Free Writing: Introducing Gable

 Gable collapsed to the ground exhausted and heartbroken staring at the broken remains of what what once had been his best friend. Blood dripped from a large gash in his forehead and formed a shimmering crimson pool at his knees, the sun dancing merrily upon the slick sticky fluid as if the heavens were somehow celebrating  his bittersweet victory or perhaps reveling in his pain. Gable wouldn't torment himself with why’s and how’s, he already knew the answer to these just as he knew that he was now once again truly alone in the world. He rose from the ground dusting the dirt from his knees and gathered Kaleb’s belongings. Stuffing them into his dirty tattered knapsack and then putting the sun to his back he slowly began walking, not caring where he ended up. The police would be here soon enough, someone had to have heard the screams, it doesn't matter, there will be nothing to be found by the time the authorities arrive.

  The day was hot and humid as most days are in southern Arkansas. The cicadas droned on that same soothing song they always seem to be singing on these hot sunny days. The one that makes you wish for nothing more than a glass of cold lemonade and a nice shady tree to sit under. “It’s hot.”, they croon, “Time to rest. No need to work, no need to play, just relax lest the sun be sending you home.” Gable paid their soothing song no heed, he was marching to a different tune, one that pulled him from deep inside and called him like a siren calls to a lost  and lonely sailor, the seductive song of power.

Handling Negative Reviews

   Getting a negative review can feel like the worst thing in the world to a new and budding author. Somebody out there has looked at your work and found it so lacking that they felt a need to share it with the world. Your heart races, your mind reels, and your soul crashes in upon itself. You want to rally, rage, hiss, spit, hide, cry, and quit all at once. This feeling is natural. When you are an author, you are also a parent and the manuscript you create is your beautiful defenseless child whom you long to love, nurture, and protect from all bad things. However, negative reviews are not always a bad thing. Instead of giving in to your initial instincts and just reacting take the time to consider what the reviewer is trying to convey.
   It is imperative that you remember that user reviews are not meant for the author. When a reader leaves a review on a book it is meant to express their overall impression of your work to other readers. In most cases, reviews are not a personal attack against you or your book, they are quite simply an individual reader's opinion of what they have read. This being said, oftentimes the best way to deal with a negative review is to ignore it completely. That's right, I am telling you to stay away from negative reviews. It does not matter how good you are at what you do, there is always going to be someone out there who thinks differently. This is a good thing, if it wasn't so, we would all be robots run by the exact same operating system.
   If you cannot stay away from negative reviews then at least try to learn something from them. As I have said before, a review is simply one person's opinion of what they are reading. Read the review objectively and seriously consider whether or not it points anything that you could possibly improve upon. If the reviewer states that your work is a mess and hard to read through and you do not use a professional editor then perhaps you could benefit by hiring one. If they complain that the characters are underdeveloped or difficult to relate to then perhaps you could add in more detail and flesh out the character a bit.
   These things do not make you a bad author they make you human and humans make mistakes. Humans also have feelings and emotions and sometimes reviewers do not take these into consideration and can be quite cruel. It is up to you, the author, to behave like a professional and refrain from reacting in a way that could possibly reflect upon you in a negative manner. You must remember that when you appear in any public forum, whether it be standing in line at the grocery store or posting an update on your Facebook page, you are painting a picture of who you are for your future fans. If you give in to your emotions and allow yourself to behave negatively, such as lashing out at the reviewer in a public forum or simply giving up on writing, you are painting an image of someone who is very unprofessional and insecure. This is not the image you want your fans to walk away with. You as an author should hold yourself to the same standards you would expect from your fans when you interact with them.