Author's Message

Flipped: From Reviewer to Reviewee

By Marilyn Brant

If you're the kind of person who grows up to be a writer, you've already spent years revising the endings
of other people's novels or fabricating the personal histories of strangers in your mind. You've probably even mused on the antics of, say, a heroine with a penchant for microwave meals and carryout and the organic-obsessed hero who sports a "King of the Grill" T-shirt -- characters who inhabit a romantic comedy novel you're writing.

But in the Spatula Flip of Life, no imagined point-of-view switch helped me glean as different a perspective as when I went from book reviewer to book reviewee.

I had been an aspiring novelist before I began reviewing for RT in the spring of 2004. I knew that pulling together the storytelling elements of plot, structure, characterization, etc., into a cohesive whole was very tricky (understatement). Becoming a reviewer gave me a crash course in analyzing stories, figuring out what works, what doesn't and why. But more on that later.

I've always loved stories, and every month for four years I looked forward to new books for review landing on my front porch in their sealed plastic packets of possibility. These soon-to-be-released novels had been plucked from thousands of hopefuls, and I was one of the fortunate first to experience their magic.

But with privilege comes responsibility, right? In trying to be fair to both the novelists and the readers, I made a list of Reviewer Vows and solemnly promised to:

* Read each novel in its entirety

* Analyze every book consistently for specific novel elements

* Make sure readers could extract the correct story premise from my summary

* Ensure the author would be able to find sincere words of praise in the review

* State, as objectively as possible, my criticism of any parts
of the book I felt needed strengthening, and relate this in a manner that made it clear I was commenting on the narrative only, not on the author.

Above all, I knew taste in novels was unquestionably subjective, but I felt if I tried to write the kind of evenhanded, honest, story-focused reviews I hoped to get someday, there should be nothing to fear -- either from the author's or the reviewer's standpoint.

My experience has led me to believe that most reviewers strive to be fair, and I'd like to think this perspective helps me deal more peacefully with both criticism and praise. That it allows me to better handle the mixed emotions of having my own debut novel under scrutiny. Logically, it does. Yet, every time my debut women's fiction book, According to Jane (Oct., Kensington) gets sent out for review, I still reach for a calming chocolate-caramel Ghirardelli square and wonder what Jane Austen would suggest I do to relax, if she were giving me advice like she does my main character.

However, even if Jane or my insider knowledge of the review process doesn't entirely quell my anxieties, the act of reviewing itself was one of the keys I credit with being able to write and pitch a salable manuscript. Why? Well, because I had to learn how to:

(1) Deeply analyze a story's structure for the key components of a novel (character arcs and motivation, rising plot conflict across three or four acts, escalating scene tension, writing style, point-of-view usage, the subtle inclusion of symbols and subtext, etc.)

(2) Boil down the essence of a book into a brief summary, which was terrific training for writing blurbs for query letters and short pitches for editor/agent appointments

(3) Study the distinctive narrative styles and "voices" of published authors who wrote in a range of genres and for publishing houses I'd hoped to work with someday, and learn what made these writers so successful and their work so compelling

(4) Read extensively the type of material editors were currently buying, which became an unparalleled exercise in literary market research

(5) Recognize overused plots, character stereotypes or cliched phrases that might bore readers because, if I'd encountered them a number of times, I knew publishing professionals and other reviewers had too

(6) Get used to meeting a strict editorial deadline -- period.

All of these skills proved excellent practice for the reality of being a novelist under contract.

So, while I may have flipped from one side of the review table to the other this year, I'm indebted to all I learned as an RT reviewer. Additionally, one of the greatest gifts of the job was discovering remarkable authors I may not have encountered otherwise, whose books managed to wedge themselves permanently onto my keeper shelf. I can only hope a reviewer or two, somewhere out there, will feel the same way when she opens a sealed plastic packet and pulls out one of my novels. But whether she does or doesn't, I know the process from two very different sides now -- and I love and appreciate them both.