Book Reviews: Better Than a Rating System?

Disclaimer:  This post pertains to fiction ebooks. Names of books and authors have not been included--thereby protecting the innocent (and the guilty).  And, since I am not yet published,  I write this wearing a reader's hat. Okay, it has a matching writer's scarf.  I do love the craft...

I start this post with a heavy sigh, even while knowing you will be tempted to click the back button on your browser.  But, questions that seem unanswerable do tend to make me sigh.Where to begin? Where to begin...

While spending a great deal of time alone today at work, I did a lot of thinking.  My job is often like that--solitary.  And as they often do, my thoughts drifted in and out of the writing world. Today, it was not so much my own little writing corner, but more about the writing world at large.

Let me back up and tell you what started my thought train. I downloaded an eBook yesterday evening and immediately started to read it. Wow! I was turning those digital pages as quickly as I could read the words. As I was being reeled in by the action and the terror of this dystopian world, it occurred to me that the author was changing point of view quite often.

Hmm...it was a self-published book. Is this part of the crap that I so often read about on writer's blogs? Nah...not a book this engaging.  Today, out of curiosity, I went back to Amazon to double-check the reviews before I wrote this post. Over 200-- and standing at four and a half stars.  Nobody has THAT many friends and relatives ready to put up a shill review.

It was just the tip of the iceberg for me in this whole, enormous, reading/writing/publishing journey I have undertaken.

And, I must confess, just when I start to think I know something about this r/w/p world, I realize I know next to nothing.  I could go on confessing...there again, nah. Perhaps another day :-)

During the last year, my writing journey has intensified greatly.  It was one year ago that I entered ABNA for the first time. I didn't enter this year, because this year I understand that I really have nothing ready to go.  Last year, I was too ignorant of good writing to realize it.  And now, it is painfully obvious to me when a writer publishes their work--at a quality level of which they are too ignorant to comprehend--just like me a long year ago.

But, no regrets...ABNA was a wonderful experience that propelled me forward into the online writing community. And it nudged me to explore the writing world at large.

I began reading blogs--even created my own, and put myself in sponge mode--to absorb every little drop of meaningful advice that was offered.  The writing community is a generous one.  And there was not a better time to have begun to spread my wings, readying to fly with my writing.  But I had to fly fast--like everyone else who was trying to keep up with the near-daily changes. The landscape is shifting so quickly in the publishing industry that no one is sure where we all will be when the dust settles.

In my travels from blog to blog, when I read a post, I also read the comments that follow.  And there has been a recurring question asked, and then opined upon...over and over again.  "What to do about the crap that is being self-published?  The stuff that is clogging up Amazon and other sites that sell ebooks?  The real writers can't find their way out to stand at the top--to be noticed."

I understand what they are saying; I have read excerpts that made me feel bad for the authors. Have they no idea?  Then I remind myself that everyone has a story--some of them (us) have many that they (we) just can't help but share. :-)


But, I am not here to pick arguments, and I am not here to take sides.  And on some blogs I have visited, it is apparent that sides are forming.

I have read suggestions that there be some type of rating body, or a system that books are rated on, bearing some sort of mark of quality.  Hmm?  Are we trying to put up another gate to replace the one that the big six have had for years and years? The one through which only a minute number of writers ever made it?

I don't mean to diminish the enormity of their success--just making it through was magnificent--and a testament to their work, their dedication, their expertise...their education...

But, is there something more?  How do we define good and bad writing?  How do we define what is good and what is crap?  How do we define a person's sense of story?

It seems there is a huge disconnect between readers-- and the writers who cross every "t" and dot every "i".  It appears that understanding the correct way--the taught way to write, is not as important to many readers as it is to the writers who are clamoring for a way to rate books.  A system that will allow the stellar to stand in front of the not so stellar.


But, to be fair, there are storytellers among us who just don't know very much about grammar and punctuation.  There are people who are passionate about their stories--but the last English class they sat in was in high school. There are people typing away (right now, I bet), who have never once sat in a creative writing class.  Maybe they have never read The Elements of Style, never heard of The Chicago Manual of Style .  Maybe they hated English, but love to read--and their mind can't stop creating stories.

And it is prudent to consider the written standard--that nearly everything has.  It is the reference, the thing we come back to when we need to analyze, to double-check, to see if we are slipping away from the right way to do things. I understand the importance of a written standard.

Yet, in visual art, we can be taught a certain way to do things, a "method".  But our finished product is much less often judged on, and defined by, the written standard from which the artist was taught.  There is an acceptance for crude expression form.

And music.  I smile--there are some pretty successful artists out there producing something which I cringe to call music.  And I am awfully sure that those artists never sat in a music theory class.  But their work sells.  And it sells because it entertains someone.


I don't know what the answer is, but it worries me that anyone would presume a design for standardized rating of books-- based upon content quality, could be done in a fair manner. Such arbitrary judgement begs the question... who among us is worthy to judge?  Who among us is worthy to set the specs--the standards that must be met to earn a certain rating?  Who will provide the screening of the books' quality?  Who will pay for it all?

Having said all that, I am sensitive to the frustrations of  the many who are mired in a sea of ebook mediocrity. And there is mediocrity in abundance--along with  worse. And how can authors with exceptional books be noticed in an already over-saturated ebook market?

That last question exists for all ebook authors, too.  Even the ones who write "crap", yearn to be read.

The book I began to read last night (and will return to as soon as I post this blog) is a fine example of someone who did not follow the rules. Yet, I say without reservation, even if they don't know the term or the definition for it--are quite capable of motivating people to "suspend their disbelief".

I have read traditionally published books that, although, every letter and symbol was exactly where it should have been,  put me to sleep. I have, for years, read traditionally published books written by authors who I think might have been resting on their laurels.  Where was the story? 

What to do? As long as there is a buck to be made, companies will provide a means for writers to self-publish.  Demanding anything more or less--to me, smacks of censorship. "Just sayin..."

And I think that ultimately, any type of rating has to come from the reviews--from the people who read the books--or start to read them--then don't finish.

I don't know about you guys, but I read the reviews before I buy a book.  And if they aren't shining reviews, I probably won't buy it.  But, in all honesty...if I read a review that told me the story was excellent but the grammar or punctuation needed some work, I'd likely still read the excerpt to see if it was actually distracting. If it wasn't? For a good story, I'd still buy the book.

As  a writer, I encourage others, rather than discourage.  And I hope that my honest criticisms of their work would serve to motivate them to improve...to reach for a higher place.


In the same line of thinking, I add that just tonight, my son's girlfriend and I were talking about books. We recommend good reads to each other, and warn each other away from bad ones. I told her about the book I started reading last night. Then she told me that she has found so many bad ebooks, it makes her mad to waste her time.  She had just read the beginning of another one and was disgusted--and will not continue reading it.


I asked her if she wrote a review.  And then, as a good member of the writing community, <smile> told her that there are guidlines available online for writing a review--since she has never written one and seemed sort of shy. Ha! I act like the grand master of reviews. I have written four--but will write many more now that the importance has become tantamount to how to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Then I talked a little bit about writing reviews, being your own person and sharing your honest opinion, not insulting other reviewers when you disagree with them,  explaining why you liked or didn't like the book.  And the big one: never get personal about the author. <big smile>

Any thoughts out there?

Storytellers

"There will be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories..." 

What does that have to do with a Christmas song? Seems as though it belongs to Halloween.  I remember listening to those lyrics when I was a child, and then thinking the same.

Scary ghost stories...

This morning, as I mused on that question, my grandmother's face came to mind. I could hear her voice telling me "don't truck with the devil," and that she was "lonesome for the dead".  Then I thought a lot about the story-telling culture of my own youth, and about story-telling in general.  I landed at this question--why do humans tell stories?

My initial answer (to me) was that we tell stories to entertain. But after exploring the idea further, realized that there are so many more reasons that we humans do this.

The non-fiction type stories--or at least the ones that the storyteller believes to be true, quite often act as cautionary tales.  Throughout history, they have served as a set of guidelines to keep us out of trouble, to keep us from harm--or in some cases, to serve the agenda of others.

At some point in time, the earliest man capable of spoken language told stories. Augmenting his limited speech with vivid displays of facial expressions and hand gestures, he told the story of the Homo ergaster child who played with fire. Children learned without ever having to feel the pain of a burn, to not play in the fire.  It may have been little more than a grunt-punctuated game of charades, but storytelling has no limits on the way the tale can be conveyed.

Imagine how easily the concept of a non-fiction, cautionary-tale, migrated to being a fable. In a less complex time--an earlier time when science--with its inherent, analytical approach to things, had not yet morphed into the cynicism of recent times, even adults believed that nature transformed to teach us things.


And in many ways, today's stories are just that: fables wearing the trappings of today's world.  But our understanding, our doubt, and our cynicism cloaks the ancient beauty of the tales, save for the wonder of a child as the meaning behind the tales becomes clear.

In the earliest story-tellings, the stories existed because the listener(s) could relate to the character(s).   Because the story was them; that has not changed.  Levels of literacy have changed, though, affecting the way a story is shared.  Even so, storytelling begins in the human mind and then shared via voice, pen, or keyboard.  The art of story telling is alive and well.

My grandmother used to tell us (my siblings and me) when we were quite small, that "the boogieman lives across the pasture fence in that woods".  At first, fear kept us from  asking questions--it was already more than enough to know that such a terrible creature existed there. (disclaimer--I have never actually seen a boogieman BUT my imagination pictured something quite horrible and...well...slimy-dripping-wet, climbing up through thick cattails)  As time went by, we asked questions, and she responded as needed; the tale evolved, "Don't go there--he will drag you into the swamp."  Later editions included physical descriptions of the woods and the swamp.  As an adult, I was still afraid of the "swampy woods".  (I now own them) <smirk>  There are old sediment ponds below where an old coal mine's bony pile sat.  But as a grandmother now, ye gads, I can relate to the need to use tales and fear to serve my agenda.  "Stay out of the woods. Monsters live there."

In grandma's world-- a woman born in the 1880s, storytelling was an art.  She managed the things that staying alive necessitated--the milk cows, the chickens, the garden, the fields of oats and corn.  And there were no radios, no TVs.  Stories were everything, the ultimate escape from a reality of hard physical work.

Storytellers were also the earliest historians.  In absence of a written language, cultures passed tales from generation to generation, ensuring that the things worthy of pride were not forgotten...and that the mistakes of the past were avoided in the future.  Humans needed to keep track of which tribes did what, ate what, stole what, and were predisposed to attacking, pillaging, and plundering to make a living.  Knowing these things and then telling a child these things is one way.  But to paint a graphic image through words is a whole other way. To tell a tale that sucks in the listener, to make them cry for those who were lost--even though they never met them, to make them feel pride in their people, to make them laugh, hope, and understand the goals and the rules... Embellishment serves its purpose, and is a useful tool in the storytellers toolbox.  Sometimes, though, embellishments--when not handled properly, turn nonfiction to fiction.  As is sometimes the case in tall-tales.

Even so, with such fabulous exaggerations as exist in tall-tales, the elements of reality-- the grounding that makes the story so relative to our very own existence, are alive and well.  Our eyes light up, we grin, we laugh at the ridiculousness of it--yet see bits and pieces of ourselves in the very grandeur within the tall-tale's words.  I don't know about you, but even in the tallest of Annie Oakley tall-tales, I see a little bit of me in that  gal.  We are the story.

And we can never dismiss the idea of plain old escape when it comes to tales.  You know, as a writer, the added bonus of inventing other worlds and other characters for readers to slip into, is that I am the first person to escape to that world.  I get to know the characters--good and bad--they are fragments of every soul I have ever known--and many I have never even met. I write for humans living in a complex world; I am inspired by those very same humans, and the stories of their lives, day in and day out.

For the industrialized world, the way we live has changed the necessity of owning a milk-cow, a small flock of chickens, and putting up everything in a two acre garden, for the sake of survival.  We still work very hard to survive, but often is the case,  the work is mental. 

And I don't mean to dismiss the hard physical work that many, many, many humans still perform.

In either case, we need our escape.  Our story dynamics have changed over the years, our motivation for telling them and for reading and listening to them has changed. And the types of stories we enjoy has evolved.

But one element remains unchanged...that the stories are us, each and everyone of us.  We walk in the character's shoes, we cry with them and laugh with them if the story manages to convey a deep sense of emotions.  And we miss them when we turn the last page and close the book.

Storytellers--and their stories have a complex history, Nearly as old, no doubt, as mankind, itself.  And for the storyteller, inspiration takes varied forms, from a need to warn others about a threat, to a need to provide a means of escape for those trapped in the everyday world of reality. 

Hug a storyteller today.  :-) But don't interrupt them while they are practicing their craft ;-)