RHYS BOWEN: A writer’s life does not always run smoothly, as I can attest at this very moment. We work hard to write the best book possible and then everyone else works equally hard to make us feel it is the worst thing we have ever written!
I am thinking this because I am in the middle of copy-edits. This is the stage of the book when the story is in place and it is up to one person to find any flaws or inconsistencies in the storytelling—which they always do. In this book my copy-editor is obsessed with the depth of the snow. “You said it was a light dusting of snow. How wet do her feet become? And here it’s a layer of snow. Is that more than a dusting?
And obsessed with the fact that the house doesn’t have a phone.
“How will they be able to summon a taxi with no phone? Wouldn’t it be easier to have a phone? They could call the police easily if they had a phone etc etc.
The point being that not many ordinary people had a phone in the 1930s and if they wanted to make a call they would send a servant over to the big house on his bike.
And obsessed with the fact that the older woman should be Darcy’s great aunt and not aunt. Every aunt is highlighted. I am a patient person, but I did ask my editor if I could title my next book “How to murder a copy-editor.”
I have to add, in her defense, that she has been really thorough on anachronisms. Not allowed to use scenario or a dozen other really useful words.
So that is one of our little trials before the book comes out. And when it is published the next trial is reviews. Every review is only one person’s opinion, right? It shouldn’t matter that they hated the book. But it does. In the past reviewers were professionals like Hallie who knew what they were talking about. Now, with Amazon providing anonymity, anyone can write a rotten review. I get lots of reviews of Amazon so among several thousand there will be some really bad ones. There are the crazy one star reviews:
I ordered this on Kindle and it hasn’t arrived yet. One star.
As if that was the author’s fault?
For In Farleigh Field I had men who were angry that it was described as a WWII novel and nobody got blown up on every page.
But my favorite awful review for In Farleigh Field was from a person who said I knew nothing about England, nothing about British aristocracy or how they spoke. Actually I’m married to a member of the British upper class. I stay with his family in large country houses. We have a favorite relative called Puff and a cousin called Sir Ferrers Vyvyan. When I showed John the review he was so angry he was going to find the person and hunt them down!
But that’s the trouble. The writer is powerless. And I have to remind myself about all those bestselling books that got rotten reviews, or worse still, were turned down by umpteen publishers. 17 rejections for J K Rowling. More than that for Mary Higgins Clark. And Walt Disney was fired because he lacked creativity. And Einstein was told he was hopeless and would never amount to anything.
So it’s reassuring to know that critics are often wrong, isn’t it?
On the other end of the spectrum are the wonderful writers who give up their time to read and blurb other writers books. They make generous comments and help sales. I am often asked to blurb these days. I will only blurb a book I really like and have turned down books that I thought might offend my fans (one took place in a S&M scene in a bordello. Uh--no thank you)
Occasionally I have agreed to blurb a book I don't reeeeely love. That's hard, isn't it? "A brand new take on Victorian England? A fresh approach? The story leaves one thinking? or just "Wow. What a book!"
meaning
what a book. Thank God there isn't another one like it. And it leaves one thinking thank God it's over.
So I thought I'd close on a positive note by sharing this list of blurb terms with you:
Authors; what is your favorite publishing gripe? Readers: do other writers' blurbs make you pick up a book?
