How Do I Tell Someone His Book Sucks? - Page 3 - Writers Forum

Brenda Keesal · 05-15-2008, 01:04 PM

He gave it to you, and is asking what you think. I'd go with the truth.. as kindly as you can, underlining the fact that this is your opinion, for what it's worth. For sure it can be sticky with friends, but if people are serious about their work, they require serious feedback. A real friend should appreciate honesty, especially if they ask!

Damian_Rucci · 05-15-2008, 02:24 PM

Tough spot you got yourself in. Try talking to him about making it better. Tell him specific things that caught your eye. Or just be totally honest and break it to him, but that will only work if you two are close friends.

Mark Carter · 05-18-2008, 01:12 PM

Just tell him flat out that it sucks. Jesus, I wish someone had told me that every time I wrote something that was crap instead of patting my hand and telling me it was OK and letting me make the same mistakes repeatedly farther down the road. If he's really serious about being a writer then he will want to learn the ins and outs as soon as possible and if he just wants hollow praise then he needs to get out of writing. So, smack him with it all at once and he'll either improve or give up, depending on his desires. Either way, it's for the best because he will start cranking out better stuff or we will have bumped one more coffee house poseur from our ranks.

Also, offer to make corrections with the trusty old red pen directly on his manuscript. Don't just mark out the bad stuff but rewrite a few lines here and there to show him how it could be better. A manuscript filled with corrections is something worth studying and if he's smart he will not only fix the problems but he will keep the manuscript and try to apply the same lessons to later work.

lin · 05-18-2008, 01:14 PM

Encourage him to submit it to agents and publishers and let them tell him.

Mike C · 05-18-2008, 01:50 PM

Tell him you don't want to irrevocably damage your friendship over the book, and that you'd rather keep your opinion to yourself.

That'll tell him everything he needs to know.

lilacstarflower · 05-18-2008, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starseed

I read a "book" (ugh) by a guy, it wasn't published or anything but he was sure it was going to be published and he would be set for life.

It was written like:

I saw Susie and she had some drugs so we did the drugs and then the police came and I ran and she got arrested so I had nowhere to stay and was out on the street.

Two weeks later I saw her again I guess she got out it was weird.

Then a couple months later I started hooking up with this other girl and it was really crazy and the whole thing just made me realize I loved Jesus.

Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord!"

LOL ^^^^

CroZ · 05-19-2008, 07:20 AM

Quote:

ALL the characters speak in first person

Could you elaborate on that?

lin · 05-19-2008, 10:11 AM

What other point of view is a character going to have? Omniscient third? They are a character, they only have one point of view and it's their own.

Remedy · 05-19-2008, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starseed

I read a "book" (ugh) by a guy, it wasn't published or anything but he was sure it was going to be published and he would be set for life.

It was written like:

I saw Susie and she had some drugs so we did the drugs and then the police came and I ran and she got arrested so I had nowhere to stay and was out on the street.

Two weeks later I saw her again I guess she got out it was weird.

Then a couple months later I started hooking up with this other girl and it was really crazy and the whole thing just made me realize I loved Jesus.

Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord!"

^Seriously thats how his whole "book" was. He told his life story in like 10 pages, just like that and the whole thing was interrupted with random preaching about Jesus.

I walked around terrified for awhile that he was going to ask my opinion on it. Luckily for me he seemed to think it was so good he didn't even consider someone might not have liked it, and he never asked.

He claimed it was being published. Interesting.

You know how there was that guy a few years back who did a particularly horrendous version of "She Bangs" while on national television? It was awful, everyone agreed, yet he went on and made the record, which sold. If that "book" is being published, it's for the same entertainment value.

Which, in shorter words, means that I laughed. There tends to be a market for laughing at really bad people.

starseed · 05-19-2008, 06:23 PM

Heheh.. yeah I think he said it was being published by some religious company or something. No idea.

The sad thing is, he had an AMAZING life story. It would be quite a book if it were well written.