Everyone wants criticism. No, wait, that's a lie. Everyone wants affirmation, and they try to get it by asking for criticism hoping the people they ask are nice enough to say, "cool story!" without irony, or are at least too afraid they'll be called out as a big fat meanie to offer open honesty.
Me? I'm a big meanie.
Or if you prefer to see it as I do, I'm honest and I sincerely want to help people improve, which means calling attention to the things that bother me and offering suggestions.
I like to think I have the experience to genuinely benefit others by presenting my opinions, but of course I'd feel that way otherwise I wouldn't agree with myself and they wouldn't be my honest opinions.
The same holds true of everyone who makes a comment. Authors and artists, in particular, possess a greater-than-average allotment of hubris, which is why we're both overly sensitive and generally open to spouting off, especially with an invitation.
As an aside, I need to burst a few bubbles and point out that being overly sensitive and willing to spout off does not automatically make you an artist. Sorry.
But just because someone is ready to give you their opinion, it doesn't mean their opinions are right or should be addressed; not mine, not yours, not George Martin or Margaret Attwood or any of the literary critics at the New York Times.
Pulling value out of criticism is like panning for gold. You scoop up a ton of dirt and sift through it until you find something valuable, then discard everything else. It's YOUR job as the recipient to decide which is which. Some people will offer more gold than others, and sometimes, most of the dirt you find is what you brought with you.
Personally, I invite criticism because I want my skill and my work to improve, so I ask people to be as harsh as they can. I don't always agree at first, but I always think about it. Sometimes I never agree, sometimes it changes my mind and I learn from it, and sometimes I'll even change my story over it. If I get to that point, however, it's because I've compared what it is with what it could be and made the decision on my own.
Never let someone else step in and rewrite your book, with the exception of a professional editor who can get you into circulation, resulting in wealth, fame, movie licenses, and cute action figures of your main characters. The story is yours, and you're entitled to mash it up, reshape it, and make it something new, and you should when it's necessary - but nobody else on earth has that right. Never, ever give it away.
One final word: be prepared at all times to witness someone scraping the labor of your love off the bottom of their boot. Everyone writes crap. Everyone. I was once told that artists are born with a million terrible drawings inside them, and their primary job is to get them out. The same holds true for authors. Write like it's your job, improve like your life depends on it, but keep writing and know that a lot of it will be crap, and that people will tear it apart, and more often than not, they're going to be right.
But they can't make you better. Only you can do that. Find the gold, throw everything else behind you, kick the dust off your shoes, and keep writing.
YOU ARE READING
How To Write Good: A Lightly Salted Guide to Stepping Up Your Wattpad Game.
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