How to Handle Negative Reviews

If you’re a writer, self-published or otherwise, sooner or later you will receive your very first negative review (*sigh* It’s a right of passage, all right!) You shouldn’t worry about it, or be discouraged by it, because no matter how great your novel is, it won’t be right for everyone. No novel is.

But it still hurts. It’s still painful to see that someone disliked, maybe even hated, this thing you spent such a long time perfecting! It’s inevitable and you need to accept that, but how do you prepare yourself?

Take a look at this:

This is a review for Rise of the Sparrows. Of course I was disappointed to see it, but it doesn’t invalidate my 5-star reviews! Of course there’s someone out there who doesn’t like my book, and there’ll be a great many others, too. I’m okay with that, because they found my book! They wanted to read my book! It’s unfortunate that they didn’t enjoy it, but they tried it, and it’s not like our readers are under any obligation. If they pay for it, they have a right to be disappointed. The important thing is that they found it, and therefore others will, too. Some of those new readers will agree with the 2-star review, others will disagree.

And let’s just focus on the most important thing here – it’s two stars, not one. They didn’t hate everything.

*ahem* *awkward cough*

Knowing that you’ll get negative reviews and being ready for it, however, are two very different things. So what can you do if your endless mantras of It’s fine, it’s okay, not everyone can like what I do, it’s a big world aren’t enough?

Well, what’s your favourite book? Of all time? Go find it on Goodreads, and have a look through the reviews. Come back when you’re done.

*might as well make tea while I wait*

Are you back? Feels good, doesn’t it? My favourite reads this year – (also ever) – were The Name of the Wind and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. You can check out my reviews for them by clicking on the links if you want to see how much I really loved them (or I could spare you the trouble – I loved them a lot). But let’s have a look at what other people thought of them, shall we?

(That’s an impressive amount of hatred right there!)

If people hated those books this much – books that I love so deeply – then isn’t it okay for other people to hate my book, too? Books like Harry Potter get negative reviews, too, and while I don’t in any way want to suggest that my books are similar to J. K’s genius, I want to make this clear, so the negative words don’t hurt you as badly:

Every book gets negative reviews. Every book has someone who hates it so much that they can’t even be bothered to write a full review, and will only say things like “This was terrible. Don’t pay money for this shit, it was that awful.” Every book has a review like that one, and your book won’t be an exception.

That’s fine. No novel, no matter how fantastic and brilliant you thought it was, is immune – and whether we’re talking about your own novel here or marvels like The Name of the Wind or The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms won’t make a difference.

Here’s one other thing you can try: Over time, positive feedback will pile up, too, and you can keep it saved away in one, neat folder, so that you can read over all the reasons people loved your book when the negative reviews come rolling in. This could be feedback from your beta readers or favourite snippets from the 5-Star reviews you’ve received (oh gone on then – save the whole thing!) – it doesn’t matter, as long as you’ve got it handy when you need it.

So, to summarise: Yes, there’ll be negative reviews. Some people will dislike your novel, and some will hate it with an impressive passion. But other people will fall in love with the world you have created, the characters you’ve placed into it, and will eagerly await the sequel or new release – just because you‘ve written it. Negative reviews can ruin your day, but don’t forget that they aren’t all you’ve got.

It’s fine for people to hate your book. Others will love it, and will shout your name from the rooftops. And if that’s not enough-

Head on over to Goodreads, and look up your favourite books ever written. Their own negative reviews might help.

How do you cope with negative reviews? Make some tea, get a cookie, and share your methods in the comments! If you’re not sure how you’ll cope with receiving 1- and 2-Star reviews, get that cookie and stick around anyway – perhaps someone shares a tip that helps!

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All gifs from giphy.com

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For Cookie Break’s home page, have a look here.

My Experience of Being a Self-Published Writer

A few weeks ago, my little blog turned one year old – which also marks the one year anniversary of me taking this writing thing seriously!

It’s hard to believe that one full year has passed already – and it’s even crazier to think how much has happened since then! While I don’t have the experience of long-time accomplished authors with agents, publishers, balloons and champagne behind them (…wait, there are balloons, right?), I would have loved the insight I have now a year ago. While I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning as I went, there are a few things which I wouldn’t have minded to know before I’ve started – and I’m sure some of you brand new writers feel the same way.

This isn’t a professional how-to guide, but perhaps it can make this journey a little less intimidating for you if you’re at the beginning of your writing career.

Your cover will take a while

When I contacted my saint of a cover designer, I expected him to say “Sure, we can fit you in next week! It’ll take roughly a month, but it’ll probably get done faster than that.” HA! Foolish, naive girl that I was. The earliest slot that was available at the time was three months away, and then we got delayed a tiny bit. And then we got delayed again when my cover designer fell ill. Things like that can’t be helped, and you should be prepared for them. Don’t contact someone a month before your set release date. It’s not going to happen, and it won’t be their fault when it doesn’t.

But why should you pay someone professional to do it for you, professionally? Well, have you never picked up a book because the cover smiled at you from across the room? There you go. Your book’s cover is your introduction to a potential reader. The first three seconds. You wouldn’t turn up to a job interview in sweat pants, and that’s precisely what the first three seconds of someone seeing your book’s shiny cover is – a job interview. Make sure it’s dressed the part.

Beta readers are vital

I can’t stress enough how fantastic my beta readers have been. You need someone else to go over your document for you, and there’s no one better suited for this than someone you don’t know personally. Someone who enjoys the genre your writing. Your friends are biased and might not be honest if they don’t like it, and your mum is definitely biased. If you have friends who can be brutal, great, but don’t count on it and don’t use it as an excuse not to get actual beta readers. I know it’s terrifying to have someone you don’t know pick your novel to pieces and tell you everything that needs fixing, but that’s what betas are there for!

My betas have changed my document in so many amazing ways and spotted mistakes you’d think I’d have seen myself, but didn’t. For example, one of the horses changed gender part-way through – I can’t explain how it slipped past me but it did, and if I missed something as obvious as that chances are you’re missing smaller, more subtle issues, too.

You need want betas. Your fellow writers will love to help you out- all you need to do is ask!

You want an editor

I know a lot of self-published writers opt out of getting an editor because they cost money, but have you considered that it’s money extremely well spent? Yes, editors are costly, but they have the know-how to whip your document into shape! If you want to take this writing business seriously and have at least a small shot at being successful, there’s no way around it. Yes, I know even traditionally books have some spelling mistakes. Editors are heroes but not superhuman, they can’t spot everything. Would you rather publish a book that has one hundred mistakes, or three?

If you’re not sure what type of edit your document would most profit from, check out my post here where my editor Briana Morgan talks you through the different options.

People love a map

A map does so many good things for your novel. Not only does it look really pretty at the front of your book, but it also gives your readers a chance to see where your characters are. It makes it more real. And it tells people that you’ve really thought your world through! Plus it’s fun to draw the thing. But get a cartographer to pretty it up a little, maybe. A good cartographer can tell you about things you’ve drawn in that don’t make sense, either, like upwards flowing rivers. If it’s something specific to your world and intentional then you’re good, but if it’s a mistake it’s better to know about it when you can still fix it than when a disgruntled reader calls you out on your nonsense.

Just look at this pretty thing at the front of my book! ❤ Even my Sellybean was impressed!

If you’re not sure what a cartographer can add to your book, take a look at my post here where my cartographer explains everything you need to know.

The writing community is here for you

Social Media is good for two huge things. The first one being that the writing community is the friendliest, most welcoming and supportive community I’ve found online. They’ll pull you up when you need it, inspire you on off days and cheer you on whether you need them to or not. Have you had a bad day staring at your document without progress? We’ve got you covered! Received an overly negative review? There’s a cat gif for that! Or maybe you just generally need a bit of motivation to get that writing sprint started? We can do that, too! (Honestly, we fix a lot with cat gifs)

Social Media = Exposure

This is the second huge thing the writing community is good for. Exposure. If you start your blog, a twitter account and maybe a facebook/instagram/pinterest/whatever your addiction before your book’s first draft is completed, you’ll already have a few curious people awaiting the release of your novel. Beats having no one know about you and your baby, right? On top of that, if you have wonderful followers like I do they’ll shout your book’s name (and yours) from the rooftops of twitter and instagram, which is free advertising! Just because they loved your book!

Did I mention you’ll make some wonderful writing buddies along the way? There’s no reason not to join the social media hype.

It’s a good idea to give your book away. For free.

Assuming that you’re giving it to someone who will write a review for you, that is. You don’t want to give it away to everyone who asks-presumably you do want to make some money-but if the person asking you can write a nice, positive review in return? Reviews sell books, you know! The more reviews you get the better, and giving your book away for free to a reviewer is a great way of getting some reviews and, therefore, exposure.

Writer’s Block is a lie.

This is going to be a wee bit controversial, but personally I don’t believe in writer’s block. Some days it’s easy to write, and other days it feels like you’re trying to draw enough blood from a stone to summon a small army of demons. Writing isn’t always easy, and there will be days when you’ll feel like the words just won’t come. But they will, if you keep at it.

Don’t forget that there are other ways to work on your novel besides writing the words- you could draw your map, name that one character you’ve referred to as Wizard 2 until now, or figure out how the religious beliefs in Country C work exactly. While you’re doing that, you may not be writing but your mind is still focused on it. You can easily make a lot of progress without actually writing!

Breaks are good for you.

There’s a lot of pressure on self-employed people to work constantly without breaks, but that’s a good way of damaging your sanity permanently. Burn-out is one hell of a nasty thing, and you don’t want to drive yourself into it. You’re not a machine. You’re human (or whatever you want to classify yourself as). You need breaks, or you’ll destroy yourself. I know it can be difficult to take just five minutes to yourself, but go ahead- take an hour. Or you know what? Take a whole day off! You’d get breaks in every other job, so why not in this one? Relax, and have some fun. Believe me, you’ve earned it.

Reward Yourself!

It doesn’t matter how small the accomplishment – if you’ve just ticked something off your ever-growing to-do list, treat yourself! Have a cookie, relax for a bit, watch one more episode of your favourite TV Show, go for a walk – whatever you fancy doing, do it. Writing can be a solitary job, and we don’t have a manager looking over our shoulders to praise us when we’ve done something well (not that this happens in most jobs, anyway) so we may as well do it ourselves. So what if it’s only small progress? It’s progress! Celebrate!

Don’t be too hard on yourself

By all means, set deadlines, but please be realistic. Publishing your book in three months from now might sound wonderful, but can you do it without killing yourself? If you haven’t published a book yourself before, allow more time rather than less to allow for things to go wrong (I’m looking at you, OpenOffice formatting!!). Once you’ve set your publication date, stick to it, even if you’re technically ready to publish sooner. You build momentum in the months and weeks before release, and if you turn around and say ‘sorry, you can have it now’ you lose all that momentum.

For Rise of the Sparrows I set myself some rather strict deadlines. A couple of which I reached early, but it was still a little close. I got the work done, but I was exhausted by the end! So, my promise to myself for the next release is to take it a little easier, and be a wee bit more forgiving. Remember that burn-out devil I mentioned? We don’t want that. Writing a book is hard enough without you turning against yourself.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned since you started writing? Treat yourself to a cookie since you’ve definitely earned it, and let’s have a chat!

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All giphs come from giphy.

For all of my other musings, click me!

For Cookie Break’s home page, have a look here.

Weekly Quote #21

“You have to remember that no one can write exactly as you do. You are the unique product of a unique life history. Even if you had an identical twin, they could never write precisely the poems, plays, stories that you will. So if you don’t write this text and in your own particular way, then no one else ever will. No one can do it for you.” (from ‘The Creative Writing Coursebook’ by Julia Bell and Andrew Motion)

I get intimidated when I read a really great book. Not as often as I used to, but sometimes it still happens. Some of the books I’ve read recently were so brilliant they made me doubt whether I can really do this. Who am I, to think I can do what they do? How dare I call myself one of them? And to an extend I’m right. I can’t write exactly what they’ve written, but they’ve been doing this for a lot longer than I have and I wouldn’t really want to write exactly what they’ve written, anyway. Those are their stories, there are plenty more in my own head I can write! Likewise, they wouldn’t have been able to write what I’ll write. They’d have written it differently, maybe/probably better (again, they’ve been at this for waaay longer than I have) but it wouldn’t have been the same. Only I can say the words in exactly the way I need to say them, and the same is true for you and your story.

So stop making excuses, and don’t let those amazing, big names out there intimadate you. You don’t have to write as they do to be amazing and earn your spot amongst them. You need only to write, and to keep writing.

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For more weekly quotes, check out this page here.

5 Things I Never Leave the House Without

Recently Cookie Break reached (and passed) 50 followers – not including the people already following on twitter and facebook. I know 50 followers won’t sound like a lot to many but to me it’s a small milestone reached and I’m immensely grateful that so many of you are interested in seeing how this journey plays out for me (even more so because now, only two weeks later, the number stands at 60!!)

It’s been a while since I’ve written posts about myself, so over the next few weeks I’ll tell you a little bit about myself, my history with reading/writing and things I’ve learned so far since I started writing Rise of the Sparrows. If there’s anything else you’d like to ask don’t hesitate to post a comment or drop me a line privately!

Last week I made an unofficial, very much unplanned start on this. You can see last week’s post (‘Confessions of a Writer’) here.

Whenever I leave the house, be it to go to work or just to meet up with a friend, there are a couple of things I always take with me.

Notebooks

I wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without at least one notebook! If you’ve been with me from the beginning you’ll know this by now, but I have a lot of notebooks (17, last time I checked) and it’s always exciting to add more. Rise of the Sparrows has its own notebook (a pretty little thing in yellow – see picture!), and I recently bought a brand-new one, all pages still empty and unused, and I’m buzzing with ideas for it!

You never know when you’re going to think of something amazing, and when you do you’ll want to have something to write your idea down in. My notebook comes with me wherever I go for that very reason, I know I’d forget otherwise.

kindle/book

Besides writing my book and slowly working on my trilogy (never mind all those other ideas roaming through my head recently) I have a part-time job, too. I work as a library attendant and am fortunate to get an entire hour for lunch, despite only working 25 hours a week. I love reading on my break and sometimes also on my way to work, so a book always has to accompany me.

Diary

It’s my perfect diary and already a favourite companion for next year! Think of all the planning I can do with this! It’s a dream come true, if you’re me :3

I’ve always been organised, and while I don’t usually have many appointments I still like having somewhere to record the few I do have. Besides appointments it comes in handy for many other things as well, such as important numbers to call, log-ins I’d forget otherwise, and my new one for next year even has a section for planning my blog! It’s the perfect diary for me!

Phone

I won’t go anywhere without my phone. I like to browse twitter on the go while I’m on the bus or on my lunch break, and I feel more comfortable knowing that I can make an emergency call should I need to.

Purse

I feel like this one shouldn’t need to be said but you’d be surprised how many students enter my library without any form of ID or money! What if there’s an emergency? What if you need to identify yourself for any reason? What if you need to call a taxi? I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the house without money or my ID, and I don’t understand how so many people care so little. Truly, it boggles the mind!

It also allows me to buy cookies, should I suddenly crave cookies. Which happens more often than I’d like to admit, so we’ll leave it at that! 🙂

What kind of things do you always take with you, no matter where you go? Which essentials accompany you in your bag every day? Do you leave your house without money and ID and can tell me why on Earth you would? Share your thoughts and habits in the comments below 🙂

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For all of my other musings, click me!

For Cookie Break’s home page, have a look here.

Progress Update – Quiet Days

Hi everyone!

This week I really had to think what I did… Almost everything I wanted to do before I start editing has been done now, and I’m dying to start highlighting and note-taking on Monday. I can’t believe it’s been a month already since I finished the draft. How has it been a month already??

Anyway, this week I mostly promoted the WIP here and there and did a little socialising with CookieBreak, too. It’s not as much as I should be doing but I’m glad I fit a little, at least.

I also posted the first Meet&Greet yesterday – a day in the life of my main main character, Rachael! If you haven’t seen it already have a look 🙂 There are seven left to go so there are plenty of introductions left!

And I’m afraid that’s it for this week. It’s been a quiet one and I can’t help but feel that it’s the calm before the storm. I doubt I’ll have another quiet day for a while come Monday!

Have a good weekend! 🙂

Sarina

Weekly Quote #20

“A story leaves a deeper impression when it’s impossible to tell which side the author is on.” (Tolstoy)

When you’re writing a book or a short story chances are you’ll want your protagoniost to win, like any good parent would. He or she is the hero after all, the one who will fix everything and save the day! Your reader, however, mustn’t sense your bias. Here’s why.

If your readers know from the very beginning that the protagonist has a really good chance of winning there’s no point of reading until the end any more. They’ll already know who you support. It also makes for more one-sided story-telling. Your antagonist needs to be as rich and well thought through as your hero, and you need to talk about them in exactly the same way. Every book should have the chance of your hero failing until the very end. If your bias towards your main character is clear right away I won’t believe that this chance exists. What’s more, if your antagonist is just as rich and detailed your readers might begin to see your antagonist’s point and maybe even understand why they’re doing what they’re doing.

Long story short, your characters will be more believable when your bias isn’t obvious and things could go either way. And that’s a good thing.

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For more weekly quotes, check out this page here.

Confessions of a Writer

Last Friday I mentioned wanting to do some more personal posts about how I started writing, my history with reading and so on, and today is the day I’m starting this series of posts! Last week fellow writing friend K. J. Chapman tagged me with the Confessions of a Writer Tag, and it’s the perfect start for this.

The Confessions of a Writer Tag was created by Nicolette at A Little Bookish, A Little Writerly. It is a ‘get-to-know’ the writer interview tag, dedicated to spotlighting the creative process, works in progress, and connecting to other writers.

Rules of the Tag:

• Please link back to A Little Bookish, A Little Writerly’s post, so that the original rules are always accessible to anyone who is curious and wants to participate!
• Acknowledge the person who tagged you in your post.
• Tag your friends and fellow writers – it’s up to you how many!

The Questions and My Answers:

1.When did you first start writing? Was being a writer something you always aspired to be?

I can’t remember the moment or day I decided I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t always want to pursue it as a career. Although I have (and please excuse the cheesy, overdone sentiment) always written. When I was seven years old my Mum sometimes took me to work with her when my grandma couldn’t babysit me, and most of the day I spent writing short stories about just about anything. My favourite was about a little girl who was sitting atop a hill overlooking the village she lived in. It was night time and all the lights in the houses and streets were lit. I enjoyed doing that but it’s not what made up my mind. 

When I was a teenager I kept starting stories which I wanted to turn into books, but none of them ever made it past page five I don’t think. Then when I started college (aged 18) I suddenly decided I wanted to try again. I had this old idea I started years ago and I started working on that. It was terrible and I want to apologise to the agents I sent it to. Honestly, I’m so, so sorry.

After that I went to university and didn’t write much at all for three years besides essays. I started something but I didn’t have the time to really get into it. Then this year it suddenly hit me that I finished uni a year ago, and I decided to pick up my idea again. That’s what I’m writing on now.

So I guess the short answer is I wanted to take it seriously before in college, failed miserably, and then came back to it this year some time around May! 🙂

2. What genre do you write?

I usually write what I read, which is fantasy and fiction, but that’s not to say I won’t try other genres at some point. I’ve tried some sci-fi before in my 10Minute shorts I do every Monday and wouldn’t mind giving that a go! I love sci-fi and am dying to meet some aliens, like, now, so you’d think it’d be a perfect fit!

3. Can you tell us a little about your current work in progress? When did you start working on this project?

At the moment I’m working on my first fasntasy novel Rise of the Sparrows, which will be the first book in a trilogy called Relics of Ar’Zac. I finished the first draft nearly a month ago so that’s currently resting, but next week Monday I’ll start editing. This is the blurb as it currently stands:

“Rifarne is a country opposed to magic. When its people demand harsh action, King Aeric sees himself with no other choice but to outlaw those with the gift. Rachael, a homeless orphan with the rare gift of a Seer, soon finds herself with visions of her own violent death. When her escape goes wrong and she ends up in the clutches of a vicious witch woman lusting for her blood, she finds she is the only person to stop the war against people like her – and assassinating the King to become Queen to a people who once wanted her dead may well be the only way to do just that.”

I’ve also got another couple of ideas in my head which I may have to explore a little further… But more on those if anything more happens 🙂

4. What was your first piece that you can remember writing? What was it about?

I actually can’t remember! There’s one I remember writing in my Mum’s office and I think it was the first I wrote there, but I don’t think it was the first thing I ever wrote.

It was about a girl who went to the zoo for her birthday, and she saw loads of awesome animals. Her favourite was the lion. It was half an A4 page long and printed in a rather large font, with a picture of a lion taking up the other half.

5. What’s the best part about writing?

There are so many best parts! I love getting to know my characters, I love when new characters I hadn’t planned surprise me, I love the promise of a brand-new idea and all its potential, I love the feedback from readers and interacting with them on social media or here. There are so many good points I can’t settle on just the one. I know a lot of people hate being stuck and not knowing what comes next, but I actually love plot bunnies because they give my characters a chance to be more vocal and take the lead!

6. What’s the worst part about writing?

Right now I’m not liking this resting period my draft is going through. It’s hard not to just start editing and give it the break it needs. I actually asked my boyfriend to hide the draft I printed the day I finished it, and so far neither of us can find it. It helps, but it makes it worse, too and I’m counting down the days until I can start! (six more days, just six more days…)

7. What’s the name of your favorite character and why? (This can be from a book by another author or from your own work. Book crushes are perfectly acceptable here as well.)

Again, it’s hard to pick just one, but I’ll go with Cara from the Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind. She’s a woman who stops at nothing to get what she wants or to protect the people she loves. She’s driven, dedicated, dangerous and I absolutely love her.

8. How much time a day/week do you get to write? When is the best time for you to write (morning or night)?

Since I work part-time in a library my writing time is limited. Usually I write for (roughly) an hour in the mornings – never at weekends, because people should get weekends – which means I write around 3,000 words, sometimes more sometimes fewer. Often I write for longer than that, say an hour and twenty minutes when the words are flowing particularly well, and sometimes it’s a a struggle to make forty-five minutes.

9. Did you go to college for writing? Or if you haven’t been to college yet, do you plan to?

I did go to uni but not to study writing. I actually studied Photography and had to put my writing on hold while I did my degree. Studying Photography was great and I wish I had more time/ideas for it now but my books take priority. One day I might go back to uni to study Psychology (when I first applied it was between Photography and Psychology, and a small part of me always regretted my decision) or to do a Masters Degree in Visual Communications, but I won’t start thinking about that until this trilogy is done.

10. What bothers you more: spelling errors, punctuation errors, or grammar errors?

I don’t come across grammar errors so often, but spelling and punctuation errors give me the mother of all headaches! It’s hard to read something with no punctuation, and reading anything with poor spelling makes my eyes bleed so they both take the lead.

11. What is the best writing advice that anyone has given you?

Keep writing. When your writing does badly you write again. When your writing does well you write again. Either way, write again.

12. What advice would you give to another writer?

Just write. Don’t complain about not being inspired enough or about hitting a wall – keep trying every day and the words will come.

13. What are your favorite writing sites or blogs that you turn to for help, tips or encouragement?

There is no one side I use, but there are some I subscribed to which deliver great advice often. writeonsisters and thewritepractice post often and it’s always great stuff, so I recommend checking them out if you haven’t already!

14. Besides writing, what else do you enjoy doing? What are your hobbies?

Besides writing I’m a huge gamer, and am already excited about all those amazing games coming out next year! I can quite happily play a weekend away, and have done just that many times. There’s no real favourite genre though since I’ve played a bit of everything. Pokemon, Fable, The Witcher, Mass Effect, Animal Crossing – I’ve played my way through nearly every genre there is! Nothing can compete with Mass Effect, though. It has broken me many times and I’m happy for it to break me again. (it also has amazing writing so it wins on two sides!)

15. What is the best book you’ve read this year?

Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Review to follow 🙂

16. What is the best movie you’ve seen this year?

We don’t go to the cinema that often so I don’t have a huge amount to chose from, but we saw The Martian a little while ago and that was soooo good! Earlier this year we saw Age of Ultron which was amazing, and in a few weeks time we’ll see the last of the Hunger Games movies. I’ve read all the books so I know what I’m in for – part of me is reluctant, the other part is very, very excited.

17. What is your favorite book or series of all time?

That’s not fair, there are so many! I don’t think I can pick, sorry!

18. Who is your favorite author?

I apologise if you’ve followed my blog for long enough to have heard this several times already. You’re probably sick and bored of it by now.

My favourite authors are Karen Miller and Terry Goodkind, plus I’m a Harry Potter geek so J.K. Rowlings has to be in there. Honestly, there are more authors I love reading, but it’s hard to pick just a few instead of giving you a long list. You’ve got better things to do with your day than read through that! Keep an eye on my reviews section if you want to know what I love reading.

19. What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of your writing?

Right now my draft is resting but I’m starting the edit on Monday (only six days to go… have I mentioned that?) , so I’ll be busy with that! Also I’m planning a series of short posts to introduce all of my main characters to you all, and then there’s this other idea that’s been floating in my head… But let’s not go into that right now 😉

20. Where else can we find you online?

I’m on-

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

My Tags (feel free not to take part if you’d rather not, there’s no obligation 🙂 )

November’s Polaroid

Twisted Corners of My Mind

A Little Me, Apparently

Precarious Writer

Thank you so much for reading! If there’s anything else you’d like to know please don’t hesitate to ask.

~Sarina

Is Originality Dead?

A while ago I read a little book on creativity called Hegarty on Creativity – There are No Rules by Sir John Hegarty. It was very interesting and informative, but one thing specifically stuck with me.

The author claims that there is no such thing as an original idea any more. At a time where everything has been done or at least tried before, everything we want to create will ultimately have been inspired by something which already exists. Since everything we do will be influenced by something we’ve seen or read or heard somewhere, it can’t be original. To be exact, he says:

“It is said that God was the last originator and the rest of us are just copyists. And the truth is that everything we create is based on something that’s gone before. […] Ideas borrow, blend, subvert, develop, and bounce off other ideas. So it’s an arrogance to say your idea is original. […] Being different and daring is important, but original? No. Now blatantly stealing someone else’s idea is wrong. But thinking that your idea is original is also wrong. Your idea only exists in relation to another idea. We all stand on each other’s shoulders and in doing so hopefully see further.” (p.20)

And I completely get it. I understand what he means. So much so that, every time I now hear people claim that what they do is original and has never been done before, I want to punch them in the face. I’m not a violent person so you can see what this book has done to me.

But is it true? Is originality truly dead? While it’s nice to think of your idea as something never seen before, how sure can you be that you’re correct? After all, something gave you that idea you’re now wanting to work with. It’s unlikely that your idea was born from nothing, with no cues or inspiration or reasons.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this! Do you agree that originality is dead? Or would you say that it’s all a load of rubbish? 

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Weekly Quote #14

“Biscuits make the day go faster.” (Winston Churchill)

It may not be much and it’s not directly related to writing, but it fits in perfectly with yesterday’s post on procrastination! And who doesn’t love a yummy biscuit?

I found this gem in the kitchen at work. Every now and again people put up flyers and posters of things they want to promote, and since yesterday we also have this beauty! Given yesterday’s post and the title of this blog I couldn’t resist. Who doesn’t like to have a few biscuits here and there to help with the writing? Or take a Cookie Break? *ahem* (see what I did there?)

So, while you’re soldiering on through your draft today, help yourself to some sweet treats! And remember-

Enjoy! 🙂

~Sarina

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