July 11, 2022
A Literary Self-Assessment of my Work
I had a bit unorthodox idea: I thought to write a post featuring a literary self-assessment of my work. In particular, I wanted to self-critique all the novels I wrote in the past eight or so years.
This might sound like an incredibly arrogant thing to do, but you can also see it as a teaching point. As you might recall, authors are the sole authority of their work, so you might want to do something similar for your own novels, taking this post as an example.
A literary self-assessment of my work can show you how to do the same for yours, highlighting your evolution as a writer.
A Literary Self-Assessment: When Progress Is not Linear
Note: For convenience, there are links to Amazon on each title, in case you want to buy something and support my work, but remember: You can also get any of my books for free. See the end of this post for more details.
Moreover, this literary self-assessment doesn’t include works not meant to be published, works written in languages other than English, short stories, etc.
Ratings are 0-10. It should also go without saying that they’re entirely relative: I picked my least favorite and assigned it a 6 (for if it were lower I wouldn’t have published it) and my most favorite and assigned it a 9 (for I have to assume I can do better).
Dreamflakes and Soulcrumbs (2014)
My rating: 6+
A fairly predictable plot (twist), and some rather awkward character realization, but it does have some intriguing themes and it’s an interesting commentary on the nature of identity and our individual place in the world. There’s another interesting detail about it, which I’ll mention right below.
Sleeping Son (2015)
My rating: 6
A rather peculiar novel, with a fairly chaotic (but not incoherent) temporal scheme, and an interesting, disruptive protagonist. Still, I don’t like the way I’ve treated the topic. It feels more like a collection of scenes rather than an organic whole. You might notice that I rate it less than Dreamflakes above, and you might be wondering whether this means I was getting worse at this stage.
Here’s the thing: Dreamflakes was actually written much earlier, around 2006. It was the last of the three books I wrote under contract for my then publisher (which was rejected, never published before 2014). And so, Sleeping Son was actually the first book I wrote after a hiatus of many, many years.
To Cross an Ocean: Apognosis(2016)
My rating: 7
This is basically the first proper novel I wrote after my long hiatus. It’s not perfect, its plot is somewhat on the naive side, but the character arrangement is fairly solid (with some minor stereotyping). It was the first novel where I thought “fuck it, I’ll write whatever the hell I want”. And this was expressed in the way the novel reflects scenes and experiences (treat this metaphorically) from my childhood. I would consider it the first book of an unofficial “Greek trilogy”, being set in Athens. See more about this below, in The Other Side of Dreams.
Musings After a Suicide (2017)
My rating: 7+
Although not without its sparse humorous instances, this is as depressing as its title might suggest. But depressing makes for realistic, engaging literary fiction, and though it seems I’m the only one to have enjoyed this (it hasn’t attracted much attention, even within the very narrow confines of my readership), I still think it’s a fairly solid text.
This is also interesting for another reason: It’s the first novel to feature one of my authorial trademarks: open-endedness and interpretatively multiple endings. All subsequent novels I wrote feature the same trope.
The Other Side of Dreams (2018)
My rating: 8
Alright, here’s a minor spoiler: This is connected to Apognosis, in that it features one of its characters, following up with them. But similarities stop there. This is a darker story, with far less mainstream appeal, and more complex dynamics. I must also mention, I’m very happy with the two main characters, they might be the most dynamic and disrupting pair of characters I’ve written.
It’s also partly set in Greece, making it the second book in that unofficial “Greek trilogy” I mentioned above. I have some ideas about what the third book would look like, but writing it is not in my immediate plans. Perhaps in the future The third part of this trilogy is The Storytelling Cat.
Illiterary Fiction (2019)
My rating: 8+
Here are two secrets about Illiterary Fiction: Firstly, it was supposed to be a “that’s it, fuck it, I’m not gonna write anything else after this”, because I felt I could express virtually everything I wanted with it. Secondly, nobody gets the ending of that book. Nobody. I’m truly amazed, because there are ample signs about it, hints everywhere, but people miss it. Oh well, if you read it and do have an idea, let me know; it’d be a first!
Apart from that, this is a story I enjoyed writing and which I enjoy reading. It’s multi-layered, operating on several levels simultaneously: You can simply follow the plot and see where it takes you, or you can reflect on its deeper meanings and become fairly disturbed. There are many themes hiding in there.
The Perfect Gray (2020)
My rating: 9
Symbolically speaking, this is hands-down my most favorite work. The cohesion of its parallelisms is unmatched in my repertoire. I also really like how the plot is almost nonexistent – I managed to create something that, though certainly sense-making, with a movement from point A to point B in terms of story progression, relies almost entirely on character evolution and reflection.
With The Perfect Gray, I feel I was able to create something that, though prose-like in its form and structure, is poetry-like in terms of affect and impact.
It’s All Subjective Anyway
So there you have it; my slightly egocentric list containing a literary self-assessment of my works. If you’re a writer, I strongly recommend you do something similar for your own literary production. No need to be objective about it (which is rather impossible, anyway). Just try to get a “feel” of how you’ve progressed.
In the end, it boils down to this: Would you reread your own work?
When it comes to my own novels, I’ve reread (and enjoyed) the last three multiple times. Apognosis and Musings I’ve read once or twice, and thought “Nice”. The previous ones, I haven’t (yet). I have nothing against them (I wouldn’t put my name on them if I did), but I just don’t think they’re as good.
Note: If you want to have a laugh, read about the rejection of my first book. And for another quasi-egotistical text, one where I offer a literary analysis of three excerpt I like – from my own fiction, that is! – take a look at this post.
Most of my novels are available as an immediate free download – simply visit the Fiction page on the main site. And remember, you can also just email me and ask for a free, no-strings-attached (e.g. review etc.) digital copy of any of my books.
2 Comments
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I didn’t finish Illiterary Fiction because the non-essential information got in my way, as you know. There’s unnecessary informational redundancy. I didn’t like the pacing either, it felt too slow for my taste.
The Perfect Gray, on the other hand, felt perfect. It cuts down to size with an essential plot: no nonsense, just action. The text keeps moving every sentence, it doesn’t stop flowing even for a moment. It read like an affective thriller, a true page-turner for me. You know it: I consider The Perfect Gray one of the best (if not the very best) novels released in 2020.
I think The Perfect Gray does what Lisa Cron explains in Wired for story: the writer’s guide to using brain science to hook readers from the very first sentence:
I won’t explain any of my novels (especially in public), as I’d be doing a disservice to any prospective readers. I’ll only say, “unnecessary information” is a literary device in Illiterary Fiction – consider yourself manipulated!
Of course, it’s an entirely different discussion whether the use of a literary device gets in the way of how a given reader appreciates the text. But that went beyond my priorities.