Read the disclaimer if you haven't already.

UGGGH PARK JIMIN THAT PICTURE IS SO-

Sorry, intrusive thoughts. That wasn't Raven, that was my alter ego, Crow. My b I'm putting her back in the cage now-

Alright, this is gonna sound mean, and I apologize. This is probably the single hardest to swallow pill in the writing world. You ready? Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Just because you saw it in a published book doesn't mean it's right when you do it.

For example, the other day I read a book with 30+ characters, and the author justified it by saying there are real books with 100+ characters. While this is true, this is a misguided comparison.

Every. Single. Story. Is. Different.

Just because it works for another story doesn't mean it works for yours. And also, just because it's done by published writers doesn't mean it's right. If Stephen King misspells you as yuo, that doesn't mean the correct spelling is now yuo, it means Stephen King either made a typo that somehow made it past editors, or it was a style choice.

Note: I do not like Stephen King, so that is not me endorsing him in any way, please do not take it as that.

We are not talking about other stories, we are talking about yours, so if I point something out in your book and your answer is "Well *insert author here* did it so it's fine," that's not a strong defense. 

*Insert author here* wrote a completely different book than you, and you likely have a completely different style than the author. It's one thing to take inspiration from writers and incorporate some of their style into your work, it's another to pass off blame to the author and try to make it look like it works because "real" authors do it.

Everyone knows how influential Shakespeare is, but many modern audiences hate him (me included). Why? It's not even because of the English, no, it's because there are a million characters. So if you're saying "Oh well Shakespeare has a bunch of character-" guess what, people don't like it, so what's your point?

I'm in a Shakespeare class and one of the things we complain about most is how many characters there are, so this point about *insert author here* writes a lot of characters doesn't change that A) people might not like it when *insert author here* does it either, and B) we're talking about your story, not someone else's story.

Even the Greats have made mistakes and made work that is generally disliked, or made decisions within their works that are generally disliked. You shouldn't be latching onto another writer to justify why you did what you did in your story. You should be making decisions that benefit your story, not decisions that stem from wanting to do things like another writer.

It's one thing if it's grammatical and someone is trying to say your grammar is wrong, so you decide to pull real life examples of your grammar being used. For example, the multiple paragraph dialogue technique. If you don't know what this is, it's a technique where you take a single line of dialogue and separate it into more than one paragraph. You often do this with speeches or long dialogue so it doesn't become a wall of text.

For example:

"I don't know, John. Last night, she seemed so different, y'know? It's like I was talking to some alternate universe version of her or something. Should I just break up with her? I don't see this relationship working out.

"I can't decide. It's eating me up from the inside. I love her, but she can't keep doing this to me. It's tearing me apart."

*Note: this is not real dialogue, just an example of the technique*

Notice how the end of the first piece of dialogue has no end quotation mark. That's there to indicate the dialogue is continued in the next paragraph. You don't put the end quotation until you're 100% done with the dialogue. This is a common technique many real authors use and is even recommended by trusted sites like Indeed. However, I've seen a couple people argue you cannot split a single piece of dialogue into more than one paragraph when that isn't true. In that case, referencing real life authors to justify your grammar is fine, in my opinion.

However, when you're using it to justify your choices in your narrative, I don't think that's a wise decision simply because you're writing a completely different story than the author you're referencing. Even if you're writing a fanfic, you're still writing a different story.

Let's move into the second hard to swallow pill. It's similar to my previous point.

Just because you intend to write something a certain way doesn't mean it's good or I'll like it.

Whenever I write reviews, one of the most common defenses I see is "I intended to do it that way." This is one of the most annoying comments to get because, without the authors realizing it (most of the time...I hope), they're being condescending and putting down my intelligence. Guys, this may be hard to believe, but you're the writer. No sh*t you intended to write a certain way.

Unless it's grammatical, when it comes to narrative elements, you're making those choices for certain reasons. If you kill off a character, you intend to do that. It doesn't just accidentally happen. So if I say "I didn't like you killing off *insert character here* because it felt forced," and you say "I intended to do it that way" in response, it's extremely condescending because... duh???? No duh you intended to do it that way. Your finger didn't just slip and suddenly a character was killed off.

You control every single word that's in your book. Without you, none of the words would exist. I know you intend to do things a certain way, but just because that was your intention doesn't mean I'm going to like it. I don't care if you spent 20 years intending to write a certain scene a certain way, I may still dislike it or find problems with it. You saying "I intended to do it that way" doesn't change my opinion. If anything, it sours my opinion of you as an author, and I'm going to be less likely to return to your works.

If you're asking for a review from me and your response to my criticism is to say "Well I intended to do it that way," I'm not going to be too excited about it. It sounds like you're questioning my intelligence by assuming I can't tell the writer didn't intend to write their story a certain way.

I have been writing for over a decade, two years of which being professional experience. I learn new things every day, and I don't think my experience makes me inherently better than anyone or any author; however, my experience means that, in general, I know a lot about writing. I know when someone intends to write something a certain way.

AKA: I'm not stupid.

Well, I am, but when it comes to writing, I'm not.

Long story short, don't dismiss criticism and reviews because you intended to write something a certain way. Just because you like it doesn't mean it's going to be liked by everyone, and it's perfectly valid if a judge/reviewer doesn't care for it (as long as they explain why, cause I'd be upset too if a judge/reviewer disliked smth about my story but didn't explain why).

The point is, writing is very, very subjective/personal. Every single person who reads your work is going to have a different interpretation of it and different experience with it. I may not enjoy some parts of your story, and if I'm reviewing your work, I'll tell you the truth about what I liked and didn't like. If you aren't willing to accept that feedback, then don't sign up for reviews. If you're going to negate criticism by saying "I intended to do it that way," again, don't sign up for reviews and judgment.

All in all, remember every story, author, and reader is different. If one "real" author does something, that doesn't mean it'll be good for your style/story. If one reader doesn't like something in your book, you can't negate that by saying "I intended to do it that way." It doesn't mean you have to listen to the reader and change it for them, but you also don't have to put down their intelligence by saying that.

It's one thing if a reader asks a question and you tell them you intended to do it in a certain way. Or if, like me, you purposefully include some typos to show speech style. In my book Starfield, the pirates often say "me" instead of "my." That's intentional, and I put in an author's note that it's intentional so people don't think I'm making typos. Those kinds of things I'm okay with and I don't think that's disrespectful, but if you sign up for a review and the review gives you criticisms, if they don't fall in the categories I just listed, then please try not to say "I intended to do it that way."

We're reviewers, we know you're intending to do things certain ways. I ask questions directly to the author if I'm ever unsure. If I'm getting things wrong about your story, sure there's a chance I misread, but there's also a much higher chance that you didn't make it clear enough. I reread the areas my criticisms surround at least 3 times just to make sure I don't get anything wrong. If 3+ close reads isn't enough for me to see what you're intending to do, you might need to make it clearer.

Remember that you are the author. Something that's clear and obvious to you isn't clear and obvious to the audience.

I believe that about wraps this chapter up. I want to encourage you to have your own style and ideas instead of relying on other authors. I hope this chapter is helpful.

~End~

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know if you have any questions or have a specific topic you want me to cover.

Plenty more topics are coming like characters, purple prose, nitpicking, etc.