Tagged: masq2
Authors: The Following Information Should be Obvious
In my capacity as a book reviewer, I have worked with many authors. Most of them have been absolutely amazing, kind, considerate people. But it’s the other (small) part, the one that moans, nitpicks, gets ‘smart’ and thinks the world owes them something that makes my job quite unpleasant at times. That is why I have compiled this list for future references.
Authors, if this information seems blatantly obvious to you, great! Thank you for realizing book reviewers are human beings. If this information is completely new to you, then don’t waste my time by submitting your book for reviewing.
1. I am not your editor.
If there are mistakes in books, I will make notes of them as I read and include a few examples in my review. In my emails to authors I will often mention them and include some page numbers as examples. If there are only a few mistakes, I will list all of them. But sometimes this information brings up the question if I could go back and re-read a novel to find all of the mistakes, which brings me to the title of this point: I am not your editor.
If you are traditionally published and there are mistakes, it is not my problem that your editor did not do their job. They are obviously lazy or incompetent or both and should be fired. If you are self-published and hired a freelance editor but there are still mistakes, it is also not my problem. You got duped; it’s sad, but still not my problem. And, finally, if you are self-published but did not hire an editor, it is most definitely not my problem that you cannot match the quality of a real editor.
In short, bad editing is not my problem and I am under absolutely no obligation to tell you where all of the mistakes are. If you ask nicely I might, depending on how busy I am at the time and how much effort you are asking me to put in. If you want me to catch every little mistake and do content editing…well that’s a whole different ballgame. Hint: the answer is ‘no’, unless you’re willing to pay the proper hourly fee according to the EFA plus a little more since editing is above and beyond the call of a book reviewer. Basic copy-editing will cost you $50 an hour and my rates only go up from there. Hint: You can find cheaper rates out there. Continue reading
What Makes You Stop Reading a Book?
I came across this article by author Terri Ponce via her Twitter feed about what made her put down a book. With her permission I decided to shamelessly steal borrow her great idea for my own article.
As a book reviewer I like to think I have two great perspectives: one is the average reader and the other is a critical eye for dissecting the elements of a plot, world-building and characters. I used to think I would be a fiction writer so I have read just as much, if not more, than many authors about how to structure a plot, how to build unique fantasy worlds and create believable characters that people can relate to. The fact I am also an enthusiastic amateur historian (very amateur) definitely helps in dissecting historical fiction. At the same time, I am also reading for entertainment and generally know what the average reader will and won’t enjoy.
So what makes me stop reading a book? A lot of things, as it turns out:
1. Unrelatable characters.
This is a personal thing, but characters make the story. I can sort of forgive a terrible premise if the characters are amazing, but I cannot forgive an amazing premise with terrible characters. Characters generally drive the story forward and although it’s not so bad in third person, bad characters in first person are agonizingly painful. Why? Because you’re stuck in their heads with no chance of escaping.
By terrible characters I mean Mary Sues or Gary Stus. In female characters it means they’re absolutely gorgeous (but don’t know it) so everyone falls in love with them and in fantasy they will have all of the awesome powers or abilities no one else does. They are basically vessels for the author’s wish fulfillment and it really is tiresome. As for Gary Stus, think James Bond: beds all of the women, is supercool, always has a witty comeback and knows everything. Continue reading
Writers: Beware the False Editor
[Out of respect for the author involved, I will not be publishing his name.]
I recently read a self-published book that desperately needed editing. I’m talking about grammar mistakes galore, poor writing quality, a nonexistent plot, one dimensional characters…basically everything that give self-publishing a bad name. I emailed the author and politely suggested that he needed a good editor and his reply shocked me:
“I have already had a professional editor look over my work.” (Not a direct quote.)
His reply got me thinking and, by extension, researching. What I discovered was not all that shocking: many self-published novelists have been taken in by either malicious or clueless freelance editors. Now, there are some excellent freelance editors out there. But the big question is: How do you find editors who are competent? Continue reading
I am a Racist Reader
How much do we really think about diversity in fiction?
A while back I was reading a fascinating article over on The Masquerade Crew by JeanNicole Rivers called ‘Are You A Racist Reader?’ JeanNicole made some excellent points and I began to look at how I picture characters when I read. I have now come to the conclusion that I am a racist reader. Then I immediately started feeling guilty.
The community I grew up in was not known for its diversity or even its political correctness. It was predominantly white and racism was pretty much the default attitude for most people, especially the older generations. There is a family anecdote about how when I was two years old my mother took me shopping in the city and I pointed at an African American man and said: “Mum, why is that man brown?” Yes, that’s how white my community was. I never actually had spoken to a ‘brown’ person until I was six or seven, when my father began importing Filipino workers, who we treated as part of the family. Continue reading
Important Life Lessons I Learned from Books
Many lessons can only be learned in life through trial and error. But books can save us a lot of suffering if we learn the same lessons through them! Guess what? None of the books on this list are the literary classics that critics laud for being so deep and meaningful. There’s nothing wrong with classics. It’s just that I’ve learned far more from what literary snobs call ‘trash’ than I ever did from the books they praise. What are these life lessons? Well, here they are:
Lesson: You are not your family. What they have done is not your fault.
Where I learned it: Run Like Jäger by Karen Bass.
This is a lesson that holds a lot of meaning for me because both of my parents had fathers that were…not so great. As a kid, I was very sad that I never got to meet my grandfathers and held rather romantic visions of what they must have been like. Then I actually asked what they were like and was horrified. How did their past sins reflect on me and my family? Well, Run Like Jäger, where the main character wrestles with what his grandfather did in Germany during WWII, hit pretty close to home. I finally made peace with myself and learned that the sins of my ancestors have nothing to do with me. Continue reading