Responding to the Critics – Plenty Part 2

My comments in response follow:

First, “…I really didn’t care for the characters, they are very stereotypical–either very very evil or very very good…” Second, “…the characters are … one dimensionally  good or evil.” Gordon, Grant’s powerful father, supports environmental causes and advocates for the town park. He has compassion for terminally-ill children. Grant tries to help Lily. He defends and has the courage to protect Camille. Bruce, the hit man, loves his son unconditionally. He feels shame for not being a better dad. For these reasons, the characters embody good and bad traits – more balanced than the reviewer indicates.

Second, “..The dialogue is trite–pontificating, moralizing and unrealistic…”  According to Merriam Webster, a synonym for pontificate is to speak out. I advertise my novels as meaningful and suspenseful. Blending life lessons into my stories reflects my mantra of making my novels meaningful. And on a personal level, it challenges me and drives me to create Award-Winning novels. In the film industry, Actor Bait dialogue adds sparkle to a story.

Third, re: the dialogue, my professional well-paid editors have never asked for a revision of the dialogue. Plenty has earned Award-Winning status.

Fourth, “…the solution to each problem is abrupt and unbelievable…” Sadly, the abrupt solutions to problems have been based on true stories.

Fifth, “…the ending actually made me roll my eyes. The entire book was script-like with very little emotion.”  The Industry Creative hired to evaluate the book says:  “Plenty has potential as a TV series… Both projects might have appeal for actresses with their own production companies. Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Selina Gomez and Sandra Bullock come to mind…” The storyteller’s impressive credentials include – Creative Executive on SALT, The Bone Collector, Revenge – tv series, and as a script consultant for Kevin Costner – make her words especially powerful and meaningful. Her assessment of both of my novels appears on my website – www.kellyklavenderauthor.com/high-praise. 

Finally, there’s a well-known saying among authors: “Readers read what they want to read.” If they want to hate a book they do, they overlook the substance and good elements. I’ll keep the Industry Creative’s comments in mind, keep running my race and disregard this unbalanced erroneous review.