Battletech and Reader Criticism

 

So, Elements of Treason: Honor has been out for almost two weeks and it's doing well and getting good reviews -- for the most part....

But someone posted a tweet that said the following about the novel:

"This novel's broken me. Not in terms of my like of the era, but in terms of my ability to write a review. I'm too contemptuous of it. It is a terribad novel, but I hate putting out so much negativity in a video.There will be no review, sorry. Its just too cancerous."

        That caught my attention, so I tweeted at him the following: 

I'll bite! What's wrong with it?

        He replied with:

I think I'd rather have a lobotomy before I read anything about Peter Cobb again, to be frank. The plot in and of itself isn't the issue, with the Horses being divided or anything. Twitter's a terrible format for this due to its character limit too XD-

I was surprised, but not angry at the original statement or their reply. It's his opinion and he's entitled to it. It's frankly the worst review I've ever had, and it kind of makes me smile. I decided to write this post about writing BattleTech and reader's reviews and criticism. 

A few authors see criticism of their stories as an attack upon themselves. That's why you have to develop a thick skin as an author. And sometimes the criticism is valid, while other times it isn't, and still other times, it's subjective. A rule that authors have to learn early is that you're not going to please everyone all the time. You will have readers who love every word you put down, while others will find what they see are chinks in the armor and try to jam a blade through. And some people will love some stories your write and hate other stories.

That is true for Battletech stories. I've had four Battletech Novels published and looking at the Amazon ratings, I can see that, for the most part, the reviews are good. So, I did a little cutting and pasting and took images of the customer review chart that ranks the product, in this case, my novels on a scale from one to five. I also included reviews from each novel, two good and one bad. this is what I see when I look at the reviews. Note that each review is exactly how it was written on Amazon. All I did was cut and paste the reviews.

First up us Icons of War, my first novel.  As you can see, most people gave it 4 or 5 stars, but a few gave it 2 or 3 stars. And here's a couple of excerpts from the Amazon reviews:

This book was a great adventure with knew characters, so you never knew what was going to happen. Once you start reading it, you're not going to want to put it down.

I really enjoyed this story, it covers a lot of lore previously little explored. I am super excited to read more of this author and this IP.

 

The story does a good job of helping move the Battletech timeline forward and does tie up some loose ends. The story is action packed and does keep one wanting to keep reading. The writing was more of a young adult style with unnecessary, out of place and not needed sex scenes. I expected more from the author since he takes every opportunity to let everyone know he is a writer with his posts on how to write. The editing is in line with all Catalyst Game Labs publications. It leaves a lot to be desired. Missing words seemed to dominate the mistakes with some general sentence structure issues. Three stars because of editing and less than average writing. The story being interesting saved it from a two star rating.

The first two were from 5-stars reviews, while the last one was a 3-star review. Same novel, different reactions. That doesn't make the 3-star's opinion any less valid, they just saw it differently than the other two. And no matter how well you write, every reader sees the story differently. 

The ratings chart fro Elements of Treason: Duty.

A slightly lower rating. Most are still 4 or 5-Stars ratings, but a small percent gave it only 1 or 2-Stars.

Now for a look at the reviews:

One of the better BattleTech novels. Highly recommended!

Great novel that tells the origin story of the Tamar Pact. Fast paced and fun. A must read for the IlClan era.

Political through an through. Don't even think there was a mech battle in this one.

The first two were 5-stars while the third was a 2-star. Now, the third one puzzles me, because there are definitely 'Mech battles in the novel, two of them at least, besides some other military action. To me, it's a head scratcher.

We now move onto the second Elements novel, Elements of Treason: Opportunity. Of the three, this was the most challenging, because I had to write about an established main character, who was a bad guy -- ruthless, ambitious, and wanting to regain power. So, I deepened his background and character. The rating table:

Most are still giving it a 4 or 5-star rating, but there's a few more 1 through 3 stars. As for the reviews:

The story was good, fun to read, well paced. Not a lengthy tome, but it tells the story and reinvigorates a character I didn’t care for at all.

really enjoyed the Duke’s turnaround after losing the throne and how things worked out. very excited about the last chapter and the surprise. well worth the read

The worst one I ever read was also buy this author.

The last one was a 2-star review, while the first two were from 5-star reviews. Again, some book, different opinions.

Now, the last one, Elements of Treason: Honor, had its own challenges. A clan with little fiction time, a character that was somewhat described in Sourcebooks, and a few events that had to be in the novel. After two weeks, the rating are this:

A smaller sample, but still most ratings are 4 or 5-star. The number of reviews is much smaller this time, but they will come in time.

I would recommend this book to any BattleTech fan. The characters are well defined and well able to identify with. I enjoyed reading the Battle of Sudetan from the Hell's Horses' POV, too. Peter Cobb became my favorite character as swiftly as an Epona moves, and I really hope to see more of him - and more of the Horses - in the future.

Craig is a great author and does an outstanding job of bringing characters to life. I'm glad to see the Horses finally getting a book of their own. My only critique is that there were some minor typos.

It's a Battletech book. You get schlock action, schlock politics, likeable heroes and some solid tough guys. Giant robots fight it out in the far future. People talk.

The hero's a bit Mary Sue, but the background and setting are well done and enjoyable.

Again, two 5-star and one 3-star (The only ones up at the moment). It's clear that not everyone enjoys my writing. Most do, a few don't. That's all right. The fact most people like what I write is good enough for me. I do learn from every story I write, and I'm proud of everything that gets published (Well, almost everything. . .  There is a Battlecorps Unit Digest I wrote that has enough spelling errors in it  that still makes me cringe when I read it...)

And to be honest, Battletech stories are never going to be considered classic literature in the vein of Sherlock Holmes or Shakespeare. But they are a part of a unique universe that was been growing and changing for the last forty years. I am apart of that living, breathing universe. No other universe -- Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who -- has a consistent background (Doctor Who can be excused, because... time travel and the Doctor!!)

My best advice for any writer is to treasure the good reviews and brush off the bad reviews. You can't take offense to any bad review, but you can't let the good reviews go to your head -- reviews, both bad and good are a fact of life. The best you can do is write well enough that you have many more good reviews than bad. I've been lucky so far in that more people like my writing than dislike it, but I can't coast on that. There's always more room for improvement, always trying to not only get more reviews, but also more 4 and 5-star reviews. Reviews tell me how well (or how badly) I'm doing. So far, so good.

Now that all three of the Elements of Treason novels I was asked to write are now published, I can move onto the next project, and I have several  at various stages of production. I hope most will be out this year or next.

Have a good day!

Craig

Elements of Treason: Honor is out!

I started writing this post yesterday, and it had been titled "Now, the Waiting Begins..." But overnight, the novel went out... so it has a new title and I have some new material to write about.

The cover is about and the back cover blurb is this:

A HERD DIVIDED…

For the entirety of its existence, Clan Hell’s Horses has been underestimated by its fellow Clans. The inclusion of tanks and infantry alongside their BattleMech forces has often unfairly forced the Horses into lopsided alliances with other Clans. As competing Clans race headlong to conquer Terra, the birthplace of humanity, the Horses must focus on survival rather than the glory of conquest. But many Horses want more, and they refuse to be shouldered aside as Clans Jade Falcon and Wolf reap the rewards of their campaign toward Terra.

Star Captain Peter Cobb, a controversial rising star and military scholar, sees a new trail for the Hell’s Horses to blaze. This path would put the Clan on a fiery trajectory to earn the victories and respect they rightfully deserve, and push the Clan toward a prosperous future. But few embrace his controversial ideas and, divided by distrust and ambition, the leadership of his Clan lacks the will to ensure that the Hell’s Horses will be strong enough to survive the tumultuous conflicts ahead.

Caught between the bloody agendas of two rival Khans—a political maneuverer and a bellicose warmonger—Peter must find a way to restore the soul of the Hell’s Horses without sullying his honor, or risk dooming his entire Clan to extinction in the face of a rising power unlike any the Inner Sphere has ever seen…

For me, Honor is a milestone. It's the longest piece of fiction that I've ever written solo that's been published. It comes in at a little over 76,000 words, much longer than either Elements of Treason: Duty or Elements of Treason: Opportunity (Both are 40-45,000 words). Of the three novels in this series, it's also the one I have to really dig into because it involved a faction with very little exposure in story fiction, and I had to string together a narrative that wasn't as clear-cut as both Duty and Opportunity.

The story focuses on Star Captain Peter Cobb, a warrior who challenges the status quo of the Hell's Horses. A deep thinker and someone who isn't afraid to push the envelope. I won't give away the plot, but Peter is a developing character with a bright future ahead of him -- assuming he survives. 

Peter Cobb was a blank page, with little to go on. In Tamar Rising, it says this about Peter: 

"Another critic of the new Khan is Star Captain Peter Cobb of the Fire Horse Galaxy’s First Horde Cluster. Unusually cerebral and introspective for a Trueborn Clan officer, he couples this with exceptional martial skill, in and out of his ’Mech. In Clan Council meetings, Cobb has openly questioned what the Clan’s purpose should be in the wake of Terra’s fall, and whether the Khan possesses a coherent vision for their future. He has gained a prominent ally in the form of Loremaster Sachiko Ravenwater, who has urged him to stand for saKhan, while also taking the unusual step of circulating transcripts of Cobb’s concise and articulate speeches among the Clan’s freeborn and non-Bloodnamed Trueborn warriors, earning the Star Captain a surprisingly large cadre of supporters in the lower echelons of the touman."

I made Peter a warrior/scholar, a warrior who isn't afraid of learning from history. He isn't afraid to stake out a position, name names, and is willing to defend his position with words or with actions. That is where we first meet Peter, engaged in a Trial of Grievance. He wants to push the Horses out of the rut they're in because the Clan have done little since they came back to the Inner Sphere. They've taken a few planets, mostly ones from the retreating Wolf Empire, but they had been coasting along for the last seventy years. They developed the Mongol Doctrine, but lose it to the Jade Falcons Malvina Hazen, who then twists it to suit her own needs. It is Peter's research and exploration of the Golden Orbun Alliance that brings him to the forefront.

In addition to Peter's story, we get a look at the inner workings of a Clan that we haven't seen much of. I tried to make the Hell's Horse their own unique faction, with their own traditions and ways of doing things. We also get a look at a clan that is drifting toward crisis and maybe civil war, as the Horses Khans are divided, each pursuing their own agenda with their own methods. This split is forcing the castes, from warriors down to laborers to choose a side.

One of my favorite characters in this novel is Sachiko Ravenwater, the Hell's Horses Loremaster and Commander of The First Horde Cluster. An example of the saying, "Beware of an old person in a profession where the young die regularly," Sachiko is nearing ninety and has been Loremaster for over fifty years, outlasted several khans and sakhans, has seen everything a Clan Warrior can see and has a closet of T-shirts to prove it. Despite her age, she is still an active warrior and does not take guff off of anyone. While most people her age are knitting and baking cookies, Sachiko is balancing her duties of Loremaster and Cluster command, both demanding positions. She is still a dangerous warrior who sees what the Khan Gottfried Amirault and saKhan Fulk Lassenerra are doing to the clan. and has decided to take action by guiding a warrior who can lead the clan -- Peter Cobb.

The novel covers the period between May 3150 -- September 3152, putting it into the beginning to the iIlClan era. As far as I know, this is the last of the Element of Treason novels, though if John wants more, I'm willing to write them. I've enjoyed writing these novels, to give two new factions some exposure and to give the least-known of the Inner Sphere clan some time in the sunshine.

The novel can be found here: Elements of Treason: Honor Right now, it's only in an Ebook form a tthe moment, but should be available as a POD book within a few days. So enjoy, and let me know what you think of it!

Later!

Craig