Hey everyone! A few months back (yes really), I rediscovered a book that my sibling ranted about in her podcast years ago: Missing by Lisa Henry! Realizing I never really found out why the book was the dumpster fire my sibling said it was, also that I never found out what the book is really about, I decided to read the book myself to see what I was missing out on (haha get it?)!
So, you may be asking, “Nova, why did your sibling say that this book was so bad? That can’t be an overstatement!” Well, dear reader, after reading the book, I can finally answer your question!:
It IS.
I can’t say how TERRIBLE this book is throughout its entire storyline. At first I thought that this was Lisa Henry’s first time writing a book, since she DID say she was an amateur writer. So I decided to search her up on Google.
Turns out, Missing is her THIRD book she has written! But of course, she’s self-published, and books that are like that are either the most underrated things written or just… garbage. It truly is a spectrum that way.
Then I thought that this was one of the only BAD books that Lisa Henry had! So I read samples from what she claims are her best books: Everything I Can See and Shea’s Savior.
And THOSE were also terrible! But for some reason, part of me wondered: what makes Missing so bad? Why do these actually interesting concepts for stories fall flat on their face? Well, to start, I decided to go to the source of these books: Lisa Henry’s Goodreads page!
If you go on the questions she has answered from her small-but-existing fanbase, you can see that despite how confident she is at writing, the answers she gives to her readers’ questions are quite… questionable. Take a look:
“Q: How do you deal with writer’s block?
A: Music. I listen to a range of different types of music when I write, this helps me concentrate.”
…um… does she even know what writer’s block is?
Writer’s block (for those of you who don’t know) is when a person doesn’t know what to write about, not when someone can’t concentrate on their writing! Or, if the person does know what to write about, but can’t find a good way how to get the idea on paper, then that is also a form of writer’s block. It doesn’t matter how experienced the person is at writing; it can happen to ANYONE.
Some ways that people have found a way how to get over it include using writing prompts to make the author think of a story idea (the prompt “write about a two-headed monster” not only helped me with a case of writer’s block, but also made me create and develop one of my favorite original characters!), write out certain parts of the story that you have set-in-stone (this is why writing out a transcript can be VERY helpful with this process) or even write down what happens anyway (so you can correct it later at a future date)!
Music isn’t really one of them, in my opinion. Sometimes the music does the opposite and takes your focus off from your work! There have been so many times where I am working on some kind of writing and then get completely caught up by the kids of songs I play!
Then there’s one of the worst pieces of advice that I have ever heard from a writer, but it entirely depends on the context:
“Q: What’s your advice to aspiring writers?
A: Write. That’s it! Just write!”
There have been evidence from many sources (including an English university professor that has helped over 100,000 people publish books!) that this is a TERRIBLE idea when writing! This completely excludes any planning done, any education about writing that you have learned, and any other factor that can help you with getting the story out there.
Now, there are certain ideas where this advice can actually be useful at some points, like when you have writer’s block! Sometimes you just have to write out what is happening while it’s still in your head! If you don’t like it, you can edit it later.
But simply “just writing” is TERRIBLE since this can give readers the most underhanded story in their life!
Now that we got all the aspects wrong with what the author’s advice and writing is, next week, we can finally get into the nitty gritty details of why Missing by Lisa Henry is a terrible read.
See you then!
– Nova S.
(btw the podcast rant by my sibling was taken down so sadly you can’t listen to it anymore ok byeeee)