Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "opinion"
Smile, Ignore, Repeat
No disrespect intended to anyone, but the minute you publish a book, everyone you know is suddenly an expert. I even had one person tell me I needed a different man on my book's cover and proceeded to show me a picture of a "male model" who was downright frightening! I think she had Fabio in mind, but somehow it escaped her that Fabio wasn't in the book (so why should he be on the cover?)
People always mean well with this kind of unsolicited advice, but it is rarely helpful. Type-o's, plot holes, confusing dialogue, absolutely! Listen and listen well.
But people who are merely offering to rewrite your book for you (or redesign the cover) should be, well, politely ignored. Don't hurt anyone's feelings or infer that their opinions don't matter, because of course they do. But don't get carried away and start second guessing everything because of so-and-so's opinion.
Give a thousand people a book to read and you'll get a thousand people telling you what needs to be changed. However, unless you want to write a thousand books, or customize each one for the reader, you have to let it stand or fall on it's own.
Be nice, be polite, nod and smile, but never make changes to your novel based on another person's opinion!
People always mean well with this kind of unsolicited advice, but it is rarely helpful. Type-o's, plot holes, confusing dialogue, absolutely! Listen and listen well.
But people who are merely offering to rewrite your book for you (or redesign the cover) should be, well, politely ignored. Don't hurt anyone's feelings or infer that their opinions don't matter, because of course they do. But don't get carried away and start second guessing everything because of so-and-so's opinion.
Give a thousand people a book to read and you'll get a thousand people telling you what needs to be changed. However, unless you want to write a thousand books, or customize each one for the reader, you have to let it stand or fall on it's own.
Be nice, be polite, nod and smile, but never make changes to your novel based on another person's opinion!
Spare Yourself the Agony
It's a natural thing to want to ask everyone and their brother for an opinion about your novel or other literary work. However, there's a trap there. If you ask 100 people, you'll get 100 opinions. So what do you do? Write a book to please each of them? Might take longer than your natural lifespan. Just sayin'.
Maybe you need to question your questioning. Sounds strange, I know. But here's the reality: opinions are like belly buttons. We've all heard that one, right? Or at least one or two variations of it. (Insert wink)
Sometimes running around getting everyone's opinion is nothing more than you
wanting to share your work but you're too shy to say "hey look at this! I think it's great!" So instead you say "do me a favor and give me your honest opinion." (Is that REALLY what you want?)
Other times, you're just doubting yourself and looking for reassurance that you're on the right track. Of course, how would someone who was not there from the beginning of your vision know whether you're off-track or not? Just a side thing to think about. At the end of the day, the only person who can get you back on track is YOU.
After all, it's your story, it's your idea, it's your characters, and it's ultimately your book.
So running around to everyone and anyone asking for their opinion is just going to lead to confusion and frustration.
Ultimately, a book can only be one book, it can only have one title, and it can only have one cover. If you ask a thousand people and you want to please them all, you're going to have to write a thousand books, come up with a thousand titles, and create a thousand covers.
I'm not saying never get a trusted friend or relative's opinion. You can do that, but it's fraught with peril. That's because they're either going to suddenly become an expert and tell you all the error of your ways, which will be inevitably the parts of your book you are the most satisfied with, or they're just going to tell you it's wonderful even if it has 100 typos and 400 plot holes.
If you MUST get an opinion during your novel's creation, get it from an unbiased expert, but ultimately, STILL go with your hunch if you have a strong one that you're on the right track. Second-guessing yourself is often like changing answers on the test. Don't do it! Write on.
Maybe you need to question your questioning. Sounds strange, I know. But here's the reality: opinions are like belly buttons. We've all heard that one, right? Or at least one or two variations of it. (Insert wink)
Sometimes running around getting everyone's opinion is nothing more than you
wanting to share your work but you're too shy to say "hey look at this! I think it's great!" So instead you say "do me a favor and give me your honest opinion." (Is that REALLY what you want?)
Other times, you're just doubting yourself and looking for reassurance that you're on the right track. Of course, how would someone who was not there from the beginning of your vision know whether you're off-track or not? Just a side thing to think about. At the end of the day, the only person who can get you back on track is YOU.
After all, it's your story, it's your idea, it's your characters, and it's ultimately your book.
So running around to everyone and anyone asking for their opinion is just going to lead to confusion and frustration.
Ultimately, a book can only be one book, it can only have one title, and it can only have one cover. If you ask a thousand people and you want to please them all, you're going to have to write a thousand books, come up with a thousand titles, and create a thousand covers.
I'm not saying never get a trusted friend or relative's opinion. You can do that, but it's fraught with peril. That's because they're either going to suddenly become an expert and tell you all the error of your ways, which will be inevitably the parts of your book you are the most satisfied with, or they're just going to tell you it's wonderful even if it has 100 typos and 400 plot holes.
If you MUST get an opinion during your novel's creation, get it from an unbiased expert, but ultimately, STILL go with your hunch if you have a strong one that you're on the right track. Second-guessing yourself is often like changing answers on the test. Don't do it! Write on.
