Browsing through Urban Fiction, I decided to download three books. Of the three, two were unreadable because they were so bad. The grammar and English were that of an eight year old and even I've seen plenty of them do better.
I enjoy many genres and with some of the great covers and interesting storylines, (not to mention many of them are priced at .99, I decided to give this genre a chance since I don't read many authors that write there.
It made me so angry, mostly at the educational system. I don't know these writers at all. But we come from such great writers like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, is THIS acceptable?
My father was illiterate but he didn't have the oopportunity that we did, growing up as a sharecropper in the early 1930's. Why is illiteracy acceptable today in 2012? Why do we turn a blind eye to authors that write books devoid of English and peddle it on Amazon for profit? Why is this acceptable?
I left my review here....
ME:
I tried to enjoy this book but had to delete it after reading it. I could not understand much of what was going on because of bad English, run on sentences, and no concept of elementary grammar. It was that bad. The author can paint a picture and tell a story well if they just understood the rules of grammar. Too bad, because the story had great potential.
I tried to enjoy this book but had to delete it after reading it. I could not understand much of what was going on because of bad English, run on sentences, and no concept of elementary grammar. It was that bad. The author can paint a picture and tell a story well if they just understood the rules of grammar. Too bad, because the story had great potential.
This is where she responded and it got ugly.
First she responded to a review I made on someone else who agreed with me.
no you need to get some glasses or maybe stay out of urban fiction all
together its sad how people are so judgmental when they haven't got a
clue . I do think editing is a must with anyone's novels but to be so
sadistic and leave a nasty review for anyone it just shows where your
mind is . I have seen all your reviews and you seem to be a bitter
person maybe you should stop reading all together. ---AUTHOR NAME DELETED
Then she responded to my review below in the comments section.....
Initial post:
Dec 9, 2012 10:35:33 PM PST
AUTHOR NAME DELETED
says:
of course you have an opinion like money so you are able to use the
both but as for your comment I find them to be down right stupid and
very untrue. you need to maybe try getting a class in reading 101 sad
and down right horrible
SONYA says:
Instead of taking the constructive criticism ( I take you to be the
author, no?) and making the book better, you decide to resort to name
calling. I can hardly understand your reply because it's NOT in English.
If you're going to be serious about your craft, you need to perfect
your English. It's like someone who wants to be a Doctor but they have
the slightest clue of Anatomy. It just can't be done.
Even your author's bio is riddled with errors! That should have NO errors PERIOD! It tells the audience to expect the same in your books. Readers are persnickety when it comes to grammar and English. You, as a writer, should know that.
Learn to be humble and listen to the criticism of potential fans if you would like to go far in this business. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Read other great African-American writers in different genres and learn from them. Study English and pick up "The Elements of Style" by William Stunk and see how to really craft a story.
This is not an insult, but your material is unreadable. I'm sorry. Reading and studying is the only way to get better as a writer.
And I find it downright insulting for you to tell me to get a reading class when you can benefit from a writing class. No matter how mad a reviewer makes you, never attack your audience. I learned the hard way that this looks very bad on the author. It's upsetting to get a bad review, but even Stephen King will tell you (as he's said in a few interviews) you get mad, you scream, don't respond, and keep writing.
Keep writing dear. It will get better.
Peace
PS. I can help you edit your Author's Bio to get rid of the errors so that will be cleaned up. I'm from the "Chi" as well.
Even your author's bio is riddled with errors! That should have NO errors PERIOD! It tells the audience to expect the same in your books. Readers are persnickety when it comes to grammar and English. You, as a writer, should know that.
Learn to be humble and listen to the criticism of potential fans if you would like to go far in this business. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Read other great African-American writers in different genres and learn from them. Study English and pick up "The Elements of Style" by William Stunk and see how to really craft a story.
This is not an insult, but your material is unreadable. I'm sorry. Reading and studying is the only way to get better as a writer.
And I find it downright insulting for you to tell me to get a reading class when you can benefit from a writing class. No matter how mad a reviewer makes you, never attack your audience. I learned the hard way that this looks very bad on the author. It's upsetting to get a bad review, but even Stephen King will tell you (as he's said in a few interviews) you get mad, you scream, don't respond, and keep writing.
Keep writing dear. It will get better.
Peace
PS. I can help you edit your Author's Bio to get rid of the errors so that will be cleaned up. I'm from the "Chi" as well.
Hopefully our discourse will end here. Hopefully she will do some reading of her own and get better as a writer. I'm not on a mission to help everyone learn English, but it's disappointing.
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