Criticisms, reviews and writing (Patreon)

So, been having an interesting discussion over on reddit (yes, yes, hive of villainy and scum and all) about the latest series. There have been some interesting criticisms about the book, mostly about the pacing. I was also introduced to a new concept (scene-sequel). Since I'm not a 'trained' writer, it was a nice way to categorise some writing that I hadn't thought of before. Looking it over, I'm pretty sure the actual criticism about the pacing is correct.

On the other hand, there's discussions about John's lack of (obvious) motivation, which I'm not entirely sure I agree with. In either case, it's always nice to hear people are enegage in the story.

What I wanted to talk about is reviews and criticisms in general. One of the things I've found is that it's easy to focus on the negative, because they are not only often the most vocal but also the easiest to stick in the mind.

There's a stat floating around in my head that goes something like 1 in 10 unsatisfied customers will comment or review. 1 in 100 happy customers will do the same. 

In addition, psychologically, we are biased to focus on the negative more than the positive in general.

It's easy for a writer (or anyone) to focus on the negative. While it isn't wrong to review criticisms for potential improvements, it's also dangerous to overcorrect.

In my RL job, one of the biggest thing I have to deal with is convincing my employees that the noisy people complaining are often not as important as the quite, happily paying customers. I've often put into place regulations and changes in the business that have annoyed these people - but at the same time, increased the bottomline for the company because more, happy quiet customers are happy with the actions.

As an author, it's important to try to balance both - understanding when a criticism is valid and when to ignore them and just do what you want to. Sometimes, it can be a struggle either way, which is why I often don't read reviews.