writerly ways

[cornerofmadness]

First off, let me say thanks to everyone who gave me their thoughts on description. Even if you didn't think it helped, it really did.

I guess I was thinking a bit today about handling criticism. It's a fact of life, if you write, you're going to be criticized, sometimes with cause, other times not so much so. I've been thinking on how do you handle it. For the most part, I often ignore it and whine to my friends. this is probably the safest bet in the online world. Even if you think the reviewer is a total whackjob or being mean for meanness' sake, never say so on an open forum.

We saw Anne Rice's meltdown on Amazon a few years back and midnightsjane showed us this one this past week. author's big mistake

That said it is hard to NOT say something. Yes author's have to have a thick skin. That is SO much easier said than done and if you don't write you really don't know how it feels. Even if you know someone has a complete misconception (or once in my case confused me wiht another author) saying so publically can be your death. Just look at the review I did of Gwen Cooper's cat book. Trying to explain further my feelings in my own review was like adding fuel to the fire.

So yeah, I guess really it's best to leave reviews alone. So outside of replying to the reviewer what's your favorite way of handling bad reviews.


I did get a scene done in the Pompeii thing but i'm just not sure it'll be enough.

Comments

[rahirah]

It's really damn hard not to leap to the defense of your baby when someone says it's ugly and you dressed it funny, but damn, it never ends well if you do.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

isn't that the truth?

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

I'm not a writer but I've had to deal with criticism of my art. Usually for me it's a matter of how intelligent the criticism is. If it at least seems like a well-thought out point of view then that can actually be more helpful than "oh you're so talented/I can't do anything like that" etc. On the other hand if it's more along the lines of "Your art SUXX0rs!!!!" then heh you just have to giggle.

With art I suppose it's a bit easier since you don't really get much criticism for the most part outside of classes, really. And in classes it's usually pretty civil. But I suppose with writing my approach would still be the same: to judge it based on how well thought out the criticism was and try to figure out if it's a matter of taste or if they're saying something objectively valid. Some authors may be "great" but they're still not to everyone's taste; I can't stand Hemingway for instance.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

the matter of taste criticisms usually aren't too hard to handle, at least not for me.

theones that get me are a) the ones just raving about how bad it is, b) theones who can't find anythign actually wrong with the story so they find somethign stupid to pick at and the worst type is C) the ones insisting myfacts are wrong when i know they aren't (the person i complained about last week also did this a lot)

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

Rule #1 in dealing with criticism is NEVER REPLY IMMEDIATELY. If your first reaction is like mine, your immediate impulse is to defend your work. This is the royal road to writing or saying emotion-driven, ill-thought-out things that I regret when I cool down. I usually just set the comments aside and say nothing for a day or two. Quite often, when I go back and review whatever was said, the criticism is sound and even constructive. If the critic has misunderstood what I was trying to say, I usually just ignore the critique. Ditto the really strange, off-the-wall comments. I know where I'm going in a given work, I know how to step back and get perspective and I have confidence in my ability to self-edit, so unless I hear the same complaint several times over (definitely time to take a look if that happens), I don't take critiques to heart. No writer is perfect, and no writer can please every reader, so at a certain point you just have to consider the source of a critique and stop trying.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Rule #1 is a definite. For example in my writers groups i never ever reply immediately. Oh i might bitch to a third party but never immediately or things will get said and i'llbe the next person people are blogging and laughign about.

in writers groups i'll take the majorityrules approach. if 5 out of 7 all agree then there has to be something to it (points to nanomowhinging when it was active there was one persn there that was very with the others.)

and you're right, no writer is perfect and even if we were tehre would still be someone who didn't care for that style/genre whatever

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I haven't had too much luck growing a much thicker skin -- but I have learned that it's best to just hide your hurt. If you can't ignore it, better to whine and bitch to yourself, preferably when absolutely no one else is in the house to overhear you, then get on with your life. Sadly, I grew up to be one of those "sensitive" people, and I don't mind saying I'm sometimes jealous of those who don't care and/or can just let it go.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i'm right there with you on that. I forgot to mention in my post this was also being bantered about at 'my' publishers author's group as well which is what got me thinking about it.

i've got a few friends i can whine to and i guess that'll be part of my release of this

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

You can always whine to us on LJ -- the majority will understand.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yep that's what locks and filters are for

[esmerelda-t.livejournal.com]

For me it depends on what kind of criticism it is, I'm fine with people pointing out grammer or typo problems and I'm fine with people saying if something wasnt clear, what I can't stand is people saying something is 'out of character' because it's a completely subjective opinion and like saying 'I dont like apples, therefore you shouldn't like them either'.

Saying that, because I write purely for my own pleasure and without the aim of going pro I have the luxury of saying 'Fuck 'em' if people don't like what I write. I'm not trying to sell it so it doesn't really matter if it appeals to no one but me.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, grammar stuff that's a big mea culpa on my part (I'm the queen of grammar errors)

Yeah the OOC issue is difficult or the fuckwits who come in screaming about the pairing you just wrote and how wrong it is those people are special.

[winters-queen.livejournal.com]

I've read some author blogs where a few have said that they prefer not to read reviews. If some are sent to them, it's fine but they won't go searching.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

you know, i think that might be MY approach to it all. i think i'd be too sensitive for anything else. What someone thinks of my fanfic is one thing but my original work...