It shouldn't bother me, but...
Jun. 4th, 2005 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sailorzeoRemember that ficlet I was so jazzed about writing (so jazzed that I'd finished anything) that I went ahead and posted it to ff.n? I had a "meh" review on it.
Now, I know I'm not the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I don't expect every review to be sycophantly praising me to the ends of the earth, but...."meh?" Not only "meh," but "you can do better," and "it's been done before." I think it's the last one that bothers me most. The fact that I did something I was proud of and "it's been done to death."
On the one hand, it upsets me to the point that I want to yank the ficlet from ff.n and hide it from the world for the rest of time. On the other hand...another point the reviewer brought up was that it seemed "out of character." The thing is, though, I'd had a few flashes of things before writing it that put it in character for me. And those are the things I'd said in the author's note I wasn't going to write, but the evil little demon who sits on my shoulder and whispers bad things in my ear (aka my angst demon muse) is rubbing his gnarled little hands in glee, whispering, "See, see! I'm not the only one who wants you to write out that story. You NEED to, in order to put the ficlet in perspective! SHOW Kira's pain at Tommy getting married! Show exactly how she was wronged! Oh, and add in that bit I told you about, about..." (here I cut him off, in case I DO write it, so all the secrets aren't given away here)
Like that little horndog of an angst demon needs more fodder to prey on.
I think what bothers me most is I sent it first to a friend I trusted to be honest about it, and as far as I could tell, she liked it. But an anonymous stranger thought it was "meh." So I wonder how honest she was being, or if she was just being nice.
And yes, there's always the possibility that the anonymous reviewer was just a jerk. But...
Like I said, it SHOULD'T bother me. But it does.
Now, I know I'm not the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I don't expect every review to be sycophantly praising me to the ends of the earth, but...."meh?" Not only "meh," but "you can do better," and "it's been done before." I think it's the last one that bothers me most. The fact that I did something I was proud of and "it's been done to death."
On the one hand, it upsets me to the point that I want to yank the ficlet from ff.n and hide it from the world for the rest of time. On the other hand...another point the reviewer brought up was that it seemed "out of character." The thing is, though, I'd had a few flashes of things before writing it that put it in character for me. And those are the things I'd said in the author's note I wasn't going to write, but the evil little demon who sits on my shoulder and whispers bad things in my ear (aka my angst demon muse) is rubbing his gnarled little hands in glee, whispering, "See, see! I'm not the only one who wants you to write out that story. You NEED to, in order to put the ficlet in perspective! SHOW Kira's pain at Tommy getting married! Show exactly how she was wronged! Oh, and add in that bit I told you about, about..." (here I cut him off, in case I DO write it, so all the secrets aren't given away here)
Like that little horndog of an angst demon needs more fodder to prey on.
I think what bothers me most is I sent it first to a friend I trusted to be honest about it, and as far as I could tell, she liked it. But an anonymous stranger thought it was "meh." So I wonder how honest she was being, or if she was just being nice.
And yes, there's always the possibility that the anonymous reviewer was just a jerk. But...
Like I said, it SHOULD'T bother me. But it does.
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Date: Jun. 4th, 2005 07:22 pm (UTC)If there's anything else I've learned about writing, it's that first and foremost, you should write for yourself. Did you tell the story that you wanted to tell? Did you enjoy telling it? Were you pleased with the results? If the answer to these is "yes", then it was a success. Other people liking it too is just the icing. If the answer to these is "no", then do what you can to make them "yes" before worrying about anybody else.
If you get constructive crit on the story, take it to heart. Sometimes others can point out genuine flaws that you wouldn't see otherwise. If it's a "meh" and nothing else, then it's an opinion and there's little to be gleened from it, but if someone is saying that it's out of character, consider that perspective. It could be that your first story simply needs further justification to explain your POV. Or maybe you really do need that second story.
Writing can be scary. Or, well, sharing your writing can be scary. Putting it out there means you're soliciting as many harsh viewpoints as praising ones. As long as you're satisified with the product though, then does anything else really matter? Should it?
Not everyone is on the same page...
Date: Jun. 5th, 2005 01:12 am (UTC)I don't tend to respond much to posts, but this one I actually feel like I had something to contribute, so here it goes.
Bear in mind that I am not (yet) a professional writer, and that these are my opinions *and ignorable at will*
FIRST:
Write for yourself.
Not for anyone else.
Write because you want to.
Write because the story (or muse or whatever) is pounding on the doors of you mind demanding it be written.
In my experience if you write for others you always end up disappointed because not all readers get (or even want to get) the same thing out of it that you want them to.
And yea, mediocre and negative reviews and critiques of work are hard to take--especially if they aren't constructive.
For instance, the person who wrote the comment that it was "meh".
What do they think a comment like that will help you do?
Was it "meh" because of the pacing of the piece?
Was is because it didn't have enough action, sex or whatever?
People who give "meh"s aren't critiquing your work in any kind of useful way to help you grow as a writer. If it is an open forum I would suggest posting questions in response to reactions like that. Make them pin down _what_ didn't work for them!
People who say :"it's been done to death."
A better way to look at it is: It's been done many times before mine, what is an original slant I can give it to make it different? Or, maybe there is a twist you can apply at the end (not having read the piece I can't do anything except generalize)
Now, I know...you're thinking, what the hell is erica going on and on about this for?
It's because I don't like to see someone who clearly enjoys writing being beat down, and made to second guess themselves. (and yea, I know you hardly know me except through MWD and stuff). But you see, I am a writer too.
I write for the love of it, and have put some of my pieces through critique groups and have gotten some of the best critiques and weaknesses and so on pointed out to me.
On the other hand, I've been the recipient of some of the slaggiest crits too. (I'm going to include one here, just to make you feel a bit better about your "meh"!)
Ready? Honestly, it took me a few reads to take it in stride (and compare it to other critiques I had got at the same time) before it stopped bugging me.
Kyle Dotter's critique of Ch. 1
"I couldn't completly read this story. From what I did read, it was
boring, I didn't care what was going on, and I didn't know what was
going on. I stopped reading because I was bored and couldn't read
any farther, without slumping over my computer, asleep."
Ok, so not a whole lot in that was constructive criticism. (and thankfully none of my other readers thought it was quite as horrible either!)
And also, I wanted to say--
Remember that for every person who comments (on writing at least)there are about 10 who read and don't.
Keep writing and pet your little demon a bit.