Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Scavenger Hunt


Concept art by Ubin Li

Long-time fans of my writing who pay attention sometimes find little nuggets buried hither and yon. While some of them might consider these cat turds among the kitty litter, others are sometimes tickled by them. These can be names with double-meaning, foreign words that mean something other than they would seem from the text, or little references to cultural items that amuse me to sprinkle in.

An observant reader spotted one in a recent book and mentioned it: "Her name was Magil, but for some reason, everybody called her Nancy ..."


Beatle fans will know this right off.


Happened also I got a critical letter from a fan who thought the latest book sucked big time and that he couldn't finish it. Managed to force himself to slog through a third or so of it, then quit.


Stock characters, and too many of them; bad dialog, poor research, confusing technology; not enough realism in the military stuff. Kind of like a video game.


Pretty much everything that could go wrong did, he said, couldn't find anything to like about it, and he was disappointed. 


Fortunately, it was a Kindle book and he was able to get his money back. He hoped I'd do better in the future. 


I warned him off the next two in the series. If he didn't like this one, I am certain he won't like those, either.


This is the biz: Some will love what you did and give you five stars; some will hate it. As always, I ask myself when I get panned, was it me? Did I not hit the target for which I was aiming? Or was it them? Did they not get it? Some combination of the two?


In this case,  given what bothered him the most? He's not a fan of military-science fiction, because I feel like the weapon-porn, tech-talk, and space opera aspects I did weren't all that  far off the money. He compared it to stuff by David Drake and S.M. Stirling, which more or less makes my point. If that's the case, he wasn't the audience I wanted, and the love wasn't fated to happen. And maybe some of it was me. But I'm pretty comfortable with my skills, so I'm not apt to be crying myself to sleep over his review ... 



9 comments:

Brad said...

While not in the same league as the Matador universe (that's my benchmark for your writing) I thought the story was enjoyable. Spent my money on the book instead of a 6 pack and was not disappointed. Was even the first to review it on Amazon.

Steve Perry said...

And I appreciate it, Brad ...

Steve Perry said...

And for the record, I'd rather have written another Matador novel, but the market didn't want one. Eventually, I'll get another one done and up as an ebook, but you have to do the paying work first to afford the labor of love ...

Brad said...

No worries there Steve, I follow your blog and keeping with your goings. I'd love another Matador or 500, even short stories. I'll buy each one as they come out, but I alone would not be able to keep you fed.

Kris said...

I find the concept of sending a writer "hate mail" rather despicable. I mean, I have HATED some books, in the past (Newcomb and Goodkind come to mind), but I can't imagine being an asshole about it. Some people just have too much time, and too little self-esteem (or, perhaps, too much).

Justin said...

I guess people think they buy the ticket, they can yell at the performer. Then again, he got his money back, so that argument is out the window. Too bad he didn't spend the time he used bashing your creation on creating something "good" on his own.
Usually, when I'm a jerk - even when it's warranted - I feel kind of crappy afterward, like the negativity damages my psyche. But if you're always hateful, you probably get used to it.

Ed said...

You write Matador books? :)

Dave Wilson said...

Hey, that was me that wrote that email! And tonight I was on Amazon looking for something else to read, and I saw the link to your blog, came across this posting, and thought "Hey, that sounds like me!"

I reread the email I sent you, and it still sounds reasonable to me. In it I mentioned that I have read (I think) all of your previous non-branded work, liked it, and then listed some reasons why I didn't like this one. I tried to do it politely. And it's not as though I just sent you a critical email out of the blue. Ten (or maybe fifteen) years ago I emailed saying
how much I liked your work, and you responded by saying you hoped to write what eventually came out as "The Musashi Flex". Those two emails constitute my total correspondence with any author.

Anyway, I'm not going to get into it with a guy who buys electrons by the barrel, but I do have to disagree with some of the posters here. Without even seeing the email they've labeled it "hate mail", "bashing", and "despicable". And apparently it makes me an *sshole (I'm looking at you, Kris). Nobody likes criticism (especially me, apparently), but I feel that there is nothing wrong with a polite letter to a public figure saying why I might not like a particular work. I didn't want to post a negative review on Amazon. And I was happy enough that you took the time to respond and explain what you were aiming for with the book. I get that I'm not the target audience, and I'll wait for something else.

Steve Perry said...

Dave --

I didn't think it was hate mail, didn't say that, but from where I sit, it was certainly critical of my ability to tell a story.

And let's face it, no matter how politely you tell somebody their book sucks? Kinda like putting lipstick on a pig, isn't it?

You took me to task for being unclear, said that parts didn't make sense, said the characters were stereotypical, stock WWII, and there were too many of 'em; the dialog was juvenile and bantering; the weapons were confusing, the military stuff unrealistic.

You compared it to a video game, there wasn't anything about the book you liked. Which is your opinion and your are entitled to it; however, you can see how I might not agree with you, right?

Whatever you do for a living, if your boss came in and offered this kind of criticism, how do you expect you'd feel?

I mean, if it disturbs you to have some of my fans rag on you for the letter, imagine how it might feel to have a fan dump on your novel? Even if you liked my earlier books, that really doesn't ameliorate the sting all that much.

I thought my response was restrained and reasonable, and while I usually try to observe Thumper Rabbit's Daddy's Dictum, sometimes I point out when somebody else doesn't ...