Sunday, June 9, 2013

Sunday Story

I'm going to look at reviews today - because my thoughts are still fermenting about The Yearning.

I'm not big on reading (or writing) reviews but I thought I'd better do some looking and thinking because over the years, contest feedback has helped me craft and define my writing. And reviews aren't that much different to contest feedback!

My contest feedback has always been - 1 person loved it, 1 person hated it and the 3rd person was somewhere in between (except once when I came 2nd and all 3 loved it, which was amazing!). And the people who hate it usually give me the total opposite view of the person who loved it, and often make some comment about hating first person writing. But sometimes they have a gem of wisdom for me.

So... reviews...

On Goodreads to date there are 8, plus a couple of different ones on Amazon. But I'll stick with Goodreads for this.

2 x 5 stars; 3 x 4 star; 1 x 3 star, 1 x 2.5 star and 1 x 2 star. Pretty much like contest feedback!

The lower star reviews said:
"I thought Mac was not fully developed. Her character was immature and naive one minute, and raunchy the next. Just not consistant enough for me."  
Contrast this with the 5 star review - so subjective, isn't it? One person loves Mac, one doesn't.

"She feels she is too old (22) to still be in hold of this commodity. ... This book seems overly long and drawn out."
Contrast this with the 4 star review saying, "Yes, it’s interesting to see Mac’s journey, but I kind of felt like that would have worked out better with a book that was longer."


The 4 star reviews said:
"I got slapped in the face by this story. Totally take unawares. And I love, love, love when that happens to me. Love it.
This author, first off, is freaking amazing at writing emotion. She has that kind of style that sucks you immediately in and makes you feel like you’re the character, not just right there with her.

...

And the end of the book was just awesome. The way they reunited after she left and decided to come back had me smiling all goofy."




Do you know what I love about this one? I've sucked at writing emotion, totally sucked at it. I've worked really hard to add emotion in, and I have a success. :) I can't tell you how good that feels. I'm smiling all goofy!

"
A cute read and a great love story."


"Cate must know a lot about this type of expedition as its so well described I felt I was there with them, trailing through mangrove swamps, scaling down mountain shale and rock jumping ( I think that was the term). It all felt so real so either Cate has done it or has done some really thorough research and the realism went along way to making what was a short novel really enjoyable for me...
Stars: I’m hovering over 3 and half to 4, as I said short novels aren’t really my thing but this was so very different from the norm that it was a real treat to read so – four it is :)"

This is from someone I don't know, who wrote this before I blogged about my trip that was background to the story. It's incredible that she could know that just from my writing. I get a big glow from that.


The 5 star reviews are some lovely author friends, who said:
"I love first person writing, and I particularly enjoy first person, present tense."

This is the best opening line because I always hear the opposite. How amazing that someone loves it! :)

"I loved this book, the inner and outer (physical) journey of the character meshed really well, and Ellink captured all the insecurities and hopes of the female protagonist perfectly (she's great at writing emotion). Also, the main character is very authentic and credible, someone you could imagine running into in real life."
Ah, emotion again :) And Mac is credible... as opposed to not fully developed. So subjective.


Do you know what's the best thing in the world? No one has said "this person can't write" or "this is a crock of sh*t"...and that is one of the biggest fears I had. (Now I've admitted that - watch all the crock of sh*t comments that appear now! LOL) 

There ends my reviewing examination. I have some people who love it and some who thought it was okay. I'm a very happy camper... off to keep writing more first person, present tense stories that will be loved by some and survived by others! :)

6 comments:

  1. Hey Cate, I relate. One of my reviews the person said I couldn't have been in my right mind when I wrote The Yearning and that it would have been better if one of the characters died!
    Truth is, mathematically or statistically if you like, a proportion of readers are gonna dislike our books. It's a given. Knowing that makes me feel much more philosophical about reader reviews. It's almost a relief to see the negative ones arrive in a really weird way!
    Good luck with Virginity Mission. Hope it goes great guns!

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    1. I disagree with your reviewer. I would hate to have seen one of your characters die...that's just taking the "easy" way out and not sorting out the issues.

      I thought The Yearning was very real and true. I've never found life does convenient things like death to solve a problem.

      Thanks for visiting, Kate.

      Cate xox

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  2. Hey Cate, I relate. One of my reviews the person said I couldn't have been in my right mind when I wrote The Yearning and that it would have been better if one of the characters died!
    Truth is, mathematically or statistically if you like, a proportion of readers are gonna dislike our books. It's a given. Knowing that makes me feel much more philosophical about reader reviews. It's almost a relief to see the negative ones arrive in a really weird way!
    Good luck with Virginity Mission. Hope it goes great guns!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kate, for visiting and sharing what you've found. Actually an article coming up in Hearts Talk prompted me to write this post - so thank you. :)

      Thanks for your wishes. They mean a lot.

      Cate xo

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  3. I'm glad you put your head up to read them... even if only to make sure you'd seen the one about 'the author is great at writing emotion' - I know I've read here you think that's a struggle.

    Great post! Puts a whole new slant on scientific 'dissecting' doesn't it!

    Cheers
    Lily M

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    1. Hi Lily,
      I'm glad I had a look too. And those emotion comments make all the hard work worthwhile. Hope I didn't do too much dissecting for you!

      Cate xoxo

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