On Writing : Bad Reviews. by Marcel Nault Jr.

A mentor told me, "It's all good publicity as long as they spell your name right." Carrot Top can still get booked. Anything can happen. I just say, "thank you for looking at my work" and move on. Answering a diss track rarely helps. We respond in the subsequent work itself.

Hannibal Tabu Well said. The more you focus on the negative, the more its weight will carry onto the next project, if that makes sense.

I take the helpful parts of bad reviews and use them to make my spec scripts better, Marcel Nault Jr. And I keep in mind that I can't please everyone with my scripts.

It's definitely hard, Marcel Nault Jr. and I doubt it ever truly gets easier. I always try to remind myself that for every person that tears something down, there's someone out there who loves it. Unfortunately, people tend to speak up less when they love something than when they hate it. But every story or piece of content is somebody's favorite and that's who we make it for.

Ashley Renee Smith Exactly, you can't please everyone and you'll always have the harshest critics.

What exactly is your hypothesis about which two countries? Who was the expert? Here's the thing, research "experts" disagree all the time, especially about accepted historical "facts."

For example, question the assertions made about the Holocaust and you'll be branded a "denier" and treated like a leper. Yet, there's lots of evidence the probability of people being gassed to kill them, is slim to none. It's more likely, people died from pest-carried diseases sans vaccines, potable water, and sanitation. Typhus (no antibiotics available during WWII; death rate for epidemic 10-60% according to auschwitz.org), cholera (can lead to death within hours without hydration and electrolytes), and dysentery (can be fatal, especially to young children, people over 50 and dehydrated or malnourished people).

In addition, Zyclon B gas, for example, leaves a blue residue. None was found in the gassing rooms. Starvation? The Allies bombed railways to disrupt military supply-lines. No country starves its soldiers during war to make sure prisoners are well-fed. And there's the "ovens." Ask a mortician how long it takes at what temperature to cremate human remains? Then, do the math.This isn't to diminish the sufferings experienced by the dead or the survivors, it's to make a point.

It is not a sin to question or provide evidence of a hypothesis asserted about historical events. Instead of being demolished, ask your reviewer, if you can, to be specific about what s/he disputes. You may be pleasantly surprised to learn your "expert" has a closed mind and little imagination.

I'm still struggling to get people to actually read my stuff in order to give it reviews, good or bad LOL

Agree with @Jenean “EXPERTS DISAGREE ALL THE TIME.” So why pay credence to their particular view? Particularly since it came as a negative slandering remote gripe. History is a subject that can never be truly finalised, fully documented or compartmentalised into bottles on shelf. Even today we are learning about new findings together with newly recorded points of view not told before & this is right back to stone age times. The internet is a sponge for haters & trolls for anything. An expert in a field such as history is expert of their own understanding of the study of their subject. History is an unfinished book. Some critics get paid don’t forget to either love or loathe something. @All Happy Weekend.

I feel your pain. People can advise you to ignore it, that it's all a part of publishing, but when you're just starting out, those negative reviews cut deep. I even got into the bad habit of changing my manuscript to appease the unhappy reviewers until my editor put a stop to it by telling me, 'we don't write by committee.' Still, it didn't matter if I got 20 positive reviews in a row because when that one negative one would come in, it would ruin my day. I've now published 10 novels and I no longer read my reviews, except right after release day to make sure it's being well received by my readers. The funny thing is I have this one 'fan' who reads every one of my books the day they come out and she's one of the first to leave a review-always negative-like a one or two stars. It drops my rating right out of the gate forcing the book to gather a bunch of five-star reviews to offset her one negative one. Like why read my books if you clearly don't like my writing? People are weird.

Debbie Croysdale "An expert in a field such as history is expert of their own understanding of the study of their subject. History is an unfinished book." Well said!!!

Jill Bengtsson Sounds like your "fan" is one of those people who gets a rush out of targeting others by leaving negative reviews (usually without actually reading the book), or someone who writes in the same genre and perceives you as their competition. There are authors out there who don't comprehend that it's normal for their readers to read books by other authors too, so they go on a mission to destroy anyone who writes in the same genre because they imagine every book you sell is a lost sale of their own book. It's dumb, but those people are out there. The ironic part is, that even leaving a negative review or one or two stars, gives your book a boost in the algorithm that doesn't care "what" the review is, only that there's "action" on your book. So even though your "star ranking" goes down, your book moves up in the overall algorithm. So...they're inadvertently helping you. LOL

It hurts! Don't give up. It's one in a million.

... You love it!!

I wish I could say, but everyone seems to love my work. :)

Janean, in general I agree with you, but about the Zyclon B, I guess I must imagine these boxes were filled with cornflakes... besides all the reports of death camp survivers, who clearly are lying -- !!not!!-- but to give you the most complete answer, read:

https://www.quora.com/In-the-gas-chambers-in-Auschwitz-why-are-there-now...

and still tell me this can be denied by the nonbelievers, hey those six million Jewish people just disappeared, where taken by aliens and taken to Mars, or never existed in the first place.

The issue is not whether people died, but HOW they died, and how many were Jews and how many were other classifications: Roma, Communists, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. Big difference. How did so many "survive" a DEATH camp? Kind of negates the term. Even Quora admits most prisoners died of disease and bullets. The chambers in the photos are also misleading .... how did blue residue appear only near the door? I don't think it was "smart" gas. How long did it take to clean up the feces and urine from those who died in the gas chambers if they killed, say, even 250 at a time? And the capos and guards had to wait a long time for the gas to subside before they opened the door and removed the bodies else they would have died also. Did "survivors" lie? I'm sure there were some who did. There are always benefits to claiming victim status. But the battle of experts is fascinating.

A Finish composer, Jean Sebelius, said no one very erected a stature to a critic. I have a friend who writes novels that hover on the edge of XXX. I tell him constantly to make his work less "edgy." He wrote a new novel and sent it in to the book critic of the local Conroe, Texas, newspaper. She was also the religious columnist. He didn't know that at the time. You can imagine the review he received in the paper. He's a good writer, but some narrative if only for certain people. And of course, there are internet trolls who emerge from the swamp of there anonymity to lash out from their own inferiority.

John Roane Like you said, the critiques are written, sometimes, for egotistical purposes, to express superiority. In my case, I believe the expert didn't mean any harm, necessarily, but there was a certain arrogance expressed in his review.

We all get bad reviews from time to time. I typically look at the reviewer's other reviews to see the typical scale they grade on. Some people always give 3/5 stars, no matter what. Others only give 5/5 stars.

I would never reply to a review, even if I felt it's unwarranted. People have a right to their opinions, and they may even have good points. Sometimes, our work doesn't appeal to everyone, and that's okay! I hate when I see creatives bullying reviewers, which has happened. Some have even stalked them.

But if it's one review, don't take it too seriously. If it's several, read each one, take it in, process it, and do what needs to be done.

That's rough. If he is an expert on it, ask him what he saw was false and why, as you did your homework to the best of your knowledge. Maybe you will find out some cool resources for your next book! At least he read it through! That says to me it was a good enough read to finish!

I have to say Jenean -- it's hard to talk to survivors now because so many have died. But many if not most lost everyone in their families -- every grandparent, parents, brothers and sisters, some lost an entire village. I spoke to a survivor whose entire school was transferred from Berlin to England but the timing was such that only half his classmates made it. HOw many survivors have you spoken to? I spoke to quite a few as well as reading books like DON'T SAY GOODBYE about children leaving Nazi-dominated Europe knowing they might never see their parents again -- and 3/4s didn't. You are branded a cretin for saying what you say because of the pain and suffering endured by so many. There are records, names, ages, locations. Your ignorance is outstanding. I write historical fiction -- I fictionalize a lot of the history I write about but I always attempt to be authentic. To never write something which isn't "true" to the people and events. It's the least we can do as writers, as story-tellers, as truth-tellers.

First, let me nitpick -- a negative review is not a "bad" review. I'd say a "bad" review of my script is one that is incoherent, looks like they never bothered to read it anyway, and/or takes the unhelpful approach of "here's the story I'd tell!"

Second, to answer the question about handling negative feedback, I find I kinda have stages:

Stage 1: "pearl clutching" -- immediate visceral reaction "how DARE THEY not understand my brilliance!"

Stage 2: "calming down" -- usually involves coming back later

Stage 3: "Consideration" -- IS there validity to the remarks? IS there a problem?

Stage 4: "Determining" -- is this a remark I'll actually use to alter my script, or will I ignore it and move on?

One of my mentors once said, "reviews mean views". Anytime we put a piece of work out into the world it going to create opinions. Some positive, some negative. It can cloud the wonder that you did the work and had the courage to share it. I say "Bravo!" and keep creating.

Rosemary Zibart: I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Edith Eiger, a Holocaust survivor/psychiatrist who went on a speaking tour with a fellow named Heck who was in the Hitler Youth. Subsequently, I also spoke with many survivors who attended. When I was teaching on military bases, I spoke with service people who reported that it was common knowledge that most people, in all kinds of detention camps (Ike maintained one himself for German POWs), died of disease and lack of medical attention. Should we put Ike on trial for war crimes because he could not adequately feed and care for the thousands who died? There are those who say yes. In short, you have no idea of the research I've done over 65 years. I, too, write historical fiction.

A researcher MUST be objective, ask tough questions, and be ready for inconvenient answers. For example, I, like millions, have read The Diary of Anne Frank. When it was exposed that her father was her "ghost writer" and the text was true in spirit but not in fact, many started questioning the veracity, and the memory capability, of people who related experiences of bygone eras. Yes, there have been people who have capitalized on their stories. Her father, who survived a "death" camp, is one of them.

Other examples: many Americans were aghast to learn of Henry Ford's involvement and profits working for the Nazis. Lucky Lindbergh was a Nazi sympathizer, Daschiel Hammett and Lillian Hellman were not only lovers but communists. He recanted, she never did. Do the facts diminish the enterprise, courage, or talent of any of these people? No.

Neither will the facts of the Holocaust diminish the magnitude of the horrors of the entire war. We can understand the plights, dilemmas, suffering, and decisions of the dead even more when we use our brains as well as our emotions to contemplate the reality they faced. You can call me ignorant, but it won't change the fact that, although your belief system is admirable, when it comes to objective research on the Holocaust, the methodology has simply been wrong. No one can write the "truth" unless the Truth is known.

I have an extremely complex psychological thriller that I pitched (written) in the past couple weeks so far only once. The pitch took me a LONG time to write into only two pages due to the subtlety and complexity of the script (which runs 115 pages). It involves subverting the audience's perceptions in order to reach a massive twist at the end of the 2nd act. It scored threes and fours (out of possible fives), The reader said it was a "captivating pitch with some really strong twists and turns," but added, "Perhaps in the actual writing it is easy to follow but I did have some difficulty following every surprise." He passed on it. So I decided to look at the pitch with those comments in mind, and was able to find several places where I could appreciate his thoughts. I worked it over several times more, taking extra care to make things clear. Somehow, I managed to keep it to two pages. I think it's as clear as is possible in the space allowed. So I want to try it out on a few people who' are new to the piece and see how it fares. Based on that I'll hope to try pitching again.

The thing about bad reviews is that it's all in how you take it. I try to put myself in the reviewer's shoes, become them, and then look for what triggered the criticisms. If I can find things, they are valid points. If not, I chalk it up to incompatibility and move on. You're never gonna win 'em all. And remember all the famous stories of huge hits being rejected again and again before they found a champion. Find your champion.

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." Andy Warhol. I live by this brilliant observation by Andy. Not everyone will like your work, that's part of the human condition. Accept it and keep moving forward.

HI - less than glowing reviews = we have all had them. Remember they are "opinion" of another person. I try to take them for what they are - reread them several times - of course the good washes over me but he negative I ty to dissect, understand and use as a tool to improve - some ideas will work others may not. In the end it is your work and your decision. Not everyone will like everything. Keep creating

It definitely hurts to get a bad review, even if you have "thick skin". I just try to refocus and remember that more people enjoy my work than not. If the negative review has a good point, I'll try to use that for the future. I know that not everyone is going to like my work.