So, I have disspaered from Blogger for the majority of July and August, but now I'm back. In truth, I have had many, many blog topics that I wanted to write, but I never got around to writing them. But I truly have something that I want to talk about today, to whomever is reading this.
Anyhow, recently on my Figment.com account (Go there, search 'Jonnah Z. Kennedy' in users) I got a new review for some of my work. This is work that I haven't worked on in nearly a whole year, and pretty much forgot about up until this point. One of them is called Radio the other is one that I do want to finish working on, but procrastination is a writers best friend while writing--another post I'm going to write up this week. Anyhow, apparently, the guy who reviewed my work really did like my writing style, and at first I was thankful that he had reviewed it. But then he reviewed, Heart of the Hearth. Now, what bothered me about his review was the fact that he blantantly scolded it without remorse, that that is a bad thing--if you're a new writer, know that you're going to be scolded. A lot, so build up that self-esteem now, otherwise you're going to be working at Starbucks, dreaming about being that one guy who comes in and dosen't even order coffee, but is a New York Times bestselling author, so you get him a free coffee instead. But I digress--but what he did was kind of bad.
He told me what I had messed up on and how bad my grammar was, yet he didn't really help me. He just told me that he skimmed it because of all the errors and how my story didn't seem to be going anywhere. Now, I don't recomment trying to email this guy who does this--saying your story is going nowhere--because he dosen't know your plan yet, and he dosen't seem to know your writing style. Not many people will. There are tons of writer who don't get to the point of their book until halfway through, and most of the stuff before it was either fluff and buildup, either way, you know the story better than they do. Anyhow, he told me he didn't really know what the point of the story was in the first chapter--who does? I don't mean to sound prestigious or anything, but who knows the point of a book within the first few lines? Some Stephen King books I don't know the point of them at all, much less why the heck he wrote it aside from him having an idea. If he was talking about the plot, then again, who knows the plot within the first few lines of a book?
Another novella I'm writing--by the way, Heart of the Hearth is going to be a novella--called The Farm, about slaughterhouses in a dystopian futre (I know that dosen't sound very plausible, since it's the future, but it's my fiction, okay?) and for most of the first two chapters, I don't really show you what I'm trying to do, most if it is just building up to the climax of the book--which is also the end of the book and kind of drives it--and in all honesty, if you didn't know that I was trying to get across a point of morality with slaughterhouses, prior to reading it, you think it was just an overglorified gore fest that was going to get me arrested by PETA. I think I'm getting a little off topic of HotH though.
Anyhow, he goes on for less than three paragraphs about how he could barely get rhough it, and how in chapter two my family in the book wasn't medieval enough--though, I can understand that, still I think for the most part the story was very close to the era I was trying to portray--and then goes on to say that my story is missing the two things that make a book good: What does the protagonist want, and what is he willing to do to get it. This goes back to my earlier point, I know the story, he dosen't. And I get the feeling that he didn't read the synopsis, which clearly states what I'm building up to, I just happen to have other things to write before I get to that point. I'm sorry if I don't just start my fantasy like the Hobbit, and dive straight into the adventure, and I want to build up my world a little first. Sheesh.
The point that I'm trying to make, though, is know who to listen to when they review your work. A good review of your work should consist of what exactly you need to change, meaning excerpts from your work, and specifics, not just this broad overview of how much you didn't like it. Know a good review from a bad review. A good review isn't short, a good review is as long as many of my posts on this blog. A good review will be like a mini version of your book with comparisons and constructivism. Also, if your work has been cleared on grammatical errors numerous times by plenty of other reviewers, don't listen to that one guy who seems to just be trying to stick you with a thorn in the ribs. You're fine.
