What does an author do when they get a negative review?

[seawasp]

... well, I talk about what I do, anyway, in today's post on my site!

Comments

[boogieshoes.livejournal.com]

when i review books, i tend to want to do a book report, like i was taught to do in school. the 'problem' with that is, of course, that it comes with critiquing to the best of my ability - things i liked, and disliked, things i don't generally think should be done in a structural sense, etc. and since i'm an engineer, not an english major, i suspect i fall down on the critiquing bit somewhat.

on the other hand, i should point out that i, personally, won't take time to actually review or respond to just any book (or fanfic, or whatever). usually i'm too busy inhaling the next offering :).

when i *do* take the time, it's because the overall universe and setting has engaged me enough to continue asking questions, and want answers. i've started to do the 'backwards engineering' thing, where i try to recreate the rules the universe lives by from what the author has put on the page. so when i say something 'negative', it's more often in the sense of 'this does not fit, why did you do that?' i *want* to engage in discussion and theory of the universe and characters.... i find that not a lot of other people do, however. frustrating.

and i don't think i communicate my enthusiasm very well - i get a lot of negative reactions to well-meaning critiques, usually from other *readers*, and i do make an effort not to be insulting or belittling when i review something, no matter how much i hated it. i never could figure out people who read, but didn't want to *discuss* what they read.

on the other hand, i find math almost meditative, so maybe that's the problem to my solution. ;)

-boogie

[xander-opal.livejournal.com]

I think that kind of critiquing is what led Larry Niven to write sequels to Ringworld, because engineers crunched some numbers and let him know, 'hey, this won't work.'

Turns out, there was a lot more going on. :)

[seawasp]

I am a bit more cynical about that; I think what led to sequels to Ringworld was that Ringworld was one of his huge successes and probably THE biggest success he had that wasn't a Pournelle collab.