How to NOT act when facing your critics...

By Link the Writer · Apr 4, 2011 · 705 · 13
  1. http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

    Long story short, a guy named AL posted a review to Jacqueline Howett's book and it apparently didn't suit her tastes.

    What does she do? She logs in and starts ranting and raving about how she writes just fine and no one on there understands her. She even tells one person to F-off when they don't defend her. Basically, she acts like a spoil child that no one treats as the princess.

    Seriously, follow up on it.

    This is what every beginning writer should think about before they even put pen to paper:

    "Can I accept the fact that some people may not like my work, even go as far as hating it and mocking it at every turn? Can I handle reading a review that doesn't praise it? Can I handle it like a rational human being, learn from the critics and make my futue stories better?"

    If the answer is no, then the beginning writer should consider not publishing until he/he is ready to face reality.

    Thoughts?

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  1. Mr. Blue Dot
    Wow, Howett is kind of a psycho. Who seriously thinks that that was an appropriate way to respond?
    Mr. Blue Dot, Apr 4, 2011
  2. Link the Writer
    I concur. Her outburst has already spread all over the writing world, so people (at least serious readers/writers) know to not buy her books now.

    By acting like this, she just signed the death certificate for her writing career. Who's gonna want to deal with a writer who stomps angrily if one so much as looks at the books wrong?

    Okay, yes, getting negative reviews is potentially upsetting, but good writers take the negative and work it so their stories end up better for it.

    This is almost as sad if not worse than Meyers blogging that she'd quit writing the Twilight saga after one of her pages was leaked online without her knowing.
    Link the Writer, Apr 4, 2011
  3. Forkfoot
    She insisted there was nothing at all wrong with the sentence "Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino place more coffees out at another table with supreme balance."

    EDIT: Wow. Read all her responses. That was some funny stuff. There's a reason they call it vanity publishing.
    Forkfoot, Apr 4, 2011
  4. Agreen
    That sentence is poetry. At least we may take solace in the fact that the table will not be tipping over any time soon.

    I wonder how the reviewer feels about all this- intimidated, amused, exhausted? It may provide the material for a better novel than the one he reviewed in the first place.
    Agreen, Apr 4, 2011
  5. Forkfoot
    Its viral nature drew way more people to his review blog than he'd ever seen before. And it made him look good.
    Forkfoot, Apr 4, 2011
  6. Agreen
    Good point. He did handle it well, and now gets some new readers out of it.

    What gets me though is that it isn't even a very negative review.
    Agreen, Apr 4, 2011
  7. Link the Writer
    "Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino place more coffees out at another table with supreme balance."

    This sentence is painful in so many ways, it feels like a torture device from the Spanish Inquisition. I can see it now.

    Spanish Inquisition: Tell us what we want to know!
    Victim: NEVER!!
    Spanish Inquisition: *says the line over and over again*
    Victim: (screams)

    I mean, I'm not even a budding author (as in I have yet to complete a first draft and begin revising it), and I know that's a terrible line.

    If anything else, she will now serve as a cautionary tale to all budding authors.
    Link the Writer, Apr 4, 2011
  8. Trish
    ROFL! Even her comments were filled with typos and grammatical errors! Did you get to this part?? I almost fell out of my chair!

    Howett- "Also in the new copy you did not have to click at all to get to the next page on Kindle, so thats how I now he never downloaded the clean copy."

    Response - "And you're first sentence makes no sense. You do realize you have to hit next page in every kindle book, right? The pages don't just magically turn for you . . . You do know that, don't you?"
    Trish, Apr 4, 2011
  9. Forkfoot
    Nothing less than "four and five star reviews" are acceptable.
    Forkfoot, Apr 4, 2011
  10. NateSean
    It's proof positive to me that being a published writer does not make you above being a total git.
    NateSean, Apr 4, 2011
  11. Forkfoot
    She isn't a "published writer", she's someone who typed up a novel and went to a vanity publication press. Anyone could do that.
    Forkfoot, Apr 4, 2011
  12. Trish
    Exactly that, Forkfoot.
    Trish, Apr 4, 2011
  13. hiddennovelist
    To be fair to Stephanie Meyer, she didn't stop writing after "one of her pages" was leaked, she stopped after someone leaked the entire WIP. I think flipping out on someone who gives you a 2-star review is far worse than that.

    That blog was insane. Like 309 comments, too...at least the blogger won some fans. ;)
    hiddennovelist, Apr 4, 2011
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