Interesting prospective readers

I’ve made up and told and then written stories all my life, even when I’m not actually writing, I’m imagining them. I’ve read widely and studied others’ writing, great authors, ordinary writers, hacks, I just can’t resist the written word and especially narrative. However, despite my dreams of publication, and fantasies of being a famous writer (even modest fame would have allowed me to earn enough through writing to live!) – despite those dreams I became a teacher. I always encouraged my students to be creative, to tell stories, to write stories. I wrote things for my lessons when I couldn’t find other material to engage and interest the kids. Writing is still my life, and without being immodest I don’t think I am too bad at it. This is why I find published poor writing inexplicable – how can such feeble writers have jumped successfully through all the hoops you have to leap through to get in public print?

I was reading the book reviews in a national newspaper the other day, and there was one review in particular which caught my eye. It read like something published in a school magazine, written in such a trite and corny way. Okay, so the review was less than a hundred words long, but so many clichés lurked. According to the review, the  book is “a Gothic thriller” set in a stereotypical creepy old mansion, “as mysterious as its mistress“. She is described as “enigmatic“.   A new servant arrives and of course she is “independently minded” but has to work work under a “vicious housekeeper”. There’s no surprise that the previous housemaid disappeared, or that the lady of the mansion is unloving to her child. There’s also no surprise that there’s “a shocking truth”, “a race against time” and “unspeakable evil.”  Talk about clichés! A fine bunch of examples here! I know nothing about the book but if I’d written it I would be very disappointed that it was so poorly reviewed, and  is made to  sound so derivative and predictable.  I don’t know how good the author is, but I feel sorry for them having this review in the national press.

Maybe other people reading the review wouldn’t be as irritated as I was (maybe I’m just very intolerant) but a book review  would generally be hoped or expected to interest prospective readers and promote sales. I don’t think many people would be inspired to fork out whatever a new book costs to read this one! Although… I am now tempted to buy it, read it and write my own review!