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Your Work Isn’t Awful, They Just Aren’t True Readers
We’ve all had it haven’t we? Us writers? Somebody out there who loved going out of their way to tell they didn’t enjoy our work and why. There will always be somebody who doesn’t take a fancy to our work, or someone who refuses outright to read it, just by assuming things about your work by the title or blurb.
Take my aunt for example. I recently published a short story in an anthology. The theme for the anthology was “Love and Relationships”. Now, I know my aunt very well. I know that she is more of a crime thriller person so from the theme I had a feeling she wouldn’t want to read it. I gave her a quick rundown on what the short story was about. A woman, goes home early from work to find her husband cheating and has to deal with the strenuous event of divorcing him and freeing herself from the downward spiral she felt she was going under.
My aunt wasn’t interested. I thought she would be, seeing as she was a divorcee herself. I thought she might be able to relate. But she had the misfortune of reading the blurb of the book, which talked about women’s hidden desires etc. She promptly came back to me the next day and handed it to me saying that “she wasn’t going to read my pornography”.
Strong words and opinions from someone who only read the blurb. Most of the stories were based around married life…
