Reviews

Everybody says you need to prepare yourself and thicken your skin if you are going to publish a book. The first sign of this, for me, was when my niece rated my book four out of five stars on Goodreads.com. My hackles immediately went up. "What? Only four stars? How could you?"

But then I listened to what she'd said. She didn't want to pollute the integrity of her "cred" on Goodreads.com by doling out inflated reviews. So she gave it the rating she believed in. How can I not respect that?

For that matter, how can I not respect "Big Dee" and "Ellija" for their two-star ratings of my book? Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. And the things they say in their reviews are not wrong. They are just a matter of a difference in expectations as to what they are looking for in a "good read" and what I am trying to do with my writing.

I think The Wheel of Time was too long and too strung out. And yet I also loved it. In large measure, I loved Jordan's pace and his practice of allowing unresolved threads to hang at the end of every book. Sure, it wasn't immediately satisfying in a complete way—like a sitcom that resolves itself in 22 minutes on screen. But it built up a love of Rand, Matt, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Perrin that I don't think he could have achieved in a series with a faster-burning pace.

Like Jordan, my preferred style of story development involves a careful building up of a base of point of view characters with whom I hope the reader will establish real empathy. Unlike Jordan, I hope to do this in three books (that's right: the old trilogy!). Though I think it's important to establish that I also reserve the right to "expand the universe" of The Crafter Chronicles with subsequent series, accompanying novellas, prequels, etc.

But . . . what should I take away from the negative reviews I've gotten so far? I do think it's fair to say that The Crafter's Son almost reads more like an "Act One" than a complete and tidy book with a resolved global plot at the end. My world- and story-building style is more like that employed by Robert Jordan (rest his soul) or even Ken Follett, with his Pillars of the Earth. I want to build something slowly and carefully that people care about, and that carries them along for a while. Follett wrapped up Pillars in 976 pages. My first book is 286. So if you look at it that way, you can think of The Crafter's Son as the first installment of what will ultimately become a book that, I hope with all of my heart and creative soul, feels something like a fantasy version of The Pillars of the Earth.

In short . . . I want to tell a longer story. I'm not here for the quick hit. I'm here for the long haul. And I look forward to being joined by those of you looking for the same!