To Which Ted Said

My recent review of Ted Dekker’s Eyes Wide Open was, shall I say, less that flattering. Not so much because I didn’t think it worthwhile but because I, along with more than a few others, found the marketing of the books less that desirable. To the author’s credit, here is his response my review at Amazon along with my reply to him. I was public with my misgivings and he should be allowed the same forum to speak for himself.

Hi Tim… Ted Here.

Truly, I am sorry for the confusion that the release of this episodic story has caused some. Perhaps the main message in the release pages for Identity wasn’t clear enough. The whole idea was to present Eyes Wide Open like a TV series like Dexter or Homeland (which is what we compared it to in the copy (WHAT WOULD A TV SERIES FROM TED LOOK LIKE?) where Identity is the pilot, offered free, just like iTunes does so often for TV series. Nothing new… Just convenient (even expected of many these days, a return to the era of Dickens, as you point out.)

Eyes Wide Open is the whole season, as we said. We also compared it to Black, Red, White, a series in which each ends in a cliffhanger, only Eyes Wide Open is shorter. Somehow in all of that the message should have been clearer — not everyone reads the full description in the Eblasts and or posts. Live and learn. Next time we will find a different way to present it.

Either way, Identity is free… Just like Black, no one is obligated to continue to find out what happens to Thomas (Black ended with a gun to Thomas’s head:) Eyes Wide Open is definitely a return to the kind of intense spiritual struggle found in my earlier work… I hope you find the whole ride both challenging and rewarding. I know it was for me in the writing. Thank you for following my writing for all of these years. See around cyberspace…

To which Tim Said …

First off, let me say thanks for taking the time to comment here. I was not offended to the point I didn’t purchase the next two installments and plan to finish Eyes Wide Open. As a publicist and a writer myself I am aware of how easily the best laid plans can go in unexpected direction. And as one has clients who are self-published and must constantly look for creative ways to be seen and heard I understand what you were trying to accomplish. I never meant to imply there was intended deceptive marketing on your part – perhaps just a need for some different wording.

With that aside, let me say to you and those who read my reviews, The Circle is one of the reasons I found myself pulled back into writing after many years of ignoring the craft. Thank you for introducing a new generation to the kind of storytelling that Bunyan gave birth to hundreds of years ago.

So has anyone read the installments available? If so, what do you think about Eyes Wide Open?