Bad Books and Carolyn See
When I’d finished my first novel and was seeking advice from all comers, a journalist friend recommended that I read Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers by Carolyn See, author, longtime book commentator for The Washington Post, and mother of best-selling novelist Lisa See (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan).
I dutifully bought the book, not sure what to expect, and I was gobsmacked. That book, along with Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing and Stephen King’s On Writing, are must-reads for anyone who feels compelled to write.
With irreverent wit, she gives practical advice on how to use your experiences to create fiction, as well as hints on plot and getting your work out there. The book’s a little dated now, for it was written before the role of social media and electronic submissions in marketing and before indie publishing became acceptable.
Still, she makes the point that the author needs to form connections, and she recommends sending one “charming note” per day, five days week, to an author, editor, or agent whose work you admire. Even those who turn you down. I took her at her word and wrote her a “charming note” by email telling her how much I liked her book, and how much I agreed with her about a certain book to which she’d given a negative review.
She wrote me back a most charming reply. Rest in Peace, Carolyn. She left us July 2016.
So what makes a reviewer give a book a bad review?
Perhaps the main sin is to spoil a reader’s expectations.
When you write a book and a reader opens its pages, you’ve formed a contract with the reader. That reader expects to be informed, entertained, challenged, or whatever you’ve promised in the opening pages. If she feels you have broken that contract, she is going to slam the book shut, throw it at the wall, or never pick up one of your books again. And that’s the last thing a writer wants!
Bad books are made of bad writing and bad grammar, bad spelling and too many commas, excessive density and anachronisms, falsehoods and sloppy research, faulty construction and nasty attacks. But there’s more, even with the most carefully edited and New York-published editions.
For instance: It’s confusing. Important scenes are left out or saved until the end. The beginning is strong, the ending is weak. The bad guy gets the girl. The hero does penance for bad deeds and gets killed anyhow. The romance doesn’t happen. The mystery is not solved. It’s phoned in by a best-selling writer. These books get out there, folks.
Maybe you don’t agree, but I also don’t care for books that riff on famous classics. The exception is Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, and it could have stood on its own. What makes a bad book for you?
Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers
Wide Sargasso Sea
Zen in the Art of Writing
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
I dutifully bought the book, not sure what to expect, and I was gobsmacked. That book, along with Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing and Stephen King’s On Writing, are must-reads for anyone who feels compelled to write.
With irreverent wit, she gives practical advice on how to use your experiences to create fiction, as well as hints on plot and getting your work out there. The book’s a little dated now, for it was written before the role of social media and electronic submissions in marketing and before indie publishing became acceptable.
Still, she makes the point that the author needs to form connections, and she recommends sending one “charming note” per day, five days week, to an author, editor, or agent whose work you admire. Even those who turn you down. I took her at her word and wrote her a “charming note” by email telling her how much I liked her book, and how much I agreed with her about a certain book to which she’d given a negative review.
She wrote me back a most charming reply. Rest in Peace, Carolyn. She left us July 2016.
So what makes a reviewer give a book a bad review?
Perhaps the main sin is to spoil a reader’s expectations.
When you write a book and a reader opens its pages, you’ve formed a contract with the reader. That reader expects to be informed, entertained, challenged, or whatever you’ve promised in the opening pages. If she feels you have broken that contract, she is going to slam the book shut, throw it at the wall, or never pick up one of your books again. And that’s the last thing a writer wants!
Bad books are made of bad writing and bad grammar, bad spelling and too many commas, excessive density and anachronisms, falsehoods and sloppy research, faulty construction and nasty attacks. But there’s more, even with the most carefully edited and New York-published editions.
For instance: It’s confusing. Important scenes are left out or saved until the end. The beginning is strong, the ending is weak. The bad guy gets the girl. The hero does penance for bad deeds and gets killed anyhow. The romance doesn’t happen. The mystery is not solved. It’s phoned in by a best-selling writer. These books get out there, folks.
Maybe you don’t agree, but I also don’t care for books that riff on famous classics. The exception is Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, and it could have stood on its own. What makes a bad book for you?
Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers
Wide Sargasso Sea
Zen in the Art of Writing
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
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