Rambling Comments #3

Recently, I did a review on The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck, and gave the novel a neutral rating. I was surprised to hear from this very gracious and talented author. The following is our conversation, which can also be seen in the comment section of my review of her novel on Amazon:

C. Selleck says:

All valid points and I do appreciate your taking the time to write such a detailed review. I would never compare myself to Harper Lee or her writing, but readers have made frequent comparisons in reviews, which will always delight me. Little aside...my middle name is Lee, too, and many of my name choices are nods to people or places that are special to me. None of it was ever intended to inspire comparison to or borrow from Lee's famous novel. The most common critical review has been my choice to end the novel as I did, and I can't even say that I disagree. I spent a great deal of time in rewrites over a ten year period of raising children and working full-time. But every time I started to add more to the book, it felt awkward. I believed that the protagonist Ora Lee told the story she wanted to tell. She was an old woman who set out to clear a man's name. Once that was done, her story was told. Would this have been a different novel if it had been edited by professionals and published by a big name house? No doubt. But it was a first novel by a self-published writer, and I am happy that it is doing so well in sales. And I cannot help but be pleased that it inspires some emotional and spirited critiques, whether negative, positive OR neutral. Thanks again for putting thought and time into your review...and thank you for reading my "little novel" as I so often call it.

 

Rick O says:

 

Thank you for your comments. I never like to write a one, or two line "yea", or "nay" review. I am always appreciative when an author contacts me. Since you read my review, you know that I think you have a budding talent. I guess that I'm a little disappointed that you missed a opportunity to write an epic type story by cutting it so short. However, your reasons for not prolonging the story are more than valid and highly honorable. I find the southern gothic genre interesting and on the rise. Please see my review of your book on my blog: ricksreviews.blogspot.com, I talk about three of the greatest southern gothic novels ever written. I'll look forward to reviewing your future works.

C. Selleck says:

It's funny, because I had a discussion with someone who had read your review yesterday. I said, "After the initial 'ouch', I felt encouraged by much of the critique." Just so you will know...I have recently applied to a college program to work on a BFA in Creative Writing. Having been raising my daughters for 37 years (youngest now in college), it is now my turn to get the degree I always wanted. Publishing this work has shown me exactly what you said, and given me the courage to push forward in the writing career several teachers told me I would have. I do appreciate your comments. Going to go read your blog now. And, by the way, sales of The Pecan Man are going well and will actually pay for my degree, if they keep going as they are. That alone is reason to rejoice and to appreciate the opportunity to self-publish, which would not have been possible ten years ago. One last thought...I don't think the "comparison" is meant to hold my writing up to the standard and skill of the authors of TKAM and The Help, but when people ask, "What is your book about?"...the answer from myself and others is "along the lines of..." Of course, I always say it's Southern Fiction, but that doesn't really do the work. When I set out to tell this story, it was exactly that - an exercise in storytelling, both for myself and for the protagonist. And my goal was NOT to make Ora some great White Savior. I wanted her to be flawed and meddling and out of control. I wanted my characters to be real and relatable and struggling to make it in the world. The story unfolded as I wrote and much of the twists and turns I did not foresee myself, which many find hard to believe. This may actually be my downfall, but it is what it is. Hoping the work I do over the next several years hones my craft to a point where I hold my own against the greats. :-)

 

C. Selleck says:

Another aside...I read Tobacco Road about three months ago. I have always been a fan of Southern Fiction. I guess that comes under the "duh" category. :-) 

 

Rick O says:

Thanks for visiting my blog! The boy reading 'The Hobbit' is my nine year old grandson, Kai. He has already written a guest review on my blog: The Lightning Thief ' by Rick Riordan. I'm molding him into a reader and reviewer- just kidding. I am so happy that your book proceeds will pay for your degree. I did notice that your sales on Amazon were very high for a self published book ( I bought one ). Well done! By the way in my Southern Gothic comment section, I didn't even mention the great William Faulkner and his ' The Sound and the Fury.' I wish you success in your creative Writing course and in your future novels ( longer than 142 pages & with numbered pages! )
 

 

C. Selleck says:

I am in the process of having the novel paginated. That was the one thing that I just couldn't get formatted right using the tools provided by Amazon. I have finally hired a "professional" to tweak it to address this issue. BTW, this was one of the main complaints from one book club's readers. A book club in Roanoke chose to read The Pecan Man alongside To Kill a Mockingbird for their March meeting. Wish I'd been a fly on THAT wall...or maybe not. :-) Best to you and your grandson! Keep 'im reading!
 

 

Rick O says:

I honestly thought you left out the page numbers on purpose. The ergodic style of literature goes against the rules of prose. If you go to my blog and type in 'House of Leaves' in the box on the upper left corner- the review and comments will come up. It's fairly interesting. It's really surprising to me that these reviewers and book clubs have gravitated to Harper Lee's novel and yours. I think it would be great if one of these clubs published their views. It really doesn't matter what anybody thinks about your book, because all this publicity is great for your book sales. Also, I didn't mean that you write in the ergodic style, just bringing out a point to a southern gothic writer.
 

 

C. Selleck says:

Had to go look up ergodic style. I had never heard of it. So, no...it was just lack of technical aptitude, not by design. I was personally okay without pagination, but it has come up more than once. A Gainesville, FL book club invited me to sit in on their meeting featuring The Pecan Man. It was amazing to listen to a group of highly intelligent people discussing the characters and their motivations. I had to sit silently for the first hour and then answered questions afterwards. It was an amazing experience and largely positive, though some had the same issues as you pointed out in your review. When asked if I would change anything now that I have put the novel out there and had additional feedback, I still said "no". Again, maybe it would have been different if I had the benefit of an editor, agent or publisher. I might not have had much choice in the matter. I write very organically, creating characters first and paying little attention to plot. It has its drawbacks and I think they are obvious in this work. I do hope my next novel is an improvement, even though I have to stick to my guns about telling the story Ora wanted to tell. I was curious, also, how you came to purchase the book? Just in case I didn't say this before, I was encouraged by much of what you said. It took a bit to get past the parts that stung, but Nelle Harper Lee was asked once what she thought was important to know about being a novelist and she said, paraphrased, "you have to develop a thick skin." I agree. Of course I want everyone to love The Pecan Man, but that is simply unrealistic. I absolutely loathe Hemingway, and I am most likely in the minority. There is an audience for everyone and mine has been incredibly encouraging so far. I have to go check out your reference regarding ergodic. Learn something new every day.
 

 

Rick O says:

To answer your question on how I heard about your novel, I read another first time author's novel called 'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey and on Amazon your book was listed under the section...Customers who bought this item also bought... And I clicked on your novel and the story sounded interesting, so I bought it. I did a review on her book on my blog- it was a good effort. As far as self publishing goes, you must know that it's been happening to new writers forever. The following best sellers had to be self published: Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn', L. Ron Hubbard's 'Dianetics', and Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass', to name a few. I recently did a review on a wonderful novel called 'The Plum Tree' by Ellen Marie Wiseman, and she told me her novel was rejected 72 times. By the way, that had to be some experience sitting in on a 'book club' review. You had to be proud. I try to do reviews on all genres, but recently I've had so many authors sending me their books for a 'read and review' that I find it hard to read what I want for pleasure.
 

 

C. Selleck says:

Sitting in on the book club review was nothing less than exhilarating. And they really didn't pull any punches that I could tell. I had workshopped the novel for a year, so I had pretty much heard everything at one point or another. Being in a writers' group is helpful for accepting critique. You learn to "consider the source." If a writer you respect gives you a note, you pay attention. And you learn that you can't please everyone. You have to remain true to your characters and to your own intent. I think the first time I really believed I might have talent as a writer was when this particular writers' group had an "argument" during critique about what my character would or would not do. They simply NEVER did that. It is orderly and thoughtful and one person speaks at a time. So that was a thrill for me prior to publishing.But when this book club discussed the characters with great insight and passion, it was just a total high for me. Like I said, whether positive, negative or neutral, when your work is discussed with great animation, it is exciting. I think it is important for me to start believing that I can be a writer of significance. As you said, I need to get my act together. :-)
 

 

Rick O says:

Absolutely! You do have talent and that's what I said in my review's last paragraph. I meant it when I said you missed an opportunity to write a significant novel. These one, or two liner reviews that you are getting do nothing for you. They say "Oh, it's wonderful, then I check their past history and they did one, or two reviews. I think that's why we are having this talk, because you know that I somewhat understand literature. To have made your novel great, you would have had to write 350-500 pages. Second of all, I would have drawn out the confrontation between Marcus, Skipper, and the Pecan Man into more depth and pages. Marcus died too quickly, he should have been allowed to reach base safely. This way the situation would have been allowed to fester, and boil over to a stunning result. Do you see what I'm trying to tell you? By the way, thanks for reading my review and comments on 'House of Leaves', I try to read as many genres as possible.