So, Does Your Book Really Suck?

Despite the harsh title, no, your book does not suck. Most likely. This is a disclaimer so you know what you’re getting into with this post. If you’re an author, then you’ve probably felt like your book was the worst thing to grace this earth. If you’ve ever read any book online, you’ve probably also noticed a few reviews so negative that they probably made the poor authors want to shrivel up and die. As I draw anxiously nearer to the date I publish my debut novel, the thought of receiving reviews like those makes me shudder in my pajamas.

What Everyone Tells Us

Helpful authors, publishers, and editors instruct us that when we write our first draft, it’s for us, but when we rewrite and edit, it’s for our readers. As valuable as this information is, what does that even mean? Well, yes, I know what it means, but what does it mean?!

I think I figured it out in a language this message resonates the most for me in; plain speak. 

Tough love.

Dumb it down for me, please.

While I wrote final drafts for my debut novel, I wondered, “Hm, what if I think it’s great, and the rest of the world thinks it totally sucks? How would you know without critique partners or beta readers, of which I have none?”

I had resolved to edit my book as much as possible before finding critique partners and beta readers because I am a shy, lonely loner. Because, what if your critique partner is a picky reader and aims the bazooka of their criticism at the precarious foundation of your manuscript? Picky Patty could ruin what little thin-skinned confidence you had before skipping merrily away into the sunset, smoking bazooka over one shoulder and the rubble of your pride not far behind.

I don’t know about you, but when in the middle of the manuscript, I need to work things out without outside influence for the first few drafts.

What Clicked For Me

Finally, it came to me.

What if I read it like Picky Patty before an actual Picky Patty got to it? I could don the hat and assume the persona of the never-satisfied, hyper-critical reader archetype; the one that leaves one-star reviews and writes a novel themselves of how your book failed them in every way.

“This is why your book sucks!”, they would crow, safely ensconced behind the mask of their internet anonymity. 

Well, guess what, Picky Patty? I’m going to beat you to it.

How to Edit Like a “Picky Reader”

First thing’s first. When I revise, rewrite, and edit, I like to take out my handy, dandy notebook. Some people like to use the notes in their scrivener file, google docs, etc…. Whatever works for you. What works for me, however, is a notebook I can write and scribble on, and even angrily mark out entire sections of notes.

On my blank page, I title it:

Picky Reader Exercise: Things that ‘Suck’ About the Book

As I said in the introduction, no your book does not suck. But readers can and will notice things about your book that you probably haven’t thought twice about. So, put that Picky Reader hat on and comb over your book in another round of edits.

Next, I like to make bullet points of notes as I go through each chapter. With a critical eye, I nitpick on little things, and if there’s a valid point to the opinion, I’ll write it down.

For example:

• The heroine is such a brat in the beginning scene. Can you say unlikable? Change all that seething brattiness into something more dignified.

• Don’t make her so bold with that one character. It doesn’t fit with her inexperience, because that’s just unrealistic. Make her more unsure, and have her ask him if he’ll tell on her.

These kinds of notes are helping me improve my book. I’m not being too critical, I’m doing what all the professionals advise and I’m reading and rewriting for the readers. The way I’m doing it, though, is entertaining and gives me an amusing feeling of lightheartedness in the edit instead of the anxiety, because if you haven’t noticed, humor is how I cope.

Don’t Make the Characters Perfect

Some things I won’t change. Readers aren’t going to like two or three of the things my character does in the book, but she’s making those mistakes for a reason. It’s part of her character growth. No one wants a perfect Mary Sue character, we want flaws and mess-ups, ugly crying and redemption. 

When you read like a ‘picky reader’, make sure you’re mindful of that. Don’t make the book perfect. Just get rid of those annoying little things we didn’t even realize are there. Like the fact that my character had an outburst in one scene and everyone went on as though nothing had happened. A selective reader would scoff and wonder why there were no repurcussions. With that in mind, I made my character embarrassed. Her mother excused her from the table and sucked up to their guests at the dinner table. As the heroine walked away, she decided to rebel a little and went outside instead of to her room, because she was not a child, but a woman.

The goal is to make everything REAL, not perfect.

REAL is the Goal

Once you’ve written your hairsplitting notes, it could do one of two things.

1. Make you feel horrible and wish you’d never thought you could write a book in the first place. Or…
2. Make you feel relieved that you noticed these things before someone else did. Because yay, you can fix them!

I encourage you to feel the second way!

This exercise was to protect you, not to make you feel worse, remember that! And if you’re not a fan of it, that is one hundred percent okay. No one writes the same, and that’s what’s beautiful about writing.

The goal of this article is to make your scenes as real as possible. Get inside the heads of readers who notice what you won’t. Don’t make it perfect. The books that feel so real that you get lost in the story–and make you hold your breath with the characters–those are the books that readers tell their friends about.

I hope this article has helped you! If you have other interesting ways to edit that help you better understand what readers want, feel free to comment below!

-Tanya