The Worst Review Ever

[Jay_Quessir]

It actually brought me to tears. I let my friends read it and they were extremely offended (its an unfinished book).

Firstly, I had put some sexual connotation to parts of it. (the worst it got was saying that there was an unamed couple having sex in the corner of a cabin and that this Nazis camp [though not actually Nazis] wanted their peoples to reproduce.)

Secondly, I had one of the characters (not me) to say that God had turned his back on their world and their world stopped believing in him. I would later come back with the main character (female), who lost her faith at that moment, to say, "Just because the world turns its back on God does not mean God will turn its back on the world. Instead, He will face us with open arms. Embrace Him, Jazen, embrace Him."

Third, I used parts of my friends personality triats and named the female main character after two of them. Thusly, they though the book was about them and were thoroughly P.O.ed that I would right "such things" about them or even think of them.

So, basically, they condemned me to Hell for writing my novel.


These were my best friends, which hurt even more. I tried to explain to them that none of the situations were based off of what they would have done nor was any of the character's actions really based of them. I just used a bit of their personality that I liked and moshed it in with the half-empty shell of my fictional character.

By far, its the worst review ever.

[Bamy]

:hugs: take my advice...ignore the criticism..your novels are good. maybe you could alter the story a little.

[Brenda]

Or just change the names so it's not "about" people you know.

[Kaoru]

Amy's right--you write wonderfully! Changing the names might help later on, but from what I could tell, the damage has been done. Your friends might come around should the names change, or they might not, seeing how they reacted despite your explanations.

:hugs: Every author is bound to get a bad review once in a while. Don't let it get you down. Some of even the best authors/stories get the worst reviews.

[Lady Arwyn]

It sounds to me that they aren't saying your work is bad, they simply don't like the content. Some people can't accept ideas that are contrary to their own in fiction, it seems like an attack on them. Using their names doesn't help, it seems like even more of an attack. I bet they only read material that matches perfectly to their own ideas.

Don't worry about them, change the names (you *can* get in legal trouble for basing a character in any way on a real person) and get some folks who accept fiction as fiction to read your stuff. I bet you get a totally different reaction.

If you still value their friendships, explain that you were trying to honor them by naming FICTIONAL characters for those you admire, and tell them you will change the names. And let them know that the storyline was not meant to represent them or what you thought of them in any way. If they are real friends they will accept it, if not, they weren't worth bothering with.

[Jay_Quessir]

Thank y'all.

It's like this...one person was slightly offended by the content...which wasn't actually that bad when I explained to them exactly what it meant. They speed-read my novel, which you can't do or you get a really, really bad book. The only name that resembles someone was Dianna (Diane, Anna). They took no offense to their names being used. I explained today that I actually never thought of them in any perverse ways and I did not have them in mind when I wrote any of the short, non-graphic love scenes. (taking a shirt off is not a porn...no matter what).

I wrote the above before I met with the other five (I lost one friend through the whole thing) and they all seemed to not care. Now, in fact, they are all mad at the one I lost because she, erin, decided to put Anna and Cory (another person I based part of the character traits) in the letter as writers...they weren't. She is the only one who doesn't understand the book and she's supposed to be the smartest.

I really thank y'all for the help! :) You're all great!

[Bamy]

See...:hugs: It wasn't all that bad...:)

[Jay_Quessir]

Nopers....

[Jay_Quessir]

Okay...so the worst wasn't over...

Second talk...this is long and the names will not be changed!


_i_ am done fighting says:
Hello. You probably don't want to talk. So, don't. I am just here to say. A) I do not secretly still love you. B) I am not going to try to change your opinion C) I don't really care what you think. I have what I know, seeing that I wrote the book.

You can take it our leave it but I told you everything last night. Have a nice day
E*R^I~N says:
A. Never said that, we all know you like Bekah. B. I already said that you couldn't do that. C. The problem IS that you wrote the book. And tha's what I told you last night too.
_i_ am done fighting says:
And you responded in the most Christian of manners. "I'm not going to go there. Goodnight."
_i_ am done fighting says:
"It's not our judgedment that matter in the end"
E*R^I~N says:
cause obviously you don't care what we think
_i_ am done fighting says:
Oh...obviously not. I talked to EVERYONE today and everyone has said that they are not mad at me. yes, they did not like that their names were used. They are not mad at me... I cared about all of you. I care about them now.
E*R^I~N says:
hmm.... funny, yesterday they were mad enough to beat you up....
_i_ am done fighting says:
Yes...that's why anna came back there and told me exactly what her problem was
_i_ am done fighting says:
And I explained to her and she was open-minded enough to accept a different view
_i_ am done fighting says:
That's why Cory said to me this morning: "Chase, I don't care what you write about me."
_i_ am done fighting says:
That's why...when you were not there all morning. We all talked about it and we all rationalized it
E*R^I~N says:
since she came back just as mad
_i_ am done fighting says:
yes
_i_ am done fighting says:
and today she was fine with it
_i_ am done fighting says:
DON"T BELIEVE ME? Oh wait, of course not. ASK THEM FOR YOURSELF, ERIN CHU.
_i_ am done fighting says:
Our friendship obviously was fake from what i am seeing in you RIGHT now. You have been nothing but verbally abusive to me since I first met you. You have made jokes about everything I have ever done. You have made the meanest, most hurtful comments of anyone and most of the time, it is not in a playful mood whatsoever
_i_ am done fighting says:
Do you think that i would be fighting this at all if our friendship had meant nothing? Do you really think Iwould?
_i_ am done fighting says:
For such a wise, gifted woman, you miss the point of far to many things
E*R^I~N says:
do you think I would have not said anything the FIRST time around if it hadn't meant anything to me?
E*R^I~N says:
Chase, you were like my best friend, and now it feels like you've betrayed that trust
_i_ am done fighting says:
Erin, I poured all my problems out last night and I told you the exact truth of things. You betrayed my trust by leaving it as it was and saying goodnight.
_i_ am done fighting says:
If you are mad because the FICTIONAL character who is LOOSELY based around you gets pregnant, after marriage, I might add. Then you need a serious reality check
_i_ am done fighting says:
its a fictional person. I had you in mind, yet again, only when it was on the main goal. I did not write the love scenes with you as the person having any of them. I have honestly never had any sexual thoughts about you
_i_ am done fighting says:
or anyone at our table
E*R^I~N says:
the reason I said goodnight is because everythihng you were saying was making me madder and it seemed like everything I was saying was making you madder
_i_ am done fighting says:
no...nothing you said last night was making me madder. The only thing that made me mad is that you were not listening to what I was saying. You were ignoring what I was saying and I am not going to fight that you do not believe me.
E*R^I~N says:
Chase, you flat out told me that that character was supposed to be me. Even if you weren't thinking about me while writing it, it was still wrong
E*R^I~N says:
I read every singe thing you said and the only thing you could have said to make a difference was that you're sorry. And that was the one thing you didn't say.
_i_ am done fighting says:
You know, I'm sorry that I used your name and your dislike of your father in my story. I'm sorry that I used some of your mannerisms in the character that I wrote. I'm glad that you thought the book was good.
_i_ am done fighting says:
and i was writing that before you said that
_i_ am done fighting says:
But I am not sorry for the content that I wrote into either book. I am not sorry that I wrote a double meaning to nearly every word in that book. The camp they go to is like a Nazis world where they encourage everyone to be just alikie: evil. The sex that is encouraged is just like the Nazis. the fact that they get close does not mean taht they do because they have restraint. The close encounters
_i_ am done fighting says:
and loss of faith are all going to be resolved in a very Christian manner in the end
_i_ am done fighting says:
the second book is in no way about any of you except the very few traits I threw into the characters
E*R^I~N says:
I know that, it's about my friends, which also makes me mad
_i_ am done fighting says:
IT IS NOT ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS
THEY HAVE EMBRACED THAT IT IS NOT ABOUT THEM!
_i_ am done fighting says:
Shakespeare once said: "What's in a name?"
E*R^I~N says:
and personality and looks
E*R^I~N says:
and the fact that you flat out said it was me
_i_ am done fighting says:
First book
_i_ am done fighting says:
not second
_i_ am done fighting says:
First book I am sorry for
E*R^I~N says:
yes, the second was about my friends
_i_ am done fighting says:
the second I am in no way sorry
_i_ am done fighting says:
NO IT WAS NOT!
E*R^I~N says:
you don't think that it's wrong to write something like that?
_i_ am done fighting says:
HAVE ANY OF YOUR FRIENDS EVER WENT YTHROUGH THAT?
_i_ am done fighting says:
Umm....actually...no
_i_ am done fighting says:
not when it adds to the overall plot of things
_i_ am done fighting says:
you are so closed-minded that it infuriates me. You have your ideal Christian little world that has none of this in it but it does. THAT is the cold, hard, stone truth that we all have to face
_i_ am done fighting says:
I am writing a book where the faith of the cahracters comes out in the end and it does help to vanquish the evil. It is the only thing that can. Not the power of the magic, not the power of the person. The power of Christ, the Savior, defeats evil
_i_ am done fighting says:
i should never have sent you the book until finished because it is a very horrid book at the moment and until it is over, no one will want to accept it
_i_ am done fighting says:
It is far from over.
E*R^I~N says:
since you keep bringing up that this book is about christ saving everyone, would he read that book?
_i_ am done fighting says:
Faith, for some, is easy to accept, is easy to maintain. But there's the sinners
_i_ am done fighting says:
Yes.
E*R^I~N says:
since everyone's a sinner
_i_ am done fighting says:
the heavy sinners. They fall flat on their faces
E*R^I~N says:
you think He would approve of you writing sex scenes?
_i_ am done fighting says:
I did not write a sex scene
_i_ am done fighting says:
I wrote to a shirt coming off. I wrote that someone was having sex. I wrote that there was an existence of premarital sex
_i_ am done fighting says:
Theres' the theatrical term, Fade to black, that would prevent sex scenes coming into full swing
E*R^I~N says:
Chase, just cause someone doesn't go all the way, doesn't mean that it's not wrong
_i_ am done fighting says:
I'm aware of that
_i_ am done fighting says:
but the mention of sex is not wrong
_i_ am done fighting says:
the mention of premarital sex is not wrong
_i_ am done fighting says:
the act of doing it is. The mention of it is not. The Bible says it is a sin. yet all sins are equal. The lying and the cheating are equal
_i_ am done fighting says:
Erin, you have cheated, I have cheated. You have therfore commited the same level of sin as what has been written in that book
E*R^I~N says:
if writing a sex scene is wrong, and not going all the way is just as wrong, then how is writing a scene where they don't go all the way NOT wrong
_i_ am done fighting says:
Is not going anywhere near all the way wrong?
_i_ am done fighting says:
is stopping yourself wrong...like what happens in the book?
_i_ am done fighting says:
Is finding that last ground of morals before you throw yourself away wrong???
_i_ am done fighting says:
Would God, if one were in that situation, not want us to see that it is wrong and stop if it had started
_i_ am done fighting says:
Erin. Be it wrong or not, you are condemning thousands of authors to Hell. You are condemning me to Hell for this. Anne McCaffrey wrote sex in. J.R.R. Tolkien mentioned sex in there. There is no way any of tem could have been born without it. Some of them do not have fathers.
_i_ am done fighting says:
I mean they do not know their fathers
_i_ am done fighting says:
I am not going to say that I have not sinner for I have done so deeply and through this book I am explaining the wrong way to go. I am telling what could have happened. What would have went wrong if so
_i_ am done fighting says:
I am telling of what God can do...(although it is not yet come into the boko)
_i_ am done fighting says:
book*
E*R^I~N says:
tolkien didn't write sex scenes, or excuse me, scenes where they almost go all the way
_i_ am done fighting says:
okay
_i_ am done fighting says:
But he did have to mention it
E*R^I~N says:
and why else did you think I'd stopped readding Drop books
_i_ am done fighting says:
he did have to say that they begot them and that there were bastard children
_i_ am done fighting says:
Magic.
E*R^I~N says:
there is a difference between metioining somehting and writing a whole scene!
_i_ am done fighting says:
Okay. I'm not going to fight you anymore
_i_ am done fighting says:
I am not going to argue to the point where I am again in tears. I am not going to argue until the point where you are in tears
_i_ am done fighting says:
I am done. You can take what I said, or leave it. YOu can look at it openly, or leave it.
E*R^I~N says:
Chase, I tried
E*R^I~N says:
do you realize how much easier this would be if I had just misread or misinterpreted something?
E*R^I~N says:
that's why I've listened to everything youve said
_i_ am done fighting says:
actually...you did misread and misinterpret
E*R^I~N says:
hoping that maybe somewhere we got our lines crossed
_i_ am done fighting says:
cause the point of my story is not that premarital sex is okay. Not that God would turn his back on the world. My point is to say that God will lead us Home. He will offer his guiding hand and He will lead us to the righteous path, if only we embrace Him.
E*R^I~N says:
chase, I'm not saying the point of the book is wrong, I'm saying the content is
_i_ am done fighting says:
Erin. you have blown this out of proportions
_i_ am done fighting says:
Some of the content is risque. It is not about you or anyone we know. I have the Constitutional right to write this and you do not have to read it if you do not like the content. This is the world we live in now. I am not going to create the ideal world in a book that I am writing. I am not going to say that in Ahamay, no one has premarital sex. I am not going to say that no one murders, that none
_i_ am done fighting says:
are as bad as the Nazis
_i_ am done fighting says:
I am not going to leave out certain things because they are bad. Iam going to expose the world for what it is, what everyone sees it as. I am going to show the bad, and then I am going to show the good that will become of it
E*R^I~N says:
what you wrote could be viewed as sexual harrassment, which is NOT a constitutional right
E*R^I~N says:
WE KNOW THE WORLD IS BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
_i_ am done fighting says:
Erin...it in no way can
_i_ am done fighting says:
there is no physical evidence that that book is about you
E*R^I~N says:
you dont' have to go and illustrate everylittle singe thing that's wrong with it!
_i_ am done fighting says:
there is not enough grounds
E*R^I~N says:
beside the fact that you admitted it.............
_i_ am done fighting says:
Erin. It is not about you
_i_ am done fighting says:
The Ellesian Princess is, in fact, about you . Yet, it is not completely about you. It is about a fictional character named Leigh
_i_ am done fighting says:
It is my private property, not published
_i_ am done fighting says:
You could take me to court, but as many have already said to me, oyu do not have the grounds to win the case
E*R^I~N says:
Chase, everything that we're saying is exactly what has been said before. You said you were done fighting, but haven't stopped. Well, now I'm done. I've heard everything you said for two whole nights, and it hasn't changed my opinion. I don't want to debate this with you anymore.
_i_ am done fighting says:
If I wrote word for word about you, it would say I am Erin Chu from ____ Texas and this is my story

[Bamy]

Stupid girl. she obviouly doesn't get it or want to get it. drop her friendship like a stone.

[Keita]

I'm with Amy on this! :sad:

[Mayhem]

OK

Is there like some weird religious reason that she is such a prude or is that just her being prudish??

:hugs:

She isn't worth it. Block and forget for now.
She will either come round or won't. From what I see, her NOT coming round shouldn't worry you that much IMO...

Everyone gets a bad critique now and then, blatently she isn't mature enough to avoid doing that in a hurtful way and to not take things personally.

:hugs: again for good measure!

[Brenda]

I would, however, change the names so as not to continue the offense, imagined or otherwise.

[Jay_Quessir]

I did :) And I did. And I Did.

She was dropped as of today.
I changed the names as of yesterday.
I've moved on as of today.

[Kaoru]

I'm sorry you were unlucky enough to know someone as close-minded as that. It's good to hear you've moved on. Know you've our support, at least. :hugs: :D

Edit: -beats the "kvow" typo- -beatbeatbeat-

[Jay_Quessir]

yay!

[Sophia Caligo]

Thusly, they though the book was about them and were thoroughly P.O.ed that I would right "such things" about them or even think of them.



First off, I'm no grammar Nazi. I'm not even in the youth group. But PLEASE PLEASE spell homonyms correctly. Especially if you claim to be a writer.

Secondly, your friends might think you see them as cliches if you give them lines such as "God faces the world with open arms." (Which I'm pretty sure was used somewhere else before.)

Other than that, personal attacks shouldn't be heeded when writing fiction.
<--- went through Fiction Bootcamp with General Hawkes


I can't really comment further without actually reading your story, but I would rip it appart without personal discretion.

If your friends attacked you personally, deal with the personal attacks, but don't let them effect your writing.

[Mayhem]

*Snip*

If your friends attacked you personally, deal with the personal attacks, but don't let them effect your writing.

Affect ;)

When ya gonna be lettin people read this Jay? Always up for readin people's stuff!

:D

[Aurelia]

I can't really comment further without actually reading your story, but I would rip it appart without personal discretion.


Apart. :wink:

:evil:

Jay - maybe you should let us have a read. No-one here is that critical...I'd never hurt someone like that.

[Sophia Caligo]

Hey! I said I was no grammar nazi!

<--- Freely admits she can't spell.

[Mayhem]

Hey! I said I was no grammar nazi!

<--- Freely admits she can't spell.
*Grins*

Me neither, but fun to catch a spelling error in a post pointing out one. :D

*Guilty of that a fair bit*

[Madrigal]

... and she's supposed to be the smartest.

You can often tell people who aren't as smart as they think by the number of bizzare non-alphabetical characters they feel they need in their usernames.

Just a thought.

[Andaren]

Don't feel bad - I've had worse.

I had one person slating me for being a wiccan 'Oh you're a wiccan, isn't that cute! You do realise that your religion isn't real and you're a blasphemer'

Even worse, someone gave me the completly useless comment 'it sucks, and not only does it suck, it's ******' :rolleyes:

I take that kind of criticism with a pinch of salt, especially as the majority of reviews I get are really positive.

[Robsia]

Yikes - what a fuss!

She'd probably have a coronary if she read MY book - that def has sex in it! And they worship a Goddess!

[Ian]

Hey, good to see you again Robsia :wave: < :sneak: ily points at gather thread>

Some of my fictional goddesses aren't above joining in when their worshippers' devotions sway into the orgiastic ;)

[Robsia]

I did have a look at that gather thread but the dates are bad for me. I'm teaching again so we're back at school. :(

[Jay_Quessir]

I've already posted part of it....:D

And sorry for the grammar mistake on write...I think I was most likely in a hurry/angry so I wasn't clearly thinking. :D

Thanks for the advice, btw. Things have actually cleared up between the two of us since then...and we're back to a normal state of friendship...lol...we don't talk about her little 'incident' with 'overreacting'...it's a tense topic.