4
Oct

There is Hope for You

   Posted by: Faith   in Rye Thoughts

…and do you know why?

Because I just read halfway through a review book with these lovely qualities:

  • outrageously predictable plot
  • unimpressedcatat least three twists that I predicted long before they happened (they were that poorly “foreshadowed”)
  • flat, one-dimensional heroine with obvious “I needed to give her more personality so I added this quirk even though it doesn’t fit with the rest of the character profile”
  • a “mysterious” hero who is neither likeable, mysterious, sexy, or dangerous (though the story wants to suggest he is)
  • pacing that makes me want to tear out my eyeballs
  • romance so forced I sometimes wondered if the characters were actually robots
  • cliches so glaring I needed sunglasses

…and that’s only about 100 pages into the book. And you know what? If that can get picked up as a debut novel from a traditional publisher, your work can too.

Keep writing. Keep trying. Yes, it might take awhile, but those writers who succeed to become published authors are the ones who kept going and held onto that hope.

You can do it. I can do it. That crappy book tell me anyone can do it, so long as we persevere.

 

Have you read any books lately that bolstered your confidence by their sheer awfulness?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Rye Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 comments so far

Barbara Ann Wright
 1 

I can just see that fan letter. “I was inspired by your sheer awfulness! If you can get published, a trained monkey can!”

Love, Faith. ^_^

October 4th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Jessica Nelson
 2 

Oh dear. lol On one hand, I’m thankful. On the other, I’m SO afraid a reviewer will pick up my book and think the same things! Eeeek! Oh well, it is what it is. I can only hope to get better.
Love the snark here. :-)

October 5th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Susan R. Mills
 3 

Okay…dying to know which book you speak of. :) I’ve read books that have also given me hope because of their awfulness. There is definitely hope for us all.

October 5th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Amy W
 4 

Does the last 8 Terry Goodkind books count?? Lol

October 5th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Faith
 5 

Barbara – YES. :D …I love it!!!

Jessica – Oh, I know… in fact, I’m sure someone will say the same thing about my book someday, because you can’t please everyone. On the other hand, it astounds me that work like THIS can get through “the gatekeepers”, because it’s the kind of thing those of us who are part of the enormous online writing community continually try to ensure each other DOESN’T do. I have no doubt your book will be fab. ;)

Susan – If I remember, I’ll send you the title through email… I just didn’t want to post it here for the sake of the poor author… LOL.

Amy – HECK YES. Hahaha…

October 7th, 2011 at 11:55 am
mac
 6 

Yep, those books keep me going. The most recent two were Wake Up Dead by Roger Smith – horrible! – and Water Witch by Deborah Leblanc. After both of those, I said, “I can do better than that.” The down side is that I read a lot of classics and the opposite reaction sometimes gives me a weak feeling in my knees – “I can’t write like that!”

October 8th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Nicole Zoltack
 7 

Wow, what a book! Yes, I’ve read books that make me want to send out queries now because I know my writing is better. I’ve also read books that afterward I’m just in awe of how good they are.

Could you send me an email? If you’re still interested in beta reading my upper MG fantasy, that is. Thanks! Nicole.Zoltack@gmail.com

October 8th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Celine
 8 

Aro started to laugh. “Ha, ha, ha,” he chuckled.

This is something I’ve printed out from a well-known book with a massive fanbase and successful movies, so I can look at it and remember that somehow this got published.

October 8th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Tahlia Newland
 9 

I read one that felt like the editor had chopped out all the character development & several plot development scenes. The author was an experienced writer doing ya for the first time, so I can’t believe they weren’t there originally. I had a feeling that the publisher wanted it shorter for the sake of making it shorter, so chop chop. The result was cardboard cutouts and glaring plot holes. So why is my agent having trouble selling mine? Publishers are telling her that the ideas and sample of writing are excellent but apparently demon storys are out of favour at the moment. No one has taken the time to notice that these aren’t the usual kind of demons.
Are they publishing what’s ‘in’ instead of what’s good?
I’ve read some really excellent Indie ebooks lately.

October 18th, 2011 at 5:05 am
Bente
 10 

Haha, I definitely know what you mean. I read a few of them last year, learned my lesson , and therefore chosen books more selectively this year.

Please tell me the name of the book (on LT?)!
And yes, bad books can give your confidence a boost, because no way your own writing is THAT bad. But we are all subjective, I guess ;) Thanks for that little power talk, Faith!

October 19th, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Brianna
 11 

Wonderful encouragement! Thanks for sharing it! I’ll bookmark this post for when I’m feeling really low about my writing. There is hope!

November 2nd, 2011 at 4:27 pm
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