Just recently, a blog reader sent us this story titled How Bully Trolls Are Born. It contains a good lesson for all authors and gives some valuable insight into the mind of the literary bully troll.
MY PERSONAL STORY
This story will stick with me forever, but lately I’ve realized that this is really how bully trolls are born.
Late last summer when my first manuscript was finished and I was handing it out to select friends for opinions, I had forgotten one casual acquaintance of mine named Mary. She had pestered me for months to read it, but this woman really wasn’t a close friend, so I forgot about her. Her husband had been friends with my husband for many years, but I never really became close to this woman, she seemed phony to me. Her and her husband had money, owned their own business and had recently bought an old church to remodel into their home, a project that was costing tens of thousands of dollars.
Mary had often mentioned she was writing a book. Anytime I would run into Mary she would be on her way to another very expensive writer’s retreat some where exotic, or she was ‘meeting up’ with groups of other aspiring authors. The next thing I knew Mary was decorating her new renovated church home with statues of mystical creatures, all enclosed in expensive glass cases, as the main great room was quite magnificent in this old church. Then came the magnificent winding staircase up to the ceiling, all custom carved woodwork, which arrived at the top of a beautiful custom created library loft at the top of the ceiling….it was quite impressive. This was going to be Mary’s writing space.
One evening while my husband was visiting with her husband, drinking some beers and hanging out in the man shed in the back of the church, Mary invited me in to show me her progress. She also pulled out huge custom art drawings that she had hired an artist to do for her. Everything looked so expensive. As I was perusing the stack of art characters, all looking like something out of a Harry Potter movie, I casually said, “Mary, how long you been working on your book?” She proceeded to tell me fifteen years! Then I asked what the story was about. She did not answer, so I just shut up.
Then she asked me again to email her my manuscript, saying she was excited to read it and give her opinion. I obliged later that week.
A few days later, I started receiving emails from Mary, who was re-writing my book for me, all with red line edits included.
At first I didn’t get it, but then realized that Mary had no intention of reading my manuscript. Mary, in her mind had developed some sort of I’M A LEGEND IN MY OWN MIND attitude, because of all the expensive retreats, conventions and travels around the world.
I also realized that in fifteen years, Mary probably hadn’t WRITTEN anything! Her fantasyland world that she built for herself with winding staircases and statues, was all there really was for her.
Needless to say, I no longer speak to this idiot woman, and my husband does not speak to her husband either, simply because I had WORDS with Mary that were….well….BLUNT.
THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS A BULLY TROLL WAITING TO ATTACK ANYONE WHO PUBLISHES A BOOK
WHY?
BECAUSE SHE WILL NEVER WRITE OR PUBLISH ANYTHING.
Gosh, does this sound familiar? Kind of like, oh I dunno, Kat and this book of hers she’s been talking about for so long? Or how about Anna K. and her nonexistent book that she keeps raving on and on about on the Amazon discussion threads?
The story above is EXACTLY how these kinds of trolls are born. What is sad is that we’ve heard so many stories just like this, only worse. For example, we received one from an author who gave her manuscript to absolutely the wrong person and has regretted it ever since. This woman (the troll) not only thrashed it with red ink, but left a scathing Amazon review after it was published and then asked all of her friends to do the same. When the author came to us for help, we noticed that some of the Amazon reviews were actually sock-puppet reviews (which were very easy to spot just by looking at the account and the account’s review history). So we reported the reviews to Amazon. They were removed the next day.
Moral of the story:
Beware to whom you give your manuscript. Make sure it is someone you absolutely trust. Don’t get sucked into the black hole known as the literary bully troll.
