HelenKay and Wendy are starting a new blog for honest reviews. It'll be interesting to see how that goes. As Monica points out on HelenKay's blog, it's not easy for a published author to review other authors-- criticism tends to be taken particularly personally by romance authors, for some reason. But despite this I think it's a good idea. It doesn't do the genre as a whole any good to pretend that every romance book written is a masterpiece. Some romances are brilliant, and some are awful, and most are (by definition) more or less average. Reviews of romance ought to reflect that.
In writing news, I sent off Farthest Space to a critique partner-- the first time I've used a cp (other than DH) for any of my books. I hope her comments will be useful... I told her to be harsh, but many people find it difficult to be honest enough. So we'll see.
It's scary to run the risk of offending fellow authors. We really don't want to do that. That's not the purpose. We want this to be a good thing not a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteAlong those lines....one of yours is coming soon.
*G* Well, you won't offend ME. If I can take Mrs. Giggles, I can take anything:-).
ReplyDeleteBut there are unfortunately authors who take any negative comment about ANY aspect of their writing personally. It goes back to what someone-- Wendy?-- said on her blog... some romance readers and authors seem to think that any acknowledgement that every romance isn't perfect is somehow a slam of the whole genre. In fact I think criticism can only improve the genre, so go for it. And good luck!