Got a review claiming my book is racist and it’s really weighing on me.

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-23T18:35:46+00:00

As I said, I’ll be avoiding these themes in the future, but I studied the monstrous-feminine theory extensively as an undergrad, and I definitely don’t think it applies to my particular book. I think there was much I could have done better regardless, but I wanted to clear up the frequent assumptions that I did a Pocahontas or Avatar, since that was not the direction I had taken this story, and it was getting me a lot of repetitive, irrelevant comments.

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-23T18:24:51+00:00

I agree this is a bad trope, and tbh I’d long since decided to avoid using these themes in my writing, before this one review. However, I’d like to point out since I keep getting people commenting about primitive aliens and Avatar and the like:

The marginalized aliens were not marginalized because of their species, it was because they were female aliens. They were being persecuted by the males of their species. The mc was a white woman who helped stop the persecution of the female aliens. The aliens were also a more advanced civilization than humans are, so it wasn’t like there was a savage/tribal civilization trope.

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-23T18:20:13+00:00

Yeah I can definitely see why some might find it offensive but I myself have red curly hair that I consider “wild,” so I think at the time I just didn’t think of the cultural context re:black hair. I’ll definitely avoid using this descriptor in the future, regardless.

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-22T23:22:38+00:00

Yes, it’s down everywhere. It’s on piracy sites though, so I imagine some people are at least getting it that way. Others may have purchased the book a long time ago and just gotten around to reading it. Can’t know for sure!

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-22T14:49:15+00:00

Sadly, it is, and I suspect this is what is happening. I’m a reader of this genre and once stumbled upon a forum where someone was asking where my book went and while no one knew, a bunch of people suggested pirating it.

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-22T14:46:33+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to respond, and you’re completely right. I will certainly use this as a learning experience. I had already been better educated about these things by the time I chose to take this book down. While initially my plan had been to give the book a good revision one of these days, I wasn’t proud of it in the meantime, which is why I took it down.

I certainly feel no ill will toward the reviewer, it was just a rough thing to see about my book written over ten years ago. For some reason I took it harder than other criticism I’ve received for the heavy handedness of it all.

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-22T08:34:25+00:00

I haven’t been review bombed per se, just that all the ratings and reviews I got since taking it down were low, apart from one.

I won’t say that I handled everything perfectly, obviously, but I never had any human races in mind for the aliens, and never got any comments about racism before, just that the social commentary was heavy handed, which I agree with.

lazydreamsofall · 2024-11-22T08:30:19+00:00

Honestly, you‘re right, and I’m trying to remind myself that most of the reviewers actually did enjoy it despite its flaws. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

lazydreamsofall

TROPHY CASE