Book reviews and how to survive them

Every once in a while I repost this from several years ago. If you're a creative type, I hope it helps inspire you to keep creating.

“I have spent a good many years since―too many, I think―being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all.” --Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

There have been lots of public meltdowns lately about bad reviews. Authors take to social media to have a public hissy fit over a bad review, which then turns into a viral shouting match. Social media makes it all too easy to lash out, which never ends well. Read BookRiot on recent internet brawls over bad reviews (and why you should never do it).

But the truth is bad reviews hurt. They do. There’s no way around it. I’ve received my share of great reviews, and then the less-than-glowing reviews, too. We all do, it’s part of the job of being a writer, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not easy being at the mercy of public opinion.

You’ve worked on a book for a year (or two, or three or god knows, 5 or more), you’ve polished, you’ve created something from nothing and had the faith in yourself and in your skill and in your publisher’s vision for the work to send it out there into the world like a toddler to their first day of pre-school... and for whatever reason, or for reasons that you can’t fathom, the teacher dislikes your child.

It’s devastating. Of course you’re hurt. Astonished. You may lose faith in yourself and your ability, at least for a while. You’re helpless because your only option, truly, is to take it on the chin. All you can do is choose to stop writing forever (or threaten to for a while), OR wallow for a little, lie around for as long as it takes, then as Mr. Marley said, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over.

Here’s the truth: you aren’t alone.

Everyone who has ever created anything has received a terrible review for it somewhere, even if buried among the thousands of good ones. Even Stephen King. Even E.B. White (whose Stuart Little was universally hated by critics when it came out in 1947). Even Shakespeare had his “slings and arrows” from the critics. Once loosed upon it, the world can say whatever it likes about your creation. Art is vulnerability.

If you're looking for some perspective on reviews, here are 5 ideas that might help:

1.      Read historical reviews. A quick web search will turn up a heady cornucopia of terrible reviews for now-famous books. Here’s what Emily Bronte had to endure from Graham’s magazine about Wuthering Heights:  “How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery. It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors.”  Start with this link for more examples of terrible reviews for famous books from Flavorwire if you like, but don’t stop there, misery truly does love company.

2.      "Sucks like you”: go to youtube and watch all the hilarious videos of authors reading their 1-star amazon reviews, there are dozens of them. Start here: Authors Read Terrible Reviews

3.      The 10% rule: peruse all your favourite authors and books with hundreds or thousands of reviews on amazon and Goodreads, and note that Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling (add your favourite author to this list) all have roughly a 90% positive rating (give or take a percentage or two), meaning that close to 10% of their reviews are 1- or 2-stars. Go look. It’s a thing I’ve noticed: 1 in 10 people (minimum) will hate a book, no matter what it is. That holds true for yours too, unfortunately. The bigger point is it's not logical to expect that everyone will like your book, since precedent, statistics and human nature make that impossible. 

4.      Other authors won’t recoil from you: your family and loved ones mean well by telling you not to worry about your bad review (bless them) and they think you’re a great writer, but they don’t really get the self-doubt a bad review can inflict upon a writer. You should also brace yourself and have a business-like chat with your publisher and your editor, if it’s an important national reviewer who has disliked your book (likely you’ll get quite a bit of support from them too). But your best friends right now are other authors. Hopefully you’ve got a group of trusted authors to talk to, commiserate with, run ideas past (and if you don’t, get on that). Share your bad review with them, let them lavish kindness (and copious amounts of wine or whatever) upon you, and remind you that it’s a rough job, and you’re not alone. Read blog posts about how other writers deal with less-than-stellar reviews (which clearly you’re doing right now, thank you).

5.      What did I learn? It’s okay to write as many clever retorts to your bad reviewer as you like in your diary but DO NOT PUBLISH THEM ANYWHERE, EVER. You can wallow for a bit, even grieve (because it does feel a little like the public death of your book), cry, wander around in a fog for a while, tell yourself you liked your book, you know it’s good … then after the initial pain subsides, decide whether or not you’re ever going to read any more reviews. Plenty of authors don’t read reviews. Get your publicist or editor (or trusted friend, someone who knows your work and you well) to read it and distill it for you. Or just don’t read them.  And once again (if you didn’t look at it at the top of the page) read this blog post from BookRiot about why it’s so important to NOT respond to bad reviews (they specifically refer to Goodreads, but frankly it holds true for anywhere else, too): Dear Authors, Don't Respond to Goodreads Reviews

After a while doing this job of being a writer, I've realized that what's really important is to keep writing. It's always great to receive a good review, and thank you to the many, many reviewers who have liked or loved my books, it's really appreciated. But also thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read my books, frankly, whether they liked them or not.  

Finally, ask yourself this: did you write your book to please reviewers, or did you write it because it was a brain tick and you needed to write it or die? If you told the story you wanted to tell, and told it as well as you could, then you stuck to your artistic vision and that’s the greatest success any writer could have as far as I’m concerned. Kudos to all of us who manage that.

If you're still reading, check out pundit Chuck Wendig on "25 Hard Truths About Writing and Publishing." As he says: "Go forth and art harder, little pen-monkey. Because really, what else can you do?" 

Or 2018 UPDATE, for a slightly different take: Book Marks on "When Writer's Respond" (with thanks to Rachel Seigel for this one).

A writer's life during the pandemic crisis...

Dear Friends,

Do we all have a picture of ourselves in a mask by now?

We make one and then check out what we look like in this new reality. Mine is made from pieces of my son's old flannel pyjamas and hair bands, it's totally serviceable and reasonably comfortable.

Here's the link to how to make this simple no-sew mask: No Sew Pleated Face Mask

So here we are, facing months of isolation and mask-wearing and how, really HOW, are we all doing with this? I'm not a therapist, and I can't tell anyone how to cope, only that I hope you ARE coping, however that looks for you.

Here's what I've been doing most days:

1. Sleep. I've watched the moon cross the Toronto skyline from my porch at 2 a.m. I've also slept in until past 11:00 a.m. and napped on and off. I'm not really a night owl, a napper or a particulary late sleeper. But right now, sleep comes and goes and I just accept it.

Author and her husband on the street,
photo by daughter at 6 feet away ...

2. Stretch. When I do get up (!), I start most days with a gentle tai chi or yoga stretch in a sunny part of the house, for me that's the kitchen. I usually have a coffee and music going too. I face the window, look at trees, breathe, stretch, but mostly breathe.

3. Watch. The back of my house faces an alley, and there's a lot going on back there. Families out riding bikes, older folks going for brisk walks, people washing their cars, kids playing road hockey, cats slinking around. Lots to see actually, if I just slow down and watch.

4. Create. I've finished writing a sequel to OCULUM, and now I'm editing a book coming out next fall (more about Firefly here). The safest place for me has always been in my head, frankly. I hope you have a safe creative space too, whatever that might be.

Making puzzles, reading, making music, writing, working with food or paint or dance or whatever it is you do or would like to try.  For me, creating really is a way to beat back the fear, the aloneness, the anxiety of not knowing what's going to happen. When I create something, I'm completely in control of it and the world, at least for a little while. I hope you find a creative outlet that helps you feel in control of something.

5. Music. I play guitar and piano. I've had people gift me classical guitar music books for most of my life, so I'm slowly reading through new music. It's completely absorbing to try to learn something new. Here's more about my musical life on this blog if you'd like to listen free: Philippa's Music

The last time I was out in public at a conference,
(Feb 2020) and met a friend who wanted a picture

6. Visit with creators. I've looked at paintings online, listened to music, and spent my fair share of time watching Netflix, of course. I've decided not to worry about the quantity or quality either. There's lots of letting go right now. I've also found podcasts and stories I've liked, as you have too no doubt.

Here's something I really enjoyed, listening to Stephen King: Stephen King is Sorry you Feel like you're stuck in a Stephen King Novel

I like writer and pundit Chuck Wendig, who's been writing about being a writer during COVID. All of his posts are interesting but start here if you like: Being Broken In Half (but wanting to be whole)

7. Read. This is of course, a given! Again, I haven't worried too much about the quality or quantity, but for the record, my quarantine reading so far: Battle Royale (Koushun Takami), The Tartar Steppe (Dino Buzzatti), Love in the Time of Cholera (GG Marquez), Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (Paul Hawken). 

I've also read several of the Silver Birch books nominated with OCULUM this year. I've got one more to go, then I've read all ten books, they've been fun to read. Sadly, we won't be doing the Forest of Trees this year, I was looking forward to meeting all the writers and the kids. Tough one to miss out on, but we gotta go forward.
There will be some online celebration though, so stay tuned for more on that.

8. Do nothing. Sometimes, you just have to do nothing. It's not actively doing nothing, it's just a moment where you catch yourself actually doing nothing. I think that's something we used to do a lot as kids, and frankly it was okay to do nothing. It's when we daydream, or at least I do. It's when we accept we can't change the big things, but just have to sit with ... nothing in particular. And it's really okay to do nothing.

9. Friends. Ya, I've connected with friends in all the ways we do right now. Zoom, sure, and facebook and instagram and messaging and groups of us meeting on whatsapp and so on. But we all know it's a pale imitation of real life. I've written poems lately about how much I want to hug someone, anyone, and run my filthy, unwashed hands across their beautiful cheek. I wonder if that will ever happen again with the same freedom we once had? I realize that I've never actually run an unwashed hand across anyone's face ... but suddenly it seems sad that I haven't.

Zoom guitar party, fun but hard to be apart

10. Family. My kids are both on their own right now, in apartments in different cities, trying to finish their university year however they can. Online exams are the new normal. I can't even express how much I miss them, but it occured to me yesterday it could be a LONG time before I can hold them again; September, December, next spring?

The last photo I have
of me hugging my kid!

If you're with your loved ones, please hug them for me.



Until we're all running our unwashed hands over each others cheeks once again ... be well. Please. Read, write, sleep, do puzzles, dance, sing, cry, hug each other, watch too much terrible television ... whatever it is you need to do to get through, I'm doing it too.

PD

More Pandemic Posts on this Blog
Oddly this isn't the first time I've been quarantined in my life. Read here for a post about my Brush with Mortality ... and Measles

What's the scariest book you've ever read ...

I see you, Myles ...

I had the honor of visiting a large school outside Toronto yesterday, and I did three one-hour presentations about my Silver Birch Express nominated title, Myles and the Monster Outside.

What an incredible bunch of kids, with SUCH GREAT questions! I saw over 300 students in grades 3-5, and during each session there were more questions than I had time to answer. Also, I've spoken to tens of thousands of kids now over the years, and yesterday I got some questions I'd never heard before, which doesn't happen that often.

It was wonderful!

They also made me some lovely covers for the book, and artwork lined the walls. You know, when you start writing kids' books, you have no idea that this could be the outcome. That you actually get to inspire kids to read, write, to draw, to question, to dream. I see it as a sacred trust, every time I go on a school visit, and I'm so honoured to do it.

So, enjoy the artwork you see here. AND, here is a sampling of the questions that I haven't had before, which blew me away:

Q: What's the scariest book  you've ever read?
A: Stephen King's Full Dark No Stars, hands down. For kids, it would be Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Q: Which of your own books do you hate the most?
A: (After laughing) ... um, I don't really HATE any of them, so maybe I'm lucky in that, but I can tell you which was the hardest to write: The Gargoyle Overhead, because it's book 2 in a trilogy which I had no idea I was going to create when I wrote book 1.

The most terrifying of trees!

Q: Do your own kids read your books?
A: Yes, when they were little they did. Now they are older, not so much.

Q: If you couldn't be a writer, what would you be?
A: I play guitar, so maybe I'd be a musician. But writer is the only thing I've ever wanted to be!

Q: Do you ever get lost in the middle of your story when you're writing it?
A: YES! Author's call it the "Messy Middle." Most of us know how a story is going to start and how it's going to end, but it's not always that clear how to go from start to finish.

Q: How many books are you going to write in your life?
A: (I've had a version of this before, What's the last book you're ever going to write?) This one took me a minute to answer, but I finally said, I hope I get to publish a book every year or two until I can't, so let's say 20, that sounds like a lot!

Q: Do you write by hand or on the computer?
A: I usually start by laying out ideas by hand with paper and pencil in a journal, but I do the writing on the computer. I revise though, on paper, by hand. So a combination of both.

Q: Do you deliberately put cliffhangers at the end of every chapter, or does that just happen?
A: (LOL) Yes! As a copywriter (which I explain during my presentation), I learned how to get people to keep reading, to turn the pages of my letter, and to do something like buy a magazine, or a book, or give money to a good cause. So, writing kids' books is a little like that. Cliffhangers are the best way to keep you reading!

Q: Have you ever lost all your work?
A: Ouch! That's every writer's nightmare, so I can honestly say that I am really, really careful about backing up everything I do. I'm obsessive about it, so I back up my work constantly, and I've honestly never lost anything.

Q: Are you a fast typist?
Yep! Back in the old days, when I used a typewriter (imagine that), I used to jam the keys because I typed faster than the machine could keep up. Nowadays, when I'm typing, people come into my office any say, you aren't really typing that fast! But I am. (Last time I tested my speed, I was around 100 words a minute, but it might be more).

Q: What word processing program do you use?
A: Microsoft word has always been my standard.

Q: What do you think was the scariest part of Myles and the Monster Outside?
A: I really liked the scene in the diner, because that's just what it's like to drive all night. You stop in weird places, everyone seems a little off, and the story really moves along in that scene.

Tumble Chickens!

Q: What was the message you wanted us to take from Myles and the Monster Outside?
A: Well, the story is really about anxiety. Myles is an anxious boy, a little like me when I was a kid. So I want my readers to realize that although Myles is anxious and his imagination can get the better of him (so he sees the monster), his imagination is also a wonderful thing, and he can use it to be brave too, and see the dog, see Courage.

Q: What stage of writing a book do you like the most?
A: I think it's the very beginning, when I'm just starting a new story, and it's full of possibilities, and I haven't made any mistakes with it yet, and the ideas are fresh and new and exciting, and I can take the story anywhere.

There were so many more great questions, I had a really great time. Thanks for having me, and keep reading everyone!

A few other blog posts about school visits:

10 Oddest Questions I've been asked at Readings
When Our Villains Come to Life
What's the Last Book You're Ever Going to Write?