First of all, how many readers have there been? If you get the same criticism from various people independently, there likely is some truth to it. If one person has an issue with a book they may have misunderstood it or they may just not be your target audience.
Secondly, do you think the people criticizing your book were part of your intended target audience?
ironpony wrote:
Well I was told not to make the police lazy or disinterested, but if that's the case, and I shouldn't, then the criminals have to be smart, but is that bad also?
I think making the police lazy and disinterested is a lazy way of solving the problem of how the criminals can get away with their crimes for a long time (although you can make some police officers lazy if you want to). Making the criminals smart is a much better, but much more challenging way. It is easier to write realistic stupid characters than realistic smart characters, because to write smart characters you need a certain level of knowledge and smarts yourself.
Have you made sure your readers actually think your criminals are smart? I'm a bit concerned about this because they call it comic bookish and say it is not realistic and in comics it is quite common that character are smart 'by definition' but do a lot of things that wouldn't work in real life or that characters are made to be smart by actually making others stupid and they're only smart in comparison. Comic bookish in that sense can work for a shallow comedy, but since that's likely not what you're going for you want to make sure your smart characters actually come across as smart and that their smarts make it realistic that they don't get caught for a long time.
Another thing I think may be crucial from your first post is the 'how they operate'. You might want to find out what exactly your readers think is comic-bookish or unrealistic about how they operate. There obviously need to be something seriously wrong with your characters' minds if they form a rape gang, but even so you want character motivations that work for their twisted minds. And as said before, you want to make sure it is realistic that they get away with their crimes for as long as they do and that 'how they operate' doesn't get in the way by maybe not being as smart as it is supposed to be.
Well, obviously I've not read your book, but to sum up what I'm trying to say: Make sure you know exactly what aspect of your story your readers criticize. Try to find out what makes them think it's too comic-bookish or unrealistic. Those are two vague adjectives. You want to know what exactly gives your readers those impressions.
As others have pointed out, rape is a serious topic. You probably don't want it to be comic-bookish in the sense of shallow comedy, villains throwing cool one-liners or all in all treating the topic lightheartedly. If that's what you're going for you at least need to be aware that you have a distinct target audience and that some people will be offended by the plot.
Generally, I don't think that rape is a topic that must be avoided by all stories. It also isn't avoided by all stories. While a lot less prevalent than murder, you do find it in detective and crime stories fairly regularly and sometimes combined with murder. You find it in normal series intended for a general target audience.
You want to be aware of what rating you want your story to have and not be too graphic if you aim for a general target audience, though.
You said in your first post:
ironpony wrote:
I've been told that my story is too comic-bookish and not realistic enough, but it's suppose to be I think.
but if you get the same sort of criticism from many people, you're probably doing something with your story it is not supposed to be or you have a target audience very different from the people whose opinion you asked for. What they understand as comic-bookish and not realistic is something negative. Maybe it is a different kind of comic-bookish and unrealistic than how you understand these words. The first things I think of when I think of 'unrealistic' and 'comic-bookish' are certainly not things that mesh well with a story about rape. But again, I've not read it. I can only speculate what your reader might have meant and if you're still speculating too, you might want to talk to them again and get a more detailed criticism.
There has been four readers so far. They all have different opinions. Yes I wanted to make the criminals smart but a couple of reader say they are too smart, to the point where it's not realistic for criminals to be such masterminds, and it would be more realistic for the police to be more inept instead. Is that true, and that's more realistic, or is that just lazy?
18 Nov 2019, 1:08 am
