First, I’m going to be clear that I have no problem with critics. They serve an important purpose and are really helpful. I’m inspired to work hard because of the fact that there are people out there whose job it is to analyze my work. Without critics, an artist might be tempted to stagnate and refuse to evolve. The words of a critic can help an artist grow as long as they develop the thick skin to take it.
So, this post isn’t to declare war on critics, but to give some advice from personal experience with critics. Though, I might let the defensive claws out from time to time.
Early on, I had thin skin for criticism, but the worst part was that I also had a skewed concept of what a critic was. I thought every person who criticized my writing knew my style and path better than me. It was a really bad attempt to make everyone happy and it resulted in a series of mistakes. I became confused with my own writing, my characters didn’t feel right, and my style steadily became a horrific mess of suggestions that buried my natural tendencies. It was only last year that I managed to clean up everything and get back to the style that I was comfortable with. All of this is on my head.
One of the ways to get an aspiring writer used to criticism is the round table or class discussion. This is when everyone in the group or class reads an author’s submitted work between sessions. At the next session, the class spends 15-20 minutes discussing the work while the writer silently sits there. You’re not included in the debate and you get no real chance at rebuttal. Trust me when I say that you get in a lot of trouble if you try to get into the debate. This is a form of peer review, which I believe is designed to toughen your skin. Honestly, I still don’t like this method of criticism. It’s multiple voices at once instead of a solitary critic, so there is arguing over various points. I saw this method fall into chaos many times and a lot of writers simply shrugged the entire event off. Again, I understand the method, but it isn’t that direct and focused. I remember talking to a few classmates after their time in the hot seat and they were annoyed that the class focused on some trivial section or grammar, but never mentioned anything about how the story or characters were. It can be frustrating if you think the entire experience was a waste because you didn’t learn anything other than people are jerks. Still, the benefit is that you get a taste of being criticized and unable to defend yourself, which can make you a tougher person.
My advice is to listen to a critic, but don’t always follow their suggestions. They are masters at their trade, not masters of your story and characters. A good example of this is one criticism I got years ago for Beginning of a Hero. The part that stood out in the review was “it would be a guilty pleasure if the book had more teenage angst”. This is good advice to help a blossoming writer focus his book. Unfortunately, this writer didn’t want to go in that direction and angst didn’t really fit any of the characters. Angst shows up in later books, which a critic wouldn’t know. They live in the now while the writer lives in the past, present, and future. So, this put me in a difficult spot where I wanted to respect the critic’s opinion, but I always didn’t want to go in the wrong direction with my characters. I remembered my teenage angst and it wasn’t something I wanted to put my characters through simply to appease someone. It’s a difficult decision when you are given advice by an expert, but you feel strongly against using it. My suggestion is to follow your gut on characters and plot, but grammar and spelling should be listened to with a more open mind.
To be fair, I will tell a brief story of a time a critic helped me. I had published Beginning of a Hero and a few people had read it. A problem was brought to my attention. Stiletto was introduced, showed up at the school, and . . . vanished into the stables never to be seen again until near the end. The critic mentioned that it was hard to believe Luke actually cared about Stiletto since the dog was never around and Luke never thought of him. This led to what I called the ‘Stiletto Editing Session’, which was a week long mission to make sure Luke’s furry friend got the attention he deserved. In this case, the critic made me realize a mistake and I was able to fix it.
Now, this post might be more story than advice, but the handling of a critic is very important for any artist. If you take it too personally, you’re going to be spending a lot of time angry and fighting. If you ignore every criticism, you’re going to miss some very useful advice that can help you grow in your trade. It is an act of balancing your own style with the helpful advice from people whose job it is to help you grow. Always remember that the critic is doing their job and, typically, is not trying to be mean.
Legends of Windemere 
i agree with you. critics play an important role in the development of any artist—we can always learn from them whether we take their advice or not. I actually just started a video blog on the creative process (from my perspective as a musician). the subject is just fascinating. but i think you are right—we need to engage critics but not be pushed/pulled too drastically by their feedback. thanks!
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You’re welcome. I’ll give your video blog a look. I have the musical talent of a coffee table, but I like hearing about other artists’ processes.
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A thoughtful piece. I will click follow and look forward to more.
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Thanks. This was a hard one to write because I’ve had some nasty run-ins with self-proclaimed critics and the wounds are still a little tender. Enjoy the future posts.
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Thanks for the follow – much appreciated.
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You’re welcome.
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It’s unfortunate that you participated in poorly run writing workshops that devolved into bickering instead of providing useful feedback.
I think the experience of a reader (which is what a critic is, after all) is invaluable. You should not dismiss the comments of a reader/critic because you feel “you know the story better” because our goal as writer is to communicate that story to the reader. Isn’t it? Or is it just to record the wandering thoughts in our brain onto paper?
The story is not the thing in our heads–it’s what the reader experiences.
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The workshops that devolved into bickering were actually college courses. I’ve been to a lot of workshops that didn’t fall into this, but the writer was also allowed to participate to an extent. Some times it was a limit of 2 redirections/comments or they got to say something at the halfway mark.
I do apologize if it came out as me saying to dismiss the comments of a critic, but my point was to say that not every comment should be obeyed every time. I actually agree that if the comments show that the story isn’t communicated properly then they should be listened to. My goal as a writer is to tell a great story to the reader, but I get frustrated when it feels like my story has been overlooked for something trivial or the critic spends the entire time saying how I don’t match up to another work. That doesn’t feel like it’s helping. There is a limit to how much a writer should obey criticism because eventually, you’ll just end up with a mesh of what everyone told you to do and very little of what you intended.
An example of trivial criticism is when in one of my classes I wrote a story about a pair of superheroes who were dating and having a fight. The entire classroom conversation turned into about how the guy wasn’t fulfilling the woman’s sexual needs. I never wrote anything sexual in the piece because the fight was over her almost getting him killed in a training session. This is the class where I was told to leave the room to cool off because I exploded and yelled that there is nothing sexual in there. These are the criticisms that I don’t think should be taken to heart because they feel very misguided. The truth is that a writer can communicate a great story, but if the reader/critic is focused on something else (or even focused entirely on finding faults) then that story won’t communicate. It ends up being that the reader and writer weren’t meant to be.
Most of my more recent criticisms have actually been very helpful, especially when I get to sit down and discuss the issue with the critic. I think my problem has mostly been with the critic that I couldn’t communicate with and figure out where they were coming from. The angst event that I mentioned in the post is a good example because I still don’t know why a person would demand angst in a book. It’s not a pleasant emotion and gets used for teenagers like it’s a natural state of being with no cause.
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OK, one last thought about how readers read/misinterpret writing: if they misinterpret the work (and seeing sexual tension between a dating couple in a story I don’t think is very “out there” interpretation. In fact I think is a very natural and obvious conclusion to make) the fault more often lies with the writer’s poor writing than the reader’s reading. You, as a writer, don’t get to sit there and hold the reader’s hand and tell them what it all “means” (which is why you shouldn’t be participating in critiques of your work). Either the words you’ve written communicate what you intend, or the reader will fill in the gaps (which isn’t always a bad thing).
I once wrote a poem (ack! I once wrote poetry) that was biographically about me sitting in the waiting room of my therapist’s office. It was, um, “poetic” so it was unclear what the narrator was doing. Another student in the class said, “I think she’s waiting to have an abortion.” There was no mention of babies or sex or boyfriends or anything in the poem. So was she wrong? Was I a lousy poet (I was, but this isn’t the reason why I was)? I was actually pretty pleased by that comment, because it showed I had successfully captured this very intense experience, the tortured feelings, the mixed emotions, all that crap and the reader “got it.”
You should be pleased that readers care enough to argue about your stories! Most people don’t give a, um, hoot. 😉
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True and every reader will have his/her own interpretation depending on their mindset. One person might see sex everywhere while another is focused on the character development. I admit that the sexual talk in my old class is a bad example because every story was boiled down to sex. We even had a discussion of the sexual innuendo and fetishes of the Pokemon Movie. I couldn’t look at my girlfriend’s Pikachu plushie the same way ever again. Just plain wrong.
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“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” -Pema Chodron
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I have to remember that one. It gets difficult when I feel passionate about something, but I think that’s natural for most people. If anything the sources of crazy can teach us patience.
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And there an endless supply of the “sources of crazy” for us to practice with.
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