You should all know by now that I like to talk, ESPECIALLY when I am passionate about something and believe that it needs to be spoken about.
Once again, opinions have been thrust into the limelight and definitions have been questioned. Before I explain further, I’m just going to paste the Oxford dictionary definitions of two words; nasty, and constructive.
Nasty: very bad, or unpleasant.
(definition of unpleasant is: Causing discomfort, unhappiness, or revulsion; disagreeable.)
Constructive: Having or intended to have a useful or beneficial purpose.
Two completely different word with extremely clear definitions, yet people are still getting confused by the two words.
Why?
As a reviewer, I have always been made aware that authors (or anyone who gets critiqued) tend to appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE reviews as opposed to NASTY reviews. With both types of reviews your opinion is given – that is NOT the issue. After all, every person on this Earth is entitled to their opinion. We are allowed to dislike something. We are allowed to express our dislike of something. We are allowed to jump for joy about something. What the issue is, however, is the WAY those points are put across.
Believe me, I open my trap before my brain connects sometimes, ending up with goodness knows what flying out of my mouth. But when it comes to reviews, I am extremely careful about how I voice my opinion.
For example; ‘Omg I hated that book, it was absolutely shit, the author bored me to tears.’
What’s wrong with that sentence?
Okay, so, the example above is someones opinion. They’re entitled to that. Answer me this; was it constructive, or nasty?
If you said that the example was a constructive comment: seriously? How does saying that a book was ‘shit’, come across as beneficial to the author?
It doesn’t.
It’s rude and it’s nasty. Imagine if you cooked a meal for a group of people and someone came up to you afterwards and said that they thought your cooking was absolutely vile, would you benefit from that?
To turn the above example into a constructive opinion, here’s an example:
‘Personally, this book wasn’t really my cup of tea as I couldn’t quite gel with the storyline. I felt that it came across as quite over the top and unrealistic, which in turn made me switch off.’
The different between the two examples is substantial. The example above still highlights your dislike, yet it also explains WHY you felt that way. It’s also not personally attacking the person who wrote the book, whilst still keeping your opinion entitlement intact.
Whilst authors are painfully aware that their books could end up with negative reviews and their book babies critiqued, it doesn’t mean that just because they have put something in the public eye, that they should expect nasty comments or personal attacks.
YES, they have written something which will get critiqued.
YES, everyones opinion does differ.
YES, readers are entitled to dislike their book.
Just DON’T be nasty about it!
In book clubs, you’re going to have the perfect opportunity to talk about various books whether it’s an online or offline. But, do you think that it’s respectful to openly blast and author and their book, in an online book club which they could be a member of?
Yes or no?
No it’s not!!! Go ahead and state your opinion about a book, but if you’re going to sit there and say that a book is so bad and how you wanted to ‘light a match under it’; that’s not stating your opinion, it’s called being nasty.
As we hear all the time, not everyone will like the same book. Well duh! I fully admit that I have read a book and disliked it. But instead of reviewing it nastily, I gave it a constructive review as there will always be something in a book that you’ll like. I explained what I didn’t like about the book, I also explained WHY I didn’t like those parts, how it made me feel, and so on. I also explained what I DID like about the book. I still managed to express my opinion on the book, without insulting a human being with feelings in the process.
So, if you’re ever in an online book group where the admin have asked you to talk about books in a constructive manner; respectfully do it. They aren’t taking away your freedom of speech. They aren’t banishing you from stating your opinion. They are just asking you to express your opinion respectfully and constructively. Authors have feelings too.
It really isn’t that difficult to do..
Excellent post Kaisha! Love these ‘gets talking’ posts! Well said!
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Aw thank you!! Xx
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This is a fantastic post!
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Thanks lovely x
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Reblogged this on Fay Keenan and commented:
And this, darling TWG, is why you rock as a reviewer ❤ . So happy to have been reviewed by you this year, and here's to reading many more of your lovely, well thought out reviews 🙂 xxx
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Awwww!!! That’s so lovely of you to say, thanks so much. Looking forward to reading your next book xxxxx
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Great post! I wrote posted a post about people reading and reviewing genres that they don’t like the other day. Due to the nasty reviews and comments that books in my favoured genre had been getting from people who read/tried to read them and didn’t like them.
No issues whatsoever with people reading different genres, don’t get me wrong. The only reason I wrote it was due to the hate that the people were giving the authors and books just because they didn’t like them and didn’t like the core aspects of the genre. Offer constructive criticism, sure, that’s what we want, try to find positives to go with the negatives, hell yeah but these were exactly the same as your example of lighting a match, negative hate. It’s just uncalled for and let’s be fair, most of these people who state ‘the book was sh#t’ don’t even explain why they think that way, they just rant on negatively and offer nothing constructive.
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Exactly! It degrades the reviewers who do write constructive reviews as people can’t be bothered to check the definition of constructive, and nasty.
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Excellent post!! People need to remember this when putting things online and in speaking! Great job!
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This post should be turned into a poster and sent out to book bloggers/reviewers as an essential guide! 😉
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Haha I love that!! If only!
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Nobody likes everything and we cannot write to please everyone. Honesty is important – you can’t give everything 5 stars but kindness is also important. I think that’s probably true of all aspects of life….
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Hear, hear! I always try and write about the parts I did like and then mention what didn’t work for me, so there is some balance.
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