Constructive Criticism is the worst, people who give it out are total a-holes. I mean its my story, so its how I want it to be. People shouldnt dictate how I feel I should write!
Said no sane person, ever. Constructive Criticism is extremely useful and like Ani said, the people who take time out of their day to construct you how you could do even better are the people who think your doing great but still think you could do even better.
And those kind of people are the best, those are the kind of readers or even onlooked that you want in your life.
I think the main problem I’ve seen with writers who can’t take criticism is that they seemingly can’t, or won’t, distinguish between constructive critique and flat-out hateful insults. They can get all the constructive and thoughtful critiques in the world and appear to be just fine with them, but flip out and cry and strawman all critics as “haters” the moment they get a single rude comment.
And don’t get me started on writers who perpetuate racist, sexist, or otherwise harmful stereotypes in their stories and, when called on it, immediately cry about how everyone who criticizes them are just “angry mobs” who’re out to get them personally. They’re frighteningly common on, well, I think you can guess.
But seriously, my opinion on criticism is this: If you’re respectful, I think it’d be nice for authors to take other people’s valid criticism into consideration.
However, it’s a very human response to be defensive, so getting over that is tough. I think we can approach a lot more things with empathy, if we try!
And not to defend ppl who don’t it or to be a popular author stan, but big authors hear a lot of noise and it can be hard to sift through things and sort what’s valid constructive criticism and what’s not. Because the quality of the criticism also matters. I’d take someone less seriously if their criticism was rife with errors and disjointed and plus, it’s coming from a person with an incomplete picture (unless they’ve finished the story).
Plus, there is the simple fact that you can’t please every one, so I’d imagine it’s hard to know if it’s just a problem that a small part of your audience has with your story and maybe it’s just not for them? And if an author took every piece of criticism into consideration, their story may become unfocused since it’s no longer coming from a single vision. That’s why book authors tend to have one editor that they work with very closely. And editing is a skill. Not just saying “oh this doesn’t work” but giving good notes is a job in of itself.
So masses of unsolicited, and sometimes, unqualified feedback would be overwhelming…
I agree completely with a lot of this, though the only time I think criticism should be discounted is when it isn’t well thought out, doesn’t actually make any good points and is full of errors. Then you’re just ignorantly hating.
I will maintain that criticism doesn’t need to be nice, or particularly respectful. It’s great if it is, but sometimes you need to cut through the fat and just say what’s wrong. And a lot of critics feel that giving tons of ways to improve is hand-holding. Explain that something doesn’t work and why gives an author the chance to think about how it could be different.
After all, pointing out what doesn’t work is the critic’s job, fixing the error and writing the story is the writer’s job.
I actually don’t agree with this personally, but a lot of professional critics and editors have that way of working and it seems to work.
My problem is that readers like different things so you can’t expect an author to listen to all of your criticism. And writing isnt ‘wrong’ in my opinion. Sure, grammar and stuff, but everyone has different styles. I get opposite opinions all the time. Some people saying I should change something and it would be better, and another saying the exact opposite.
Reviewers who love my story and reviewers who can barely make it into a couple chapters…
I agree with not having to take all criticism on board. I think that’s fair enough, as long as you don’t treat the readers badly for their opinions. No one has to agree with the criticism they get, but for the love of god, some authors need to be more gracious about it!
In terms of there not being bad stories, I disagree. It’s true that people have different styles and like different things, but there are certain issues that can make a story objectively bad. Poor pacing, bad characterisation and awkward dialogue spring to mind straight away
Recently, I noticed a lot of people calling out and flagging others for criticising stories if they’re not Featured stories on Episode. I have read a lot of threads which basically tell people “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.
While that can sometimes be sound advice, it is not the case with writing . You see, there is a massive difference between constructive criticism and hate. Criticism helps you to grow as a writer and become better.
Frankly, I find it more mean and cruel if people find my story awful and are just too “nice” or pressured by the community to say anything. If you really like authors on here and you want to see them grow, you should be promoting criticism, not trying to silence it.
And if you’re a writer, you put your work out there in the world. Surely, you expected some kind of criticism? As soon as it left your mind and was published onto the app, you’ve given people the right to say what they want about it - within reason, of course. If you want to grow as a writer, it’s up to you to be able to take creative criticism and use it to grow instead of always seeing it as a direct attack.
People need to stop seeing criticism as a direct attack! Episode is full of amateur writers and the feedback we give one another is one of the best ways to improve the quality of your work. That’s where we’re going to get the bulk of improvements from! Sometimes that criticism can seem harsh at first, but give it a chance to make sense to you and give the person the benefit of the doubt. We don’t all speak English as a first language and so some of us can mean well but say it in a way which might come across as a little harsh because of the nuances of English. Don’t jump on the “don’t hate” bandwagon straight away! You could be missing out on some free editing .
On the other side, make sure that you’re not actively trying to be rude when you’re criticising the work. No, you’re not obliged to say one hundred good things before you get to the bad. However, make sure you’re polite about your criticism and always open to talk about it if you’re going to give it.
If we want to improve as a community, we need to start by improving our communication skills. Sometimes that means we need to stop being rude. Others, it means we need to stop being so sensitive.
I know this might seem harsh to some of you, but criticism is an important part of the creation process, and depriving people of that because we accuse people of hate too quickly is counterproductive!
Old - My Opinion
I reposted the thread so we talk about how people can never take criticism or constructive criticism on a story. People will literally call you a “hater” or “being negative” just by doing it. It’s so ridiculous. Since when are we obligated to like any and every story? And when you do give it to them, the writer or author never really takes it as an advantage or into consideration, which is the point of it. The matter of the fact is: As long as you are respectful about it, it’s fine. It can help you. It’s not hating. Let people give their opinion on your story as long as it’s not offensive. You can say a story is “bland” and “generic.” It’s criticism. As long as you do it kindly. Seriously, stop silencing others from doing it and getting “Big Mad” over it. They aren’t harming anyone. If you can’t handle it, don’t call yourself a writer. It’s part of becoming one. It doesn’t matter if you are defending your friend, don’t uplift a person’s story just because they are. If the story isn’t good, it isn’t good and others should be able to express how they feel about it respectfully!
I agree people should be able to accept feedback, but there are definitely readers out there who are pretty rude about it. I usually ignore that feedback. I’m not going to listen to someone who cant even be respectful.
I understand that. I also don’t think it’s necessary to take every single bit of criticism on board. Then your story becomes a group project! But the important thing for me is making sure to at least consider it!
I will continue to say it’s good to get criticism, however, I feel for the people who get a lot of negative feedback, and I understand it weighing on you and making you question yourself.
I am usually the person saying stop being sensitive. Who cares what people think? And I think people get offended by way too much these days.
But I’m starting to understand the sensitive people in SOME ways…
I personally have been overthinking my writing a lot lately. I’ve only published like 3 episodes in the last 3 months when I usually publish every week or two, and there were a few things I was really questioning about my writing. I don’t usually make those thoughts public and just keep going.
Then, last weekend, I received a fanmail.
It was actually not a terrible fanmail. It started positive, then gave some areas to improve (using the words boring and annoying ), then ended positive again.
Unfortunately, the areas they suggested I work on, were exactly what I’d been beating myself up about recently and I totally broke down about it, taking it way more harshly than I ever had. I wanted to quit writing, disable my fanmail, and delete everything and I didn’t write anything the rest of the day. This whole thing just went on in my head. I didnt post or talk it, and within the next day or two I was feeling better.
I’ve never had that happen before, and I think it’s crazy how someone really can affect you, so I hope the people giving criticism think about that too.
I feel like some authors know when they are receiving constructive criticism but use the excuse that it is hate because they don’t like hearing that there is a fault in their story and saying that it is hate justifies the reason why they attack the person giving them the constructive criticism.
Then again, a lot of readers also like to use the it’s constructive criticism to mask the hate that they are giving.
With all that being said, nobody is free from criticism once you decide to make your work public. Can’t handle it? Keep your work private.
It doesn’t matter if you are defending your friend, don’t uplift a person’s story just because they are. If the story isn’t good, it isn’t good and others should be able to express how they feel about it respectfully!
), then ended positive again.