Are You Dealing With Bad Reviews?

I had started a comment on a blogger friend's article and decided to create an article instead because it had grown larger and more complex than what I believe is appropriate for a comment. Thank you, Auden, for inspiring this post.

I'll quote the original question which prompted this response: 

There's a ton of advice out there on how to deal with bad reviews. They like to say "dwell on the good reviews." What if you don't have any glowing reviews to off-set the negative/indifferent ones?

I've had my two short stories on Amazon since 2012 and one of them has exactly one review and the other a whopping five reviews. I can tell you this much. I didn't ask for reviews, but when I got them, I was pleased. I'm far from inspired by the numbers, but I'm flattered by and appreciate the favorable responses by those who appreciated my work. However, I've not written or produced much these days and that makes me sad.

On the contrary, though a bad review has to hurt, it's not a lost cause, because bad reviews are those things that prompt you to explore and improve! Especially if you're passionate about storytelling.

Here are some questions to ask yourself if you feel you're not getting the feedback you desire. Do you attend a lot of writing conferences? I know they can be expensive, but the advice and information you walk away with is so wonderful! Have you joined a writing critique group? In-person group sessions can help your writing out quite a bit. Don't shrink away from advice and constructive criticism. It's out there. 

I've joined both, the Tallahassee Writers Association and the Florida Writers Association. Both organizations have welcomed me in such ways I can't even explain. You need to be around people who are driven and wired the same way you are in order to learn the lessons and solutions of the trade. These folks are willing to be there for you because their struggles are the same. 

Lethal Injection, The Seed is 7 pages, received almost 400 downloads, and I have 5 reviews, 1 from a relative. The story has no action but is described as powerful. How does that happen? Writing classes, conferences, critiques, and encouragement helped my confidence in putting the story out there. It's the readers who will figure out if it works or if it doesn't. If it doesn't work, I agree, it would be helpful if readers would provide better feedback. Unfortunately, they are not required to give anything of value. It's other writers who will fill that void.

So how do we improve as writers and storytellers? Stephen King advises that we read, read, and read some more. However, how do you take the time to read if you're pumping out novel after novel? After all, Dean Koontz does it! He has an excuse. He's famous and people buy his books because it's branded already. Come on! He's Dean Koontz. 

If you don't have the time to read much, do like I do. Audio books! They are great because I pop them in on my way to work, and they start up again when I'm driving home. 

:)

Hope I've been helpful in some ways.

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Get Yourself Some Sophie Kinsella

After the passing of my husband, I needed something to occupy my time and to take my mind off the deep sadness that comes from losing your best friend. I can't praise Sophie Kinsella enough for her stories, and I had no idea how entertained I would become just listening to these two audio books.

In Can You Keep a Secret, Emma Corrigan spills her deepest, darkest secrets to a complete stranger because she kind of gets nervous when her plane is getting ready to crash, and in her last moments of living, it's her way of confessing all her sins before the end. 

The thing is, the plane never crashes. And as it turns out, the complete stranger happens to be going to the same town as Emma because he's the CEO of the company which employs her. How funny is that? It's hilarious and had me entertained for hours.

The Undomestic Goddess is another Kinsella novel which kept my spirits high during some very trying evenings. The protagonist, Samantha Sweeting, is a perfectionist and an attorney trying to make partner in her law firm. When a simple mistake on her part impacts a client by costing them several million dollars, Samantha has a melt down, takes a train to the middle of nowhere, and gets lost. 

When she stops to ask for directions at a huge mansion, she is properly interviewed and accepts a job as a housekeeper. She does everything she can to not blow her cover. She even subcontracts out some of her duties to hide her incompetence.

These stories are hilarious and if you haven't heard of Sophie Kinsella, hopefully these brief summaries will get you out to the books stores exploring some.

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Digital Analytics and Your Story

I spent this past Thursday and Friday engrossed in conversations about digital analytics after hearing from top executives at companies like Coca Cola, Cartoon Network, Turner Broadcasting, Facebook, QVC, and many more who have embarked on leveraging big data to drive their businesses. But what do little guys like me want from a conference such as this? I want to understand how to collect, process, and analyze this data as well, but I'm not trying to make money. What I want to do is provide better content, some product that is more targeted to my audience. I discovered big data is useful to anyone with a goal.

For example, if your goal is to sell more books, you need feedback. If you place 10 books on the bookstore shelf and all ten sell in the first week, how do you know producing 10 more of the same book will have a similar result? How will people learn about the success of your book? How do you know your book impacted the readers who purchased it? Book reviews, star ratings, tweets, Facebook likes and mentions, and shares are those things that help today's producers connect with their consumers.

At some point you need to step away from your product that you've been pushing and take a look at what your consumers are telling you. Marketing is fine, but if you're spending all your time, money, and efforts on pushing your product and you don't look at your feedback, you may be making the wrong decisions, or at least experiencing some missed opportunities.

There are some interesting ways these organizations use big data and their executives were passionate about sharing them. Did you know that Instagram is the number one social media platform used in data mining by smaller organizations which are physical attractions? Think about it. Unlike liking something or sharing an article, what do people do when they visit a physical location such as a museum? They take selfies at these locations and post them on Instagram. Hello geolocation data!
:)

I'm sure the Plaza Resort & Spa will appreciate my patronage. 

Think about your goals. Think about how you can utilize digital data. There is a story in the conversations you have when you build that relationship with your consumer. I think what I'm looking for is that story...

How do YOU engage with your audience?



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My Faux Pas While Conducting Research

I'm having an opportunity to review a thriller for a literary magazine and I so want to do a great job, an honest write up. So, what does an avid reader and fan of literary fiction do? We research anything that seems out of place. I think that's what we do.

It's my first official write up, so I wasn't quite sure what to do when I ran across a paragraph that simply did not ring true to me. I just couldn't believe that there would be 50,000 graves in a particular cemetery. Hell, Arlington National Cemetery has 300,000 (yes, I discovered this in my research) and they are the largest cemetery in the United States. Any other cemetery should pale in comparison, right?


So, what did you do, Diane?

I found the cemetery in question on the Internet and I called them!

"This is Lynn speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hi, Lynn. I'm conducting some research and would like to know how many marked graves you all have in your cemetery."

*silence*

*uncomfortable pause*

"I will find someone who can help you with that. One moment please."

Great customer service skills, by the way.

"Hello, Brett here. How can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm researching some information and would like to know how many graves you all have in your cemetery."

"Well ma'am, we have approximately 38,000 folks who have been laid to rest here and within various structures throughout our grounds and facility."

Now the silence was a massive white noise in my frontal lobe, slowly replaced with the knowledge of my faux pas. In my haste to uncover what I felt to be a greatly exaggerated metric, yet a highly insignificant piece of data conveyed in a work of fiction, I'd let my better judgement go and I had approached my target as if I were some insensitive ass. This isn't me, I promise.

So, what did it matter this number? Why did that red flag go up and why did I feel a compulsion to find out if it was true? If you say it was my OCD, that's partially it. It wasn't until I pondered my inner soul that I figured out what actually triggered that need to pull out of the story and go looking for answers.

Truth be told, I would never have questioned this had it not been a well-rounded, convenient number. If it was 46,000, fine! Even 51,000 would not have phased me a bit. I would have continued on with the story without even a single bump. Now I understand auditors a little more.

So there you have it. Stay away from well-rounded numbers, even if you've done your research. It will save your readers some embarrassment, maybe. Not every reader would think to call a cemetery and ask such a thing. Or would they?

Last thing I would like to do is publicly apologize for 1. Questioning the author's integrity (after all, it is fiction) and 2. Being such an insensitive ass toward all the 38,000 folks laid to rest in that cemetery. In closing, I think I've learned a little something about social etiquette.

Question of the day: What was the oddest research you ever conducted and what was the response?



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Joyland by Stephen King - A Carnival Itself

I just finished Joyland, by Stephen King. It is a Hard Case Crime book and a very different feel for a King novel, at least it was for me. Maybe he's getting older and this is the first one of his books I've read since Gerald's Game, published over twenty two years ago. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it tremendously, I did. It was just different.

The story's narrator is an old man, reminiscing about his years as a newbie carny worker at an amusement park known as, none other than, you guessed it...Joyland! It is a place filled with lots of movement, visuals, smells, sounds and it's a reminder to me how King manages to keep one in the story. With a carny killer on the loose, a story unfolds revealing lost love, binding friendships, and a summer to remember.

This novel was a page turner for me. Not from the standpoint of a King fan, but as a reader who doesn't have much time to find herself engrossed in a lengthy story. I've picked up books which are fast paced and never finished them because work, family, and other things tend to come up, whisking me away from my chosen novel.

This was not a fast paced read, but a thorough exploration of a carnival and its intricate involvement in bringing plot points together while the more intimate story unfolded. There are several reasons why Joyland kept me engrossed.

1. The reader stays in the setting, never (for a lengthy period of time) being removed from the fictitious world that is Joyland.
2. Who cannot relate to carnivals? Funnel cakes, cotton candy, rides, games, and the pretty girl walking away with the giant stuffed animal you could never figure out how to win for yourself. It's all there!
3. Young love and all those things that go with it: the silly, the embarrassing, and the unforgiving. King never forgets to bring us back to these events through his characters, and very well-developed they are.
4. The crimes never detracted from the story. They were the underlying pieces which kept me motivated to move forward, but the characters and the setting are what kept me in place, wanting to read more, never chancing to dog-ear a page unless I absolutely had to.
5. The world is filled with a new language, clearly translated as carny talk. You'll find a new appreciation for all things carny the next time the annual fair comes to your town!

I have a renewed interest in reading again, thanks to King's Joyland. Try it out and let me know your thoughts. If you've read it already, do you agree or disagree with these key points? If you haven't read it yet, what was your favorite King novel thus far?

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Recommending Fool by Christopher Moore

I checked out the audio book, Fool: A Novel by Christopher Moore, from the county library and I was surprised by the amount of entertainment this experience provided. The vulgarity promised in the book blurb presented itself nicely, and there was enough buggery and shagging going on, but not too much so that it overshadowed the entire story.

It is the retelling of King Lear by William Shakespeare, yet told from the perspective of a character named Pocket, a Fool. The voice of Euan Morton was the perfect choice, as his English accent immersed me into the story quickly and I stayed there, not leaving until I had to eject a CD in order to insert another.

I highly recommend this audio book to anyone who might become enticed by such a blurb:

Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as non-traditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank.

You won't be sorry. If you are or aren't, please share your experience in the comments below if you've read it or heard the audio version. 

Or just say hello! =)

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An Audio Book Disaster

I'm not usually harsh on authors who have topped the Best Seller lists in the past, but I just finished Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I'm sorry, let me rephrase that. I just finished CD number 4 of 13 in this audio book narrated by Scott Brick and I plan to return them to the library, unfinished.

I can't even push myself to listen to the rest. My O.C.D. is even saying, "Oh, no girl, I'm not going to make you finish it either."

Was it bad? No, not particularly. The writing is fine and the characters are okay. I didn't have any problems staying in the story, but this was only my 2nd audio book ever and I feel like I'm not giving the narrator a chance. Well, I know I'm not giving him a chance because I'm returning it without having finished the story, right?

Things that annoyed me with the narration and the story:

1. Just because a story takes place in the South or Midwest, doesn't mean you have to narrate in a slow southern drawl, good GAWD!

2. The dialogue coming from FBI Special Agent Pendergast: a southern drawl for a stoic character sounds ridiculous.

3. There were too many non-consequential characters.

4. The cover made it look like a horror story and this blurb makes it sound the same. Correct me if I'm wrong.

A small Kansas town has turned into a killing ground.
Is it a serial killer, a man with the need to destroy?
Or is it a darker force, a curse upon the land?
Amid golden cornfields, FBI Special Agent Pendergast discovers evil in the blood of America's heartland.
No one is safe.

5. I got to chapter 17 and nothing scary happened. Only the discovery of a dead human body and a dead dog. As a matter of fact, I was bored on top of being annoyed with the narration, and I still don't know what genre this is.

Did I mention I got bored?

Anyway, I feel badly for this feedback, but I'm glad I didn't spend the money to purchase the audio book. I would be highly pissed at myself. With my time freed up from that painful mess, I get to begin listening to Fool by Christopher Moore. It sounds promising as the narrator has an English accent. This is the quote that made me check it out:

This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as non-traditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank.

Sounds like my kind of audio book. We shall see!

Have you ever listened to a book and just couldn't give the narrator a chance to finish? Tell me the title so I don't make another mistake!

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Review: The Man in My Basement

The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The author unravels a chilling story, revealing little by little the redemption of a white man. Not only does the story evolve, but so does the protagonist's outlook in life as well as the white man's physical attributes while his true identity is fully exposed.

The first half of the book is fast paced and rich with culture and it had a balanced feel with character development and relationship boundaries. I enjoyed the exchanges and dialogue. The reading experience was smooth and nothing jarred me from the immersion. I enjoyed this book extremely, finishing it in less than two days (wherever I could find the time to read).

However, I did find myself wanting to press through the third part of the book rather quickly and felt that it could have been tightened. I found myself skipping over some parts to get to the real deal, the ending, which was not what I had expected. It was a wonderful experience.

I would recommend this book with enthusiasm.



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P is for Passing Gas and Everyone Poops

The Gas We Pass - The Story of Farts
Hardcover for $10.07 at Barnes & Noble
Published by Kane/Miller Book Publishers (January 29, 1994)
Average Rating 4.5














Everyone Poops
Hardcover for $15.44 at Amazon
Published by Turtleback (October 1, 2001)
Average Rating 4.0


I'm not one to criticize children's books, but I found these in a small gift shop while vacationing in Jacksonville Beach, FL last month. I didn't know how to take the hardcover books, supposedly educational in nature. I didn't purchase either one. The urge to do so just wasn't there, and trust me, I'm a compulsive buyer. Instead, I took a photograph of each to share with my writer friends and ask a question of you all.

I've read the reviews, and there seems to be two camps on this type of educational material, which also contain graphics of not so fine art, according to Publishers Weekly.

Do you believe there is a message in all this? Yes, it's natural. We all do these things. But, is it appropriate educational material for the intended audience (18 months - 4 years)?

Which camp are you in, Camp Kudos or Camp No Go (pun intended)?

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*

Deep POV by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Throughout the years, I’ve purchased my share of “how to” books on writing fiction, but this one was worth mentioning because it is short and very comprehensive. I purchased Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point ofView two weeks ago, and like many books I plan to read, it sat on the bar until I could find the time to get some reading done. This almost never happens, but when we decided to make a trip to St. Augustine, I packed an overnight bag and grabbed my book off the bar on our way out the door. I’m so glad I did!

Only fifty nine pages, it is full of information related to getting into your characters’ heads and staying there. Jill Elizabeth Nelson provides a brief summary of POV terms and concepts before introducing the Deep POV methods she uses to keep her readers riveted. In several of her chapters, she provides examples and exercises which help when applying these methods. She also provides her own revisions for comparison.

Ms. Nelson doesn’t just tell the reader how something should be done, she shows by the examples she provides in the book. She shows how a shallow sentence can be transformed into a tight, Deep POV sentence.

She discusses everything from Narrative Distance to Prepositional Tells to Sensory Tells. These are all exceptional topics and after reading about them, I am anxious to begin transforming much of my own pages.

My favorite transformation from this book:

Shallow: With smug satisfaction, he turned in the perfect paper.

Deep: He smirked and dropped the paper onto the teacher’s desk. Shazam! Let’s see Mr. Perfectionist give him anything less than an “A” on this one.

If you haven't read this one, I think you will enjoy it. Have you read any "how to" books lately which have you excited about writing? Please share!

A Writer's Journey - The Wounded Soul

I purchased "The Writer's Journey" two years ago and only read the first chapter. I've finished it now and I wish I had read it when I bought it! It brings a better understanding of why some characters work and others do not. It turned out to be a great book.

One interesting thing I learned from this book is that absence of a "character wound" can really make a great hero into just another ordinary protagonist. I never thought about this before. Why would any reader care what happens to your character? We are immune to violence and catastrophic events in print and in the news, so writing fiction is no different. However, we are not immune to a wound in the human soul.

It's like reading a headline, "Woman Killed in Lakeshore Apartment Complex." Okay, this perks our interest because we want to know who the victim was, how old she was, maybe, and did she know the person who killed her. We open up to read the story and discover that this woman left behind a child with Downs Syndrome and two adopted children from Indonesia. It tells something about the woman and her soul, so now we care. Therein lies the tragedy. It's not in the story; it's in the bigger meaning of what really happened.

My main character is Kelly Cooper, a street cop turned detective. While the real story unfolds, I reveal her past service in the United States Marine Corps. She served in Iraq where she lost a partner in a car bombing. She was too weak to pull him from a ton of rubble before he bled to death.

Who are your main characters and what wounds do they bare on their souls?

Triple A For Your Grade On Novel Writing

I'm off to a late start in the A-Z Challenge, so I've decided to stay behind and share my Triple A post instead. I’ll try and catch up soon!

There are three "A" words you must address if writing a novel that I would enjoy. Notice I'm posting from the standpoint of your fan, so listen up! :)

The Triple A Formula

Grade A = Action + Adventure + Adversity = Happy Reader Named Diane Carlisle.

Ask these three questions when reviewing your draft:

1. Action: Is there action on the first page of your book?

There's nothing like a boring beginning that will make me put down a book before I finish the first few pages. I don't want to read about a sunset in the horizon or someone thinking about their sad, miserable past. I want to see a rock skip across a lake or a hammer crash through someone's skull. If you are a romance writer and struggle with this one, how about the alpha male tycoon losing his cool and slamming a phone receiver down as his new hopeful administrative assistant and future wife arrives for her first interview?

2. Adventure: Does your character go on a game changing journey? 

In other words, when I'm done reading your book, will I feel that your main character learned something which profoundly altered their life, or will I feel like I just rode a mile long roller coaster, the same one I get to ride again next year if I so choose to visit the same predictable amusement park?

3. Adversity: Will your character face serious adversity, or will their "game changer" be an easy accomplishment? 

Adversity will change your main character. Make me cheer for them. The only way to do that is to increase the intensity of the negative forces they face. That doesn't mean to make adversities so extravagant that nobody can relate when your character defeats the almighty villain. It means you should make your character so flawed that their challenge is met with sympathy and a wish for them to overcome the adversity and succeed.

Three stars is my Triple A grade I give to any novel which reaches these levels of worthiness. It's how I score my reading experience. If you have these three things going on, you will get at least a 3 star rating from me for your novel.

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Review of Yesterday and Tomorrow by Candice Adams

Yesterday and tomorrow by Candice Adams

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was bored, so I picked this up at the flea market. I'm not much of a romance reader, especially the more modern romances. But, this one was published in 1986, so I was like "Okay".

It didn't really do much for me and it's not an amazing story, but it was a quick read (a total of 2 hours). The only minor things I have to complain about is the verbiage used in writing it. I'm particularly not happy to read certain phrases that make me cringe, but in this book, those were sparse enough.

"His lips danced over hers with white-hot intensity" didn't really work as a visceral response and the visual of lips dancing is distracting in my opinion.

I won't linger much on the verbiage, but this one last sentence that sort of turned me off:

"Putting her hand on the door-handle, she opened the door."

Well of course she did! She wouldn't change her mind and decide to open the door with her foot, would she? Seriously, I don't appreciate reading the same words in close proximity of one another, let alone two! Granted, "hand" is not the same as "door-handle", but still, it was a bit jarring.

Aside from getting bored at times, this wasn't as bad a read as I thought it would be. Much better and more believable than one of the more "modern" romances I attempted to read. That's right, attempted (I couldn't get passed the 2nd chapter without calling BS). This one, at least, kept me reading until the end.



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