Nobody's perfect

[John Dean]

I received a negative review of one of my novels the other day, on Amazon. The writer said that they stopped reading the book (which has received largely positive reviews) because DCI John Blizzard acted in a lewd way, commenting on a woman’s appearance in a manner more suited to the Seventies.

I take all reviews seriously, appreciating the many good ones I receive, learning from the constructive critical ones (a writer should never stop learning and I think that shows in each successive novel that I write as I hone my craft) and dismissing the deliberately offensive ones.

What I would say about this one is that no one is perfect. We all let ourselves down from time to time, falling below the standards to which we aspire. Characters in fiction are the same.

Also, one of the delights in writing a series is that characters can grow with the books. The novel in question was the first in the series published by The Book Folks and in the ones that have followed the curmudgeonly batchelor has struck up a relationship and become a father, improving his conduct as he did so. Some reviewers have even commented on the way he has grown and how the process has given them great pleasure.

However, Blizzard Warning - he’ll still let his followers down from time to time! He’ll still be rude, politically incorrect and ill-disciplined on occasion. That’s because that’s what our modern world is like, however sophisticated we think we have become in 21^st Century Britain. It is a writer’s responsibility to reflect that.