Take it on the chin

Over the years I've had a lot of jobs that have involved training, coaching and motivating people. Along the way I learnt that there's no such thing as negative feedback. There are positives in every criticism and comment which comes your way. This week, however, comments have been made about my work which have really pissed me off and I've struggled to take anything useful from them. That's not necessarily a bad thing. If nothing else it's started me thinking...

So what's the problem?

I'm more than happy if people want to challenge my style, my characters, my stories, my book covers or anything else. What I don't accept, however, is people criticising my work because they don't fit the norm of the 'traditional' zombie story. They were never supposed to.

When I wrote the AUTUMN books I decided, like everyone else who's worked in the genre, to set out my own rules - i.e. what the dead would do and what they wouldn't do. I decided that...

• they'd be slow moving (because they're dead and you're not going to start sprinting around as rigor mortis and then decay sets in)
• they wouldn't hunt the living to eat them (because there's no logical reason why they ever would)
• their senses would gradually return over the course of the books and, therefore, so would their interest in the living
• the strength of their reactions would increase as their control returned - they'd start as empty shells and become more dangerous as time went on
• they'd react to sound and movement so, in order to survive, the living would have to be as quiet and isolated as possible (i.e. no guns, no bombs etc. etc.)
  

So please feel free to shout at me if you like or don't like the books for any reason, but don't complain because there isn't any pointless bloody brain eating or flesh ripping.

Thanks. Rant over.

I said at the beginning of this post that there are positives to be found in every shred of feedback. I have to admit now, having had time to chew over the comments I recently received, they've had a positive effect too. They've made me realise that I need to tackle the gun-toting, flesh-craving, redneck 'traditional' zombie fan and shove them in the middle of my 'Autumn' world to see how long they'd survive.

What I'm saying is these comments have given me the reason and desire to do what I said I wouldn't do and write another 'Autumn' book.

So, around September 2006, midway between the two books in my new 'Hater' series, expect to see a fifth 'Autumn' novel hitting the shelves.