Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 112

A Sliver of Nice in the Heart, by Catriona

CRAFT : We are living in interesting times. How have the social unrest and societal perception shifts changed your work? 

Aren't we just? 

I've been rolling those two phrases around my mind for a while, as I was thinking about this blog - the social unrest, societal perception shifts - because there are so many things each one might mean. 

"The social unrest" might mean people taking to the streets of Minneapolis to protest a filmed murder that didn't look like being punished. Or it might mean peop...

Me, Myself, and...Why? by Cathy Ace

CRAFT: We are living in interesting times. How have social unrest, and societal perception shifts, changed your work?

To be honest, because of what I’m writing at this time, I don’t think it’s made much difference at all. I hope/believe that’s not because I’m insensitive to the turmoil and tragedy that’s being experienced on both the personal and societal level around the globe, but, rather, it’s due to the fact that what I write truly exists independently of current events in the real world. Al...

The Ride-Along

CRAFT : We are living in interesting times. How has the social unrest and societal perception shifts changed your work?

From Frank

I don't know that it has changed my work, per se. Or if these times are responsible any more than me getting older or more experienced as a writer. But there have been changes.

I use less profanity in my writing than I used to. I don't know if my speech has changed but I do know that I've migrated to a less is more approach to profanity use in my fiction. Now, given tha...

Pandemic, What Pandemic?

 Q: We are living in interesting times. How has the social unrest and societal perception shifts changed your work?

-from Susan

 

I’m old enough to say I have been alive for more than one interesting time, and that whatever’s going on sort of drifts into my work like smoke under a closed door. My protagonists try to see people as individuals, even if a few are individual villains. I’m not above writing a bad cop (MIXED UP WITH MURDER) or a tone-deaf me-firster (LOVE & DEATH IN BURGUNDY). Before I r...

Don't Make Me Punch You in the Face

 by Abir Mukherjee

When a reader takes the time to find your email address and compose a letter telling you they don’t like your books, how do you respond? How would you like to respond, if that’s different?

Right.

 

Morning. Friday again. Lots to do, so let’s run through this quickly. 

 

No one has ever written to me saying they don’t like my books. This is understandable because really, life’s too short to go to the trouble of looking up some hack author’s e-mail address and writing them a mail tell...

If You Can’t Say Something Nice... from James W. Ziskin

When a reader takes the time to find your email address and compose a letter telling you they don’t like your books, how do you respond? How would you like to respond, if that’s different?

Two Stories:

1. The Case of the Nitpicker

I’ve never received an actual e-mail saying the reader didn’t like my books, but I have received critical feedback. One time a reader wrote to me and expressed his admiration for Styx & Stone, the first book in my Ellie Stone series. He noted the things he thought I’d don...

You’ve got hate mail

Image: Robin Olson

When a reader takes the time to find your email address and compose a letter telling you they don’t like your books, how do you respond? How would you like to respond, if that’s different?

by Dietrich

I haven’t had anyone write and tell me they didn’t like my books, although I’m aware they’re out there. But, like most authors, I have received those one-star reviews along with the unkind comments. As far as responding to such a letter, I guess it would depend on its tone. If it’s ...

How Did You Like It?

 

Terry Shames here, answering our question of the week: 
When a reader takes the time to find your email address and compose a letter telling you they don’t like your books, how do you respond? How would you like to respond, if that’s different? 
 Since I’ve never had that happen, it’s a strange question to answer. I don’t know what I would do it someone took the trouble to write and say they didn’t like my books. Usually it’s the opposite—I’ve read all your books, now when is the next one coming ...

Cups of Tea

When a reader takes the time to find your email address and compose a letter telling you they don’t like your books, how do you respond? How would you like to respond, if that’s different?

Good Monday morning. Brenda Chapman at the keyboard.
All authors get one-star and negative reviews, but it takes a really disgruntled reader to track down an author's contact information in order to tell them how much they hate their books. I'm  fortunate to never have received an entirely negative email about m...

I’m a selfish writer, until I’m not. By Josh Stallings

 Question: Do you have a particular, typical, or ideal reader in mind as you write?

Answer: No… Yes… Wait… Maybe?

I read every night before I go to sleep. Sometimes I drift off mid page, and keep reading in my dream unaware that my brain has taken over the book and is writing new chapters. That is the closest I can describe what writing feels like to me. After all the research and muddling about, I crank up some music and set about typing while I read a book that has yet to be written. In that way...