Review: The Fault in Our Stars

This special guest post brought to you by my daughter.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is told from the view point of Hazel, or known as Hazel Grace to Gus (Augustus) Waters. The book was very relatable as a teen myself and quite realistic. I felt Hazel's problems very similar to my own sometimes. I liked how she did not spend most of the book crying about nothing and was very out there.

When she meets Augustus, I felt as if he was a little on the impulsive side. Like if he wanted something to happen it would. But while he was very outgoing and almost unrealistic, his character is later made realistic, which is other point. Another thing that I felt the author portrayed well was grief. It wasn't sappy, it was heart wrenching. And there wasn't loads of crying going on.

The book had swearing, but I think that was one of the more realistic assets to it. Teens swear, like it or not. And the book didn't prance around the ideas of being a teen- it was as if the author was a teen. There was sexual content, but noting erotic. Overall the rating, would only be PG-13

The Fault in Our Stars is funny, heart wrenching, and extremely realistic. I would recommend this to any teen who is looking for a good read.

Story Cartel Campaign for POWER PLAY

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

I recently read a post by K.M. Weiland on her experiment with Story Cartel. If you aren't familiar with Story Cartel, it is a site where authors offer free books. In exchanged, readers are encouraged to leave reviews (because what better way to support an author you like than by giving them a boost through "word of mouth," which is really what reviews are). To sweeten the pot, authors run a little giveaway for those who leave reviews.

Now, this may sound bad. "But aren't you buying reviews?" Not really. First, giving free copies of a book in exchange for a review is an old, well-established tradition. Do you think The New York Times buys all of those books it reviews? No. Publishing houses send out review copies (advance reader copies, or ARCs) to major book reviewers. In return, the publication runs a review. Naturally, publishers hope that the reviews are favorable. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.

What Story Cartel appears to be doing (at least to my eyes), is opening this field up to small press/indie authors and ordinary readers. Because we all don't work for The New York Times, but if you're a reader, you are certainly capable of giving a review. And don't we all have opinions? Of course we do.

So for the next twenty (20) days, Power Play: Hero's Sword Vol. 1 will be available to download, for free, from Story Cartel by using this link. If you've already purchased the book, thank you. You can help by sending a friend or family member the link and with a recommendation. If you've been on the fence about trying the Hero's Sword series, here's your opportunity to try it, risk free (the only thing you are risking is your time).

You are, of course, under no obligation to leave a review - good or bad. And I really do want your honest review.

Numerous polls and surveys show that the vast majority of the book-buying public discovers books through "word of mouth." In other words, they read a review or get a recommendation from a friend/family member. So if you're a regular reader of this blog, I humbly ask for your assistance. Go grab a copy of Power Play and leave a review. And if middle-grade fantasy isn't your thing, get a copy for a child (or child of a friend) and get them to write a review. Their opinions count too, you know.

And, as added incentive, three (3) lucky reviewers will win a $10 Amazon gift card (winner selected at random by Story Cartel).

Star Chasers

or How You Shouldn't Overreact to a One-Star Review

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Recently, I came upon this post, expounding on the importance of the one-star review, and how detrimental it can be, especially to indie authors. What particularly caught me was this quote:

Despite her not even having read the book, she has managed to bring my 5 star rating down to 4 stars. This means a great deal of indie book sites will now not include my book in their free lists or advertising lists of the day.

Now, I've blogged about reviews before - the importance of leaving them and the importance of being honest. And if you've followed this blog at all (and I assume you have because, hey, you're here), you know I've done reviews - and posted them to Amazon and Goodreads.

But honestly, everyone take a pill and calm down.

In another article (which of course I now cannot find), it was posited that approximately a third of readers will love a book, a third will hate it, and a third will just feel ambivalent. This sounds pretty logical to me. People are different. They all like different things. Heck, isn't that why there is such a plethora of genres and sub-genres in fiction? Some people like sci-fi, some like romance. Some like light romance, some like erotica. And even within those sub-genres, not every fan of the genre likes every book. Some find the characterization well-drawn and the plotting compelling, some don't.

To this I say: to each her own.

There's a popular saying that the sure way to fail is to try and please all people. It's true for a lot of things, including writing. People are so varied that it's an impossible task. Now, the author of the above quote bemoans that this four-star rating is going to exempt her from certain promotional channels. Having looked for those same channels for my own book, I have to say I've never come across one that demands a five-star rating average. Four stars, four and a half stars, but never five. But since I certainly haven't explored the nooks and crannies of the Internet for every possible channel, for the sake of argument I'll assume they exist.

What do you suppose the real problem is here?

To me, the problem is the channels. By insisting on a five-star average (which means every blessed review is five stars), they have set the bar impossibly high. No author in existence can do this. And I embarked upon a little research to see if I'm just out there or if I'm right. I picked four authors considered "greats" and four "great" books. I put "great" in quotes because really, it is kind of subjective. But as a lit major, I feel generally comfortable saying these four authors rank at the top of the literature pyramid. Here is what I found

• Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice: Amazon rated 4.5 stars
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby: Amazon rated 4.2 stars
• Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls: Amazon rated 4.3 stars
• William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet: Amazon rated 4 stars (random edition)

So right off the bat, these four pillars of English literature would be exempt from these promotional channels insisting on a five-star rating. So I wandered over to my own book, which currently has a 4.6-star rating. Now, am I honestly a better author than Austen, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Shakespeare?

I'm not that proud/egotistical/delusional.

Now let's look at those reviews. Right off the bat, I see a lot of "This sucks," and "Worst book ever." I agree, these are not helpful. But really, I think readers are intelligent enough to weed these out.

For the Shakespeare, a number of one-star reviews were given because of the book condition (it clearly said "used" in the product description, so why give a book a one-star review for not being new?) and because it did not have line numbers as advertised (I assumed these were needed for academic purposes). A legit gripe if that is indeed something you required - but a one-star review gripe?

And then I found this gem of a review for Romeo & Juliet:

This was by far the worst science fiction novel I have ever watched. While the story of two lovers may seem romantic to some people, the use of spaceships and alien robots was very unneccesairy. The worst part of this play had to be the end where both charaters joined up with Marty McFly to save the universe. Thumbs down to you sir! The remix WAS better.

Obviously a joke, right? (Or at least I devoutly hope it was a joke because if it's not, wow, just wow.) But it's still a one-star review. Amazon's engine is not smart enough to filter out a joke review. So poor Will got slammed because some doofus simply didn't like his play and decided to make a joke about it.

I believe readers are smart enough to gloss over this, too.

Speaking of readers, I do a lot of that too, you know. Personally, I am suspicious of books by relative unknowns with nothing but five-star reviews. Because while a review that says "this sucks" is not helpful, neither is a review that says, "Most awesome book ever!" Neither provides any details, why the reviewer felt that way.

And seriously, with all the millions of books in print, "most awesome book ever"?

As a reader, I don't give a lot of five-star reviews. To me, five stars is "I couldn't find any major flaws and any fan of this particular genre should definitely read this." More common is four stars, "An extremely enjoyable read and I highly recommend it to fans of the genre." A couple times I've done three stars: "Enjoyable read, worth picking up, but get it from a library."

The only time I have left one and two-star reviews is when the book is only available for a scandalous amount of money (a hardcover for $35-$40) and there are what I consider major flaws that I think someone should be aware of before spending that money - and they are usually things I wish someone had told me.

So yeah, do I wish more people would learn how to leave a useful (not a good) review? Sure. Is it likely to happen? Probably not. What I wish more is that authors, particularly indies who are already under pressure (self or otherwise) would take a deep breath and realize that a one-star review is not the end of your fiction career. Into every life a few one-stars must fall. It's just the Way Things Are.

If there are promo channels insisting on five-star averages, shame on them. You are not helping. And you are not making me want to work with you anyway.

And at the end of the day, they need me more more than the reverse.

Book Review: Alligators Overhead

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Author: C. Lee McKenzie
Personal Rating 4/5 stars

When Pete Riley loses his parents and is shipped off to live with his Aunt Lizzie, he doesn't think life can get much worse. Hadleytown is down-right boring. The only excitement comes from pranks and hanging with his friend Weasel. That is, things are boring until the Hadley Mansion, which hasn't been seen in 100 years, appears out of nowhere. Now Pete is hearing Harriet Hadley's voice in his head, making wishes come true, and talking to alligators. And what is all this about Aunt Lizzie being a witch?

I know, you may think that orphaned boys discovering magical powers has been done (Harry Potter anyone?). But Alligators Overhead is a delightful take on a familiar theme. Every young person is searching for identity. And while I have no personal experience, I'm sure most orphans are searching for a new sense of "home" and "family."

There are a couple of things that really made this book engaging for me. First, there doesn't seem to be a huge conspiracy among Hadleytown's witches, called "tellers," to hide. I mean, they aren't living right out in the open, but they also aren't using magic to hide themselves (unlike the great extents that wizards go to hide themselves from Muggles). They live perfectly ordinary lives - a baker, a craft shop owner, etc. This immersion feels very natural and makes the magic blend in well. It's just something they don't talk about.

Next, there is Weasel. He is not a witch (or warlock, as he so accurately points out). He's just a normal guy. And once he gets over the shock of having a warlock for a friend (although Pete's ability to wish food into existence is pretty cool), he adds real value to the story. He's not just some dippy non-magic sidekick along for the ride. Weasel is smart, probably smarter than Pete, and he uses those smarts to help his friend reason his way out of trouble. It's a partnership that works.

Perhaps one of the most delightful twists on the familiar "witches and wizards" trope are the alligators. No black cats or owls here. No, it is the alligators that serve as the familiars in Hadleytown. It is the oldest alligator, The Elder, who guides Pete through his most trying moment - the most critical point in is youthful wizard career.

All told, Alligators Overhead provides a delightful diversion for young readers and is a book that would especially appeal to boys. Pete is a friend whom they can related to, and who they can root on in his quest to save the Ornofree.

Alligators Overhead is available from Amazon (paperback and Kindle), Barnes&Noble (paperback and Nook), and Smashwords (ebook only).

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes. The review above is entirely my own and receipt of a complimentary copy in no way influenced my review.

Book Review: Slain in the Spirit

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Personal rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to read Slain in the Spirit, by Walt Rosenfeld. The book is a near-future sci-fi mystery and the themes are extremely familiar in today's world: environmentalism, the ethics of medical advances, and combat PTSD.

The story is mostly told from the viewpoint of Bill, an ex-soldier who is currently leading what might generously be called a "screwed up life." When you first meet Bill, there is a temptation not to like him. In fact, the character himself almost dares you not to like him. He's reclusive, mean, lazy, and a stoner. His greatest joys in life seem to be playing virtual poker and smoking marijuana. He's spiteful to his cousin, Marvin (who happens to be gay). But the spite doesn't seem to stem from a disapproval of Marvin's lifestyle, Bill is just being a jerk. To be honest, I felt bad for Marvin.

This is something that is particularly tricky for an author - the unlikable protagonist. If your protagonist is a stoner jerk-off, there needs to be a reason and that reason needs to spark the sympathy of the reader. Because nobody wants to read about an unlikable jerk-off.

Fortunately, Rosenfeld handles this well. Eventually you learn Bill's backstory and discover his, sometimes severe, PTSD - which has cost him a lot: a career, his wife, his ability to live. Bit by bit, Bill's journey, via his investigation into the death of Marvin's lover (which he initially takes on just for the money and to get Marvin out of his house), brings Bill out of the darkness and back into life. He even manages to love again, and find some of the joy he once had. Perhaps the best visual of the book is the final image of Bill on his "fuel-burning" motorcycle, reveling in the joy of being alive and free.

Against this, the investigation of the murder is a little bit of a secondary thought, but it's kind of okay - because that doesn't seem to really be what the plot is about. So if it lacks the "pizzazz" of a gripping, twisting, uber-complicated murder mystery, that's why. This is the story about a man's journey from darkness to light, set against the "who killed the mayor?" story line.

The story started out a bit uneven for me, as the first chapter is actually from the Mayor's view. I understood what Rosenfeld was trying to do, but that chapter lacked the smoothness of Bill's narrative. In fact, there are several chapters from other character's POV's and most of the jarring notes came from those chapters (except the one from Marvin's view, which was rather funny).

Fortunately, Bill's narrative had me hooked pretty quickly. Who did kill the mayor, who is trying to kill Bill, and will this guy ever stop being a dick? Since I became invested in Bill's growth early, I was able to move past the awkwardness of the alternate character POV chapters pretty easily.

It was easy to pick out current themes (environmental change, medical ethics, PTSD of combat veterans) pretty easily and they were all very relatable - the more things change and all that. I found the near-future technology inventions intriguing. I mean really, who hasn't dreamed of a car that drives you to your location? Julie's questions about the ethics of "playing God" with genetic manipulation are also pretty direct and relevant to current debate around genetically-modified food, etc.

This is a first novel effort, and displays some of the roughness to be expected of a first book. However, the author shows a lot of promise and should only get better with future books.

Slain in the Spirit is available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.

Scrivener, Two Months Later

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Back in June, I published several posts on my experience with Scrivener (here, here, here, and here). At that time, I was still in my trial period phase with Scrivener and mostly I had imported a small project and done some tinkering.

Since then, I've purchased Scrivener and done several full-length projects, including some novellas, short stories, and novelettes. And I've come to a couple of conclusions.

1. Scrivener rocks.

2. How did I get along in Word for so long?

First, a clarification. I said in my Step 2 post that the trial goes by 30 days of actual use. That turned out to be incorrect. It uses actual calendar days. And you can't cheat it by simply leaving it open. It must check the system clock for the date.

I admit I got a little lazy. I was writing the second story using some of the same characters, and I thought "Oh, I know all about these folks." But somewhere along the way, I thought "Wait, does she have green eyes or blue?" Yep, I had forgotten the color of my own character's eyes. I thought I'd have to recreate all my character sheets, but figured I'd check to see if I can drag and drop. Turns out you can. Open both projects and drag from Project A to Project B. Sweet.

For me, the true beauty of Scrivener lies in the fact that it is designed to write scene by scene. In theory, you can do this in Word. But the problem for me in Word was always organization. If I wrote each scene in a separate file, how would I ever paginate and print the whole thing easily? Not to mention I'd end up with literally hundreds of files to store, organize, and name. Jumping between them? Forget it. It was only marginally better if I created a separate file for each chapter.

But writing scene by scene is exactly what Scrivener was designed to do. I create folders for each chapter. Then I can think, "What do I need to accomplish next?" and I write it. Since I recently took a course on scene writing, this is perfect. Instead of getting tempted to think way out in the future, I can concentrate on the scene in front of me. What kind of scene, what is the goal, how does it contribute to the story question?

Writing this way, scene by scene, also makes reorganizing so much easier. I got some edits back on a story that made me realize that not only was I going to have to write new scenes, I had to reorder some of the scenes I already had. In Word, this would have been a complete nightmare. Where did I put that scene? Find it (often by hit or miss method), cut, paste to new document, find the new location, paste.

With Scrivener, this is a snap. The scenes are named and if I've been smart (which I haven't always been), the synopsis tells me that yes, this is in fact the scene I was looking for. Then I just drag and drop it to it's new location. I don't have to worry about pagination. Scrivener does that in the compile process.

The first time I did it, I wanted to weep with tears of joy.

Speaking of the compile process, it rocks too. I submitted a manuscript to a magazine for publication. I hit compile and compared the output to the submission guidelines. I only had to make a few tweaks because the margins, font, and paragraph spacing, as well as the address block at the beginning, was already perfect (headers and footers were where I had to make most of my changes, but only on the second submission).

One small nitpick about compile and chapters: If you don't name your chapters (e.g., Chapter 1, Mary Goes to the Store), you'll have text you need to delete - either the placeholder text you used for your folders or "unnamed document." As I don't name my chapters (hell, I have a hard enough time coming up with a title for the entire story much less for every chapter) this is a little irritating, but minor. I would love it if Scrivener would be smart enough to drop that paragraph if the folder is not named.

Project targets are great if you have a target word count. For example, I recently wrote a short story that had to be 6,000 words or less. By setting the project target word count, I knew that if I'd reached the 5,000 word mark and was only 2/3 of the way through the story I was in trouble. Session targets are great if you are doing things like 1k1hr or have a target count for the day.

Some things I've learned:

1. Don't shortcut and skip the character or location sheets. They will really make you think about everything you introduce in the story, including such important things as character conflict. They will also keep you from forgetting that the house is supposed to be white with blue trim, not blue with white trim. Because you will forget. Trust me.
2. Don't import a Word document that is hundreds of pages and thousands of words. I tried. It was messy. Just don't.
3. Scrivenings are your friend. Using those, I can read an entire chapter (or any other selection) end-to-end. And I can make any changes right there, I don't have to jump back to the individual document.
4. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the Preference. Because it turns out yes, you can set the default font and spacing so you don't have to do it for every project. Every. Single. Document.

I know I have not completely used all the features. I've barely touched the cork board or made full use of individual scene statuses (although I have set them religiously). But I know one thing's for sure. Any other tool I may use is going to have a pretty high bar to meet. So worth the $45 USD.

And I don't think I'll ever use Word for authoring again.

Update: For more information on purchasing Scrivener, or downloading a trial version, go to the Literature and Latte web site. Scrivener is also available for purchase through the Mac App Store.

To Review or Not to Review?

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

I have a confession to make: For years, I never bothered to write book reviews.

It's not that I didn't want to, I just didn't have the time. Or I figured that no one cared what I thought about a book. And the people who did, well, they talked to me personally. So I didn't need to write reviews.

That was before I started writing in earnest. Before I stumbled across someone who said the best thing you can do for an author is leave a review, especially if you liked his or her work. Because by leaving a review on Amazon, or Goodreads, you might influence other buyers.

So I started trying to remember to leave reviews, especially for mid-list authors (you know, not the ones getting six figure advances from a Big Six publisher) or authors I'd connected with on social media. Then one day I ran across this article in the Huffington Post from Nina Badzin: why she doesn't trust online book reviews. And it got me thinking - am I leaving "fluff" reviews?

I have two degrees in English, a BA and an MA, both grounded in literature. So I had to learn how to write a review. When I said Moby Dick was one of the worst books I'd ever read (and it still is), I had to defend that. Likewise, when I said I thought Pride and Prejudice was one of the better classics (and I still do), I had to defend that. And those argument had to be better than "I enjoyed it" or "I didn't enjoy it."

So when I leave a review, I try to say what drew me in and where something fell short. I rarely give a five-star review (in fact, I'm not sure I ever have left a five-star review). To me, five stars means that is the best thing I've read and there is nothing I could have improved. And that just doesn't happen that often.

Wait, I rated the final "Harry Potter" book five stars - and that was more for the entire series than one book. But I digress.

Then the question came up in a writer's group, "If you haven't read the whole book, can you leave a review?" and "Should you ever leave a negative review?"

Here's my take. I recently left a 3-star review for a book. I enjoyed it. I'd buy another from that author. But there was something missing. And I said so, and why that something meant three stars. I don't consider that a "negative" review. That's honesty.

Would I leave one star? If I had to. Believe me, I'd not waste a single minute rating Moby Dick one star. But I'd say why.

As for not finishing a book, well, it's true that one can often realize a book is no good after a few poorly written chapters. But if your criticism is thematic, well, you can leave a review - but you run the risk of missing the development of the theme. Because theme takes more than five pages to develop.

This happened to a friend of mine recently. She got a one-star review from someone who admitted she'd stopped reading the book because of some slights against African-Americans. Okay, fine. Into every author's life a few one-star reviews must fall.

But the beautiful thing about most review sites, such as Amazon where this review had been left, is it allows for comments. And comment I did. And I pointed out, politely, that perhaps the reviewer had done herself a disservice and she should read the entire book.

I hope someday to be published, either traditionally or indie. And when I do, I hope my readers, who I assume are fellow story lovers, will do me the kindness of leaving a well written, thoughtful review. Do I hope most of those reviews are good ones? Absolutely. Do I want my friends to leave gushing reviews because they are my friends? No. I want the truth. If a story is lacking somehow, tell me. But tell me in a polite, constructive way so I can learn. Don't leave a "I just hate your genre so I'm giving it one star" review. That is neither helpful nor instructive.

So tell me, book lovers, do you leave reviews? If you're a writer, how do you deal with less-than-glowing reviews?

Image used under Creative Commons via clarism_4