March 2014 - Word Counter Blog

Dealing With Negative Criticism of Your Writing

It’s a fact of writing life: Sooner or later, someone is going to say something unkind or downright cruel about your work. It’s going to be in a review on Amazon or (heaven forbid) a review in a major publication. Someone in your writer’s group is going to drop the pretense of being constructive and is going to point out all the flaws in your work. The comment trail on your blog is going to be populated by nasty trolls. Or, your loudmouth brother is going to make fun of your book at the family Christmas dinner. Brace yourself because it happens to all of us.

The first impulse is to get angry and to defend your work. Check yourself before you blow up, though. Responding to negativity with negativity just creates more problems. If you shoot your mouth off to the Publisher’s Weekly reviewer, don’t expect them to ever review you again. If you engage in a battle on Amazon or on a message board, you’re going to look like a diva who can’t handle criticism. And getting into a battle with a comment trail troll is the biggest waste of time because they will hate you no matter what you do, simply because they want to hate something. You’ll never win any of these battles. You can defend your work all you want, but if they didn’t like it (or you), nothing you can say will change their mind and you’ll only look like an argumentative jackass.

So how can you deal with criticism? Here are some ideas.

Vent in private

If you have to go off on someone, do it in private. Vent to your partner, the dog, or the bare walls. Tell them all the nasty things you can’t say to the person who’s criticizing you. Get it off your chest and then let it go.

Look for the kernel of truth

Sometimes there is some truth in criticism, no matter how unkindly worded it may be. Try to find the bit of actionable truth in the critique. Are your characters weak? Your plot derivative? Your article short on facts? If there’s something useful in there, think about it and see if it’s something you can use going forward.

Try gratitude

It may seem silly to actually thank someone who is criticizing you, but not all criticism comes from meanness. Some of it comes from people who genuinely desire to help you produce better work. Try thanking them for taking the time to read your work and offer advice. You might even want to ask for more.

Remind yourself that you’re dealing with individual taste

This is perhaps the most important lesson to learn. Taste is subjective and not everyone will like everything. If someone says they hate your book, it may simply be that they didn’t care for the genre, point of view, subject matter or any of a hundred other reasons that are taste based. You don’t like everything you read, so why should you expect all of your readers to love your work?

Fix it, if you can

If the criticism stems from something like a typo or a misreported fact and your piece is online, fix it. If your work is in print you’ll have to wait for another printing to address any errors, but notify the publishers so that things can be corrected. In the meantime, you can post corrections on your website. Thank the person for pointing out your mistakes.

If it’s too late to fix it, let it go

If you can’t do anything about it right now, let it go. You can ask that mistakes be corrected in a reprint or post corrections on your site, but beyond that you have to let it go. Just try to do better the next time.

Realize that some people are just mean

Some people get their jollies from making others feel bad. You probably learned this in elementary school and it’s still true today. Writers make easy targets for those who want to pick on someone. And the more successful you are, the bigger that target becomes. The advice is the same as what your mother told you in elementary school. Ignore the bullies. Engaging them just gives them more power.

Ignore personal attacks

Simply choose to ignore personal attacks, attacks that make no sense, and attacks that have no relevance to your work. It’s one thing to criticize your work, but comments like, “You must be fat and ugly,” “You’re a dumbass,” or, “You must sit around all day just thinking of ways to suck,” have nothing to do with the work. They are the product of someone who just wants to stir things up, or who has other issues. There’s nothing constructive or productive you can take from them so let them go.

Don’t let it stop you

If every writer who received negative feedback quit writing, we’d have no books. If you see a continuous pattern of people who don’t like your work and who are saying the same things it may be time to rethink your style, genre, or overall approach, but you can use the criticism to improve. You don’t quit just because of criticism. You get better.

Don’t take it personally

If someone is legitimately criticizing your work, don’t turn it into a personal attack. Your writing is not you. If someone says your sentence structure is weak, that doesn’t mean that you are weak. If someone says your character acted like an idiot, that doesn’t mean you are an idiot. Work is work and you are you. Separate the two and respond accordingly.

Discuss it

Discussing it is not defending your work. It is not saying, “Hey, I made the choice to kill off the main character because it felt right and that was my choice to make, not yours.” Discussing criticism means asking for clarification or inviting the reviewer to expound on their critique, particularly in the case where the review or comment was brief. Then you can talk about ways to address those concerns. A true discussion can be good for both of you. You can learn from readers, and they can learn how to make their critiques more useful.

Get support

While you can try to be big about taking criticism, sometimes you just need people to tell you you’re great and loved. Talk it over with your friends or partner. Have someone who likes your work reassure you. Reread some positive reviews/comments to reassure yourself that it’s not all bad.

Put it in perspective

If you have 600 positive reviews and thirty negatives, the negatives are only five percent of the total. No matter how angry or offensive they are, they aren’t the majority, or even close. Use numbers to give you some perspective.

Criticism happens to everyone. Look at the bright side — if someone is criticizing you it means that you’ve actually put your work out there and made people think about it. If you’ve got a bunch of trolls and haters ragging on you, that may very well be a (twisted) sign of success. They don’t usually bother haranguing unsuccessful authors. That’s a lot more than many would-be writers ever achieve.

(Image courtesy of Mollye Knox)

Writer’s Block is a Myth

I used to believe in writer’s block. On the days when I would sit at the computer or page and feel like I had nothing to say, I’d say, “Oh, I have writer’s block,” and then go off and do something else. Having this “disease” of writer’s block gave me an excuse to avoid the hard work of writing. It was a crutch, something I could point to when someone asked how the writing was going. “Oh, I have writer’s block,” I could say dramatically and sound like some sort of tortured artist who had much to say and could write great works, if only I weren’t burdened with this terrible disease.

And then I wised up to what writer’s block really is. It’s a myth, created by writers who know they should be writing but who simply don’t want to put in the work. They’d rather walk the dog, watch a movie, or play a game than write. They simply can’t admit that they don’t want to write because it’s hard work or because they simply aren’t that dedicated to the occupation. It’s easier and more face saving to invent this mythical condition that afflicts only the gifted and artistic.

In what other field do you hear of some kind of block? Outside of other artistic pursuits like painting or sculpting, you don’t. You never hear about a brain surgeon who stands in front of an open skull and says, “I can’t operate today because I have surgeon’s block.” You don’t hear about a mechanic who stands in front of an open hood and says, “You know, I have mechanic’s block and can’t do this right now.” You never see the great athlete who gets to the Olympics and says, “I can’t run today because I have runner’s block.” Nope. In almost every other occupation and pursuit people just get on with the work. They do what they have to do because it is their job, or because their dream is on the line.

If you think of writing as your job (even if it’s a hobby), you’ll never have writer’s block. You will always find something to write. If one project isn’t firing for you, you start another one or work on another existing project. If you are having trouble getting into the groove, you do some free writing until you get there. Or, you write something even if it’s horrible just to get the words flowing, knowing that everything can be fixed and that your job is to move this project forward. If you can’t think of your writing as a job to be done no matter how your delicate artistic temperament is feeling that day, then you need to find another occupation.

Writer’s block is defined as, “The condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing.” This should never be a problem for a writer. You should always be able to write something. Maybe it’s not perfect (or even good) and maybe it’s got nothing to do with your primary project. But each time you sit down to write, you should be able to think of something to write, or some way to proceed. If you don’t, it’s not because you have some terrible disease called writer’s block. It’s because you have one of the following afflictions:

Laziness
You don’t want to work this hard
You don’t want it (success, publication, money, etc.) enough
You don’t like writing all that much and should probably find another hobby or occupation
Something else is simply more important to you
The project you’re working on isn’t for you (too difficult, not your specialty, it’s irredeemably bad, etc.) and it’s time to ditch it and start something else.
Lack of confidence in your ability
Fear
Lack of ability

Whatever ails you can be solved. You can dump a bad project. You can deal with your fear. You can do the work to become a better writer. You can decide writing isn’t for you and go out and become a wrestler, instead. You don’t have a disease, you have a problem that needs to be solved. If you solve the problem and approach writing as a professional, you’ll never say, “I have writer’s block” again.

The day I began to see writing as my job, even if I wasn’t getting paid for it just yet, the writer’s block disappeared. I knew I had to work at writing, just like I would have to work at any other occupation. There is no exemption because I’m in an “artistic” field. There’s no excuse for not doing the work, short of illness or some sort of catastrophe. Just like any employer would expect me to get the work done no matter what, I now expect the same for myself. Now that I’ve adopted that attitude, I can always find something to write or some project to work on.

Writer’s block is for divas who believe that writing is some mystical gift governed by a muse who either appears for you or doesn’t. It’s an excuse used to get someone out of the hard work of becoming a better writer. It’s not for professionals who treat writing as a job to be done.

(Photo courtesy of Drew Coffman)

Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills

No one is born a perfect writer. Everyone has to learn and improve their skills. Even after you’ve finished school, you should still work to improve your writing skills. Fortunately, there are plenty of easy and accessible ways to improve your skills. Note that I didn’t say quick. Any sort of improvement requires a time commitment. However, if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, and learn to curb procrastination, the result can be clearer, better work that attracts publishers, clients, and additional work opportunities. Here are sixteen ways you can boost your writing skills.

Take a class

There are online and offline classes. Some are free and some charge a fee. They may be offered by community colleges, extension agencies, libraries, or you may be able to audit a college course. You don’t have to go for a full degree. Identify the areas in which you need help and sign up for some instruction.

Join a writer’s group

Good writer’s groups give you constructive feedback on your work (and give you the chance to offer the same to other writers). They can point out mistakes and things that aren’t clear, as well as help with structural issues.

Find a mentor

If you can find another writer who is willing to act as your mentor, this can be a valuable relationship. He or she can offer suggestions for your work and help you through the publication process.

Practice

This is the best way to improve your writing. All artists get better with practice. With every new work, work to address the things that gave you problems the last time. The more you write, the faster you’ll improve and the more you’ll grow as a writer.

Master revision and editing

The freedom of writing first drafts is fun but the work isn’t finished until it’s been revised and polished. You cannot be a good writer unless you master revision and learn how to edit your work.

Read your work out loud

When you read aloud you see mistakes that your eyes just glanced over. You also hear if your dialogue sounds real or stilted, or if your work flows smoothly from sentence to sentence and topic to topic.

Learn the rules

Some writers claim that their work is “groundbreaking” and that they don’t have to follow the rules, much less bother to learn them. The most successful rule breakers are the writers who first learned the rules and then learned how to break them for effect. They aren’t ignorant of the rules and their knowledge makes them stronger writers, even when it seems like they threw all the rules out the window. Consciously breaking the rules is different from not knowing them.

Read

Reading exposes you to different styles of writing and lets you see how a good writer constructs their work. You’ll also benefit from reading bad writing. (Plus it gives you that, “I can do better than this,” boost.)

Don’t rely on your spelling/grammar checker

These are helpful tools, but they aren’t always right. A spellchecker won’t tell you if you’ve used the word correctly, only that you’ve spelled it correctly. A grammar checker may be too overzealous, leading to constructions that might be technically correct but which ruin the tone of your work. Or it might miss something altogether. Use an old-fashioned dictionary and thesaurus and learn how to edit your own work.

Rewrite old work

Take an old piece and rewrite it. Not only is this practice, it gives you the chance to see how you’ve improved since you first wrote the piece.

Rewrite the work of other writers

You don’t want to do this for publication because you’re teetering close to plagiarism. However, rewriting good work lets you deconstruct the sentences and construction so you can better see how it all works together. You can also experiment with forms (turning prose into poetry, for example), or turn a tragedy into a comedy. It’s also good writing practice.

Attend a writer’s conference/workshop/retreat

Conferences, workshops, and retreats can offer seminars, quiet time for writing, critique groups, or classes. When looking for events to attend, look closely at which ones will offer you the most benefit before you spend your money.

Outline

You don’t have to outline like you did in school with Roman numerals and headings, but it can be helpful to organize your thoughts before you begin to write. This may be as simple as writing, “This happens, then this, then that,” on a sheet of paper, or you might want to write some scenes or topics on index cards and fit them in the correct order before you begin. A little organization before you begin can lead to a cleaner draft and a story that makes more sense.

Invest in your writing

There are plenty of free resources to help you improve your skills, but at some point you’re likely going to have to be willing to put forth some money. Good reference books, conference fees, and tuition all require money. Set aside some savings and invest in your work when necessary.

Expand your vocabulary

Take the time to improve your vocabulary. The more words you know, the more tools you have to work with. Look up a new word every day or use a “Word a Day” calendar or screensaver. If you run into a word you don’t know while you’re reading, or if a speaker uses a word you don’t know, look it up.

Be informed

The more informed you are about your industry, world events, or writing in general, the more choices you have about what to write and how to write it. This will keep you from writing the same things over and over again. You’ll also be able to write more authoritatively.

Improvement is always possible. Even if you think you can’t get better, you can. To get the most “bang for your buck,” identify which areas of your writing are giving you the most trouble and look for resources that will help you correct them.

(Photo courtesy of Prashanth dotcompals)