat in a grey sea and the person who bought it looks at it and sees a dog running in a field. So what?
The Dark One
Auror
But they aren't necessarily lies, are they. They're opinions and affected by infinite different perspectives and developments.
Clearly some are worse than others and even inspired by bad faith.
You can't control that.
Let the boats be dogs, but what if they read your book and say there's a ritual puppy slaughter scene in it? Are you going to channel the energy of your late majesty and stay above the fray? I won't.
Queshire
Istar
Eh.... my reactions would range from confusion to taking it as a sign that I'm doing something right.
- Thread starter
- #68
Finchbearer
Istar
You are a man of your word and I respect that.
Okay, if I put my book out, it has themes of sexual assault and grooming. That’s not me advocating for that in any way, I am just exploring that subject matter, but say a reader interprets my writing to advocate for that in some way or another, I might make a formal statement, and address the room rather than the individual. Individuals are fickle. But they decide whether your book is good or not.
Side note, if I could channel the energy of the late Queen, I’d be slaying life right now.
The Dark One
Auror
Everytime you enter the world of the reader / reviewer you lose a little bit of your authorial mystique. Once lost you'll never get it back.
Mystique is precious.
Mystique is precious.
The likes of Hemingway argued with critics all the time and they have more mystique than most of us will ever muster.
The Dark One
Auror
You're citing Hemingway?
Those arguments happened in the elite press... not the internet.
Slight difference.
Yes I am citing someone who has withstood the test of time. As above so below.
The Dark One
Auror
Hemingway argued with professional critics who had worked their way into those positions via a solid education in deconstruction on elitist platforms denied to the hoi polloi.
Authors on the internet are confronted with every opinion under the sun. I swear it aint worth it to argue with Harry the Hobo over whether you put too many commas in your third chapter.
Queshire
Istar
I enjoy these conversations. It has been surprisingly nice to just go wherever the conversation takes us regardless of what the thread is ostensibly about.
Prince of Spires
Istar
I agree with the sentiment of never responding to reviews, even if they're false. For those interested in watching how this can go badly wrong: https://nitter.net/SheenaLouiseF/status/1746461496173830152?t=NJXc1hGVPjsfiqfzMBDWQw&s=19
In general though, reviews are read by people who haven't read the book yet and are considering buying it. They accept that no books gets a perfect score and that some reviewers didn't get the book. However, if you respond to reviews, you're going to be seen as argumentative. The review reader doesn't know what the truth is. They will only see an author who attacks a reader and tells him they're wrong. No one likes being told they're wrong (even if they are). It will give readers a bigger reason to skip a book (because they don't want to be attacked by the author if they dislike it), than simply that one bad review would.
Added to this is the fact that this is the internet. People on the internet tend to be a lot more confrontational than in real life. That can mean any discussion can quickly spiral out of control. Say you politely respond to a review mentioning that the reviewer missed something and that X isn't in the book. What do you then do when the reviewer responds that you're lying, that you don't know what you're talking about, that all good reviews are probably from friends, and that you're only defending your book because your writing suck and it's the only way you can get people to buy your book? You've now just made the situation worse. And there is no response to that argument that will make it better. And even not reacting (which is probably the best course of action) will just make it look like you're afraid to answer and don't have a good defence.
And lastly, there's also the Striesand effect. By trying to make something go away, you're actually achieving the reverse. A bad review will quickly fade into obscurity. A bad review that an author responds to will get highlighted, seen by other readers, and if you're really lucky, start doing the rounds on social media. You'll get called out and get seen as petty and someone who can't take criticism.
All in all, responding is a bad idea that has no good outcomes. Even reporting wrong reviews to Amazon is useless. Plenty of authors have reported reviews that start with "I haven't read the book, but...", and Amazon just lets them stand.
The only single exception I can think of is if people complain about grammar / spelling issues and you have since then fixed those. In such a situation, you can react with "Thank you for your comment. I have updated the novel and fixed the issues in question." But even that is tricky.
In general though, reviews are read by people who haven't read the book yet and are considering buying it. They accept that no books gets a perfect score and that some reviewers didn't get the book. However, if you respond to reviews, you're going to be seen as argumentative. The review reader doesn't know what the truth is. They will only see an author who attacks a reader and tells him they're wrong. No one likes being told they're wrong (even if they are). It will give readers a bigger reason to skip a book (because they don't want to be attacked by the author if they dislike it), than simply that one bad review would.
Added to this is the fact that this is the internet. People on the internet tend to be a lot more confrontational than in real life. That can mean any discussion can quickly spiral out of control. Say you politely respond to a review mentioning that the reviewer missed something and that X isn't in the book. What do you then do when the reviewer responds that you're lying, that you don't know what you're talking about, that all good reviews are probably from friends, and that you're only defending your book because your writing suck and it's the only way you can get people to buy your book? You've now just made the situation worse. And there is no response to that argument that will make it better. And even not reacting (which is probably the best course of action) will just make it look like you're afraid to answer and don't have a good defence.
And lastly, there's also the Striesand effect. By trying to make something go away, you're actually achieving the reverse. A bad review will quickly fade into obscurity. A bad review that an author responds to will get highlighted, seen by other readers, and if you're really lucky, start doing the rounds on social media. You'll get called out and get seen as petty and someone who can't take criticism.
All in all, responding is a bad idea that has no good outcomes. Even reporting wrong reviews to Amazon is useless. Plenty of authors have reported reviews that start with "I haven't read the book, but...", and Amazon just lets them stand.
The only single exception I can think of is if people complain about grammar / spelling issues and you have since then fixed those. In such a situation, you can react with "Thank you for your comment. I have updated the novel and fixed the issues in question." But even that is tricky.
The Dark One
Auror
Nailed it.
- Thread starter
- #77
Finchbearer
Istar
My face as I was reading that
I still think a simple, short refutation has its place. Sure, it can be lambasted on social media or what not, and of course the individual in question can double down on their lies, but the former is a realm I care little to nothing for and the latter isn't worth addressing if one's first response was measured. I don't think it is out of place to state the equivalent of "The scenario you described quite simply didn't happen in this book. Perhaps you have it confused for another work." and leave it at that. Reputations won't be ruined if you don't let yourself get dragged into a mud fight, at least not in the circles I care to write for.
Mad Swede
Auror
I'm with The Dark One and A. E. Lowan on this. As an author you never respond to or comment on reviews of your own work. I don't have a literary background at all, and I've come at this from the military side of things. In the military it is always the one reading your orders or reports who decides how to interpret what you have said or written. If they screw up it's because you weren't clear enough.
The same thing applies to our stories - our readers interpret what we mean, as Roland Barthes argued in his (in)famous essay La mort de l'auteur. That doesn't mean the author's intentions are irrelevant, and that wasn't what Barthes was arguing. But as authors we must accept that there may be other interpretations of our work and it in our interest to do so since, as Barthes pointed out in his essay, those interpretations may draw out subtle or unnoticed characteristics for new insight.
So yes, I read the reviews and criticisms of my stories. Some are good, some are bad. But they're always worth reading, if only as a sort of feedback on how good or bad I really am as a writer. But I don't ever reply to them.
The same thing applies to our stories - our readers interpret what we mean, as Roland Barthes argued in his (in)famous essay La mort de l'auteur. That doesn't mean the author's intentions are irrelevant, and that wasn't what Barthes was arguing. But as authors we must accept that there may be other interpretations of our work and it in our interest to do so since, as Barthes pointed out in his essay, those interpretations may draw out subtle or unnoticed characteristics for new insight.
So yes, I read the reviews and criticisms of my stories. Some are good, some are bad. But they're always worth reading, if only as a sort of feedback on how good or bad I really am as a writer. But I don't ever reply to them.
The Dark One
Auror
This for sure. I've many times read a good thoughtful review of my work and been amazed (in a good way) at an insight I'd not had myself - even though it was clearly lying dormant in the story's DNA.
I rarely read my stuff after it's published but whenever I do (always years later) I ALWAYS find something in it I hadn't quite realised was there. This is a nice feeling to have.
