My New Relationship with Reviewers
I’ve trained as a Buddhist meditator for 40 years now, so I enjoy watching new processes awake in me. I have my crime thriller out, Sonoma Knight: The Goat-Ripper Case. It’s my homage to cheese-makers, organic milk and the beauty of Sonoma.
It took me months to craft a bad guy. When Koch Semper got onto the page, he spawned an even more twisted assistant, Wild Bill. Said a reviewer: “After chapter two, I wanted to see Semper burn.” Said another: “Prasad paints a beautiful, peaceful picture of Sonoma’s winery and farmland, before he shocks the reader by weaving darkness and perversion of a sexually dominant narcissist and a sick-o psychotic into it.”
One reader refused to finish Ripper because she hated Koch Semper so much. So I guess I succeeded; I created bad guys that deserved to die. The forgiving Buddhist in me required bad guys beyond redemption so I could plot their come-uppance. For my next thriller, I’ll opt for moral ambiguity. Goat-Ripper came out to my satisfaction. I hope you’ll read it.
REVIEWS: For the last month I’ve been working the reviews circuit by gifting books, having a book party, participating at Story Cartel (shout out!), chatting up Facebook and Goodreads review groups. Reviews are the bread and butter of Indie Authors. Please express yourself as often as you can, good reader.
As the reviews come in, I notice they create a distancing phenomenon in me. They separate me from my book. A year of hard labor gets summarized in five sentences. I’m not complaining; I’m marveling. It fuels my fire to write an even better one.
Reviews help process the break-up between author and novel. The story has to stand on its own. While I delight in watching Ripper dance through a reader’s imagination, my job is to make the next one better. Of course, I stay drunk on my own imagination in the process, and that’s a better brew than tap water.
I struggle to turn my pencil into a vaulter’s pole in order to top one reviewer’s opinion. “Jake Knight, a returned wounded veteran, finds himself involved with a wine merchant with murderous intentions.....the style of this book is excellent, it is a fun read, extremely funny and witty and the author has not only created a gem of a book, he is created some wonderfully inspired characters.”
Please hand me a tissue to blot my tears as one book departs and to stop a nose bleed that the next thriller requires. It’s all for your enjoyment, dear reader, and I’d have it no other way. Thank you, dear readers and reviewers. On’Ya.
It took me months to craft a bad guy. When Koch Semper got onto the page, he spawned an even more twisted assistant, Wild Bill. Said a reviewer: “After chapter two, I wanted to see Semper burn.” Said another: “Prasad paints a beautiful, peaceful picture of Sonoma’s winery and farmland, before he shocks the reader by weaving darkness and perversion of a sexually dominant narcissist and a sick-o psychotic into it.”
One reader refused to finish Ripper because she hated Koch Semper so much. So I guess I succeeded; I created bad guys that deserved to die. The forgiving Buddhist in me required bad guys beyond redemption so I could plot their come-uppance. For my next thriller, I’ll opt for moral ambiguity. Goat-Ripper came out to my satisfaction. I hope you’ll read it.
REVIEWS: For the last month I’ve been working the reviews circuit by gifting books, having a book party, participating at Story Cartel (shout out!), chatting up Facebook and Goodreads review groups. Reviews are the bread and butter of Indie Authors. Please express yourself as often as you can, good reader.
As the reviews come in, I notice they create a distancing phenomenon in me. They separate me from my book. A year of hard labor gets summarized in five sentences. I’m not complaining; I’m marveling. It fuels my fire to write an even better one.
Reviews help process the break-up between author and novel. The story has to stand on its own. While I delight in watching Ripper dance through a reader’s imagination, my job is to make the next one better. Of course, I stay drunk on my own imagination in the process, and that’s a better brew than tap water.
I struggle to turn my pencil into a vaulter’s pole in order to top one reviewer’s opinion. “Jake Knight, a returned wounded veteran, finds himself involved with a wine merchant with murderous intentions.....the style of this book is excellent, it is a fun read, extremely funny and witty and the author has not only created a gem of a book, he is created some wonderfully inspired characters.”
Please hand me a tissue to blot my tears as one book departs and to stop a nose bleed that the next thriller requires. It’s all for your enjoyment, dear reader, and I’d have it no other way. Thank you, dear readers and reviewers. On’Ya.
No comments have been added yet.
Expletives Deleted
We like to write and read and muse awhile and smile. My pal Prasad comes to mutter too. Together we turn words into the arc of a rainbow. Insight Lite, you see?
- Peter Prasad's profile
- 59 followers
