Comments to writers

I’ve heard writers get asked this question or assumed it’s true. I’m sure many of you have even seen posts with pictures or various types with this. “Writers must be the best liars.” Personally I’ve never agreed with this. A writer will look at all angles of a comment or action by a character they have created. That character might be a liar or be tempted to lie depending on the circumstances and the personality of the character. That doesn’t mean the writer is a liar.

If a writer is going to sound convincing they need to decipher why the person would lie, what is their motivation or purpose to. They need to think like that person and make it sound convincing to the reader. It means they have been able to displace them self from the situation and look it over for what it is. If they tried to lie in their own lives they may or may not be able to do it. When writing you have time to ponder over it repeatedly.

Otherwise it would be the same as saying a crime writer must be good at committing illegal acts or a paranormal writer is a ghost, vampire, werewolf or something else. The list could go on.

The second thing is, “it must be easy to write, I should go home and write something.” While not wanting to discourage someone on either end of this comment. Writing isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s not the physical writing at all but the distractions around the writer and yes sometimes the brain simply does not want to comply at the moment or for a while and you cannot write.

Writing is not easy and yes truthfully anyone can sit down and write something but is it good? We’ve seen television shows that are produced and you wonder how the hell did that ever get put on television? Everyone can write but truthfully not everyone is a good storyteller.

Third which is a huge one. “This genre is a popular one are you going to adapt your book to it?” Speaking from personal experience I don’t do that. I write the style I enjoy reading and I happen to naturally write for YA. Over the period of time while writing my series I have seen this genre come in and out of popularity. I write about vampires and quite frankly Halloween keeps anything paranormal alive during this time. As I write this erotica is very popular right now and so is dystopian literature but it’s simply not my style. I write whatever I’m in the mood for however my writing style always remains the same. Regardless of what happens to be popular, people will either love, enjoy or hate my writing and that is their right to feel that way.

Fourth comment is about reviews. “If you get a horrible or negative review are you going to quit writing?” Hell no. everyone at some point during their writing career will get a negative and if this weighs down on you to much or you allow the stress of it to hold you down. Maybe you shouldn’t be a writer. Stephen King, Anne Rice, Cassandra Clare, J.K Rowling, James Patterson, J.R.R Tolkien and Nora Roberts have all had negative reviews along with amazing reviews and they still writing. Some either love or hate their writing and it’s a matter of personal opinion. 

As a writer you need to ask yourself, is my story understandable, clear of any distracting wording or spelling errors. If there are no physical flaws in the book then the writing is perfectly fine. Many negatives are simply from difference of opinion or simply not their true genre to read. Personally I don’t care for overly descriptive writing. I get bored with the book and won’t finish. If the author is known for being wordy I won’t buy any more of their books. It doesn’t mean their writing is bad or anything is wrong with it. It simply is not my style of book that I enjoy reading.

If you need more convincing about personal opinion then look no further than this survey. http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-lamest-authors-of-all-time on this website it has Stephanie Myers almost at the top of worst authors but honestly did she really earn that? 

Her books were enough to spin a movie franchise off from. That’s nothing to look down on. She had a lot of fans and it wasn’t a small cult following, it became pretty mainstream so it obviously wasn’t that bad. If all people can do is complain about the vampires being sparkly then they could rip Buffy the Vampire Slayer and say the vampires on there were not blood thirsty enough and yet years after the show has ended you still have cult followers who are dedicated to the show and its characters. Even Cassandra Clare apparently has an obsession about her characters eyes. There will always be something drawn out of the book if someone wants to find something to complain about even if there is nothing actually wrong with it.

Enjoy the readers who do love your writing and most of all make sure its something you as a writer love!