Archives
9:53:00 AM EDT
Hearing Pure Morning -- Placebo
Opening a Vein
AOL Journaler Andreakingme essays the recent Anne Rice/Amazon blow up and other recent writing events and worries about whether she has what it takes to be a writer -- not in the writing department but in other places:
God, do I really want to be a writer and purposefully open myself up to attack and criticism? There's this saying that to be a writer, all you have to do is to open a blood vessel. The first time I read that saying I thought it was amusing, but I've since found the sentiment to be true. (I was fighting depression while trying to write that heavy romantic suspense a few weeks ago. But I've been working on something much lighter this week and so I've been in a better place.) Anyway, so much of what I write is me.
"So much of what I write is me" is a sentiment that's true not just of writing novels or short stories but also in writing journals; it can be very difficult to write a very personal entry and then have someone come over and leave a snarky or rude comment (or write something in response in their own Journal or Web space). It can feel like a personal attack, even if all that person knows about you is what you've written on the screen.
One of the most important things to know about writing of any sort -- from professional writing through to Journals and blogs -- is that you have absolutely no control over how other people perceive you. Related to this, there is always likely to be someone who doesn't like what you write or how you write (and then may feel, by extension, that he or she doesn't like you). You could write something completely innocuous, say, an essay on marshmallows, and someone will be out there will still find a way to criticize it. Maybe he or she is just a jerk. Maybe deep down in his or her past there was some sort of terrible incident with a marshmallow. Or maybe he or she's just having a bad day, and you happen to be a convenient target. You don't know, and you can't know. Criticism happens; everybody who reads anything forms an opinion about it. Sometimes they're compelled to tell you about it.
Here are the things to know about criticism:
1. All criticism is not created equal.
2. Not all criticism is valid.
3. Criticism is as much about the critic as the recipient.
If you're going to write, you really need to internalize these three things. It'll save you a lot of heartache.
Speaking both as a professional writer and as an online writer, I get a lot of criticism. Some of it is good, and some of that is even useful. But most of the criticism I attract is simply someone kvetching about something I wrote (and occassionally about me). That stuff, I don't fret in the slightest; it doesn't do me any harm, and it's cathartic for the author. If there's a point I want to address for one reason or another, I'll address it, but by and large I let it go (sometimes I don't, and then I get snippy. Per Thing 3 up there, that's as much about me as the other guy, and I recognize that). But in a general sense, if I'm happy with what I wrote (and, in the case of my professional writing, if my editor is happy with what I wrote), then I've done my job, and I don't really worry about what the Peanut Gallery has to say.
And that's the real key: In whatever writing you do, write what you are satisfied with as a writer and a reader (or at the very least, work to get closer to your ideal). If what you write makes you happy, criticism of whatever stripe is easier to take. You know at least one person likes what you wrote -- and that person is the most important audience you have.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
thankx for this john!!!
some comments touch the heart, and some are only skin deep.
some criticism is good, more criticism is even better. this shows you where Some of the masses are coming from. it is US who choose to write what WE feel gears to the masses of OUR choice.
((((LET FREEDOM RING))))
take care, barb~ -
Great insight. I've always felt that if I wrote from my heart, I couldn't go wrong, but I know that's not necessarily true.
-
This is great advice, John. I've bookmarked this entry to remind me not to let criticisms get in the way of the creative process, when I do get to write for a living (someday).
-
Hello John :)
Maybe it's because I have done the majority of my "professional writing" in the field of PR, but I find it much easier to accept any kind of criticism if I remember to not believe my own press be it good or bad. Writing press releases is a whole different animal to writing a journal. The client HAS to appprove of what you write before you are "published." Believe me I have had some clients comeback and have me fine tune a speech to death...urrgg...and other times it was a matter of "just write so it can be understood."
Writing my journal over the past year has been an amazing tool to figure out the average attention span, the trends that topics will take, and what will speak to the reader on a personal level. Anticipating a trend rather then following one has also been helpful, and at times I think that might be why I have recieved more positive comments then negative. I don't usually climb on someone elses bandwagon, although I have been known to support a cause. All in all, I understand what you mean about being satisfied with something I write before I hit the save.
Take care. Always, Carly :)
9/25/04 11:02 AM