Dealing With Criticism (Newly Self-published)

You're absolutely right and I actually spent the better part of three hours yesterday rewriting a couple short stories for that very reason. I had a trusted beta reader tell me she didn't understand the motivation of my main character and as soon as she said it, I realized she was exactly right. I didn't write a convincing motivation. Now I've rewritten it, and the story has improved by leaps and bounds.

Speaking of betas. I wish I had a beta reader who was a writer as well. The people that read my work are not writers and while they provide good feedback, I wish I had a deeper critique sometimes.

 

I just had a wonderful experience with a beta reader, so I would love to offer the same. Send me a message if you have something you'd like me to read.

 

I completely agree that critique and reviews are different, though I do believe that you can also choose how you take them I actually published my first story before getting critique, so the first published version was horrible. I can't really say I regret it though. I chose a story that my heart was not really in, so that I could see how I would take criticism. And some grammatical and punctuation errors have now been corrected, but I can't say that I believe I could have made it much better. So if I'd chosen to get critique first, I think I'd never been satisfied. However, one person gave it a 5-star review (my only review from my whole 26 readers), so one person must have enjoyed it, and I let it stay published. It's different with the story I am writing now. My heart's very much in it, and I will give it the time it needs.

It's interesting that you mention that skin gets toughened because whereas I believe it's true, I am not always sure that I like it because as writers, I feel that we need to feel all we can to write the best characters.

 

I think writers can benefit from a mix of sensitivity and detachment. If you're TOO sensitive, you can't really write--you just feel. But if you can have the feelings and then step away from them, examine them from inside and out, and decide how to use them? I think that's where powerful writing can come from.

In terms of critiques and reviews? I rarely ask for critiques anymore, but I'm fine with a few negative reviews - goes with the territory.

 

Oh yeah, I think we need both. Or all kind of writers, really. I know I am (slightly) contradicting what I said in my prior post, but I find it sad when we give boxes as to how a creative person should be. To me, that just limits our world and we'll all suffer the loss. That being said, I don't think that being too sensitive (I guess whether there's is such a thing depends on the person you ask) necessarily means that you can't write.

I don't think I would mind either. Actually, I kind of thought it might be most efficient to have either very good or very bad reviews rather than average reviews.