We love reading, it’s an escape, a change of scenery, heart stopping, blood boiling, heartbreaking, uplifting, depending on the read it can bring you down for a bit – especially if you end in a book funk after a fanfuckingtastic read – but the best thing is that you follow the characters and enjoy the ride….

I’ve just read a post on Penelope Douglas’ website (check out the link below) and I really believe that some readers need to get a bloody grip….. And others need a right good smack round the head!! 😦

A good few of the authors we read write the stories that their characters tell them. The tale may begin heading in one direction but often, at some point along the way, there’s a turn, they backtrack or come to a fork in the road that changes the actions of the characters and therefore changes the story…. We trust the authors to run with this, to tell the tale from the characters ‘eyes’ and POV and we know that it’ll all work out in the end – even if that ending isn’t what we ever hoped for!!

Penelope Douglas’ Post….

My 2p worth ~ Tracy

Jeezuz, what is it with some folk?!?! Where do these people get off contacting an author like that to tell her what/what not to do with her book?!?

These are the AUTHORS books, the WRITERS characters… THEIR characters tell THEM the story… regardless of whether things go the way we would like them to or not.

FFS, life doesn’t always go how we imagine it will, what makes a book any different??
Just because we image character x, y or z should behave this way or that or do/say a certain thing doesn’t mean that’s gonna happen.

For someone to say they won’t be buying another books or that they are adding an author to their ‘banned list’ just because they don’t like the way a certain couple/character is headed/acting or whatever is just bloody ridiculous…. Worse still is that they demand the author to write/rewrite the book a certain way…. That shit is NOT on!!!

Haters are always gonna hate – it’s sad but true…. If you, as a reader, don’t like how a book/series is turning out, do the stand-up, decent thing and walk away…. Take your thoughts, keep them to yourself and walk the hell away…. There’s no need to plaster spoilers on GR, tell us that ‘xxx’ doing ‘yyy’ is gonna ‘ruin the couple/relationship/series’ or for you to badger, harass, bully or belittle the author and their work because they don’t share your opinion of how things should go.

In Penelope’s case, I’m nervous about what’s gonna happen in Aflame, but like a lot of others readers who love her books, I’m sure it’s gonna be a roller-coaster journey (and gods yeah, I might want to get off a time or two during the ride!!) but I KNOW that she’ll give us a helluva book and things will be great!!!

**If you feel my comments fit you, don’t take it too personally, after all, it’s just MY opinion!!!!!

PS ~ Rebecca sent me this link. In the words of Becs, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb is a classy lady and she’s just earned herself another fan!!! 😉

My Thoughts ~ Rebecca

Social media is a double edged sword. It enables authors to interact with their readers as never before, it’s a huge, wide reaching platform to promote their work on, it’s also unfortunately a place for the rudely opinionated to abuse and bully them. Instead of being a healthy pleasant environment where we can support and connect with our favourite authors and other readers, be part of groups of likeminded peeps and follow blogs looking for the next recommendation to feed our one click addiction it has, on occasions, become a breeding ground that exemplifies the old saying “ familiarity breeds contempt”.

Our access to authors is unlimited online, people can hide behind their FB profile; it’s not real is it? I’d like to think that this is the excuse some of them have for thinking that the rude, unconstructive criticism that for example has been directed at Pen Douglas over the last couple of days, that Madeline Sheehan suffered last year, that I saw directed in a FB group at Kristy Bromberg yesterday but, if I’m honest, I believe it’s an arrogance born from this unprecedented access; that perceived familiarity.

AUTHORS ARE HUMAN.

THEY HAVE FEELINGS.

THEY HAVE LIVES.

Yes you can argue they put themselves in the public eye, not disagreeing with you. Yes, how they interact and behave on these media platforms influences us but that’s ok, there are buttons – unfriend, unfollow, leave group – easy peasy, job done with no unnecessary drama and bullshit if you don’t like the way they are. But the nasty bitchiness that gets thrown at them…………….

*Why isn’t the next book out yet?

*Why didn’t you answer my pm immediately?

*Why aren’t you writing it this way?

*What’s the next in the series because I can’t be bothered to look at Amazon?

Blah blah blah…………..

*The next book isn’t out because it’s being written as the creative juices flow, as the voices talk in the heads of the people who don’t think about writing but DO IT.

*Your pm wasn’t answered immediately because the author has a life, kids, family, probably another job as well, no assistant, no huge publishing roadshow to deal with such things, and oh yeah, refer to the above probably busy trying to write the next book in between answering emails, pm’s, interacting on social media, and yes, pesky real life.

And so to all those who believe they can write it better, that it should be this way, this character should do this, how could you do that to my beloved character ??? Go write your own book then.
Or trust that, if it’s an author whose work you love, they know what they’re doing, that those voices talk to them and take the story where it needs to go – not always happily, not always the way we foresee, sometimes leaving us with a big ugly cry but memorable and awesome just the same. And just a thought but even with a favourite author or beloved series we will still always have some we like more than others, some we connect with better, we don’t have to adore each and every one.

Constructive criticism is one thing, rudeness and drama are another. Everyone has opinions, it’s an interesting world with huge choice options in it because of this, but the way we express those opinions needs thinking on sometimes before that ‘enter’ button gets pressed and those words are out there for the world to see: virtual or not, feelings and emotions need to be thought of, they’re real and we are human.