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 This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| Using Real People In Fiction Pt 2 The first time I brought this up is here: "20240526 Using Real People In Fiction" .So, didnât I cover everything there? As it turns out⊠no. What if you use your friends or family in a book, including their proper names, and you do NOT have their written permission (written is very important in a court of law)? You might think youâre doing the right thing including them, or that it is essentially harmless, but, then you decide to put the work into the public sphere, publishing it (in any form) and you discover⊠1) They might not like their portrayal. Even if you, the writer, think you are portraying them in a sensitive light, they still might not like it. They might think they are too passive, they might think the relationship isnât what they would like, they might even think they wouldnât act that way or say those things. Technically, it is not enough for libel/defamation (and it has been tested) because they are not being portrayed in a negative light, but it can be a problem. 2) They simply donât want to be in a book. Unless you are writing a family history and their details are a matter of public record, a person is perfectly within their rights to say they do not want to be in a book or story. Especially if they put it in writing that they do not wish a character based on them to be in a story before the story is publicly or semi-publicly published {i]in any form, then you might have an issue. It could be for privacy or they just donât see the point, but their wishes need to be considered. 3) Your relationship with the person changes. Youâve put a person into a story in a very heroic sense, but then you have a falling out, so this becomes reflected in your writing⊠and that can be a problem. It is not, again, generally something a court can help with, but that person is within their right, especially before a story is publicly or semi-publicly published to give a written cease and desist which you must obey. Oh, and a person can decide at any time they do not like the portrayal, by the way. Literally, any time before public or semi-public publication. So⊠is there a way around this? Yes, and it is very simple: DO NOT USE THE FULL REAL NAMES OF REAL PEOPLE FROM YOUR PERSONAL CIRCLE IN A BOOK! Base the characters on them. Make them look similar. Have them act in similar ways. But if Jane Doe thinks Mary Sue is based on her, she will have to prove it, and that is not easy. However, if Kylie Baggins thinks Kylie Baggins in your book is the same, then youâre in trouble. The grey area is if Jeannie Hart thinks Jeannie Smythe is the same. First names are common; the portrayal is going to have to be blatant. Yes, as a beginner writer, it makes it easy for your characters to be people you know; my discussion on my early novels shows that I did this ("20250321 Novels #1 & #2" ). But I changed the names!Anyway, I went through this with Sins Of The Father in 2020. A former friend named Troy felt a character in the book named Troy (different last name) was based on him. But his lawyer said that he would have to admit to abusing his kids and being an out of control alcoholic, as the Troy in the story was portrayed, to a court. He couldnât do that, so he let it slide. This brings me to my second point â make changes! Except if writing your autobiography (which is a different kettle of fish altogether), do NOT use a person whole-cloth. Change them! This might seem logical, bit there are people I know who are being forced to rewrite whole books they wish to publish because a daughter doesnât want her kids in a book, or a partner left them. Donât let it happen in the first place â donât use people you know blatantly in a story you plan on publishing in any format. |
| Novel #6 After Invisible Friend, the next 6 long works were all novellas. Of these, only one bears discussion: Relick is a comedy novella (26000 words) about a group of archaeologists fighting the Catholic Church and the USA in preserving a holy relic â the poo of Jesus. A few little tweaks and, well, it was my first book sale. Yep, a comedy about poo was my first book. Life is funny like that sometimes. Further, it is still one of the few pieces Iâve written that I actually enjoy. Okay, so we come to the next novel. Return (1995) is an odd 55,500 word novel, told in a twin time-frame format. The stories run side by side; it is not non-linear, just alternating. In the first time frame, set in modern times, a demon has returned to Earth. Tyson is suspected by those in the know, but it is not him. His daughter, and two old friends â a priest and woman â get involved, as well as a member of the US military who was there last time. In the second time frame, 8 years earlier, all of these people (except the daughter) are much younger, and the demon makes its first appearance in Sydney, Australia. I liked the way the old story reinforced the new, and the way they tied in so nicely together. reading it nowadays, the connections seem a little forced at times, and the whole child thing does not sit right or ring true, especially after becoming a teacher and seeing how children respond to trauma. The character of Tyson is, I think, well written in the present, but too moody in the past without due course except "he's possessed." The priest is too angst-filled in the present, but feels about right in the past. The young woman is okay in the past, and inconsistent in the present. The US military guy shows no signs of growth or change over the years; maybe he's a little gentler now? The concept, though, is a nice supernatural one with much more psychological horror than I thought I was capable of at the time, and a lot of the gore horror is only implied or the results only are depicted. Again, with some tweaking, I could possibly make it more âadultâ than the semi-adolescent state it currently sits in, maybe even find a home for it. Though the two time frames might need updating to reflect today better. Excerpt: Despite himself and his growing trepidation, Brother Galway entered the building. He looked around the back room. Everything was in order; the kettle sat on the small stove, the refrigerator in the corner hummed to itself, the dishes from this morningâs Ladiesâ Club meeting were sitting on their tray, waiting for himself to put them away. He looked closer; a ten dollar note was attached to a note poking out from beneath the tray. The Ladiesâ Club probably wanted him to do some shopping for them. But surely a thief â even one after the silver chalice and other items the Church possessed â would have taken a quick ten dollars and at least had a look through this room. His first instincts started to take over, but that feeling was too uncomfortable for him to dwell upon... The three doors he passed through to enter the main Basilica of this building were also unlocked. And he went through each with growing fear until finally he was standing in the middle of the nave, looking up and down. His mind was very wary; nothing seemed out of place, but something definitely was. He could feel it. And the feeling was exceedingly uncomfortable... like nothing he had ever felt before... like nothing he ever wanted to feel again... He cast a critical eye over the pews before he walked up to the altar, slowly, very unsure of himself. And the closer he came, the more that feeling in the back of his mind grew. He could feel it, almost radiating from this end of the building, growing stronger as he approached. And then he saw, in the light coming in through the multitude of stained glass windows, the puddle on the floor. He bent and had a closer look at the liquid. Red, thick... He smelt it â blood. He looked forward. Small pools of it dotted the floor, leading up the seven stairs to the altar itself. Fresh blood. Genuine panic entered his mind. What was going on here? He knew what he should do â he should go to the rear room and telephone the police, let them come and investigate this extremely odd occurrence. But he knew himself too well and, ignoring the frantic messages to the contrary coming from the forefront of his mind, he made his way anxiously forward once more. Every step became harder and harder as he went until by the time he was leaning against the lectern with the large Bible resting upon it, he was almost out of breath. There was more blood here and its trail led directly to the room called the sacricity, where the altar items and priestly garb were all kept. He looked closer; there was a lot more blood. Forcing himself to keep going, he followed the bloody track and touched the door of the small room. It swung open with a slight creak... Brother Michael Galway turned and vomited all over the floor. He had never seen so much blood, and all of it coming from Father Wagner â his wrists, his side, his feet, even his scalp... So much blood... And in the form of Christâs wounds... And Father Wagner in so much pain... âHelp me...â the priest croaked, but the Brother could not move... The pain in the elderly manâs chest grew sharply, up into his jaw, down his arm, and both men slipped finally out of consciousness... Yep, definitely one of those religious horror novels that used to sell so badly but are now sought by publishers. The idea came to me with a weird 'what if': âWhat if an exorcised demon came back?â Then I had the idea to write it spread over the two time frames, 1986 and 1994, and include a child⊠which was deliberate to leave it open for a sequel that I never wrote. Look, the story is no masterpiece and it will need a lot of work to make it sellable (especially the ellipsis over-over-use), but I was finally starting to get the idea of writing characters, not just events. Not terrible, but certainly not good. |
| World-building - Towns So we have mountains and rivers, now letâs look at where to put people (or any population) â the places they live. In an area, initial settlements will always be around a source of water. If the region rains a lot, then amongst the first things to be built will be large areas to capture water. But water is tantamount. This is in the early days of a settlement, as it grows. Now, the second thing is food. Is it a hunting society? Then there will be areas for wild animals to be living, and often surprisingly close to towns, with the predators that can bring. Is it an agrarian society? In that case, there needs to be the right sort of land, and lots of it, for farms to be established, and to supply enough food for a town, and there has to be roads for transport and a means of getting the water to the crops. Or the town might be a place where trade occurs. In that case, it must be remembered that most heavy trade is water-borne as it is cheaper and easier than horses. But there will also be overland trade, with each town no more than a day away by regular transport (horse, foot, horse team, whatever) from the previous. Yes, I understand pioneers and settlers camped, but we are looking at towns established after initial expansion. Then there is exact location. If the region is filled with warring tribes or warlords who want land, then the town will have fortifications, and most likely be on higher ground, within easy access to the water. It might even be built some way up the slope of a mountain by the water supply. Or, as in the case with Paris, France, it might be on an island in the middle of a large river. Even coastal cities on seas and oceans generally originally occur at the mouths of rivers or bays (which tend to be fed by multiple water supplies) for that water supply. Eventually, of course, trade will increase and water can be brought in from across the waves, and a lot of the original waterways end up being diverted or built up on, and so those streams or rivers are not needed, but at first, they definitely are. But, you cry, my town is beyond the initial settlement phase! It has a population of a hundred thousand and is renowned for being where the finest magical hammers are made! Great⊠but how did it start? There will be water, or the remnants of a water supply, still evident; there will be those initial food sources still evident. Some of this evidence might be a town on both sides of the river that supplied so much of its trade. It might be the fact the town has very few hills because of the original farms. There might be a fortified walled internal part of the city where old defences had been built. Or, look at our modern cities. We cut down the trees and name the roads after them. We name suburbs after the owners of original farms. Dried up river-beds become highways. Old lakes get filled in and become developments. But the old traces are still there, physically and in town memory. Towns appearing in the middle of nowhere can only exist if there is a large amount of traffic that can bring goods and even water with them. They might have an underground aquifer to supply water, but as civilisation progresses, this will become polluted or even run out. They will rely on traders and travellers to supply everything, and the economy will be based around this sort of trade. So placement of towns is important when looking at the world you are building. The history needs to lend itself to the towns being where they are, and this is important for the current state of the town and how it developed. Even the country it is in, or the world at large. |
| World-building - Rivers We looked at mountains, now letâs look at rivers. Rivers are lines of water that flow from a high point to a low point. The majority of rivers start in a mountain range and terminate at a sea, ocean or large lake. Basically, you cannot have a river without a mountain. Rivers are formed by rain or melting snow forming creeks and smaller waterways, which eventually combine and come together to form a river that gravity draws downwards. It is said that some rivers come from natural wells, but this is not really supported, and is more a piece of folklore. Part of the issue is: how does water come out of the ground? There would have to be some sort of upwards pressure, and that would mean the area is very unstable geophysically. Yes, there are lowland freshwater sites â oases and billabongs, for example â which are fed from underground aquifers, but these are still bodies of water, not flowing rivers. Now, rivers are vital. The first communities were all established around freshwater rivers or freshwater lakes fed by rivers. The water was important, and it drew animals to them for food, and enabled them to have crops. Rivers were also the first freeways. A horse can go on land and go places where others couldnât, but rivers were how large goods were transported. No early cultures with a permanent site of habitation built this site away from water. When world-building, this is important because a land with cities needs a supply of water, especially when being established. Having a city in the middle of a desert with only a small oasis makes no sense at all. Stars Wars were shocking in this regard â I know they had dew farms, but where on Tatooine was the water to support life before a civilisation developed? The canyons show clear signs of water erosion, but where is it all? Where does the dew even come from? That planet makes no sense whatsoever. As can be seen, rules of physics make no difference to many world-builders, but if you want your world to be accepted as at least plausible, then maybe look at the water supplies. |
| External Writerings April 2025 That time of the month where I list the writing I have done for Weekend Notes (and any other places that could be bothered publishing me online). Songs, films, places, events⊠oh my! One of the reviews got me a tourism award (  )⊠which was a hearty thank you and no money. So, of course, some of this is going to be completely irrelevant to USians, but remember, you do not have to listen to the songs (though I would be grateful if you did), but every look at the articles from a different IP address with no ad blockers helps me out in my increasingly desperate attempts to make money as a person who writes.My favourite albums - and there's a lot of them - from the first three months of 2025. A look at my favourite Val Kilmer performances, following his death. Reviewing two new artists that caught my attention. A local café that caught my attention. Great food. Songs about churches. Yes, churches. The local Cornish Festival. We get visitors from around the world, and I am doing a story reading, hopefully helping a book launch, and helping in a guided walk of one of the towns.6 articles this month. I have to do at least 4 to keep my ranking in the top 25 contributors, so your clicks will also help me in that regard. As usual, if you want a certain topic covered in songs (I can do films and books as well), leave a comment below. I would love to give readers what they want. |
| World-building - Mountains Some brief posts about how to create or build your world when writing, especially in fantasy or science fiction. Thought Iâd start with the most obvious landscape feature â mountains. Letâs look at the three ways mountains form. 1) Volcanoes. These exploding busts of magma as lava forced rock upwards and as they solidify, form new rock with new peaks. Example: New Zealand. 2) Tectonic Shift. The tectonic plates under the worldâs crust grind against one another. If one is forced beneath a second, then mountains form. And if they push against one another, the edges are forced up, and mountains form. Example: Himalayas. 3) A passive uplift. This is where the edge of a tectonic plate is moved upwards simply by sideways forces or other parts of the plate moving downwards. Example: Greenland. The first two are associated with earth tremors and earthquakes and some instability; the last is a very long time occurring, and its actual geophysics is not completely understood yet. However, what this means is that mountains very rarely occur in isolation. A volcanic peak could be there, especially if it was once in the middle of a sea and the surrounding areas have been eroded by water and then time. As such, mountains tend to be in lines, following the tectonic plates of a world. âBut my world doesnât have tectonic plates!â Then it doesnât have mountains or volcanoes or earthquakes or oceans or seas or anything else like that. Your planet is probably dead. Depending on the height of mountains, the ability of people or animals to live on them varies. The higher you go, the thinner the atmosphere, and so the physiological changes in your inhabitants should be noted and you will need to research. Your barbarian who lives at high peaks will have a greater endurance at sea level, but strength will be diminished. Your knight from a flat land it even a hilly land will run out of energy at elevation very quickly. Mountains can very easily run the length of a continent, but as they tend to follow tectonic plates, this will curve, and there will be earthquakes and risk of tsunamis (in the sea, obviously) in these regions. Mountains that do seem to sit in the middle of nowhere with no nearby ocean will be at the edge of what used to be an ocean, such as the Mountains of the Moon region in Africa. What? Yes, tectonic plate movements are what enable the land to subside enough for oceans and seas to form. Mountains and seas are aligned. Mountains also cause atmospheric disturbances, resulting in rain, snow and especially wind, creating both deserts and forests. Donât forget, the peaks tend to be colder as well, and this affects human habitation and animal life. Now, this is very simplistic, but when world-building, where you put your mountains can be very important. |
| Songs That Tell A Story Now, songs started life as poetry put to music â they deal with situations that lead to emotions. That is not to say they are not good writing â of course they are! â itâs just that they follow that emotional path that allows people to relate to them and come into them with recognition within themselves and others. And, if the music is good as well, then the whole thing can get into you a mood, manipulated by the song-writers and performers. And songs can also be used as protests, to put forward points of view, to try and convince others to see things your way. Again, the music backing does help there, but the protest song is an art form that I have been in awe of for decades. And let us not forget character studies⊠However⊠Some songs do tell an actual story. Like, we have a beginning, a middle and an ending. Like, we have characters we can relate to. And like they make sense and could easily be made into at least a one hour TV movie. Or be formed into a decent short story. But thatâs not necessary â these are already fine the way they are. I have even mentioned two recently: "20250423 Two Songs, One Meaning (Using Similar Story Ideas)" . That was to show how one idea can produce two different works, but they tell the same story: Hey, girl, letâs get out of here before we end up like everyone else!With that in mind, here are some of the best examples of songs that tell stories. By âbestâ I do not mean they are the greatest songs ever (although I do like them all), just that they tell the stories I enjoy the most. 6 songs, 6 genres. Enjoy. âTimothyâ by The Buoys (1970) Three miners are trapped. Two make it out alive. No-one knows what happened to the third. Except the other two appear well fed. The narrator cannot remember what happened. Some radio stations tried to spin it that the missing Timothy was a donkey or a dog. But, no⊠this is a song about cannibalism. The story makes it pretty clear. They ate Tim. Genre: Horror âI Did What I Did For Mariaâ by Tony Christie (1971) The story here is so definite. A man is awaiting execution, but he doesnât care because he got revenge for his wife who was killed â or at least sexually assaulted â by some bad guys. Itâs OTT, but thatâs okay, because Christie delivers it with such passion youâd think it was based on his life. It failed to chart in the US, but was quite the success everywhere else. Genre: Western âTake The Money And Runâ by Steve Miller Band (1976) A young couple go on a crime spree⊠and get away with it! A Bonnie & Clyde scenario without the nasty ending! The story is pretty obvious, sure, but the delivery almost makes it seem like a jolly jaunt, just one that involves breaking the law an awful lot. Genre: Crime âEscape (The Pina Colada Song)â by Rupert Holmes (1979) This song often comes up in worst lists. Well, thatâs unfair. We know the chorus and can sing along to it. But the story is what I am looking at here. Guy wants to cheat on his wife, but in attempting to do so, reconnects with her. There are some dodgy things about the situation â he wants to cheat! Hang on, so does she! â but it is the sort of story I can imagine on a screen. Genre: Romance âMajor Tomâ by Peter Schilling (1983) An astronaut â borrowed liberally from David Bowie â goes into outer space and finds that he does not want to go back to the Earth, and so decides to stay there, knowing that, as far as he is concerned, he has gone âhome.â This is a depressing song if looked at from a certain point of view, but if approached from the PoV of Tom, it is a song of hope. Either way, it is magnificent. Genre: Science fiction âStanâ by Eminem (2000) We have an actual epistolary story in song form! The tale of an obsessed fan going to ridiculous lengths to get the attention of his musical idol is harrowing in its delivery, and then to end when the singer realises that the recent death was him⊠this is intense, and there is a reason why the word âstanâ has now become a part of the vernacular. What a tale. Genre: Thriller Stories can come in a myriad of forms. Do not be afraid to experiment or to look for stories wherever you might find them. The results can be surprising. |
| Novel #5 A few novellas appeared after Music Man, the best of which was The Great Aussie Sportsman, written in 1989, about 30,100 words long. Humour, about a violent Australian teenager who becomes the Hero to thousands. It still reads rather well (though is now insanely dated), and I have tried to convert it to a screenplay, but have failed. Dismally. So, the next novel is from 1992 and the end of my initial university studies; those studies are why there is a long gap between stories â university and working were all-encompassing. Life does get in the way of art; we all know that. Anyway, Invisible Friend clocked in at 62,300 words. Again, a horror story, but actually written with the teenaged market in mind (my first intentionally YA book), though the ending apparently does not suit the teenage publishing mindset. At least, thatâs how publishers a few years later (after Our House â which weâll come to â started to be put out there) when I tried subbing it reacted. The idea came up rather weirdly. I had a friend whose daughter kept talking to an âinvisible friendâ before she started pre-school. Then it stopped. And my friend asked me about it, I reassured her that children go through this phase, and then she laughed and said, âI was always scared the invisible friend was real.â That did it. Story idea, here we come! As a child, baby Rebeccaâs older sister is jealous because Rebecca has âstolenâ her invisible friend. The older sister is subsequently killed, then the mother, leaving Rebecca and her father alone. But Rebeccaâs invisible friend is still around, and he starts to take over and dominate the teenagerâs life. Thatâs it in a nutshell. Yes, there are a few clichĂ©s in it, and the fight scenes seem rather repetitive, and at least one âissueâ Rebecca has which the invisible friend helps with hardly seems that important, and I would probably up the ante there a bit. Also the character of Rebecca is too varying. Mind you, the character of her father I think has been written okay, while the invisible friend himself comes across as consistently nasty, although trying to help Rebecca get a boyfriend goes against some of his obvious desires. Truth be told, it needs a huge re-write. Maybe one day⊠maybe⊠Anyway, itâs a YA work of fiction, written by a guy barely out of being a teenager himself. Yeah, thatâs never a good recommendation. Excerpt: Jenny phoned Rebecca the following morning. The blonde, still in her night-shirt, expected an apology, but instead received a brief piece of news which shocked her⊠and angered her: Neil had gone to hospital the previous night to have his arm looked at. They thought that the forearm had been broken when he had fallen down the back stairs of Jennyâs house the previous night, although the doctors eventually told him that he would be all right, it was merely a sprain. But what really struck Rebeccaâs mind was that Jenny said he thought he had been pushed. âPushed?â Rebecca asked. âYeah. He said it felt like two hands just shoved him in the middle of the back. He almost landed right on top of me, but he turned in the air, sort of like a cat, and missed me by an inch,â Jenny explained. Then, âLook, Iâve got to go. Neilâs expecting me.â âGive him my best,â Rebecca said, still in a state of shock, âand get him to give me a call.â âSure,â Jenny replied almost sarcastically and hung up. âDid you do that?â she asked the air, her voice hissing and angry. Heâs fine. He just had to be taught a lesson. The response was almost immediate. âLeave him alone,â she growled. I didnât really hurt him. He wouldâve been fine if he hadnât twisted out of the way of that girl⊠âSheâs my friendâŠâ The way sheâs been treating you lately, Iâm surprised youâre even defending her. The voice was confident and superior. âSo? Weâve had fights beforeâŠâ But ever like this? Over a boy whoâs with her, but who likes you as well? Heâs a fool; he should just accept what he has and leave you alone. But he wants both of you⊠âWants me? But howâŠ?â Oh, I know lots of things, the voice laughed, and she felt a hand stroke her back, down, then up, before coming to rest on her shoulder. The unseen hand kneaded the muscle there before fading. Rebecca let out a relaxed sigh. Like what Jenny had to tell Neil last night that was so important, and how much itâs trapped him. And I know how you feel about him, how he feels about you, and how Jenny feels about everything. âOh, sheâll get over it.â But she did not sound as convinced as she had before. Not this time, not until sheâs sure she has got Neil and you never will. Maybe even turn him against you. After all, didnât he leave here last night without even really saying good-bye? And who told you about his accident? Him? But thatâs all right⊠âWhat?â You donât need him. Pause. Not when you have me. âBut I want him.â Her eyes went misty. âOh, yeah,â she continued dreamily. âI really want him.â I know you do⊠There was a touch of anger in that voice. Rebecca thought she understood the tone. âI donât want him enough to see Jenny hurt.â Silence. âNicky?â No response. âNicky?!â Panic gripped her as there was still no answer. âCome on, Nicky! Talk to me!â She ran from room to room, calling his name. âNicky! Nicky! Donât leave me! Talk to me! I need you!â She fell to her knees, âNicky! Leave them alone! Nicky! I want you here! Answer me!â Her body started to tremble uncontrollably and she ran quickly to the toilet where she threw up⊠A little bit too tell, and not show, but itâs not really terrible⊠Not really⊠? |
| Two Songs, One Meaning Some time ago, I did a quick blog post about how different writers write about the same thing: "20250324 One Situation, Many Writers" .This got me thinking, and I decided to look at two songs. âBorn To Runâ by Bruce Springsteen (1975) âCome On Eileenâ by Dexyâs Midnight Runners (1982) You picked it, right? These songs are almost identical. Seriously. A guy is talking to a girl â Wendy & Eileen â and telling them that itâs time the two of them got away from it all before they ended up as downtrodden as those around them. Sure, Bruce is escaping working class drudgery and Rowland (the song-writer and lead singer for Dexyâs) is fleeing Catholic repression, but escape with a loved one right bloody now is the whole story of both songs. Both songs are classics â Bruce probably more so in the USA, Rowland in the UK and Australia â but the fact this theme ran through both songs 8 years, two different countries and a whole cultural shift apart says something about that desire in young people. And hereâs the thing â can you think of a recent song about taking your partner and just getting away from a life of drudgery? I mean, released recently, say, last 20 years? I canât, and I am a music nerd. Why? Maybe we realise there is no escape. Maybe the world has beaten us down too hard. Maybe these two songs were our last hurrah at trying to get away from it all, and we failed. Or maybe I overthink these things⊠Anyway, the purpose of this is that it is another example of why ideas cannot be copyrighted. This is the same idea, and yet the delivery, the words, the mood of each is different. No two writers approach the same topic the same, even when they are working in the same genre. Donât be concerned if you have an idea that someone else has used before; you are a different person with different personal experiences, different cultural baggage, and a different time frame. Just write it your way. âBorn To Runâ and âCome On Eileenâ show that both interpretations of the same idea can work incredibly well. |
| Reposting Another Old Blog So, I will continue to offer words of advice from other writers far more knowledgeable and experienced that me. This one from 2012 is about dealing with negative reviews. It basically says all writers get them, and nothing is universally loved. This was originally sent to me by a writer friend from the USA because I had recently received a death threat coming from my first book. A DEATH THREAT! Amazon banned the person who left the review (and threat) and wiped it out, but I was threatened with death by some USian who called himself a Christian (which was the basis for said threat). I was worried; he wanted to kill me! I even contacted the police here in Australia, and I believe he was sent a message, but I don't know what came of it. So, having said all that, here is a quick look at some negativity in reviews. The links donât all work (come on, itâs 13 years old!) but the message remains. http://bethrevis.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/how-to-respond-to-negative-reviews.html... So true, so true⊠However, for what itâs worth, A Wrinkle In Time was a 2-star book at most. I can understand the 1-star reviews there. |
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