Criticism

 

    Today's writing tip is based on accepting criticism, or more accurately, determining whether the criticism is worth accepting.  Everyone, it seems sometimes, is eager and willing to tell us what they believe is wrong with your story, poem, or blog post.  People rarely, in my experience, understand what it takes to pour your mind and heart out for examination and listen to criticism.  So, this is for any aspiring writers who are about to face or have recently faced a critique of their beloved work.

    

    First of all, let's talk about the most obvious and most overlooked aspect of criticism when it comes to writing.  Criticism, just like writing is a skill.  It's a skill that gets better with time and practice.  Lots of people think that they have the ability to write a book, a poem, or a story, but a small percentage of the human population actually does it.  Criticizing someone else's work though, no one hesitates for a second to jump into this learned field and do donuts in the mud.  Why?  Why do people hesitate to step into one area of literary art, but jump gleefully into another?  The answer is simple.  You risk nothing by criticizing another person's work.  You will not be hurt, insulted, or driven to give up on your dream after the act is done.  Writing, on the other hand, is risky.  You subject yourself to the possibility of being rejected.  You have to put yourself out there, and risk your dreams.  That's a tough thing to face, the fact that your dreams may never come true.  I'm just not good enough.  We, as writers, face it every day.  Critics, not so much.  So, when listening to criticism, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions.  First of all, is this person a skilled critic, and second, is this person trying to help me improve my craft, or are they just angry at the world and taking it out on me?  If a person tells you they've heard ten stories like yours in the last week, what does that have to do with your writing?  The movie Avatar was a retread of time-honored cliche's but it set box office records.

    Another thing to think about is the generality of the criticism.  Is the critic describing your writing in vague terms like stuffy, clunky, boring, slow, or cliched?  These are all things to pay attention to, especially if more than one person used the same type of descriptor, but these are the tools of the amateur critic.  Now, don't get me wrong, professional critics may use vague terms like this, but they won't rely on them solely.  If the entire critique is written entirely with a broad brush of generalities, it can be dismissed as amateurish and unhelpful.  By no means should you take these kinds of critiques to heart and make decisions about following your dream based on this kind of critique.

    Also, we need to ask ourselves, is the critique correct?  Is it valid?  Writing, as with all art, is a subjective thing.  One person may hate it, but ten thousand more may love it.  So, the trick to acting on criticism is to learn to detect recurring patterns.  If one person says that you have too many commas in your story, and another mentions that your story doesn't flow, there is a very good chance that the two are related.  Pay attention to how the critiques compare to each other, and whether they are related in any way.  One person may dislike your ending, but that does not mean that the ending is bad, or should be changed.  Listening to people and reworking our writing is often more difficult than the first draft, and close behind marketing on the scale of difficulty imho.

    Last, but definitely not least, we need to learn to take criticism for what it is.  As artists, we tend to have our heart and soul wrapped up in our work, and criticism of our writing often feels like criticism of personal self.  "It's boring," is often heard as "you're boring."  Step outside your work and take a look at your writing almost as if someone else did it.  The best Authors and Poets in the world have room to improve, so what makes me think that my writing should be perfect?  It takes courage and determination to pour your raw mind out onto a page, but even more is needed to face an honest review.  If you have a good editor that gives you sound advice about your writing, thank your lucky stars, because they aren't falling off of trees like crabapples.  Accept the advice with a happy heart and use it to make your writing shine.

    As always have a great day and Happy Writing!