Fiction Is in the Eye of the Beholder

To some degree, good fiction is in the mind of the reader.

If you haven’t figured out yet, I’m a bit of a book snob with ardent opinions on what is and isn’t worth my time. Except in the case of Fifty Shades of Grey. Saying that it’s a contrived piece of trash isn’t opinion; it’s fact.

For that matter, I’m going to stand by most of my criticisms. And just for the record, I set the same standards I hold for other books on my own head, hence the reason why I was so annoyed with myself for finding two dozen (largely little) mistakes in one of my own 300+ page books.

No excuses whatsoever.

Yet I realized after looking through GoodReads that perhaps my positive opinions are much more subject to personal taste than I previously realized. For example, I found out there are fantasy readers who don’t like Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series.

With four of those books on my shelf already and full intention to buy the rest, I’m a definite fan. Sure, I’ve nitpicked (largely little) details, but the characters are compelling, the plots leave me craving more and the writing style is overall solid.

At least according to me. So you can imagine how shocked I was to read the following not-so-impressed comments about the first book, Rosemary and Rue:

·         “This started off strong, but it lost a whooooole bunch of steam as it went. The story never really felt like it was driving forward, just sort of meandering onward.” – R.

·         “I never cared about Toby, I never cared about her friends, the murder or the investigation. I kept reading trying to summon an ounce of interest and I just couldn't.” – Alexa

·         “Rosemary and Rue really isn't bad. I can't complain about the writing, the action, the mystery or the protagonist, October ‘Toby’ Daye. But somehow, this book just never got a hold of my interest.” – Megan

What!!!?!

At first, I’ll admit, I brushed off their opinions as crazy. Yet when I started thinking about it, I had to acknowledge that readers are individuals, and individuals have different turn-ons and turn-offs. What works for me, therefore, doesn’t have to make every other fiction connoisseur out there go “Ooh!”

Really, that’s a lesson that all authors – or maybe all people – should take to heart. You really can’t please everyone. You’re not supposed to please everyone. You’re just supposed to strive to be the absolute best you can be and let it go from there.

Off The Beaten Path

I’ve mentioned a few times now that I’m working on the fourth installment of my Faerietales series. I actually finished editing the first draft a week ago and plan on going over it again shortly.

Believe me, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

But while I was still in the process of writing this masterpiece in the making, I read two other fantasy books, one by Jim Butcher and one by Seanan McGuire, both of whom are experts in their craft. Butcher pretty much owns the genre at this point, and while McGuire is more up-and-coming comparatively speaking, she’s still phenomenal.

Now, they’re both purists in their writing. By that, I mean they stick with all the “ancient texts.” I swear they went to school to study mythology before they ever dreamt about writing their respective series, The Dresden Files and October Daye. So in their worlds, faeries include a wide range of critters of varying shapes and sizes, from the beautiful to the terrifying, with an equally diverse assortment of magical powers.

In fact, Butcher and McGuire both covered the same exact myth recently: The Wild Hunt.

That’d be one of the terrifying ones. But so cool! (I’m not going to describe it myself, but here’s the Wikipedia article if you’re curious.)

The thing is, reading their accounts proved to be a blatant reminder of how far off the beaten path I’ve taken my own stories. In my fantasy world, faeries are all humanoid, all have wings and aren’t magical. If they want to maintain their anonymity around clueless humans, they do so through scientific means, not spells or pixie dust.

In main character Sabrina’s case, I like it that way. I meant it that way. Yet still, sometimes I have to wonder…

So far, most of the people I know of who’ve read the Faerietales books aren’t die-hard fantasy fans, and so I didn’t have to worry about offending any of them with the license that I took.

But I’m really curious to see what the typical Jim Butcher or Seanan McGuire fan would think after picking up a Jeannette DiLouie novel. Will they love my fantastical twists or hate them?

Who knows… Maybe I’ll find out after my book signing on October 3.