The Fallout from Writing Edgy

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My guest this week is Polly Iyer, author of the new suspense-thriller, Goddess of the Moon, featuring psychic Diana Racine.

A lot has been said lately about reviews. Who’s writing them? Who’s trading them? How honest are they? Let’s put aside that writers have writer friends, and for the most part, we support each other. There’s nothing wrong with that; we are a supportive group. Are we more generous when reviewing our friends? If I’m being honest, I’d say yes. Rarely will a writer with any ethics flip off a one-star review, because we know how hard it is to write a book. A writer’s subject matter and how she portrays her characters have consequences when it comes to the judgment of her readers, and in turn their reviews. How offended is a reader when the storyline conflicts with their respective beliefs or when a character does something they find personally reprehensible?

My books have darker subject matters and characters who often cross ethical lines. Romances take the hardest hits. Readers become invested in the relationship between the hero and heroine, and they want the story to turn out the way they want. If it doesn’t, watch out. Mysteries and thrillers have a little more leeway, but here again, there are limits.

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HOOKED has received a slew of two-star reviews, mostly on Goodreads, where people can drop a one or two star bomb without explanation. (No, Polly, you can’t please everyone.) Tawny Dell, the heroine, is a high-class call girl who decides she wants out. Does she ever apologize for choosing that lifestyle? No. She’s smart, with a PhD in art history—come on, this is fiction after all—and she doesn’t consider herself a victim because she never was. There was no kumbaya moment where she regrets her former profession, no epiphany where she “sees the light.” There’s a graphic prison scene in MURDER DÉJÀ VU that’s not for the feint of heart. I could have implied it, but I described it instead because it was important to the character of my hero. One of my characters—I won’t mention which book—murders someone in cold blood. I made it look a little like self-defense, but he would have done the dirty whether or not I fudged the scene, and the reader knows that. In MIND GAMES, the first in the Diana Racine Psychic Suspense series, Diana admits to being a fraud. She is and she isn’t. Does that make her unethical? Well, yeah. The way she’s devised her act definitely puts her in the questionable column. I had written the N word in that book, more than once. A critique partner flashed red flags all over the place, and I took them out, except for a less offensive variation, if there is such a thing. Diana’s father is a racist, and it’s a word he’d use. I got around it. The reader knows what he’s going to say it before she stops him. This one time, I gave in to political correctness, and I hated that I did. I didn’t feel true to myself or the story. In my newest book, GODDESS OF THE MOON, there’s a whole bunch of possible reader turn-offs, and I’m waiting for the reactions from my first readers.

So back to my original question―Do you try not to alienate readers by tweaking a book to make it more acceptable, or do you write the story the way you know in your heart it has to be, pitfalls included? If you write edgy storylines, are you ready for the fallout―those one and two star reviews that zap your confidence just a little? If you do, relax. You’ll get used to them.

Then, of course, there’s always the possibility that a reader thinks your book just sucks. There’ll be a few of those too.

ABOUT POLLY IYER

Polly Iyer was born on the coast of Massachusetts. After studying at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, she lived in Italy, Atlanta, and now resides in the beautiful Piedmont region of South Carolina in an empty nest house with her husband and a drooling mutt named Max. Writing novels turned into her passion after careers in fashion, art, and business. Now she spends her time being quite the hermit in comfortable clothes she wouldn't be caught dead wearing on the outside, while she devises ways for life to be complicated for her characters. Better them than her.

Read more about Polly and her books at http://PollyIyer.com. 

When does Stubborn Turn into Stupid?

At Amazon - soon to be in print

My friend Polly Iyer, author of four terrific suspense (with romantic elements :-) novels, is my guest today.

Some of you may have heard me say this before—I’ve been vocal enough in my frustration—but those “brilliant” techies who designed Word 2010 can only be described as sadists. I’ve just finished formatting three books for CreateSpace. I had help from my blog host—yes you, Ellis—who sat down with me in a restaurant halfway between our houses and showed me how to format the first book, step by step. We switched to Word 2003, a much more user-friendly program, because even a seasoned tech writer like Ellis thinks Word 2010 sucks. My lesson went well, one book done, so off I went to do book two. Easy, peasy, right?

Um, not when I got home. I resisted throwing the computer out the window at least a dozen times, but because I have a major character flaw called persistence, I forged ahead. (Okay, I sent the file to Ellis a couple of times to straighten out the section breaks and the pages. I admit it.) But I had another problem. My Photoshop program is on the computer with Word 2010, so I have to send the file to CreateSpace from that computer. Surprisingly, and after a lot of hair-pulling, I got the second book finished in Word 2003 on one computer and sent it to myself to open on the other. The formatting held.

Sound effects—heavenly music from above.

At Amazon - soon to be in print

I’m feeling good. Two books done. I sent them off. Proofs looked good, so I ordered a couple of each. I went through the whole process, clicked on Confirm Order. REJECTED. CreateSpace wouldn’t take my credit card. Huh? This is the same credit card they accepted three weeks before for my first sample. Same credit card that Amazon takes all the time.

I thought it might be Firefox, so I ran it through on Explorer. Same thing. Rejected. I called my credit card company. (They love me, by the way. I really don’t know why. I never pay a finance charge. But I digress.) So I went back to CreateSpace. They said it was my CVV code. Same code I used three weeks before. I told them I’ve never had so much trouble trying to give a company my money. They assured me they wanted my money.

We had a long telephone conversation. The customer service representative had a lovely, lilting English/Indian accent. I understood her. She understood me. She contacted the tech people while I was on the phone. She was really trying to help. They insisted it was my CVV code. I insisted it wasn’t. She said they’d get back to me.

So I worked on book three.

I don’t consider myself totally tech challenged; in fact, I’m really not bad for an old broad learning new tricks. I even do my own book covers on Photoshop, do my own website. But every time I thought I had the third book finished—this in Word 2003—I scrolled up and there were headings where they shouldn’t be, numbers on another line, pages disappearing when I scrolled—seriously. I thought I was seeing things. Now you see it, now you don’t.

Did that stop me from torturing myself? Not even close. I got what I thought was a good document, sent it to CS. Their proof looked a mess. Backward, in fact. Enough of Word, back to the sample books. I called CreateSpace again. Another lovely service rep. The credit card validating company is closed until Monday. She will get back to me. Meanwhile, she’s sending my samples free of charge. I didn’t argue.

www.pollyiyer.com

I do believe that those who format books as a profession earn every cent they charge, and if I weren’t such a control freak, or stupid, I’d hire them.

By the time this blog posts, I may have an update. It’s Saturday, 5 o’clock. I’m on the way to the fridge for a beer—or maybe something stronger.

Monday, 5 o’clock. After all the fuss and phone calls, it turns out it wasn’t my CVV code that they insisted was the problem. It was the expiration date. It was still the same expiration date that was in their file, so I don’t know why it decided to kick back. I peeled the egg off my red face, entered the profile again with the updated expiration date, and made a dummy sale that Sara, the wonderful customer service rep, said she’d delete. Bingo. The sale went through. Sara couldn’t delete it. So she didn’t charge me for that book either. I’m feeling a little guilty getting five sample books for free. After all, it was really my fault. I offered to pay. She refused. I guess I’ll just have to live with Amazon’s generosity.

Time for my afternoon libation before I send the next proof to CreateSpace.
____________________


Polly is the author of Insight, Hooked, Murder Déjà Vu, and Mind Games

Love and Torture

At Amazon

This week my friend Polly Iyer, who writes romantic suspense, is my guest. She's the author of Murder Déjà Vu, InSight, and Hooked, with another soon to be released.

This is Valentine’s Day, so I’m going to write about love. And torture. You may not think those two things go hand-in-hand, but in my books, they do. My critique partners knew that when they started one of my stories, my characters would suffer unimaginable hardships. I couldn’t help it. I had to put them through hell before they found love at the end of the book. And I mean hell.

Psychologist Abby is blinded by her schizophrenic ex-husband before she meets Luke, the cop who lost his hearing on the job. Wealthy architect Reece spent fifteen years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit before meeting the ex-wife of the unscrupulous DA who wants to send him back to prison by any means he can. Tawny, the ex-call girl with a PhD in art history, is blackmailed into going back into the life by a hot sex-crime investigator. Former child psychic turned entertainer Diana is the target of a man who went to prison because of clues she unearthed as a child. Oh, and he’s psychic. Not only do these characters have to overcome their personal baggage, they have to dig themselves out of the holes others have created for them. Namely, me. Is it manipulation on my part? Sure. But they find love at the end—justification, in my mind, for their torture. See? I’m really not a bad person.

At Amazon

Since this is Valentine’s Day, I want to share another kind of love: personal love. Not my family. That goes without saying. No, my self-indulgent love of writing. My greatest joy at this point in my life is sitting in my home office and banging out twisted stories where my characters extricate themselves from one threatening situation after another. It took a long time before I was comfortable telling people I was a writer, and now I’m proclaiming it in black and white. I still have to force myself to think it, write it, and say it, fearful readers will find out I’m a fraud.

I know this is a “love” day, but along with the love of writing comes other things I don’t love, so forgive my digression. I don’t love the PR involved in getting my name out there. The blatant self-promotion makes me uncomfortable. I know it’s part of the package, but I don’t have to like it, nor do I do it well. There’s a fine line separating the right amount of promotion with overkill, and we’ve all seen that. It’s a turn-off, and a writer has to be careful not to cross the line. I like Facebook—it’s fun, and I’ve met some great people. I tweet, but I haven’t caught on to it yet to make much of a difference. It’s time-consuming, and I’d rather write. I don’t have a blog. Maybe I should, but I can’t imagine I have anything to say others haven’t said better. I’ve probably made my point with this blog post. I rest my case.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. Love someone tonight, even if it’s on a page of your book.

Polly Iyer was born on the coast of Massachusetts and now resides in the beautiful Piedmont region of South Carolina in an empty nest house with her husband and a drooling mutt named Max. She’s been an artist, importer, designer, and store owner, but writing is her passion. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. Her stand-alone novels can be found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can learn more about her at: http://PollyIyer.com

Murder Déjà Vu is free on Amazon Feb 14-16. Yes, that’s today. After wealthy architect Reece Daughtry spent fifteen years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, someone’s framing him again. This time he won’t be railroaded. He goes underground to find the killer, or die trying.