{"id":4324,"date":"2022-04-27T06:03:48","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T10:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/?p=4324"},"modified":"2022-04-27T06:42:54","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T10:42:54","slug":"shit-people-say-to-writers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/shit-people-say-to-writers-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Shit People Say to Writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nobody tells you that when you publish a book, it becomes a license for total strangers to say outrageous things to you that yourself could never imagine saying to anyone.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not just talking about people who\u2019ve actually bought your book.\u00a0 Even people who haven\u2019t read your book feel encouraged to share, based on what they\u2019ve gleaned from friends, reviews, the Internet, or ESP.<\/p>\n

At first, when you\u2019re on tour, it\u2019s surprising, then tiring \u2014 but eventually it\u2019s funny, and sometimes even offers you material for your next book.<\/p>\n

All the comments on this list have been offered to me or author friends of mine.<\/p>\n

–I liked your book, but I hated the ending.<\/p>\n

–Your characters shouldn\u2019t be so nice.<\/p>\n

–Your characters should be more likeable.<\/p>\n

–You need more sex in your books.<\/p>\n

–There was too much sex in your book.<\/p>\n

–The book doesn\u2019t make sense unless there\u2019s a sequel.<\/p>\n

–You used too many words I had to look up.<\/p>\n

–Too bad you\u2019re not better known.<\/p>\n

–It\u2019ll never sell.<\/p>\n

–My bookstore doesn\u2019t carry any of your books.<\/p>\n

–I found some typos in your book \u2014 you should fix that.<\/p>\n

–I\u2019d like you to write my book.<\/p>\n

–What\u2019s up with that cover?<\/p>\n

–Can you tell your agent about me?<\/p>\n

–You have a way with words.<\/p>\n

–You need to put a nice<\/em> lesbian in your next book.<\/p>\n

Lev Raphael is the author of 27 book in genres from memoir to mystery, has taught creative writing at Michigan State University and Regents College in London.\u00a0 If you need writing coaching or editing, you can contact him at https:\/\/www.writewithoutborders.com<\/a><\/p>\n

(free image from Pixabay)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody tells you that when you publish a book, it becomes a license for total strangers to say outrageous things to you that yourself could never imagine saying to anyone. I\u2019m not just talking about people who\u2019ve actually bought your book.\u00a0 Even people who haven\u2019t read your book feel encouraged to share, based on what … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2098,592,497,292,5,95,198,496,290,214,1219,495],"class_list":["post-4324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-advice","tag-author-book-tours","tag-authors","tag-book-tours","tag-books","tag-creative-writing-2","tag-fans","tag-publishing","tag-the-writers-life","tag-the-writing-life","tag-writewithoutborders-com","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4324"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6668,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4324\/revisions\/6668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}