My NaNoWriMo novel is almost as complete as I can make it. I've already sent early PDF copies to close friends asking what they think. I've not heard back from any of them in several weeks. This means one of two things:
* They're real people with real lives that don't leave them a lot of time for casual reading, or
* My book sucks.
Just as well. Actual criticism can be rather misleading. To show what I mean, here's what some people have said about my work, and what I learned often later than I should have was its proper interpretation:
What they said What they meant
"I liked it!" "It sucks."
"I liked it! It's really good!" "It sucks, but I don't want to hurt your feelings."
"I liked it! It's really good! "It sucks so bad I had to keep reading it to see
I couldn't put it down!" if it ever stopped sucking. Nope."
"You are such a good writer!" "I can't believe YOU wrote this sucking mess!"
"You should get this published!" "So other people can tell you how much it sucks!"
"The characters are so real! "Publish this suckage and I'll be one of several
I think I recognize some of them!" people who'll sue your ass!"
"It has a great plot and interesting, "When you wrote this suckfest, were you smoking
original characters!" a crack pipe or just a bong?"
"I think it should be a movie!" "It could only suck more as a porno flick!"
"This is a brilliant work. Its "Just like everyone else, I think this book sucks
exposition is flawless, it has an like a Hoover; but I took a couple college-level
unexpected and explosive climax, English courses so I'm going to snow you like
and its denouement is sheer genius." Buffalo in January for cheap, sadistic laughs."
It's fun being a writer. Trust me. :-)
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