Item. Mockingbird follow-up.  Well, well, yet another case of the media looking for scandal!  It turns out that the sequel to Harper Lee’s classic is creating a scandal because the grown-up Scout, after living in NYC for some time, returns to Alabama to find old Atticus has become a racist bigot.  I found To Kill a Mockingbird a rough ride—disorganized ups and downs as the two different stories unfolded (only the trial appeared in the movie)—so maybe I’ll like this one better.  I don’t have any emotional stake in Atticus the good guy v. Atticus the bad guy.  The author wouldn’t get away with that today.  Critics are saying that Lee’s old editor knew what he (she?) was doing by rejecting the original and encouraging a rewrite.  Maybe not.  This sequel, written before the famous novel, might have been the better book.  Of course, coming out now, it’s a poignant reminder that racism and bigotry is still a national problem.

Item. A thank you.  Authors don’t do it enough, but I want to express my thanks to all readers who take the time to review the books they’ve read.  I don’t have many reviews, but I value every one of them, even the negative ones, because the person took the time to review.  Through reviews an author can learn the likes and dislikes of his readers (but email correspondence works too).  While readers often use more than reviews, and should (see below), when selecting their reading material, it’s clear that reviews can provide useful information for doing just that.  So, thanks to all the reviewers out there.

Item. Star reviewers.  Don’t worry, writers: I’m not creating a list to compete with Amazon’s star reviewer list.  One not containing 90% product reviewers is sorely needed, but I don’t have the time or the data.  No, here I’m talking about the wide range of reviewers’ interpretations of the Amazon star ranking system.  Many book bloggers use it, and there’s a wide range there too.  Let’s face it: the star-system isn’t uniformly applied, it’s primarily a convenience for Amazon (they can computerize all their book reviews), and readers often take the shortcut of counting stars instead of reading the review.  I’d do away with it, period, because achieving consensus about its application is impossible.  (I won’t use it in book reviews here and, in my official book reviewing capacity at Bookpleasures, it’s not used.  Of course, Goodreads uses it—their nexus is far too tight with Amazon.)

Authors will have their own examples of misuse of the star-system, but let me consider one example.  For one of my ebooks, a reviewer gave me three stars just for writing the book.  It bothers me that he wrote a review without finishing the novel, but it bothers me more that he gave me three stars just for writing it.  If he wanted to reward me for writing a novel, why not five stars?  (It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, you know.)  If he finished the book and thought it still sucked, why not one star?  See my point?  He might have been confused by the title or cover—it happens.  But that review certainly is an example of someone shoe-horning an opinion into a ranking system that is not capable of handling it—probably more Amazon’s fault than the reviewer’s.

Revenge reviews?  It hasn’t happened to me yet (at least I don’t think it has)—I have so few reviews and statistically revenge reviews are probably infrequent across Amazon—but I’ve heard it happening to other writers.  Many of us also review, either via a book blog or some review site like Bookpleasures.  For the most part, we write honest reviews like most reviewers do.  But if writer A reviews writer B’s book and honestly finds fault with it, B could avenge that review, human nature being what it is.  I suppose that’s why Big Five authors shy away from reviewing—they want to stay out of that melee.  But indie writers love to give something back to the community of readers and writers, so they often review books.  I’ve looked at some of their complaints.  Reading the revenge review, it’s often clear what the reviewer is doing—many times they don’t describe the book at all, or, if they do, it doesn’t coincide with what’s in the book.

How can readers help?  Don’t look at the star rating—read the review.  If an author’s book has good reviews and only one or two bad ones, be suspicious—or just write it off as a terrible disconnect between expectations (the reviewer’s) and content (the writer’s).  Also, when choosing your reading material, look at the blurbs, make a few peeks inside, and look at other books by the same author.  If you peruse the reviews, read the longer ones first.  Most people don’t pad their reviews very much, so the longer ones usually contain more useful information than the one- or two-liners.  If you buy the book (if it’s an indie, do that instead of “borrowing,” because indies are bargain books usually), something attracted you to the book.  Put that in your review and explain.  If you come across things you don’t like, say so, but explain those points too.  And follow Amazon’s guidelines for assigning those damn stars—they’re not bad, albeit subjective.

Item. Internal dialog.  Marcy Kennedy had a good discussion about this, listing clues to determine when an author is using too much.  She’s talking about a character’s thoughts, not necessarily a schizophrenic discussion between multiple personalities in a disturbed character’s mind.  I’d add this meta-rule: Use internal dialog only when it’s absolutely necessary to carry the plot forward—explaining a character’s motivation which is hidden to other characters, internal conflict, and emotional states not easily described by body language or regular dialog.

I generally indicate internal dialog with italics, something that gives my formatter fits, I’m sure.  As a reviewer, I’ve noticed one common error in using internal dialog: a character’s thoughts should usually be in present tense.  Compare a protagonist wondering about another person’s motives: Julie studied Bill.  Was he just trying to be funny or did he mean what he said?  Compare to: Julie studied Bill.  Is he just trying to be funny or does he mean what he said?  Notice that the second is stronger.  They both contain “…he said” because Bill said something in the past, whether Julie’s thinking in the present or in third person POV, but “he says” is OK in the second case too.

First person POV is a bit dicey, and if we’re talking about ESP, all bets are off!  In all cases, one has to be careful.  After eighteen ebooks, I still error with POV and internal dialog, but I usually catch it in the copy editing process, which includes perusing a printed form of the MS, or my great beta-readers catch it.  (Different media and different pairs of eyes help that process.)  I don’t find actual dialog hard, but some authors do.  Internal dialog is yet another thing to watch for in your writing.

Item. Working for nothing.  Yes, it’s unfair that pro soccer men make on average $300k+ per year while pro soccer women average $14k, barely above the poverty line (the women have won the World Cup three times compared to the men’s goose egg).  Equal pay for equal work is a goal that seems farther away than ever.  One place where things are maybe flipped (we’re talking averages, remember) can be found in what writers make.  But most writers, male or female, make squat—few can claim to subsist only on their writing royalties.  What’s the percentage?  10%?  5%?  1%?  And if you limit to indie writers, it’s worse.  Conclusion: don’t give up that day job!

In elibris libertas….  

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2015 at 4:00 am and is filed under News and Notices from the Writing Trenches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.