Comments on: Dealing with slings and arrows

By: Doc Coleman

Doc Coleman — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:09:41 +0000

Nope! Didn’t mean to say you didn’t want feedback, just wanted to point out that no feedback is the worst kind. And that no matter how someone reacts to what you have created, you can learn and benefit from it.

Doc

By: admin

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:26:49 +0000

Doc- hope it didn’t come across that I don’t want feedback. I was merely detailing how I cope with it as a writer and podcaster. You’re right, any reaction at least lets you know you’re not operating in a vacuum. That’s an even worse feeling!

By: Doc Coleman

Doc Coleman — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:49:43 +0000

The worst kind of response for anyone putting out any type of creative work for public consumption is silence. Silence tells you nothing. The other responses at least tell you that someone is aware of your work!

Flames are usually an indication that you’ve touched a nerve. And while they’re not usually helpful, it is an indication that you’ve gotten through to someone.

While praise is usually easier to read, and is very good for the ego, it usually doesn’t help much. Like flames, praise tends to be all one-sided, and doesn’t help you determine what areas you need to improve on.

Good criticism points out both strengths and weaknesses. While you may not agree with the critic’s evaluation of things, you should be able to understand why they hold the view that they’ve expressed. And understanding your audience can only help improve the art.

Doc

By: admin

admin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:36:02 +0000

Any genuine critique or heck – even a flame is actually validating you as a writer because someone took the time to respond.

Scott- I know you mean in the podiobooks community. I believe as the community gets larger that there will be more critique out there. As I am sure you know, getting feedback of any kind from listeners is very difficult.

Edward- Yes- good point! If you get more than one critique saying a similar thing that scale starts to tip. Prologues- they’re tricky. I always like to start where the story starts- and it must also be so riveting that it draws people in. I have read many, many prologues that are essentially information dumps that bore me stupid. An author should be able to communicate that information in the story, not give the reader a history lesson which will make their eyes glaze over. However there are exceptions… very, very rare exceptions.

By: Edward G. Talbot

Edward G. Talbot — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:33:52 +0000

Sounds like a great approach, Pip. Sometimes someone gives feedback and I immediately realized that it is accurate, regardless of who said it. Aside from that, however, one specific thing I do with feedback is to compare it with other feedback I’ve gotten. For instance, if half a dozen people say that something didn’t work for them, it probably means I need to look at that area. Maybe none of them actually identified the right problem (“It sucks” tends not to be very helpful), but clearly some work is needed.

Another situation is contradictory feedback. For both of my novels, I’ve had multiple people who loved the prologues and multiple people who really disliked them. I looked at them and in fact did some reworking, but I fall back on what Stephen King said in “On Writing” – when faced with legitimate contradictory opinions, the tie goes to the writer.

By: Scott Roche

Scott Roche — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:09:23 +0000

Thanks for the thoughts Pip! I think this is an excellent approach to dealing with the things you mentioned. And you definitely can’t let the haters (or anyone) stop you from pursuing your passions.

The main thing I wanted to get across with my thoughts was I think that too much public praise combined with too little honest public critique can be damaging in its own way.

By: darusha

darusha — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:14:34 +0000

Agreed. It’s never fun to hear that someone doesn’t like what you’ve done, but I still honestly appreciate it when folks take the time to write, tweet, comment, whatever about my work.

At least they are talking about us!

By: Sue Taliaferro (fearlessknitter)

Sue Taliaferro (fearlessknitter) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:43:44 +0000

Well said. As an artist I don’t neccesarily want to hear someone’s negative thoughts on my work. When you put your heart and soul into creating something out of nothing you just want poeople to “get it”. Learning to listen to people who have the skills you are working to develope in yourself and do get it is a key part of improving yourself as an artist. But that doesn’t make it any easier to take.