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shadowkat1. Interesting article on Slate regarding authors complaining about people tagging them in negative reviews posted on Twitter.
I can sort of understand where they are coming from. I don't want to know that people disliked my book either -- if you hated it, fine, don't tell me. You can write a review -- I write reviews, mainly to keep track of what I've read and how I felt about it at the time, with the caveat that I may well change my mind in the future. I'm a moody reader -- I change my mind about things all the time.
I just don't like reading negative reviews of my own work -- I'm funny that way. No one does.
That said...I did find this amusing:
Giovanna Pompele is, in addition to being an adjunct professor in Miami, an avid reader who spends time on literary Twitter. It was there that she once committed the ultimate literary-Twitter faux pas: “I tagged [an author] on Twitter on a four-star review in which I explained why I docked the star,” she told me in an email. “I have regretted that ever since.
Uhm. It was a "four star" review. She knocked it down to a four star review. This writer really needs to develop thick skin or jump off Twitter and the internet.
When I published my novel? I made the mistake of providing it to people on a site entitled Story something or other (forgotten the name) for free for about two weeks, to provide reviews. Two people downloaded it for free and chose to write blistering reviews and post them. One decided to post his review on three sites and make a youtube video about it. I know, right? My little novel really pissed this guy off.
Also as a result, I got a nice range -- one star to five stars. (you want that -- you do not want nothing but four or five star reviews, any more than you want 1-2 star reviews. Best to have the range. Shows a broad spectrum of folks read your book.) Most fell within the four-five stars. Not bad for a novel I independently published without a huge marketing agency behind me. Note, I did not respond to the reviewers. You can't. Positive or negative. You have to pretend they don't exist. It's not like writing fanfic or meta where you can respond to the people who love it and hate it. If you ignore it -- it goes away.
2. All caught up on The Passage now. It's gotten better. Yes, it does require a bit of a suspension of disbelief and plays hard and fast with various government conspiracy cliches. Other than that -- it's compelling and I like characters, all of which are being developed in depth. The set-up, much like Manifest, reminds me a little of Lost. Where each episode -- the writers find a way to give us a flashback into the characters previous lives or backgrounds.
It is laughable in places, making me think it's not taking itself all that seriously:
Jonas: What are you going to tell Gilad?
Sikes: That with the best of intentions we experimented with science we didn't understand on people who were less than stable..and ended up creating..
Jonas: Vampires?
Sikes: Shh. We don't call them that. Something we can't control and a threat much larger than the one we wanted to solve -- oops.
And the characters are interesting and complicated. Outside of one or two, there really are no clear-cut moustach twirling villains.
I rather like the exploration into the Jonas and Fanning relationship, which is turning into a sort of love triangle with Jonas' wife who has Alztheimer's. Both men went on this trip to save her -- and as a result crossed a lot of lines. Fanning, turns out, was the more manipulative and least ethical of the two -- and he's become the lead or Master vampire. But he's interesting and so is the actor playing him.
As are Jonas and his wife.
On the other side, we have Amy (who is riveting whenever she is on screen) and Agent Brad Wolowickz who is also likable. Along with Lacey and Brad's ex-wife, Julia (I think it's Julia), who are attempting to help from the outside.
And then there are the people at the facility, Shauna Babcock, Carter, Woodwise, and various others, including Wanda Sikes and Clark, who are played by good actors and have interesting back stories.
I like how they are turning it into a bit of Amy's origin story -- or how Amy becomes the superhero. Also it's very compelling, one of the better series I've seen this year and one of the more innovative in regards to vampires.
3. Also all caught up, well almost, just one episode behind on Manifest. I don't like it as well as The Passage. The kid/Dad team aren't as compelling, and it falls into cliche and plot muddles more than the Passage. Both borrow heavily from Lost in both plotting and narrative structure, but I think the Passage is the better written and structured of the two -- so far. I'm finding Manifest's plotting to be a bit muddled. Also it's characterization is all over the place. But alas, there are characters I care about, so I can't let go of it.
The most interesting characters are Michaela and Samhale Sonnie (sp?) - the Oncologist. I love them. Actually the women characters rock in this series -- I like Ben's wife and daughter.
Jared, Michaela's ex, I keep wanting to smack upside the head. (Look Dude, you jumped from Michaela to Lourdes, her best-friend within a few months of her alleged disappearance. You didn't marry Lourdes a year ago, you've been married and seeing each other for five years. I don't blame Lourdes, I blame you. Also if you were still in love with Michaela why did you marry Lourdes? That's not fair to either. Lourdes was right to leave. You don't fight for someone who wants and loves someone else. It's a waste of time, move on. You can't force someone to love you. That's not love.)
I prefer Zeke, the new character. And am rooting for Michaela and Zeke to get together. He's more interesting and can at least relate to what Michaela is struggling with. The writers have not done a good job of building the characters of Jared and Lourdes -- I know more about Zeke based on two episodes than I do about either of them.
Olive and Ben's wife have fared better -- in part because we have actually seen a little of their back-story. The only problem I'm having with Ben's family dynamic -- is it has a Marty Stue vibe. I have no idea what Ben did prior to the plane crash, I'm guessing he was an Accounting Professor? Anyhow, he seems to be capable of just about anything -- solving riddles, jumping to the rescue, talking down crazy killers, alrighty then. Also Caleb is the magical kid -- this is a sci-fi television show cliche, which is handled much better with The Passage than it is here. Mainly because we get to know Amy before she becomes the magical kid. And she's dying of something prior. She's just a kid. Caleb started out as this miracle child. He has Cancer!, he's dying! He has a twin that he shares everything with! He comes back as a precog who can figure all the callings out! The Government sees him as the Holy Grail! Ugh. Magical Kid trope...sigh. Now, we have Olive who is suddenly super savy and can figure out riddles and provide expository clues...okay. Any other passengers on that plane? Any?
I get focusing on Ben's family -- but do they all have to be super-skilled? Yeah it's fun. Yeah I'm enjoying it a bit. But it is also hard to believe or take seriously.
And the mystery seems a bit convoluted. Apparently there was a time-quake either caused by the plane or that happened, and the pilot's decision to fly through it caused it become a massive disruption. That's my guess. But they also have a suggestion of government experiment hanging out there. Although my guess is the military didn't do an experiment, they tracked a time-quake that had odd side-effects and are trying to figure out what to do about it and how to use it to their advantage. And of course, much like the Passage, they've decided to Weaponize it, because the government wants to turn everything into a weapon in these shows.
But I'm still curious, like the characters, and find the stories that focus on characters compelling, the funky convoluted plot and the magical kid -- not so much.
4. Borrowed my first E-Book from the Library -- on to my Kindle. I think this may work. They don't have as wide a selection as Amazon, but it does help. If I don't like the book -- I'm not out any money at least. Free pleasure reading -- interesting concept.
I can sort of understand where they are coming from. I don't want to know that people disliked my book either -- if you hated it, fine, don't tell me. You can write a review -- I write reviews, mainly to keep track of what I've read and how I felt about it at the time, with the caveat that I may well change my mind in the future. I'm a moody reader -- I change my mind about things all the time.
I just don't like reading negative reviews of my own work -- I'm funny that way. No one does.
That said...I did find this amusing:
Giovanna Pompele is, in addition to being an adjunct professor in Miami, an avid reader who spends time on literary Twitter. It was there that she once committed the ultimate literary-Twitter faux pas: “I tagged [an author] on Twitter on a four-star review in which I explained why I docked the star,” she told me in an email. “I have regretted that ever since.
Uhm. It was a "four star" review. She knocked it down to a four star review. This writer really needs to develop thick skin or jump off Twitter and the internet.
When I published my novel? I made the mistake of providing it to people on a site entitled Story something or other (forgotten the name) for free for about two weeks, to provide reviews. Two people downloaded it for free and chose to write blistering reviews and post them. One decided to post his review on three sites and make a youtube video about it. I know, right? My little novel really pissed this guy off.
Also as a result, I got a nice range -- one star to five stars. (you want that -- you do not want nothing but four or five star reviews, any more than you want 1-2 star reviews. Best to have the range. Shows a broad spectrum of folks read your book.) Most fell within the four-five stars. Not bad for a novel I independently published without a huge marketing agency behind me. Note, I did not respond to the reviewers. You can't. Positive or negative. You have to pretend they don't exist. It's not like writing fanfic or meta where you can respond to the people who love it and hate it. If you ignore it -- it goes away.
2. All caught up on The Passage now. It's gotten better. Yes, it does require a bit of a suspension of disbelief and plays hard and fast with various government conspiracy cliches. Other than that -- it's compelling and I like characters, all of which are being developed in depth. The set-up, much like Manifest, reminds me a little of Lost. Where each episode -- the writers find a way to give us a flashback into the characters previous lives or backgrounds.
It is laughable in places, making me think it's not taking itself all that seriously:
Jonas: What are you going to tell Gilad?
Sikes: That with the best of intentions we experimented with science we didn't understand on people who were less than stable..and ended up creating..
Jonas: Vampires?
Sikes: Shh. We don't call them that. Something we can't control and a threat much larger than the one we wanted to solve -- oops.
And the characters are interesting and complicated. Outside of one or two, there really are no clear-cut moustach twirling villains.
I rather like the exploration into the Jonas and Fanning relationship, which is turning into a sort of love triangle with Jonas' wife who has Alztheimer's. Both men went on this trip to save her -- and as a result crossed a lot of lines. Fanning, turns out, was the more manipulative and least ethical of the two -- and he's become the lead or Master vampire. But he's interesting and so is the actor playing him.
As are Jonas and his wife.
On the other side, we have Amy (who is riveting whenever she is on screen) and Agent Brad Wolowickz who is also likable. Along with Lacey and Brad's ex-wife, Julia (I think it's Julia), who are attempting to help from the outside.
And then there are the people at the facility, Shauna Babcock, Carter, Woodwise, and various others, including Wanda Sikes and Clark, who are played by good actors and have interesting back stories.
I like how they are turning it into a bit of Amy's origin story -- or how Amy becomes the superhero. Also it's very compelling, one of the better series I've seen this year and one of the more innovative in regards to vampires.
3. Also all caught up, well almost, just one episode behind on Manifest. I don't like it as well as The Passage. The kid/Dad team aren't as compelling, and it falls into cliche and plot muddles more than the Passage. Both borrow heavily from Lost in both plotting and narrative structure, but I think the Passage is the better written and structured of the two -- so far. I'm finding Manifest's plotting to be a bit muddled. Also it's characterization is all over the place. But alas, there are characters I care about, so I can't let go of it.
The most interesting characters are Michaela and Samhale Sonnie (sp?) - the Oncologist. I love them. Actually the women characters rock in this series -- I like Ben's wife and daughter.
Jared, Michaela's ex, I keep wanting to smack upside the head. (Look Dude, you jumped from Michaela to Lourdes, her best-friend within a few months of her alleged disappearance. You didn't marry Lourdes a year ago, you've been married and seeing each other for five years. I don't blame Lourdes, I blame you. Also if you were still in love with Michaela why did you marry Lourdes? That's not fair to either. Lourdes was right to leave. You don't fight for someone who wants and loves someone else. It's a waste of time, move on. You can't force someone to love you. That's not love.)
I prefer Zeke, the new character. And am rooting for Michaela and Zeke to get together. He's more interesting and can at least relate to what Michaela is struggling with. The writers have not done a good job of building the characters of Jared and Lourdes -- I know more about Zeke based on two episodes than I do about either of them.
Olive and Ben's wife have fared better -- in part because we have actually seen a little of their back-story. The only problem I'm having with Ben's family dynamic -- is it has a Marty Stue vibe. I have no idea what Ben did prior to the plane crash, I'm guessing he was an Accounting Professor? Anyhow, he seems to be capable of just about anything -- solving riddles, jumping to the rescue, talking down crazy killers, alrighty then. Also Caleb is the magical kid -- this is a sci-fi television show cliche, which is handled much better with The Passage than it is here. Mainly because we get to know Amy before she becomes the magical kid. And she's dying of something prior. She's just a kid. Caleb started out as this miracle child. He has Cancer!, he's dying! He has a twin that he shares everything with! He comes back as a precog who can figure all the callings out! The Government sees him as the Holy Grail! Ugh. Magical Kid trope...sigh. Now, we have Olive who is suddenly super savy and can figure out riddles and provide expository clues...okay. Any other passengers on that plane? Any?
I get focusing on Ben's family -- but do they all have to be super-skilled? Yeah it's fun. Yeah I'm enjoying it a bit. But it is also hard to believe or take seriously.
And the mystery seems a bit convoluted. Apparently there was a time-quake either caused by the plane or that happened, and the pilot's decision to fly through it caused it become a massive disruption. That's my guess. But they also have a suggestion of government experiment hanging out there. Although my guess is the military didn't do an experiment, they tracked a time-quake that had odd side-effects and are trying to figure out what to do about it and how to use it to their advantage. And of course, much like the Passage, they've decided to Weaponize it, because the government wants to turn everything into a weapon in these shows.
But I'm still curious, like the characters, and find the stories that focus on characters compelling, the funky convoluted plot and the magical kid -- not so much.
4. Borrowed my first E-Book from the Library -- on to my Kindle. I think this may work. They don't have as wide a selection as Amazon, but it does help. If I don't like the book -- I'm not out any money at least. Free pleasure reading -- interesting concept.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-21 02:01 am (UTC)(It's just the premise that I've been struggling with -- but I knew I'd be struggling with it going in.)
It is definitely better written and paced than Manifest -- which has so many problems. We'll see how long I stick with it -- I'm sort of hate-watching it at the moment.
The Passage basically does everything Manifest does wrong, right. It centers the action on the characters and keeps the plot/conspiracy simple. "With the best of intentions, the government engaged in a stupid human experiment with an agent they did not understand and it blew up in its face -- along the way the government agency crossed several ethical boundaries, in it's aim to save the world, screw the consequences or collateral damage. (ie. The ends justify the means -- oops, okay maybe not.)" Simple.
Manifest? I'm halfway in and I've still no idea what the plot is --- is it a government conspiracy? Is it some alien agent? Is it a time-quake that the government wants to control and take advantage of? Who is the villain? The government? I'm confused. And there's all these characters jumping in and out, it's focus keeps shifting. It basically takes all the things in LOST that did not work and runs with them.
I think the reason The Passage is tighter is that it's based on a series of novels. So the series has a clear structure and frame-work. Television serials that are adapted from books or novel serials often work better -- mainly because the structure, world and character bible is already in place, and the tv writer can basically play fanfic writer with it. It's whole lot easier to play with a pre-built world than to develop your own.