Coping with Critique
I am a part of a fortunate group of writers who has found other writers willing (and able) to read and comment on my work. The comments from the members of my group have forced me to improve my craft and hone my skills. They have helped me take what I now consider to be rough drafts and turn them into pieces I’m proud to send out. They are a group of people I call friends.
However, part of receiving critiques is getting criticism. As I get better at writing, the criticism is easier to take and has become more a process of fine-tuning an already good piece than teaching me how to write. But, as happened to me recently, sometimes I bring in a story that has a lot of work left in it, in this case, a novel. I’ve spent over a year writing and rewriting it. And before that, the novel is a product of a short screenplay, which was a product of a short story. I’ve been working on this novel for almost five years.
Psyched about how good I thought the novel was, I began to ramp up my process and ready myself to send it out. Enter my aforementioned critique group. They told me that… a lot of stuff still needs to be worked on. One woman, with good intentions, suggested I write something else entirely. Another member said the piece was lacking on several key areas, and got so bad that she actually put it down!
OUCH!
So, how do I deal with these comments and thoughts about my work, keeping in mind that they are coming from people whose opinions I trust? The members of my group are better writers than I am, which is to say, when they do produce work, it’s of a caliber I am not yet capable of attaining. So, I can’t just dismiss what they say as foolish. Moreover, they both had the same comments, which means that’s two opinions saying the same thing: one more reason I can’t let it go.
But there’s still that OUCH! I’m an emotional person. One of the reasons my wife loves me is because of my emotions. When I hear that my work isn’t as good as it ought to be, after YEARS of toil, it stings. It totally sapped all my energy. I’ve been crabby and loafing about since that meeting. But the reality remains, what should I do with that piece? Should I put it aside and move on to something else? Should I quit writing entirely? After all, if I can’t make something of quality after four years of labor, does the capacity to make it good even exist within me?
Or, should I listen to their criticism, keeping in mind where they are as people? Should I listen to what they said, and listen to what they meant?
I cried when I heard what they said. I considered a career change. I even considered spending the rest of my life leveling up my World of Warcraft character. But I’m not going to do any of those things.
I can’t just let the piece die! Even before I submitted it to the writing group, I knew it was not quite as good as I could make it. I didn’t know what it needed, but thanks to my writing group, I’ve got a pretty good idea where to start. So, starting tomorrow, I’m picking up my keyboard, setting it on my lap and taking notes on exactly what needs to be fixed. I’m going to pick myself up, put on some bandages and see what I’ve got left.
Writing, the hard part, is the emotional stuff. It’s rejections in the mail and rejections in writing groups. It’s rejection by peers who think I’m not really doing anything with my life because I don’t go to an office everyday. It’s the internal struggle where I think that I’m not really working toward a career, but just living in a play-land, dreaming my life away.
But writing can be done. Creative writing can be done. There are people all over the world who have made careers in creative writing. It is not a fantasy, no pun intended. It is something real that has been achieved by real people, almost all of whom have a healthy stack of rejection letters.