Series: The Aldarfall Saga #1
Publication date: October 15th, 2020
Synopsis:
World domination is the least of their problems.
A STRANDED DEMIGOD. Lau of the House of Feofar, troubled and headstrong, screwed up. Royally. Now he lives out his days in exile on Earth -- the very planet he once tried to exterminate.
A RUDDERLESS MORTAL WOMAN. Silver Laing leads the ordinary life of a white-collar worker. Lonely and desperately in search of purpose and new horizons, she gets more than she bargained for when she is offered a mysterious job.
A CATACLYSMIC PLAN BILLIONS OF YEARS IN THE MAKING. When a deadly visitor from Lau's shrouded past threatens to lay the world in ashes, Silver and Lau must form an unlikely alliance against ancient and far superior forces.
An alliance with the potential to shake foundation of the Universe.
Shimmering new worlds?
Sizzling tension?
Secrets as old as time?
Splashes of humour?
If your answer to all of the above is 'Hell, yeah!' then The Shape of Stars Unknown is your guy. This first book in Sybil Le Pyrmont's new urban fantasy adventure series, The Aldarfall Saga, will take you from Germany to Tibet, from Japan to Iceland and all the way to the other end of the Universe.
Visit spyrmont.com for more on Sybil and her writing.
Available at:
Guest Post: Handling Negative Reviews
"You sick b*tch! They're toxic, YOU'RE toxic, can't you see that you stupid h*e??? Hope you rot in hell and choke on every word you've ever written!"
This is an actual quote from an anonymous comment I received on one of my old fan fiction stories. They garnered a total of over 2,000 reviews, and whilst most of them were favourable, gems like the above did come in from time to time. When I started putting my writing out there for the world to see, I struggled enormously with negative comments; like many writers secretly do, I thought I would be the one exception to the rule that everyone gets crappy reviews. Stephen King, Harper Lee, Margaret Atwood, Sarah J. Maas, Ursula Le Guin, Shakespeare -- there isn't an author in the world who hasn't received his or her fair share of criticism. And I can't for the life of me imagine that any of them was/is above the little sting of pain that invariably accompanies a less-than-adoring appraisal of a writer's work. I know I certainly am not. That said, there are a couple of tactics that help me lessen the blow.
1) Realistic assessment
A review like the one above causes me the least amount of pain, so I spend the least amount of time worrying over it. This is little more than a personal attack from a reader who preferred another pairing over the one I chose (some fandoms tend to display a certain degree of fanaticism), and strange as it may sound, I can cope reasonably well with insults for the sake of insulting.
When a reader criticizes a particular character arc, story development or worldbuilding element, or points out a plot hole, I find this a tad harder to stomach. Confession time: even when the reader has a point, it still hurts a little. If the comment is constructive and I tend to agree with the reader after a short cooling-off period, though, I make extensive notes and incorporate the feedback in my future writing.
My greatest challenge is with reviews that slam my writing as a whole and find fault with views or philosophies in the story that espouse my own. Fortunately, this hasn't happened all that often, but when it does, all I can do is step back, put it in a drawer and sleep on it, maybe more than once. Again, if there are constructive elements in the review, I note them down; if the criticism of my writing stems from the reader's personal dislike of my style, I take a deep breath and dismiss it -- you can't please everyone. The same goes for disagreements over worldview and philosophy. A million people have a million and one opinions, and that's the way it should be.
For all that, I will be very honest with you: negative reviews sting. They sting even the cool kids who post them in their Facebook groups with a triumphant comment on how they're now part of the one-star club.
2) Do it yourself
This was originally an assignment in a revision course I took a few years ago: write a one-star review for your own book. I have been doing this for each new piece of writing ever since, and not only does it help me spot flaws and weaknesses in my story and characters, but it also prepares me for negative reviews, if only a little (there will always be comments you simply can't prepare for).
3) Any publicity is good publicity
Some one-star reviews make me want to read a book even more! Yes, I know, it is an entirely different story to receive one such review for my own book, but still -- negative comments can entice other readers to take a closer look. I can't pick up a book fast enough when a reviewer bemoans things like a morally ambiguous protagonist, a taboo subject or a despicable, manipulative character. There are so many reviews about the questionable characters and messages in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; if the book hadn't already been one of my favorite since high school, these comments would have made me buy it faster than you can say "Lord Henry Wotton".
Long story short, I fear negative reviews as much as the next writer. Do they spoil my day? You bet. Do I allow them to crush me? Abso-effin-lutely not! For if all else fails, there is still tactic number 4: pop a bottle of bubbly and remember that 97% of those who start writing a novel never finish it.
Thank you so much for taking the time to (virtually) meet me and The Shape of Stars Unknown. I'd love to hear from you, so if you'd like to get in touch, please drop me a line at sybil@spyrmont.com -- or find me on my social media sites.
Sybil Le Pyrmont was born in Germany and was raised on the Canary Islands (that Gallic name is a pseudonym -- her actual name has as much flair as a tax return). Although she now resides in Frankfurt, Germany, her heart has been beating for Tokyo ever since she spent a year in that city and discovered her epic love for all things Japan. That includes, to her acute embarrassment, the Shinagawa train station jingle she has installed as her ringtone. When Sybil isn't writing, or dreaming of the anonymous donor who will some day gift her a house in Japan, she splits her time between her airline day job and long rants about the sunshine and the always-too-hot weather.
Sybil writes urban fantasy adventure to whisk her readers away to realms of imagination that have a distinct possibility of existing somewhere in the depths of the Universe.
Visit spyrmont.com for more on Sybil and her writing.
