If you’re a writer, or artist, or sculptor, or any kind of creative professional, you know going in (or learn quickly) that you need to develop a “thick skin” to deflect criticism. Read any book’s Amazon reviews and you’ll know what I mean; there are always going to be people who don’t like what you’ve done, no matter how many 5-star reviews you have. Somebody always has to be the outlier, and sometimes it’s someone whose critique has nothing to do with the book itself. Those really hurt, because you’re being blamed for something that’s not your fault. Fortunately, Amazon will take down pointedly irrelevant reviews, but that doesn’t cover nearly every one. Some will hold you responsible because your book didn’t match up with what they like to read. “It was well-written, but I don’t really go for sci-fi. Two stars.” Oof. If only there were a way to know what a book was about before you bought it…
On the other hand, criticism isn’t always bad, or incorrect. After all, nobody’s perfect, and that translates to your writing as well. That’s what editors are for. Even with their help, problems will crop up, but often it’s simply a matter of taste, or perception. Some folks simply won’t like your story, and they will be vocal about it. So how to separate the wheat from the chaff? How do you even tell “hmm, that’s a good point,” from “oh, he’s just a troll”?
Ironically, the cure can lead to the disease. A thick skin can become a thick skull. The only way for most writers to develop a thick skin is practice. If you follow the general trend, you will spend years honing your craft, using as your audience other writers with whom you share critiques. If you choose your colleagues well, they will offer practical and helpful advice, not simply “Ooh, you write romances… I don’t read romances.” Over time, you will come to accept their critiques in the spirit they are intended (and to offer your own, which is invaluable). Then, by the time you are published, you will have grown a thick enough skin to accept genuine criticism and deflect the ill-intended or simply unhelpful.
But while this path can lead to success, too much success can take you from thick-skinned to thick-headed. We all know of best-selling authors who have evidently progressed past the point where they can or will accept editing. (Of course, we don’t know how their manuscripts looked before their editors took their turn.)
As with victory/defeat, heroism/foolhardiness, or genius/madness, there is a fine line between a thick skin and a thick skull. It needs to be a permeable line, allowing the valuable to pass and the useless to bounce off. To mix metaphors, it’s a juggling act, and juggling is never easy, mostly because while criticisms are often emotional (especially the useless criticisms), our reaction to them is also often emotional (especially the useless reactions). Many writers say they deal with this simply by not reading their reviews. And maybe they don’t, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Writing isn’t for cowards. You spend months or years creating an entire world and filling it with people and history and you think it means something, that it says something that’s been bubbling up inside you for a long time, and you want the world to see it. Then you start showing it around and not only do your readers not get it, they don’t even like how you said it. And that’s just your writing group. But if you’ve got a thick skin and an open mind, you take what’s usable and you examine your work in that light. Some critiques are incorporated into your story, others are not. In the end, it’s your choice. Your name is up there as the author.
Eventually, you decide it’s as good as it’s going to be. (Actually, you don’t; you know it can always be better, but like a child you have to let it go.) You put it out there for submission–and it sells! You know it will suffer through yet another editor, but you’re ready for that, and then it’s showtime!
Unless you’ve sold a screenplay. Then it will suffer through endless editors, agents, executives, re-writes, reimaginings, reboots, and corporate restructurings until you finally scream, “I should have just written a novel! Then nobody would be telling me what to do!”
#SFWApro
Graffiti on the Walls of Time 