A new Sport? Author Bashing

Forget the old cruel sports of throwing Christians to lions, cock fighting and bear baiting. The advent of the Internet, social media forums and sites such as Goodreads and Amazon etc have opened up a whole new field sport.

Author Bashing.

Mwah ha ha :-{

I came across this the other day: ‘It is disappointing that some authors can't handle constructive criticism and only want adoration.’

Actually, most mainstream published authors (at least, the Historical Fiction ones I know)  do not object to constructive criticism. We welcome constructive feedback from our readers because we like to know where we are getting things right – or wrong. Constructive criticism is helpful.

Note that particular word: constructive.

Yes, of course we want nice things said about our books. Wouldn’t you be hurt if you spent hours getting yourself ready for a special party, you walk in and the first person you meet sneers “You look a right tart. Couldn’t you find a hairbrush – and as for that repulsive dress….” I would wager you would turn right round and flee, tears streaming. Yet it is fine to say something similar to an author!

Not everyone has the same taste in reading – thank goodness, what a boring world it would be if we all liked the same stuff – and it is fair enough to say “I didn’t enjoy this book” – but give a constructive reason; why didn’t you like it? Don’t just trash the author. If the book is so bad it needs to be publically shredded and fed to the dustbin, then why did you read the wretched thing in the first place? I don’t have time to read dross (and yes, some books are dross!) If the narrative hasn’t grabbed me by chapter five, then I give up on it and move to the next book in my size of Everest To Be Read Pile. Nor do I waste time or energy in slagging off the author because I didn’t like the book – what is the point? I get more pleasure in praising something I enjoyed reading…. Ah but here we come back to what I stated above. It seems there are some people out there who like throwing dung at those of us who have managed to get into print. I wonder why? Jealousy, frustration at not being in print themselves? General ignorance and nastiness?

Review forums, snarky groups and pages on Facebook and the Twittersphere seem to attract these destructive comments like gulls to a rubbish tip. I think virtually every author has discovered that once a book is in print it becomes open season for vicious remarks.

And again I emphasise here – there is a big difference between saying you did not enjoy a book, and giving the reason why you did not enjoy it, and blatant, vindictive trashing.

In too many cases recently things seem to have evolved into a general marketplace where anything can be said at any time and in any tone – and authors are expected to take outright abuse because we have been published.

What, I ask, have we done to deserve this public placing in the stocks and being pelted by verbal rotten tomatoes?

Is the opinion “If an author can’t take criticism he/she shouldn’t write” really a general view – or the bleating of a mere few who enjoy being spiteful? And believe me, some of these “critics” can be extremely spiteful!

Do these people have any idea how much work goes into research, or what marketing expectations force authors to make certain decisions? Decisions that are often out of our hands because the publisher insists such and such is what they want in order to sell the book?

I have received a 1 star review for my book because the reviewer was angry that the title had been changed. I assure you I am as annoyed – but blame the publisher, not me; and did the book deserve a one star? After all Amazon accepts returns – send it back for heaven sake.

I have been “miffed” at receiving poor reviews when it comes to typos, incorrect punctuation etc – again because these have, on the whole, not been my fault but the publisher – and I can’t blame the small Indies here either, there are some awful typos in mainstream published books.

Fair enough to say “This book would have been a lot better if there had not been so many commas in the wrong place” – but is it really fair to completely trash the whole book because of a couple of obvious printing errors?

I received a scathing comment of one of my novels from a US reader who trashed my writing because I had dared (in his/her opinion) to make an ignorant error. “This author has no idea of her facts. Corn,” said this reviewer sarcastically, “grows in the US – so how could King Arthur have fed CORN to his horses circa 500 AD? Don’t touch this book, it is badly researched. I got as far as this nonsense and canned the book.“

I was furious because in this case the ignorance was entirely this arrogant reviewer’s.

Corn in the UK does not mean maize. It is an equine term for horses fed on oats and barley – race horses are “corn fed”, it is a legitimate, correct, term.  I responded to the reviewer and politely requested that the review be removed.

But according to one book reviewer, anyone who took exception to her review comments must be an author plant. What? Is this reviewer saying that no one can publically disagree with her opinion? Did I, in her pomposity have to swallow the incorrect example I have just given above then?

I found this at random:

“Complete Uninspiring twaddle........slow..........dull and full of lame clichés.

Anyone wanting a decent read should avoid like the plague.”

Why be so nasty? OK, in your opinion a book is not very good –  do you have to be so horrible about it?
To my mind, the above example is not a review it is blatant, vindictive, nastiness.

I have been in tears through some of the nasty things said about my books  - because the tone has been vicious, not because the reader didn’t like the book. And is it just me? Why be scathing with words like “this was too violent, the battle scenes were awful” when the novel is about the most famous battle in English history – 1066 the Battle of Hastings. Isn’t it obvious that there will be descriptive battle scenes? So if you don’t like battles don’t read a book about a battle!

 And what about the condescending dissing of historical fiction that is inaccurate?

First and foremost the key word here is FICTION. Historical Fiction is not non-fiction – any story of HF is just that – a made up STORY.

Yes, it is lovely to read a well written, well researched historical novel (I cite Sharon Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick)  But is it fair to rubbish a novel that is obviously meant as pure fiction, where in the author’s note clearly states “this is a work of fiction. None of it is true.”

I do agree, however, if the author is foolish enough to harp on about his or her various qualifications, how important historical accuracy is lah lah lah – and then makes obvious bloopers then he or she is fair game for attack.

Is it fair to trash an author because he or she decides to use easy to pronounce names instead of unfamiliar ones?

Not all readers are up to speed with say, Welsh or Latin or Old English personal names. For Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK)  I had several comments asking “Why use all those unpronounceable names? Were they necessary?”

Well yes, because they were the recorded names of real characters. Strictly speaking I should have used Ælfgifu for the main female character – but fortunately she was also known as Emma. But where I had to make up names I made up easy, familiar names. In my Arthurian Trilogy I had to use Gwenhwyfar because that is the Welsh version of Guinevere – and Llachue, Amr and Gwdre for her sons, again because they are the recorded names – but when I made up characters I settled for Madoc, Mabon, Elen…..

Take that wonderful novel The Clan of the Cave Bear. Shouldn’t we be trashing Jean Auel because she used names? Shouldn’t she have been accurate and used grunts?

So please, may I make a heartfelt plea for all authors? We write novels because we love writing. We write books to entertain you the reader – very, very, few of us write books to make money.

It takes us months – sometimes years – to get a novel written. Please, then, grant us the courtesy of reviewing our hard work properly, even if it is, in your opinion, a load of twaddle,  review it in a courteous, constructive manner.

After all, the only person you are showing up by being discourteous, ignorant, and rude is yourself – not the author.

A final thought - if you can't say anything nice, 

then maybe it is best to say nothing at all.

I wonder how many non-constructive comments I will receive for speaking my thoughts? Any rudeness will not be deleted.... but I can guarantee a scathing response....


A similar article on Trolls & how to handle rude comments is on:
Kristen Lamb's Blog