I never write the same story twice. I feel it is a cheat that authors use when they have an idea or plot that sells, they keep writing the same story just interchanging the character’s names. I can’t. I have too many wonderful people in my head with their own individual tales. But there is a backlash. If a reader “discovers” one of your books, they often expect every book to be that way, This is why many authors use Psuedos. My pseudo is my pseudo.
Here is this week’s author question.
Do your readers allow you to grow? Recently, I received a harsh review because my new book was nothing like my last. The reviewer said she was “disappointed.”
How do you grow as a writer without becoming formulaic?
2.0 out of 5 starsI was very disappointed in this book I pre ordered this book with …,October 13, 2014
This review is from: Loving Words (The Davonshire Series Book 2) (Kindle Edition)
I was very disappointed in this book I pre ordered this book with great anticipation but was sorely sorry ….the love scene came very late in the book after reading Thursdays in Savannah Miss Gaines cannot seem to measure up.
In my latest bestselling novel, Thursdays in Savannah, I wrote a character that was somewhat unlikeable. She is so realistic, that it started a multipage discussion on Amazon reviews. Seriously, she is so disliked, I received some 3 stars because many reader felt it was unfair that she got everything she wanted in the end.
Why: Because she had two men. Somehow, she managed to be engaged to both.
Each knew about the other.
She got engaged on Valentine’s Day and met the hunky handy man on Valentine’s night.
Her logic: I am marrying for security, but before I do, I am going to sow some wild oats.
The readers hated her.
I pulled two of the reviews to share.
3.0 out of 5 starsHmmmmm…., May 25, 2014
“There is something about this novel that just didn’t sit well with me. I wouldn’t say it’s the cheating directly because I’ve read other books with adultery as it’s plot point. But this story just…annoyed me. I think it has to do with the fact that Savannah just didn’t care about what she was doing. There was no remorse or guilt or feelings on her part where her fiancée was concerned. She had an entitled attitude about her that irritated me.
“3.0 out of 5 starsSavannah, Savannah, Savannah!, May 22, 2014
“Oh Savannah girl, what are you doing? I loved the way the book began with Savannah speaking to us the “voyeurs” about her….ah, indiscretions. I am a one man at a time kind of girls so I was surprised that I liked this book.”
What is illogical to me is this. Jesse, the handyman, knew she belonged to someone else, yet, went balls to the walls to make sure she ended up as his. He was even relegated to one night a week and he pulled out all the stops.
Yet, readers felt she did not deserve him.
Every Thursday he came over, dinner was ready and so was her loving. She cooked him breakfast and packed him a lunch. He even tricked her into meeting his family, and she put her skills to work in his favor at a conference to make him shine.
In the end, he came out on top. He wanted her at his side.
I am just confused. Why is it okay for the man to go after what he wants, but the not the lady? When the lady goes for broke, she has to be a gold digger.
]Well, to me, it’s just illogical, but I would love to hear your thoughts.
Jesse Orison knew he was on borrowed time, but he had a plan. Savannah was set to marry another guy in year. Experience had taught him that a man could make a lot of things happen in 12 months.
His first priority starting next week, was to make her fall in love with him.
He would begin his methodical plan by paying her a visit on Thursday.
Savannah Niden had everything a girl could want, a nice condo, a great job and a fiancé. The only problem was the maintenance man, Jesse.
Jesse started coming over on Thursdays and he liked to stay all night.
Savannah’s primary problem, she was learning to love Thursdays and Jesse a whole lot.
Paperback is now available for pre-order on Amazon.
Sometimes, when I am sitting alone in my writing lab, playing with my unicorn Sparkles, things seem funny to me. I write the funny scenario into a scene and crack up laughing. It is uncertain if at times it is actually amusing, or my visualization of the even makes it even more comical to me.
I saw an image of a spirit beneath a well on someone’s Facebook post, and I toyed with idea, what if someone was actually able to catch that spirit. If you catch the spirit, then the entity will grant your heart’s desire. However, what if what you want, isn’t actually what your heart is craving. What if you make the wish and get it all wrong?
I wrote Beneath the Well of Dawn and played with that idea. What if you wished for a really good looking guy, but he was dumb as a box of crayons or if you wished for someone who was a good conversationalist, but was too unattractive to look at?
In Beneath the Well of Dawn, Faynell encounters many bad choices, but one is sitting at her table, who meets the next door neighbor, Zeke, who is more than just a pest in the main character’s eyes.
The interaction, makes me laugh, because I think it is funny.
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She began to hum a tune as she cracked eggs and set the bacon to sizzling. Mike had a wonderful tenor voice that he used to join in with her on the song. He filled the coffee carafe with water as he made the coffee, found the plates to set the table, and even laid out the silver ware. He grabbed small glasses from the cupboard and poured them both some orange juice. When everything was done, he took her hand into his, and blessed the food. She liked this Mike. Well, at least she did until she saw him eat.
The slack in his lip created an issue with holding the food in his mouth and each time his teeth came together to masticate the food, some would slide out the hanging lip. Several times he slurped, drawing the eggs back into his face. It sounded even worse than it looked. In a last ditch effort not to lose her own breakfast, she dropped her head as she ate so she would not have to look at him.
Just her luck, after breakfast Zeke decided to stop in and check on her. The backdoor was open and he knocked on the screen door yelling, “Coming in, Faye!” and stepped inside.
He took one look at Mike and did an about-face while saying, “And heading back out!”
It took everything in her not to laugh at him, but it was difficult as Zeke also pulled up the back door, going over to the window and peering through the curtains, his brown eyes darting back and forth like he had seen a ghost. He pointed at Mike with his mouth moving, “What the f….”
“Good morning, Zeke, is there something you need?”
“Me! Shit, is it something you need?” He was still pointing at Mike through the curtain, his head bobbing left and right behind the billowing window covering while he kept blinking trying to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “Faye, come outside for minute, let me holla at you.”
She waved Zeke away, but when she returned to the kitchen, she could still see his darting eyes over the rim of the windowsill peering into the house. Faynell was outdone with her neighbor as she jerked open the back door heading outside. “You should be ashamed of yourself, Zeke Bennett, Ms. Annie did not raise you to act this way.”
Zeke didn’t hear a word she said, he was peeking over her shoulder trying to see into the window. Faynell pinched him. “Get a grip on yourself before you hurt his feelings.”
“You ought to be more concerned with who hurt his face!”
Faynell pinched him again. “I don’t care how many times you pinch me, Faynell. Mr. The Hills Got Eyes is still inside your house. Is he staying the night?”
“That is none of your business, Zeke,” she told him as she pushed him towards his own house.
“It is my business if you come up missing! Hey, Faye, see if you can make a copy of his driver’s license and put it on the back porch. You know, in case you come up missing. Ain’t no way in hell my description to the police won’t get me locked away in the looney bin, trying to describe that ugly son of a bi….”
“Go home, Zeke!”
He had bent over in the yard, his hands on his knees laughing. “Hey, Girl, you know that scene in your favorite movie when Shug meets Miss Celie for the first time?”
“GO HOME, ZEKE!”
She left him in the back yard, his laughter echoing in her ears.
Mike came back into the kitchen. “Is he an ex or something?”
“No, Mike, he is just the asshole that lives next door. More coffee?”
And with that, they sat down to work.
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Read the whole story on Kindle, on Amazon. Evidently, these people found it funny as well.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Laughter is the best medicine, February 10, 2014
This review is from: Beneath the Well of Dawn (Slivers of Love) (Kindle Edition)
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard reading a book. This book is funny, but there is also a wonderful moral and spiritual thread that runs through this story. If you want something fresh with great flow and mature conversation get this book.
If you read it, please come back and ell what you think.
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