Taste is a personal thing…
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The other day I received my first Two Stars on Goodreads. Not an actual review, but simply two stars with no further explanation, which left me scratching my head and pondering why this reader felt my story fell short of her expectations. My daughter called it a right-of-passage. She said now I was official; that a low review or two legitimizes the good ones. Everyone has different tastes, she said, and you can't please everyone. Still I can't help but wonder, did this reader not enjoy my plot and characters or did she dislike my writing? Was she offended by certain topics and character beliefs? Were certain passages to violent for her, or did she feel they weren't gory enough? Bottom line: what did I do wrong? There are many possibilities and I'll probably never know the answer.
A closer look at this reader's book list revealed that the books she'd bestowed four and five star ratings upon were meaningful, inspirational and compassionate books dealing with profound, life changing, deeply moving events. I suspect my book fell outside her usual scope of reading and that she was not among my target audience. Personally, I commend people for moving outside their usual territory; it's how we discover that new cuisine we might not have otherwise known, though if the meal is not to your liking it may not be the chef's fault. And while I decided I wouldn't dwell on this one low rating it did get me to thinking about the matter of personal preferences.
When I was buying my boat, an acquaintance insisted I should buy a 750 hp. 36' Intrepid center-console, which he felt was the most perfect boat ever created… in his eyes it was a five star boat, so to speak.
He couldn't understand why any reasonable soul would want a single engine 4 cylinder 80 hp. displacement diesel trawler.
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We're talking a serious case of apples and oranges here. Is either a bad boat? No. Yet I have no desire to blast across the water at obscenely high rate of speed and rattle my fillings loose as I race from fuel dock to fuel dock in an empty, missile-shaped hull with not so much as a cabin. And this fellow would find it intolerable to putter along at a sailboat's pace in a stodgy-looking little boat with loads of annoying brightwork that requires oodles of upkeep. The lovely 4-burner propane stove and oven would hold no appeal to someone who docks-n-dines. Clearly, my needs and his are two vastly different things. I understand that, yet he couldn't. Would he feel justified in giving my boat a poor rating? Likely. Would that be a fair rating? I don't believe so.
This reader expressed her opinion, which she is in all rights to do, and she did it in a polite and discreet way. I've seen scathing reviews that directly attack the author rather than their work, which leads one to question the reviewer's motives. Constructive, objective criticism is one thing; a wise author can work with that to make their writing better. But when I come across a review that bashes the author directly I don't see it reflecting badly upon the book, but rather upon the reviewer. Often a vicious review has prompted me to read the book so I could judge for myself.
In the end, reader's expectations are something authors can't control…. Taste is personal and reviewers are only human. Over the last few weeks I've begun posting reviews of books I've enjoyed and feel my readers will enjoy as well. Note the word 'enjoyed'. That's not to say I enjoy every book I pick up, but if I don't like a book I simply don't mention it. Mine is not a book review blog – the books I've read were not submitted to me for that purpose but rather ones I've picked up by choice. And I think writing reviews for other books has given me an interesting insight into my own writing. It's inevitable that not everyone will like my books. I know as a writer I can't please everyone; I can simply strive to put my best work out there.
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