Pert Opinions

Reviews.

They are a thing we authors dread and revere in equal measure. We know our work isn't going to please everyone, but at the same time, we want readers to love our stuff and recommend it to others. Even if you don't type up a review on Amazon or Goodreads, and just tell your friends or comment about it in a few Facebook groups, share a pic on your Instagram... That's still a form of review. Reviews help promote an author's work, boost their confidence, and work on those things that maybe they're not getting quite right (if the criticism is constructive and not just "this book sucks"-type bashing). You gotta have a pretty thick skin to be an artist, and writers do fit into that category, because we put so much of ourselves into our work.

I freely admit that it is sometimes hard not to engage some of the more negative reviewers, as I was long ago advised never to do. This is especially difficult when something that they say just makes me shake my head and wonder "Why?" Like, there are some JAFF readers out there who are against mixing up Jane Austen's novels -- that is, having characters from one book crossover/appear in a story mainly about another. I have read a few reviews of The Correction of Folly, which is primarily a Sense and Sensibility variation, where the person said they didn't care for the appearance of Pride and Prejudice characters in the story. Some said that the subplot in which they played a part should have been its own story. And it is, sort of -- at least, that plot is continued in Choice and Consequence. But Darcy, Georgiana, Fitzwilliam, and Bingley's appearance not only leads Colonel Brandon and Elinor to a huge discovery, it ties book 1 to book 2, which was really the whole point. I mean, I'm writing a series, so the books kinda have to be connected in one way or another. Plus, I don't get why some people think it's wrong to mix up the stories and characters, as long as it's done well. There are just so many story possibilities when you get different book characters together!

Another, very particular remark that sticks in my head is a reader's comment about being offended that I had written Georgiana Darcy as the victim of a sexual assault (the assault itself is not described, it happens before she is even met, so "off page", as it were). Not so much that a character was raped, but that it was Darcy's sister. You'd think I had committed a capital crime by having a canon Austen character be the victim of rape. No one minds when bad things happen to the villains, because "they deserve it". But oh, not one of the good guys! Heaven forfend! Readers seem to genuinely hate when Austen's "good" characters -- even some of the secondaries like Charlotte Lucas -- are harmed in any way, but don't bat an eye if the character is one of the JAFF author's own creations. Look, in the real world today -- and I'm sure in the real world during Jane Austen's time -- the rich are as likely to be the victim of a brutal crime as the lowest scullery maid. It is therefore realistic for a JAFF author to write any Austen character as being a victim if the story in their head dictates that it must be so. Subjecting the characters to challenges within the greater narrative is how we stay true to Austen's depiction and yet make them our own. We don't do it on a whim -- we take the harming of Austen's characters as seriously as we do our own creations. No one likes to make any of their "darlings" the victim of a crime, but it happens. Even to the good guys.

Like I said, I want to please readers just as much as the next author. I want to not just make a few bucks off each book, but to one day be able to make a living with my writing (which means I gotta sell a LOT of books!). But ultimately, I and every other author out there has to accept that the only person they are going to please 100% is themselves. When I write, I'm telling the story that's in my head the best way I know how. My best isn't for everyone, and I accept that. But I can't, and won't, apologize for telling my story my way. I challenge anyone who thinks they may be able to do better to actually try it. Not just throw a bunch of words together and slap them up on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but to actually dive deep into the writing process -- have an idea, write the story, edit, re-write, start over a dozen times, format... Let anyone who thinks this is easy, who thinks that we authors don't get emotionally invested in our work, really do it. And see if you don't cheer at the first 5-star review or get bummed by a 3-star or lower. See if someone saying they didn't like what you wrote doesn't bother you, see if readers just not getting it doesn't make you want to shake your had and say "Why?"