Replying to criticism

Madou

It strikes me that, for the most part, posters to this forum really do not know how to respond to criticism. Posters should expect to be ripped apart for what they write here, then very cooly, absorb, appraise and move on.

Surely this is all part of the artisitic process. Increasingly I see contributors of the 'I dabble in writing'-ilk posting up average pieces of writing, only to come back two days later and lose the head at harsh, but often justified, criticism.

If you post, accept the criticism that comes with it. American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay said, "A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public with his pants down". I would think the same goes for posting here.

claire h

I think many people just want to be patted on the head for writing something.

I don't have a problem with people who dabble in writing or just do it for fun, but if that's the case, the place for their writing is not on a public forum. Inflict that kind of writing on your nearest and dearest only!

silvine

Realistically a public is not the best place for writing full stop.

I agree though if you write something you should be prepared to have it torn to shreds. The fact that you have a right of reply is more then you get if you are an author. When you read a book you can slate it to your friends and the author will never hear of it/be able to respond. The author never stands behind your shoulder explaining why he or she wrote this or what they meant by that, leaving the reader free to intepret any piece of work as they see fit. If people here have a problem with what someone says about their work they should either ignore it or take the criticisms on board.

fabbydabby

Taking critisism is very difficult for people who aren't used to it. I remember showing some of my earlier stuff to my mates (who generally don't read or write themselves) and recieved reviews of orgasmic proportions .

Then I showed it to more literary minded individuals, who tore me apart on everything from grammar to plotholes and back again. It really opened my mind.

I love recieving constructive critisism from avid readers. I like to mull over it and decide whether I agree with it or not, and work my ass off at improving my style. I also find it interesting how two people whose opinions I respect can have totally contraditory feelings about my work.

It really is up to you as a writer to agree or disagree with pointers you've been given without emotion or bias. Your reader might have missed the point of what you were trying to do... but if that's the case then so may an editor. I remember getting a message back from a friend about a piece I had poured blood sweat and tears into which went along the lines of

yeah I didn't really like that at all, though that said I am rather cranky and tired and irritable at the moment so maybe that has something to do with it.

Needless to say I wont be enlisting her services again.

I don't think I would ever post anything I wrote here... just yet anyway. I am too afraid of getting slated! I'll stay in my bubble, thank you very much!

brianthebard

I wouldn't agree that a piece should be ripped apart, but definitely people should be able to criticise whatever's posted so long as they give a reason why they said what they said. I'm working on a short story at the minute and have shown it to a number of people, who all have had problems or things to be improved. Its a good thing to hear that back though, because then you can work on it. I don't know why anyone would post something and not want to hear how to improve their work, unless they are deluded enough to think its above criticism.

rockbeer

People cause a lot of their own problems by posting stuff in public before it's as good as they can make it. People can't even be bothered to run a spell checker half the time, ffs. Then they get all huffy when you point out that work full of basic mistakes looks not just amateurish but illiterate.

Why would writers want to submit work for public slaughter that they haven't done their best with? And why would writers expect anyone to say good things about their work when they obviously don't care about it enough to polish it?

I agree with claire h, many people just want a pat on the head and some instant approval. If they really wanted to improve, they would encourage honest criticism, however savage. One of the key attributes every writer needs is a thick skin. Another is the ability to step back far enough from their work to consider any criticism objectively and decide whether it's valid.

It makes me wonder what people think is going to happen when they put their work out there in the real world.

Ave Sodalis

I do find critism helpful however, sometimes, unagreeable. I do know some people do get angry and are not able to handle it, but other times it can just be someone explaining the problem to you.

It was stated above by Silvine that you don't have an author of a book standing behind you when you read it but now that you do, can we not use that to our advantage?

I agree with most points made. People do tend to 'fly of the handle' when their work is critisied and is quite inappropriate majority of the time which is silly.

busted flush

claire h wrote: »

I think many people just want to be patted on the head for writing something.

very very true

magicass

sup_dude wrote: »

I agree with most points made. People do tend to 'fly of the handle' when their work is critisied

sad but very common epically among the young folk