(deleted & reposted because my typo alert went off!)
I think the best advice I was given on criticism came from a friend of mine: he told me I needed to learn how to discriminate between criticism that's in tune with my vision, and criticism that doesn't accept it as a postulate. Of course disagreement over the premise is possible, but it doesn't say much about someone's writing.
I know it was rather painful for me to learn this lesson. In a writing workshop I joined, we shared our writing and were invited to share our opinions on our classmates's writing too. Receiving criticism was strange - I was incredibly glad someone had taken the time to think about what worked in my story and what didn't. When they pointed out flaws, it helped me to see the reader's perspective, which is the entire point of writing for me. A story is a way to talk with people, and without feedback there's no communication.
Of course criticism hurts, at times. A story especially where I had put a lot of energies and themes I cared about was called inconsistent once. My reaction was very negative, I felt untalented and frustrated, so it's not that I don't sympathise with the pov of the one who's resistant to criticism. Just, I never felt angry at the people pointing out the holes in my narrative, but rather at myself for having them in the first place.
A reader whose response to your Draco gen piece us to worder why there wasn't buttsex isn't giving you any helpful input, not because of the buttsex per se, but because it has nothing to do with your story. But someone who points out discrepancies in the Malfoys's timeline is, and it's very likely that they're telling you because they enjoy your story and want to see it improved.
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Date: 2004-05-17 09:22 am (UTC)I think the best advice I was given on criticism came from a friend of mine: he told me I needed to learn how to discriminate between criticism that's in tune with my vision, and criticism that doesn't accept it as a postulate. Of course disagreement over the premise is possible, but it doesn't say much about someone's writing.
I know it was rather painful for me to learn this lesson. In a writing workshop I joined, we shared our writing and were invited to share our opinions on our classmates's writing too. Receiving criticism was strange - I was incredibly glad someone had taken the time to think about what worked in my story and what didn't. When they pointed out flaws, it helped me to see the reader's perspective, which is the entire point of writing for me. A story is a way to talk with people, and without feedback there's no communication.
Of course criticism hurts, at times. A story especially where I had put a lot of energies and themes I cared about was called inconsistent once. My reaction was very negative, I felt untalented and frustrated, so it's not that I don't sympathise with the pov of the one who's resistant to criticism. Just, I never felt angry at the people pointing out the holes in my narrative, but rather at myself for having them in the first place.
A reader whose response to your Draco gen piece us to worder why there wasn't buttsex isn't giving you any helpful input, not because of the buttsex per se, but because it has nothing to do with your story. But someone who points out discrepancies in the Malfoys's timeline is, and it's very likely that they're telling you because they enjoy your story and want to see it improved.