Then be Vague About It.
A bit of tongue in cheek, but fortunately, I only have nice things to say about Valucre. However, I have certainly seen some times out there where someone didn't have very nice things to say. No exception to that, the writing world seems to be full of harsh critics- often, the worst are writers themselves! So far, it seems like Valucre has been good about fostering a sense of encouraging others to improve rather than just blatantly telling a person that they suck and should go jump off a bridge... or something to that effect. Sounds a bit mean, but I tell you, some writers have had some really nasty things to say about others.
H.G Wells had this to say on Bernard Shaw: “An idiot child screaming in a hospital.”
I think that certainly qualifies as not very nice, but there is worse- far worse.
Apparently, Mark Twain had no love for Jane Austin- "I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone."
Hopefully, no one on Valucre has made you feel inclined to go extract their shin bone and proceed to beat them over the head with it, but such is the case... well, better to say nothing at all, and best you try to keep clear of them, and especially their legs. It'd be a gruesome scene I imagine. :P
What's Happening Valucre?
The Chosen Goes to Round Two - Hope you haven't forgotten about this. Well, of course you haven't, because I keep reminding all of you every week! Think of it as a way to appease James, the great, because I can't have explosions in here every week. Anyway, Chosen tournament still goes, and you can mingle with the members in the lounge.
Short-Term Survival-Horror RP- Looks like this still has some room for takers, if those horror/survival Role-plays are your thing. Promised to be a blend of multiple mediums from all the classics, this form of RP makes you have to think carefully and tread with caution. You apply with the risk of failure, but it makes hat success so much sweeter. Are you a Survivor??
Escape From Antigone- A reboot of a quest that never quite got off the ground, this is a challenge to all players to try and escape from Antigone Isles- one of the most secure places in all of Valucre. Magic is banned and magic users are either enslaved, locked away, or worst of all- experimented on. In all their years of their xenophobic approach to magic, not a single soul has managed to escape the clutches of the island. If you want to put your name into canon as the first to successfully pull of such a feat, get over there and find a way out.
Journey of a Thousand Miles- Just kidding, it's really about 500mi, but that is still one long journey. In Orisia, the Queen went out to dispatch a rebel group, and after freeing those forced into subjugation, they have about 800 men, women, and children displaced and without a home. She has promised them a home at Brightstorm Keep, a newly established location. What they are looking for in this quest are some people to play those tribal members, giving you an opportunity to role-play from a new perspective- that of a person who has lost everything (home, their people, family, friends, culture, etc) and highlight the struggles one might go through. They are also interested in recruiting one to play a tribal leader as well (the character may be male or female). If you're interested in this opportunity, state your interest over here.
Small Group for Isélyr?- Isélyr could definitely use some love, as it and its extensive lore is certainly underused. We have a member looking to put together a small RP group to role-play a scenario out in Isélyr, possibly doing something related to diplomacy, but the subject left open for discussion. In this RP, you might negotiate treaties and deals with neighboring regions, travel around with Mercenaries, and face many of Isélyr's potential dangers. To take it on, come over here.
Bright Storm Keep- Speaking of Bright Storm Keep, there is a role-play surrounding the place. This one plays off some previous threads, and involves a group of folks who ended up shipwrecked on foreign soil. They found an old abandoned keep, and are looking to clear this out and get it prepared for the settlers who will soon be on their way. The focus for this RP is going to be more so on character development than plot, so this one is a bit of a slower RP for those who might not have as much time as they would like. If something like this interests you (or you want to get involved with the character who won Hero of the Year), they have room for two more.
Featured Read of the Week- I'm beginning to notice a bit of a trend, as we have another repeat person for Featured Thread of the Week. Part of it is because they are awesome of course, but also because I am noticing that there is a trend among those who choose to do closed RPs (we have a handful of members who make up the majority of them). So, if you notice repeats, keep in mind that they are awesome, but please don't take it to mean I am using favoritism- just that I have more of a limited pool to pull from, especially following my criteria (I only consider threads that meet a certain threshold for total and current activity levels). With that note aside, I present a thread featuring Aleksei and Vixen.
Ends and Beginnings- There is A LOT I could say about this thread, the commentary a conglomeration of both artistic and inappropriate thoughts- so I must tread lightly, lest I say something incriminating, offensive, or just make myself look like an ass. I enjoyed the reading itself for the characters involved, particularly with Rou's current animosity towards Roen due to his spurning of her advances. Her posts absolutely tingle with a sort of energy that lets you experience her seething anger and frustration, in which she channels in a new way. Suggestions of showing Roen what he is missing by Aleksei's character, one whose innocence clearly shines, leads to Rou taking up... interesting means of doing just that. A thread with an array of well written emotions and sensuality, this certainly captures interest. I'll leave you to read it, or use your imagination, to deduce what I am getting at.
I bet W. H. Auden would appreciate that above post, certainly more than what he thought of Robert Browning: "I don’t think Robert Browning was very good in bed. His wife probably didn’t care for him very much. He snored and had fantasies about twelve-year-old girls."
Now that is harsh!
This Week's Feature: The World of Valucre
At a Glance:
Lots of great lore for the reading. Well above the level of caliber that Virgina Woolf thought of James Royce: "[Ulysses is] the work of a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples."
Welcome:
Welcome, JaylaMattin
She loves most books and truly enjoys reading, but watch out, she has definitively declared herself as someone who is not a nerd--she just wishes she lived in a world other than this one.
Welcome, Orion
An experienced role-player who suffers the same plight as many of us- too many ideas, and so little time. He says he's rather versatile and flexible when it comes to RP scenarios, so you should expect to see him in a variety of role-plays.
Welcome, Ilallora
She hasn't role-played in a while due to some previous time constraints and the degridation of her old hangout, but now that she has more time and has found Valucre, she plans to stay rather busy. She enjoys one on ones, and even cooler- she's an Ausie. :D
Welcome, Fon
An Artist and Martial Artist with a really easy name to remember! He enjoys parkour, anime, and of course- writing. He's been looking for a good place to RP, and found many who were just not right for him, or too strict. Well, Valucre has a lot of awesome stuff, and little restrictions on your RP, so he should enjoy our company. ;)
Welcome, Siieda
Because one I wasn't good enough, our new member has two Is in her name and professes to have a love of 'Hopeless Romantic RPs'. Despite that, she's willing to venture outside her comfort zone and try on some other genres for size. She can't wait to RP with you.
Welcome, Die Shize
A friend of our member Xaeroth and one who might be lurking under your bed, this man writes a good and lengthy intro to get us all acquainted. It looks like we've already hooked him in, as he has made his appreciation for Valucre and its never ending drive for Rp opportunities well known. He plans to start small, and let the lore take its effect on his characters.
Welcome, Justoneofthosegirls
She's not fresh to RP, but this is the first time she has ventured out to an RP forum, as she used to hang around in the Yahoo chat rooms. She likes to RP one to one and is willing to take on a variety of RP roles. Alas, she has stated that she doesn't do male roles outside of NPCs.
Welcome, Miroki
New to Valucre and not from a previous forum or other site, Miroki previously RP'd through a game, but has had to give it up for a time.
Welcome, Siberiandaimyo
He tried tricking us at first by saying he was Youtube's Peewds, but in reality he is just a big fan. Half Russian and Half English, an interesting cultural mix of a man who plans to spend a lot of time in the Colleseum.
Welcome, DrS1n
He goes by his user, Dave, Doc or Docter Sin, and really doesn't care how you address him- well, that is until someone finds a way to address him in a way he doesn't like (not that anyone would ever try that). He's a total workaholic (like yours truly) but he manages to find some downtime to work on some RP. He likes video games and geeking out on books and Television- looks like he will fit right in.
Returns:
Welcome back, Liha'Irden
She had to take a bit of a leave, but she's back around and ready to RP. She plans on spending the Summer with us on Val- that's pretty cool.
Welcome back, GodlyUnderdog
Says he is back for real this time, and plans on working unfolding his tales in the RP realm- welcome back!
About damn time! We broke the streak of eight, and did so by having more than eight new members this week, with our new total coming in at ten. Ten is a respectable number and it gets us pulled out of that odd rut we were in for a while. Welcome to all of our new members, we are glad to have you- which cannot be said of Lord Byron on John Keats: "Here are Johnny Keats’ piss-a-bed poetry, and three novels by God knows whom… No more Keats, I entreat: flay him alive; if some of you don’t I must skin him myself: there is no bearing the drivelling idiotism of the Mankin."
I like doing these highlights about as much as Martin Amiss enjoyed reading Catcher in the Rye (Miguel Cervantes): "Reading Don Quixote can be compared to an indefinite visit from your most impossible senior relative, with all his pranks, dirty habits, unstoppable reminiscences, and terrible cronies. When the experience is over, and the old boy checks out at last (on page 846 — the prose wedged tight, with no breaks for dialogue), you will shed tears all right; not tears of relief or regret but tears of pride. You made it, despite all that ‘Don Quixote’ could do."
Yeah, that much. >:(
Taking Criticism
Hey, two weeks in a row with a closing thoughts I knew I wanted to cover before working on the blog.
This is more so for the writers out there than it is for those only interested in RP, but I think this is still relevant to you if you are someone who puts work into trying to produce high quality RP posts. Any time we share our personal work, we are putting ourselves out there and taking on the risk (or intentionally trying to solicit) criticism. Now, criticism is not in and of itself a bad thing- constructive criticism is a valuable tool, something that helps you identify weaknesses in your story and weaknesses in your abilities, allowing you to take steps towards improving them. Assuming that you can take the suggestions to heart and without taking it personally, you can go through a great deal of improvement by eliciting constructive criticism.
Only, not all criticism is constructive.
As you can see, the blog today is full of insulting statements from one famous author to another, none of these made in jest or fun. These writers passionately disliked something about the other, and their means of sharing it came out as little more than vitriol- certainly nothing very constructive. Now, chances are, if you put yourself out there, you are going to be subject to this kind of criticism at some point- let’s face it, the odds that you dodge it your entire career is about as good as my odds of waking tomorrow with a lean, trimmed body. As in, it’s not going to happen.
Some people just do not have a nice way of putting things, or something about what you did really put them off- and they were happy to share it. Last week, I taught a class with new employees orienting to work at our hospital. One of these students was a doctor- a much older doctor who had scores of experience (a score is 20, as in 20yrs). This doctor from the very start was presenting problems- his views were far outdated and contrary to hospital policy, state and federal laws, and the rights acts for people with disabilities. He had a mentality better suited for a real prison than that of a hospital, and so some of the things he said were concerning- and had to be corrected.
Especially because six of my students were civil rights lawyers
It was clear to me that this doctor had a remarkably large ego, and that every time I had to correct him on something, I was giving it a good bruising. Believe me, I was doing the best I could to do it gently, but I am required to teach a specific curriculum, and I cannot new hires thinking this doctor was correct in his thinking. At the end of the first two day segment, we have evaluations turned in, which are used to gauge the level of satisfaction people had, how relevant they found it, and what they thought of the instructors. Normally, they are allowed to be anonymous, but this Doctor had handwriting that was uniquely bad, and after correcting his books, we knew which evaluation was his.
To say he hated my guts is putting it lightly.
He filled his box and then some with a summary basically equating to that I had no teaching skills and was ill suited for my position, was monotone and boring, that I paced (I do, but people usually respond positively to it), that I dismissed ideas, failed to answer questions and discouraged them, and that I read the slides with my back to the class (which I barely look at, since I have them more or less memorized) and never make eye contact. He used some strong language in there, and you can believe me, the review was just a scathing thing, and it did make feel hurt at first. I was taken aback by the sheer level of dislike on his part, but as we glanced through the other reviews, not a single other person stated any of his complaints, and several were very complimentary. It would be easy to have let his nasty remarks continue to affect me, but I was leaving for the day, and I follow a principal of leaving work stuff at work- therefore, I had no need to take this home.
We are going to run into people like this. If you ever are published, you might have a critic read your book- and loathe every word of it. You might have someone just unload the nastiest things you thought you ever heard, all in reference to what you wrote, to what you put your time, love, and energy into- and man, does it sting. You have a few options once you come to this point:
1. Take it as a sign that you are a worthless human being, hate yourself, hate your craft, and forever duck out of it.
2. Think of the person as a nasty and cantankerous individual, and assume that everything they wrote is false.
3. Work at finding things in that review that could be turned into constructive criticism. Find out from others whether or not they have seen these issues as well- this should be from people willing to be truthful to you. Think of things that might have merit and work to improve those- essentially, distill this negative piece of poop into something that might still serve a purpose.
Spoiler Alert: You should go for number three.
It’s what I did- I asked my co-instructor if she saw anything, carefully sifted through the other evaluations and looked for anything that fit what he said- that I needed to brush up on my skills as a teacher, that my voice needed more variation, that I was unhelpful with questions. I never saw a duplication of those complaints, but I still decided to apply it anyway. The next day, I made sure I consciously worked at voice variation, that I was in fact making eye contact and not leaving my back to the class while glancing at the slides- different aspects of his complaint. I wanted to ensure that if there was any merit to what he said, I was taking steps to prevent, avoid, and improve upon them.
Just as you cannot make all people like you, you cannot make all people like what you wrote. There is going to be someone out there who just despised what you put together, and the best you can do is try to take good advice from negative comments. They chose not to package it in a way that made it easy to discern, much less swallow, but that does not mean you cannot find it.
It does leave one to wonder- is there truly ‘good writing’ or a ‘great book’, or is all subjective? Such a debate would surely fill the space of an entirely different ‘Closing Thoughts’, but I’ll give a simple answer: I think that the ability to write well (and thus, good writing) is a real, measurable thing, but the success of your works are dependent on more than that. Excluding variances for style, I think people can objectively identify whether or not a person knows how to write and write well. But a story might succeed despite that, as often what people care about is not ‘decent writing’ but more so the story. What is the story, who are the characters and what are they like, is it interesting, does it move you? Those things are often independent of the writing quality, and as evidenced by some best sellers, it can make a writer quite successful, even if their talents are mediocre.
50 Shades of Grey started out as a fan-fiction, and to be honest, the writing quality is that of a mediocre fan-fiction. Yet, despite that, these books have flown off the shelves- not because of her renown as a writer, but because of the story, and the contents, and the appeal that it has on others.
Of course, what is a good book can be debated another time. What I hope people pull from this tangent is that your success is not going to be based only on how well you write- one less reason to take it personally, and one more reason to make sure you do more than rely on skill.
Remember- constructive criticism is great, nasty criticism is stinky, but there might be some valuable nuggets of truth in there. Even if you dig through it and find nothing, at least you were willing to entertain those notions, and look for a way to grow as a writer. To continually improve, you have to be open minded and willing to take suggestions- not all of them are right, not all of them are good, but if you don’t at least think about them, you just might miss out on something valuable.
As for that Doc- he gave almost every instructor for every part of his orientation a nasty review, flunked his CPR class, and is already getting reported to the head of psychietry. Today, I had a current employee in my refresher class come up to me and tell me her son was in my new employee orientation class, that he loved the way I taught it, and made him excited to work there- sometimes, the criticsm is on the giver. Don't take it personally. And in those moments that you get praise- feel good about it, but don't let it blind you.
You guys are awesome, I’ll see you next week.
- Acies
Small Group for Isélyr?- Isélyr could definitely use some love, as it and its extensive lore is certainly underused. We have a member looking to put together a small RP group to role-play a scenario out in Isélyr, possibly doing something related to diplomacy, but the subject left open for discussion. In this RP, you might negotiate treaties and deals with neighboring regions, travel around with Mercenaries, and face many of Isélyr's potential dangers. To take it on, come over here.
Bright Storm Keep- Speaking of Bright Storm Keep, there is a role-play surrounding the place. This one plays off some previous threads, and involves a group of folks who ended up shipwrecked on foreign soil. They found an old abandoned keep, and are looking to clear this out and get it prepared for the settlers who will soon be on their way. The focus for this RP is going to be more so on character development than plot, so this one is a bit of a slower RP for those who might not have as much time as they would like. If something like this interests you (or you want to get involved with the character who won Hero of the Year), they have room for two more.
Featured Read of the Week- I'm beginning to notice a bit of a trend, as we have another repeat person for Featured Thread of the Week. Part of it is because they are awesome of course, but also because I am noticing that there is a trend among those who choose to do closed RPs (we have a handful of members who make up the majority of them). So, if you notice repeats, keep in mind that they are awesome, but please don't take it to mean I am using favoritism- just that I have more of a limited pool to pull from, especially following my criteria (I only consider threads that meet a certain threshold for total and current activity levels). With that note aside, I present a thread featuring Aleksei and Vixen.
Ends and Beginnings- There is A LOT I could say about this thread, the commentary a conglomeration of both artistic and inappropriate thoughts- so I must tread lightly, lest I say something incriminating, offensive, or just make myself look like an ass. I enjoyed the reading itself for the characters involved, particularly with Rou's current animosity towards Roen due to his spurning of her advances. Her posts absolutely tingle with a sort of energy that lets you experience her seething anger and frustration, in which she channels in a new way. Suggestions of showing Roen what he is missing by Aleksei's character, one whose innocence clearly shines, leads to Rou taking up... interesting means of doing just that. A thread with an array of well written emotions and sensuality, this certainly captures interest. I'll leave you to read it, or use your imagination, to deduce what I am getting at.
I bet W. H. Auden would appreciate that above post, certainly more than what he thought of Robert Browning: "I don’t think Robert Browning was very good in bed. His wife probably didn’t care for him very much. He snored and had fantasies about twelve-year-old girls."
Now that is harsh!
Lore of the Week!
This Week's Feature: The World of Valucre
At a Glance:
- Terrenus: A Fantasy based continent roughly twice the size of North America. It hosts 12 major cities, with hundreds of miles between them, and sometimes as much as thousands of miles between landmarks. The Rp encompassed includes traditional fantasy, Noir, Crime, and an Oriental setting. Their main religion is Gaianism, and they are led by Odin Haze
- Genesaris: A widely diverse land that happens to be the largest in land size, it as big as our world's Eurasian continent. Once hidden away, Genesaris only recently became revealed to the world, bringing in their many different cultures and peoples, generally divided into four major regions, and let by Union City at its center. The people see the highest magnitude of leadership belonging to the Three Lords, but typically run their affairs through Union City's council, and their own independent governments. Genesaris boasts a wide variety of technology and capabilities, all depending on the area in which you travel.
- Tellus Mater: The land of the Three Kings, Tellus Mater is not one individual region, but actually two land masses. Muhir occupies Western Tellus Mater and is about 1.5x the size of Texas, while Rosinder occupies the much smaller Eastern portion of Tellus Mater, it the size of Texas. Renovatio is the land of the sky, floating above the other land. It itself is about the size of Alaska. Each of the lands vary in their qualities, with Muhir a theocracy, Rosinder built upon Sword and Sorcery principles, and Renovatio the land with the most advanced technology in all of Valucre.
- Isélyr: The second smallest land (ahead of Tellus Mater), Isélyr is a land built entirely upon Sword and Sorcery principles, it affected by an odd barrier that destroys modern technologies upon entry. Affected by the efforts of their evil deity, there is much going on inside of Isélyr, and plenty of opportunity to have an effect on canon.
Lots of great lore for the reading. Well above the level of caliber that Virgina Woolf thought of James Royce: "[Ulysses is] the work of a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples."
New Members and Returns!
Welcome:
Welcome, JaylaMattin
She loves most books and truly enjoys reading, but watch out, she has definitively declared herself as someone who is not a nerd--she just wishes she lived in a world other than this one.
Welcome, Orion
An experienced role-player who suffers the same plight as many of us- too many ideas, and so little time. He says he's rather versatile and flexible when it comes to RP scenarios, so you should expect to see him in a variety of role-plays.
Welcome, Ilallora
She hasn't role-played in a while due to some previous time constraints and the degridation of her old hangout, but now that she has more time and has found Valucre, she plans to stay rather busy. She enjoys one on ones, and even cooler- she's an Ausie. :D
Welcome, Fon
An Artist and Martial Artist with a really easy name to remember! He enjoys parkour, anime, and of course- writing. He's been looking for a good place to RP, and found many who were just not right for him, or too strict. Well, Valucre has a lot of awesome stuff, and little restrictions on your RP, so he should enjoy our company. ;)
Welcome, Siieda
Because one I wasn't good enough, our new member has two Is in her name and professes to have a love of 'Hopeless Romantic RPs'. Despite that, she's willing to venture outside her comfort zone and try on some other genres for size. She can't wait to RP with you.
Welcome, Die Shize
A friend of our member Xaeroth and one who might be lurking under your bed, this man writes a good and lengthy intro to get us all acquainted. It looks like we've already hooked him in, as he has made his appreciation for Valucre and its never ending drive for Rp opportunities well known. He plans to start small, and let the lore take its effect on his characters.
Welcome, Justoneofthosegirls
She's not fresh to RP, but this is the first time she has ventured out to an RP forum, as she used to hang around in the Yahoo chat rooms. She likes to RP one to one and is willing to take on a variety of RP roles. Alas, she has stated that she doesn't do male roles outside of NPCs.
Welcome, Miroki
New to Valucre and not from a previous forum or other site, Miroki previously RP'd through a game, but has had to give it up for a time.
Welcome, Siberiandaimyo
He tried tricking us at first by saying he was Youtube's Peewds, but in reality he is just a big fan. Half Russian and Half English, an interesting cultural mix of a man who plans to spend a lot of time in the Colleseum.
Welcome, DrS1n
He goes by his user, Dave, Doc or Docter Sin, and really doesn't care how you address him- well, that is until someone finds a way to address him in a way he doesn't like (not that anyone would ever try that). He's a total workaholic (like yours truly) but he manages to find some downtime to work on some RP. He likes video games and geeking out on books and Television- looks like he will fit right in.
Returns:
Welcome back, Liha'Irden
She had to take a bit of a leave, but she's back around and ready to RP. She plans on spending the Summer with us on Val- that's pretty cool.
Welcome back, GodlyUnderdog
Says he is back for real this time, and plans on working unfolding his tales in the RP realm- welcome back!
About damn time! We broke the streak of eight, and did so by having more than eight new members this week, with our new total coming in at ten. Ten is a respectable number and it gets us pulled out of that odd rut we were in for a while. Welcome to all of our new members, we are glad to have you- which cannot be said of Lord Byron on John Keats: "Here are Johnny Keats’ piss-a-bed poetry, and three novels by God knows whom… No more Keats, I entreat: flay him alive; if some of you don’t I must skin him myself: there is no bearing the drivelling idiotism of the Mankin."
Other Highlights?
I like doing these highlights about as much as Martin Amiss enjoyed reading Catcher in the Rye (Miguel Cervantes): "Reading Don Quixote can be compared to an indefinite visit from your most impossible senior relative, with all his pranks, dirty habits, unstoppable reminiscences, and terrible cronies. When the experience is over, and the old boy checks out at last (on page 846 — the prose wedged tight, with no breaks for dialogue), you will shed tears all right; not tears of relief or regret but tears of pride. You made it, despite all that ‘Don Quixote’ could do."
Yeah, that much. >:(
Activity Stream- Want to see all the activity occuring at the same time? Well, you can, by clicking on the activity stream! This link sits next to the New Posts link, and it shows you all the current activity (posts, blogs, groups you are in). If you want to check it all at once, click on Activity Stream.
Did You Know- About Groups and Organizations? Groups are groupings of people who are bonded for a current goal- you can go to the Group Page to see what groups are around- some might be closed though. Organizations are in-character organizations (some with groups) linked under the organizations sub-board under profiles. The organizations are found here. To get the rest of your Did You Know Archive go here.
Closing Thoughts?
Taking Criticism
Hey, two weeks in a row with a closing thoughts I knew I wanted to cover before working on the blog.
This is more so for the writers out there than it is for those only interested in RP, but I think this is still relevant to you if you are someone who puts work into trying to produce high quality RP posts. Any time we share our personal work, we are putting ourselves out there and taking on the risk (or intentionally trying to solicit) criticism. Now, criticism is not in and of itself a bad thing- constructive criticism is a valuable tool, something that helps you identify weaknesses in your story and weaknesses in your abilities, allowing you to take steps towards improving them. Assuming that you can take the suggestions to heart and without taking it personally, you can go through a great deal of improvement by eliciting constructive criticism.
Only, not all criticism is constructive.
As you can see, the blog today is full of insulting statements from one famous author to another, none of these made in jest or fun. These writers passionately disliked something about the other, and their means of sharing it came out as little more than vitriol- certainly nothing very constructive. Now, chances are, if you put yourself out there, you are going to be subject to this kind of criticism at some point- let’s face it, the odds that you dodge it your entire career is about as good as my odds of waking tomorrow with a lean, trimmed body. As in, it’s not going to happen.
Some people just do not have a nice way of putting things, or something about what you did really put them off- and they were happy to share it. Last week, I taught a class with new employees orienting to work at our hospital. One of these students was a doctor- a much older doctor who had scores of experience (a score is 20, as in 20yrs). This doctor from the very start was presenting problems- his views were far outdated and contrary to hospital policy, state and federal laws, and the rights acts for people with disabilities. He had a mentality better suited for a real prison than that of a hospital, and so some of the things he said were concerning- and had to be corrected.
Especially because six of my students were civil rights lawyers
It was clear to me that this doctor had a remarkably large ego, and that every time I had to correct him on something, I was giving it a good bruising. Believe me, I was doing the best I could to do it gently, but I am required to teach a specific curriculum, and I cannot new hires thinking this doctor was correct in his thinking. At the end of the first two day segment, we have evaluations turned in, which are used to gauge the level of satisfaction people had, how relevant they found it, and what they thought of the instructors. Normally, they are allowed to be anonymous, but this Doctor had handwriting that was uniquely bad, and after correcting his books, we knew which evaluation was his.
To say he hated my guts is putting it lightly.
He filled his box and then some with a summary basically equating to that I had no teaching skills and was ill suited for my position, was monotone and boring, that I paced (I do, but people usually respond positively to it), that I dismissed ideas, failed to answer questions and discouraged them, and that I read the slides with my back to the class (which I barely look at, since I have them more or less memorized) and never make eye contact. He used some strong language in there, and you can believe me, the review was just a scathing thing, and it did make feel hurt at first. I was taken aback by the sheer level of dislike on his part, but as we glanced through the other reviews, not a single other person stated any of his complaints, and several were very complimentary. It would be easy to have let his nasty remarks continue to affect me, but I was leaving for the day, and I follow a principal of leaving work stuff at work- therefore, I had no need to take this home.
We are going to run into people like this. If you ever are published, you might have a critic read your book- and loathe every word of it. You might have someone just unload the nastiest things you thought you ever heard, all in reference to what you wrote, to what you put your time, love, and energy into- and man, does it sting. You have a few options once you come to this point:
1. Take it as a sign that you are a worthless human being, hate yourself, hate your craft, and forever duck out of it.
2. Think of the person as a nasty and cantankerous individual, and assume that everything they wrote is false.
3. Work at finding things in that review that could be turned into constructive criticism. Find out from others whether or not they have seen these issues as well- this should be from people willing to be truthful to you. Think of things that might have merit and work to improve those- essentially, distill this negative piece of poop into something that might still serve a purpose.
Spoiler Alert: You should go for number three.
It’s what I did- I asked my co-instructor if she saw anything, carefully sifted through the other evaluations and looked for anything that fit what he said- that I needed to brush up on my skills as a teacher, that my voice needed more variation, that I was unhelpful with questions. I never saw a duplication of those complaints, but I still decided to apply it anyway. The next day, I made sure I consciously worked at voice variation, that I was in fact making eye contact and not leaving my back to the class while glancing at the slides- different aspects of his complaint. I wanted to ensure that if there was any merit to what he said, I was taking steps to prevent, avoid, and improve upon them.
Just as you cannot make all people like you, you cannot make all people like what you wrote. There is going to be someone out there who just despised what you put together, and the best you can do is try to take good advice from negative comments. They chose not to package it in a way that made it easy to discern, much less swallow, but that does not mean you cannot find it.
It does leave one to wonder- is there truly ‘good writing’ or a ‘great book’, or is all subjective? Such a debate would surely fill the space of an entirely different ‘Closing Thoughts’, but I’ll give a simple answer: I think that the ability to write well (and thus, good writing) is a real, measurable thing, but the success of your works are dependent on more than that. Excluding variances for style, I think people can objectively identify whether or not a person knows how to write and write well. But a story might succeed despite that, as often what people care about is not ‘decent writing’ but more so the story. What is the story, who are the characters and what are they like, is it interesting, does it move you? Those things are often independent of the writing quality, and as evidenced by some best sellers, it can make a writer quite successful, even if their talents are mediocre.
50 Shades of Grey started out as a fan-fiction, and to be honest, the writing quality is that of a mediocre fan-fiction. Yet, despite that, these books have flown off the shelves- not because of her renown as a writer, but because of the story, and the contents, and the appeal that it has on others.
Of course, what is a good book can be debated another time. What I hope people pull from this tangent is that your success is not going to be based only on how well you write- one less reason to take it personally, and one more reason to make sure you do more than rely on skill.
Remember- constructive criticism is great, nasty criticism is stinky, but there might be some valuable nuggets of truth in there. Even if you dig through it and find nothing, at least you were willing to entertain those notions, and look for a way to grow as a writer. To continually improve, you have to be open minded and willing to take suggestions- not all of them are right, not all of them are good, but if you don’t at least think about them, you just might miss out on something valuable.
As for that Doc- he gave almost every instructor for every part of his orientation a nasty review, flunked his CPR class, and is already getting reported to the head of psychietry. Today, I had a current employee in my refresher class come up to me and tell me her son was in my new employee orientation class, that he loved the way I taught it, and made him excited to work there- sometimes, the criticsm is on the giver. Don't take it personally. And in those moments that you get praise- feel good about it, but don't let it blind you.
You guys are awesome, I’ll see you next week.
- Acies
"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one." ~ John Wooden
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