Laurell’s answer to “I have been a fan of yours for more than ten years now. I love your writing. I recently joined good…” > Likes and Comments

What a fantastic attitude.

Laurell - your comment about even good reviews messing with your muse is something that I've experienced but not been able to find the words to express. Well said.

I've found that good reviews don't make me happy and bad reviews hurt to the core. I'm with you, Laurell, ignore them and keep writing.

Dear woman named Laurell,

That outfit in your author profile photo is BAM amazing. Those boots! My god! :-)

I agree that comments can hurt, but they can also be helpful. You have a faithful fan base..ignoring their pleas for the old Anita seems a waste...and sad...

Some reviews can be helpful, no doubt...but I will say that of all the authors that I've followed over the years (including on Amazon, prior to Goodreads) I've never read so many VILE and MEAN reviews as the ones that Laurell receives. Some people make you want to lose your temper and ask WHY are they still reading the books if they have hated the last 5 with such passion?? On that note, I was a diehard fan of the Anita books, but now I can't read them anymore. I still love Merry though.

I am not so sure Charlaine Harris has her share of terrible reviews , especially after her last two books about true blood series. Then her new series has taken a hit as well. I do think people should not put no stars or one star...if you start the book, and hate it move on..I have a so not my style listing under my reviews on Goodreads. I have still given Laurell good reviews, but I would just like to see the old Anita. The one that fights, and plots, and is not so tangles in the many lovers aspect of the novel. I am skipping this one, and I have heard the next one due out is more back on track.

Thanks for the response...though! I have not read the Merry series. I will try it out!..Thanks....

Mrs. Hamilton I love your way of thought!

I agree with your thoughts. It kills me when I read comments about the sex in the books. The books are erotica, if you don't want to read about sex pick another genre. I don't read the reviews anymore myself except for laughs. Books are the authors telling of the characters, not to be changed because readers complain. Keep doing what you do!

I would be curious on your thoughts about your books on audio... I've been hiding in them, and I'm finding the switch from Kimberly Alexis to be, well, sharp and painful. As I might expect a newbie kissing a vampire might, who doesn't enjoy or expect the fangs.

Reviewers are originally fans and dismissing their opinion is either be extremely conceited or lacking respect for the money they spent buying your books. I understand you cannot read all the reviews or comments but saying that even "good reviews can mess with my muse and me"... really????
It goes a bit beyond "haters are going to hate" and "trolls are going to be trolls". This kind of comments make me think that you care only about your cash you receive. Not even an once of respect that haters could be fans that you deceived.
Any author should be able to reset him/herself and if you cannot read all reviews at least get someone who will point you the parts you are lacking and things to change.
Your last merry gentry was a total mess. It was never so clearer that you hated to write it.
Thank you so much Mrs Hamilton for that comment AND your last releases. You lost a fan AND a customer. Enjoy your cash... while it comes to your pocket!

LKH...did you ever stop and think that perhaps the 'negative reviews' could be used as constructive criticism? i have written some negative reviews because i have been reading your books for years. i don't care about what kind of sex you have in them...for goodness sakes, i love hentai and THAT gets weird! why can't anita like ANY women? why is it just one little thing and she hates on you forever? why does every woman HAVE to want to have sex with her boyfriends? can't they just be homies? i have a TON of dude homies that i've never banged and don't want to...we're just buddies. why is jade being FORCED to participate in sexual encounters with people (men) that she doesn't want to? you know what that is, right? people go to jail for that kind of stuff - but you want anita to be a superhero? i still have faith that this series can be fun again...not just a pain to avoid the relationship wangst and anita's internal monologues (what happens there? does she just get stuck thinking and not moving?).

I am a HUGE fan of the Anita Blake novels, have been reading them for years (although because of money issues I haven't read the newest one yet). I don't usually comment, but I just had to say something after reading the last few comments on Laurell's answer to this question. If the author prefers not to read reviews, it doesn't mean she is ignoring her fans. Laurell has told us MANY times that her characters write their own stories, she just does the dictation. I take this to mean that she prefers to let her stories go their own direction, and when she says she and her muse do better without reading reviews, I take this to mean she tries not to let other people's ideas, whether good or bad, manipulate or influence her writing. We're all here reading these comments because we are a fan. And what hooked us in the first place was Laurell's own imagination...her own characters, flaws and all. Yes, Anita makes mistakes. She can be quick to judge, hold a grudge, get jealous, expect a lot out of people, and her thoughts, feelings, and experiences have changed her a lot over the years, but, don't we all? I don't know about the rest of you, but I can better relate to a character with some flaws than with a character of the "perfect" super hero. So, Laurell, whatever you're doing, and wherever you get your inspiration, please keep it up. I love the way Anita and her big, mostly happy family flows out of your imagination, onto the paper, and into my mind as I read, and my only complaint would be that I have to wait too long for the next book!

One of my other favorite authors, I heard killed herself, Jennifer Rardin. I hope it wasn't due to the online bullying. I'm glad you are protecting yourself. I also see Ann Rice getting online bullied with targeted group attacks.

Of course, there's ignoring haters and trolls and bullies and then there's ignoring everyone, including your fans and any constructive criticism they might feel like imparting.

I'm a fan of the Anita series, but honestly it's just painful to read now. It's not the erotica in it, it's just the bad writing Miss Hamilton. An it's not that you can't write, or that your muse deserted you or something. We all know you can write. We all know you can construct a good plot. It's that you don't anymore that's so disappointing. The books feel rushed and so not edited they shouldn't even rate a first draft, let alone a release version. So much repetitive backstory when you know most of your fanbase has been with you for years. So much mysoginy it sets our teeth on edge. So much sexism. So, so much. It's not even funny anymore. And the mysoginy isn't your character, Miss Hamilton. It's you. The way you speak and treat your women characters. It's so disappointing.

I agree at least to an extent. I have really enjoyed Anita's character. This last book has really disappointed me. I can't remember how many chapters there were, but I think only 3 or 4 of those chapters were actually about what the book was suppose to be. The rest of the story was a useless storyline. I had recommended this series to my daughter when I first started reading. Probably 8 to 10 years ago. Up until then I just didn't have the time to read a lot. If I had begun with this latest book, where Narcissist ( think this is the correct spelling) and Anita were having a conversation and he says, "I hear your pussy is as tight as your asshole." Come on what is that. The publishers should at least warn the consumer. I don't want my teenager reading this. I'm really bummed. Like I said, I truly loved Anita's character. She was strong in her convictions. She said what she felt was in her head and heart. She even taught me a few things. Anita's character is no longer that character that I admire. All she speaks about is sex, people getting mad about who's having sex with who, fucking and more fucking. And you go into such detailed info about it, useless info. Bring back the Anita that so many of us enjoyed reading. Start a new book series with the whole polygamy if that is what you enjoy. You mentioned in an earlier comment Anita isn't you and you aren't her ( not those exact words, but that was what I felt you were saying). Her experiences are hers so why are you pushing so much of your own personal lifestyle in her life. Granted I know Anita is a character in a fictional book. But I truly have enjoyed most of the books. I would get so engrossed that I would read from beginning to end without stopping. On those days my husband would feel neglected and get a little fussy. I just couldn't put it down. I haven't done that in quite a while. I'm not a hater or troll or whatever this is. I don't usually write in comments often, but I feel strongly about this. You created such a wonderful and strong woman's character with a bit of magic and fantasy to go with it. Because, we all know we're never to old to have dreams and fantasies. The real world can be so overwhelming and cruel. It's nice to have those places to go for just a little while. I just want the "real" Anita Blake back.

You know, this comment might hold a little more weight if it weren't for your rather famous vitriolic spew of hatred against all your fans, must be at least ten years ago now. When fans tried to understand the change in direction you were going in from kick-ass independent mystery solver to needy co-dependent whore. You see, some of us are able to remember things like that, and characters proper names and sexual orientations, or know existence (Wicked and Truth, anyone?)

I don't feel here is a need to crucify her her at like this. Don't stow stones unless you are perfect. But I do have a comment I hope Laura listens to. I am a huge fan of her work and have all the Anita Blake books. But the past several books, have this huge novel with all these details and huge build up for the main monster they will be hunting down. I get so excited to hear how the big fight will go down. I guess I started getting really excited after reading when she went to pay back the favor Edwards told her to come help him with in New Mexico. It was just awesome to read that whole book. But now, it seems every book builds and builds, mostly spending chapter after chapter detailing sex acts she has with way too many people to even count now. I don't want to read porn so I end up having to skip those pages because it's already been read and if I want sex I'll just go be with my husband not read about someone else doing it with half a dozen men and women at the same time. But I get this amazing image of some bad ass monster and wonder how Anita will kill it and I'm hoping it will be as a,aging as her earlier struggles. However by three fourths of the way through I realize the focus is still on the sex and the monster is no where to be found yet and the book is almost over. It seems for the past several books I'm left finishing the book where she finally finds the monster in the last ten pages and Anita just kills it, no struggle, no big battle, it just does. And then there is a quick page to explain all the drama between the sex partners eventually settled down or they would figure it out in time but yay the monster is dead. There books are a great read, great plot, but no climatic peak at all they just end. I'd really love to read more of the kind of work Laura put out in her first ten books. The monsters barely won and it was so believable. Anita almost died but they were able to save her barely, like when the vampire and human servant bargained with Richards pack to kill Anita in the snuff films and they took John Claude and Richard, and Anita barely got out and rescued them both. Or when she was taken by the vampire in the little bar in the mountains and ended up dragging a vampire into the sun and killing it while she screamed because she was mentally connected to it. The big battle at the circus... These were excellent climax battles and I wish Laura would write more of the fight scenes with the same passion she writes the sex stuff with, and leave the sex for the bedroom. Some is fine but half the books are sex now and it's just not what the readers want.

Crystal Huffman- totally agree. The first six or so books were tremendous. Then the series just turned into whining, dull and spineless characters, and orgies. Anita became at once invincible, queen of pretty much all tribes/breeds/mystical creatures, and totally uninteresting. In the first six books she was kick-ass and vulnerable at the same time. Since then, she's become, exactly as you say it, "a needy, co-dependent whore." I don't care about her jumping into bed with people right and left, but the sex she has feels less than meaningful-- it's just so mechanical, and boring, like a prostitute's revolving door. Also, Jean-Claude all but disappeared, and was pretty much replaced with Micah, the most unexciting and dull character in the entire series. God he's awful.

Meh... I'd sad to say the series lost me about five books ago. But I do still pick up the old ones now and then. The thing that has fans of the first books so annoyed is that the series started out selling one thing, and then once we bought it, switched the product entirely. So if LKH wants to ignore her fans, that's on her. If I were her, I probably wouldn't read my reviews either if so many former fans hated the direction my writing had taken.

When it gets to the point in a series that you no longer enjoy, perhaps it's time to move along. No need to be extra critical, just find something else. There are many, plenty of us that not only enjoy the series, but love, and follow the story where ever it takes us. Great job, LKH.

Many have moved on, however that doesn't help those who have as we are still disappointed. Or we keep reading, just hoping things will change again. I just finished Crimson Death and tho it had all the faults fan continue to bring up, I actually felt comfortable rating it 4 stars (3.5 rounded up). So THAT's why we continue...but for myself, I get them from the library nowdays. I would caution that most of us "haters" & "trolls" are simply hoping LKH will read it and take our thoughts seriously because all we fans want is a better book! How will better editing ruin her muse?
PS: why I even commented on this thread I don't know, as LKH won't be reading this...

Yey for you! Do what you must to keep writing fantastic stuff! Don't change a thing! And whom ever or whatever is your muse I love it!

Here's the thing ~ an artist is called to tell a story her way. There are people who simply create for profit only; but, that's not muse-based. Anita's story is unfolding and that includes her desires & relationships as well as her career. None of Anita's reality throws me off; this is who the character is and she's found people (as it were) to accept her as she is (even though that was a bummer w/ Richard). So, hey...as Rod Serling might say, that's "object lesson #1," y'all!

People including myself see the story you've written as a beautiful invitation to a very well written and original world. At least before the 9th book because after that it becomes a smut fest.

I haven't see a character turn this fast since the walking dead. Anita the prim and proper holier than thou princess becomes the literal embodiment of XXX porn. Fans who stuck around call it the vag of death. Honestly she ruined her story to the point where I've seen my little pony fan-fiction better than the dumbser water that is the Anita Blake series.

And just because people are telling you the truth about the story that your horniness ruined doesn't mean they're trolls ma'am thanks. XOXO

Brilliantly said and explained. I have to quote. Thank you.

OMG! LKH... Thank you for showing your true colors!