Tag Archive: criticism

Writer smashes reviewer with a wine bottle, aka How NOT to handle getting a bad review

November 10, 2015 0 Comments

I’ve touched on authors having meltdowns when criticized a few times before (like this guy or this woman’s now deleted Amazon war), but this one takes the cake. A year or so ago, British author self-published a novel inspired by the woman he was stalking. Seriously. He blogged extensively about stalking her, law enforcement got involved, and he eventually wrote a fairy tale in which she was the main character. Given that he blogs extensively about mental illness, I have to guess that he’s a wee bit unstable. Anyway, he posted an excerpt of this work to Wattpad, where an 18-year-old Scottish girl gave it a harsh review. Among other things, she said: This is painful. Everything is written through telling and purple prose which…
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Uncategorized, Writing

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WRITING: When authors have crazy meltdowns

March 29, 2011 3 Comments

I’ve posted before about authors having total meltdowns, temper tantrums, and tearing apart readers/reviewers. It’s just not a good practice. It’s petty, it makes you look insecure, and most of all it’s highly unprofessional. On Tuesday, my friend Chris brought this amateur author meltdown to my attention. It’s a doozy. The review wasn’t particularly harsh, praising the story but noting that the book was full of errors that distracted from the work. This is an all too common problem with self-published work. (Despite multiple sets of eyes and multiple edits, even Pitched did not escape without typos.) Push a book out without the benefit of an editor and proofreaders and this is to be expected. The author, however, one Jacqueline Howett, was having none of…
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Writing

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On writing: when hatchet jobs are a good thing

November 15, 2010 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that good editors will almost always improve your work. Writers (myself included) are often too close to their own work to be completely objective about it. It’s difficult to get outside your own head and read your work the way a reader would — and that’s a vital part of the polishing process. After all, if you’re not writing with readers in mind, you may well be writing crap. Another blogger recently made an excellent post about working with editors, specifically newspaper editors. That’s what I happen to be Monday through Friday, so I was especially delighted to see that this guy got it. He stood there, reading the draft, occasionally eying me over the top of the page, then pulled out…
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Writing

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Another author temper tantrum

November 12, 2010 4 Comments

Sometimes writers (and in this case editors) just don’t get it. This guy is a perfect example. He rages and rages and rages about people slamming his/his publication’s work, proclaiming, “You don’t get to call me unprofessional!” And then proves his critics right by acting exactly that. Unprofessional. What this guy doesn’t seem to get is that yes, people do get to call him unprofessional. It’s part of the unwritten contract you agree to you put your work in front of the public — especially when you’re putting material out in the form of a magazine, newspaper, or website offering strong opinions. In that context, dealing with criticism, even irrational and mean-spirited criticism, IS PART OF THE JOB. That doesn’t mean you don’t get to…
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Writing

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Total. Author. Meltdown.

December 17, 2009 5 Comments

Wow. This juvenile meltdown by a published author is making the rounds on the Internet right now, and it’s great reading. The gist is simple: reviewer on Amazon.com gives a book a bad review, the author responds to the review, and total bugfuck hilarity ensues. The author descends into a meltdown laden with conspiracy theories, secret supporters (none of whom we actually see), and a seemingly insatiable need to dig their hole ever deeper. If you at all like watching train wrecks, this is fantastic morning entertainment. I just can’t fathom what’s going through someone’s head when they do this. Even major authors sometimes fall prey to it. Someone doesn’t like your work? Fine. That’s part of writing. You feel like you want to respond?…
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Writing

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