Help please:- Mixed reviews and other such confusion

[Elizabeth]

What do you do when a reviewer seems to be saying they love the story but somehow it’s all your fault it’s not better? It’s very confusing and a little upsetting (yes I know I'm a wimp :)).

This is my first book and it was a bit of a solo project so I was expecting to find myself in the needs improvement category but I’ve no idea what the issue is in this case beyond the person liked the end and hated the beginning.

Where do you find people who are willing to give you a comprehensive opinion on your work? Reviews are great but usually don’t give you much to work with when it comes to fixing problems.

I tried my local writing group for a little bit but you were only allowed to read out about 3 pages of your work when given papal dispensation to do so. Not very useful if your book is 324 pages long and grammar isn’t your strong suit. On the other hand this group has been very nice. Joo and her almost supernatural ability to spot randomly migrating apostrophes has been particularly great.

[L.F.]

It sounds like you are looking for a comprehensive critique of your work. There are people out there that provide those, but they can get rather expensive...could you form a small critique group with some of the people from your writers groups where you critique, in depth, one another's work?

[Will]

Elizabeth - I've just had a look at the first few paragraphs of your book and the reviews you've had. I guess you're scratching your head over the latest review - someone who liked the book but only gave it three stars. That's the one that's puzzling you, right?

From what I can see, this reviewer is saying that she liked the plot and characters but the writing wasn't up to the same quality.

Having looked the beginning of your book, I'm sorry, but I can see why the reviewer has said this. I'd probably say something similar if I was reviewing it.

As you say, grammar isn't your strong suit. I came across a few sentences which were ungrammatical in the short passage I read. This can be very off-putting and would be an insta-close for some.

You start the story with a dream. That is a thing that new writers love to do but experienced writers wouldn't touch with the proverbial barge-pole.

I could say more, but don't want to embarrass you. PM me if you'd like more of a critique.

What to do next? You could ask someone to edit or critique the full book, but I don't think that is necessarily what you need. My guess is that the same issues will crop up throughout the book. A detailed critique of the first few pages may be enough to help you spot problems that will crop up more than once.

I'd be happy to help with a critique of the first few pages, but I don't pull my punches.

[Elizabeth]

Thanks L.F that is something I'd like to do and would be very useful but I actually left the writing group because it was a very strange place and that just wasn't a format anyone wanted to used.

Will I definitely don't mind punches and any help would be appreciated. Thanks. I'm afraid I can't find the private message link on your home page. I'm probably not being very bright I'm afraid.

[Will]

Now there's a funny thing. I've just tried to send you a message, but I can't find a way to do that either. Very odd.

We might have to do it the old fashioned way! Why not send me an email. If you send me say the first five pages or so as a word doc, I'll add some comments and zap it straight back.

[John]

Will wrote: "Now there's a funny thing. I've just tried to send you a message, but I can't find a way to do that either. Very odd.

We might have to do it the old fashioned way! Why not send me an email at will..."

I had this same issue a while back - go to the member page and right next to the 'follow author' button there's a small arrow >

Left click on the arrow for a drop down menu which includes the message option.

Hope this helps

John

[Elizabeth]

Thanks Will, it's done.

[Elizabeth]

John wrote: "Will wrote: "Now there's a funny thing. I've just tried to send you a message, but I can't find a way to do that either. Very odd.

We might have to do it the old fashioned way! Why not send me an ..."

Thanks John, that worked.

[Will]

John - that's great thanks! Would never have spotted it if you hadn't pointed it out

[John]

I spent half an hour trying to pm someone a couple of weeks ago :)

[Tim]

Will, you might want to remove, or at least obfuscate that email address, otherwise it's an open invitation to spam...

[Patti (baconater)]

Good point, Tim.

I don't want to delete your whole post, Will. Hope you see this soon.

[Will]

Cheers, folks! Edited.

[Patti (baconater)]

Oh good.

[Kasi]

Sometimes reviews make me laugh, the way they say great things about my book and then give it a low rating, or say bad things about it and yet still give it high marks. I wish people understood the rating system better and there was a scale that clearly said, "One star means this and two stars means this and..."