When someone doesn't like your works, it sucks. It like... really just sucks, and hurts. Sometimes it matters how nicely the critic puts it, but most of the time, it doesn't, because you still know what they're getting at. They're saying they don't like what you put so much of your heart and soul into. You pretty much are your book, and when someone doesn't like it, it's like they don't like you. When they dig into your book and nit-pick at every tiny little thing, it's like they're exposing you, and you just feel more and more angry as they continue.
Who are they, anyway? No one you know. The people who read your works and like it, most of them are strangers, too, but here's the thing. They found some sort of connection to your book. They probably found a lot of connections to your books. With your characters, the stories, etc. The ones who didn't like it? Something just wasn't working out for them. They hate it. That doesn't mean it's a bad book. That doesn't mean you're a bad writer. It means... they just didn't feel it.
When you get a bad review, you're not the only one. You're not the only one getting a negative, mean, nasty review while everyone else is being praised for their work. There's a lot of people who don't even like classics, books that have been praised for so long that they are considered masterpieces.
I'm one of them. I think the writing for Lord of the Rings is horribly boring. It kills me. When I was kid, my mom tried forcing me to read The Hobbit before she activated an account for me for a game that I really loved at the time. I read up to the part with the trolls, then I skipped to the ending. She interrogated me about everything, which I was not expecting, and of course I failed the test. She said she wouldn't let me play the game unless I really read the book. I couldn't. I hated it. So I gave up. That's how much I hate it.
A year later, I read some book called "The Sight" by David Clement-Davies. I absolutely loved it. The writing was a little... blegh, but it was about wolves. I love wolves. Right when I was about to put it down, it got interesting, so I finished the whole thing and was amazed how much I enjoyed it. I also read Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, by Holly Black. There were a couple awkward moments given I was maybe ten, but I liked it. When I was fourteen, I tried to give Lord of the Rings a chance. Everyone said it was SO amazingly good, and SO well-written.
I didn't like it. What the hell was wrong with me? I mean, I've always loved Fantasy. So, maybe I was too young at the time.
Well, now I'm older, and I tried it a few months ago, and it nearly killed me again. I still love Fantasy, I'm crazy about it. I absolutely love important messages in novels, which Lord of the Rings has, regarding the weak and greedy hearts of mankind... But I just CAN'T STAND IT. I can't even read The Hobbit! I am in LOVE with the The Hobbit movies and The Lord of the Rings ones, but the books... you could never get me to read them. NEVER.
Another classic? The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I hated pretty much everything in there from the writing to 99.99% of the characters. Aren't I supposed to like at least two of the characters, like Nick and Gatsby? I only liked half of one.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I couldn't get past the first chapter. But I'll admit I don't remember much of it and I read it a long time ago.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D Sallinger. I hated that. Again, it deals with nice themes, like the phoniness of people... I was almost tempted to be absent for my English days in school because that's how bad it was for me. The story never picked up at any point for me, the writing was BLEGH, and I hated ALL of the characters.
A Separate Peace by John Knowels. This... oh dear god... This was worse than Catcher in the Rye. I almost fell asleep when we had read it in school. I never before even came close to falling asleep in school. I hated everyone in here, too, and the plot never really picked up. It was way at the end, and it wasn't big enough to make up for so many chapters of boringness.
But people love these. They have all made it on the "Top 100 Classics" lists of many. They have become part of the history of literature and it seems as if none of them will ever be forgotten.
Ah hah, well, I'd love to forget them. They kind of make me hate books more.
Oh, I forgot Hunger games. Not a classic (though some are saying it may be --- people say that about Twilight too, though lol). But I cannot tell you how much I absolutely DETEST that book. I am sure Suzanne Collins is a GREAT woman, and real nice, and she had a great theme going, you know, the kids being forced to fight other kids, the violence, etc... I hate that book so much, I could not look at the movie objectively when I tried to watch it.
Oh yeah! Stephen King.
...Yes, I'm going there. Sorry, King fans... but I would rather gouge my eyes out than try and read any more of his books.
But again.
People LOVE those books.
I hate them.
Is there something wrong with me?
No.
(...You didn't answer 'yes' did you =___=? Just kidding, that's okay)
I just don't get along with some books. This has nothing to do with their popularity. I used them as examples to show that... EVERY single author has a base of people who dislike or hate one or more of their works. They might even hate you as an author! But don't let it get to you. Learn how to pick out the constructive criticism in a critic's review, if there is even any, and leave it at that.
You don't have to please everyone. This isn't about them, is it? It shouldn't be. This is about you. You're writing for you. You absolutely love writing and you need to get all of your stories out of your head. While I would suggest keeping the racism and sexism and all to yourself... my point is that... you are never going to please everyone. No matter what you do. When you please someone who hated it, the one who loved it is going to hate it then.
So when someone criticizes your work, take the constructive parts and leave it at that. You need to remember that I, and other critics, don't even know you. I can't talk for all of them, so I won't bother, I'm just going to bother with me.
I don't really know what you were going for in your work. I can't get inside your head. Characters that seem flat to me are so freaking real to you, it's probably hard believing they're fictional. When I criticize your work, I am NOT criticizing YOU, I am criticizing how you expressed what has been inside your head (most of which usually hasn't even come out yet), because that is all I can do. That's all any critic can do. They can't be criticizing you even if they say they are, because they don't know you. It can't be done. I know when you get a negative review from me, or from someone else, it's going to suck, and it's going to feel like a personal attack, but just keep all of this in mind. It might make it better.
I don't know how else to put it. If you're still offended, there is nothing more I can do, and I have no obligation to even try as much as I do to make it better because at the end of the day, *you* are the one who asked me for a review and it is *your* responsibility to know what you're getting yourself into.
