Anna Sheehan
I do read reviews, though not obsessively. Mostly I consider a review a conversation with a reader -- one sided, perhaps, but I presented them with a story, and they have a response. This means that even critical reviews are not only valuable, but very intriguing, and I welcome them as much as positive reviews, particularly when they're well thought out and cogent.
Another thing that should be made clear is that I don't expect everyone to like my books. I write things that are controversial, that are thought provoking, bittersweet, sometimes disturbing, pushing the boundaries of people's comfort zones. Someone who likes the scene where my characters get all sappy will not like the scene where there's then a major betrayal, and vice versa. This means that I expect to get a lot of luke-warm and mixed reviews, where someone liked one thing and didn't like another. I'm trying to make people think.
I very much believe that if everyone who read my books liked them then I would have done something wrong. If everyone likes it, then there's nothing thought-provoking, and all I've done is write milquetoast claptrap that is only meant to please, not meant to enrich. I hope to make some people uncomfortable, or bored, or annoyed. I expect some people will be unable to handle this or that, and will put the book down. And a good critical reader might point out something that I genuinely should have repaired in the book, and if that's the case, then it's good to know it so I can evolve as a writer.
Give me critical reviews, positive, negative, mixed, and indifferent. I expect people to think, one way or another, about my books. And every reader has the right to hate my books, and say so openly. I'm a big girl. I can take a little criticism.
Another thing that should be made clear is that I don't expect everyone to like my books. I write things that are controversial, that are thought provoking, bittersweet, sometimes disturbing, pushing the boundaries of people's comfort zones. Someone who likes the scene where my characters get all sappy will not like the scene where there's then a major betrayal, and vice versa. This means that I expect to get a lot of luke-warm and mixed reviews, where someone liked one thing and didn't like another. I'm trying to make people think.
I very much believe that if everyone who read my books liked them then I would have done something wrong. If everyone likes it, then there's nothing thought-provoking, and all I've done is write milquetoast claptrap that is only meant to please, not meant to enrich. I hope to make some people uncomfortable, or bored, or annoyed. I expect some people will be unable to handle this or that, and will put the book down. And a good critical reader might point out something that I genuinely should have repaired in the book, and if that's the case, then it's good to know it so I can evolve as a writer.
Give me critical reviews, positive, negative, mixed, and indifferent. I expect people to think, one way or another, about my books. And every reader has the right to hate my books, and say so openly. I'm a big girl. I can take a little criticism.
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