Epic Advice and Encouragement (EAE)

Advice 13 ☼ Receiving Criticism

*Deep breath* Hi, I'm back, it's Salonika Vale (salonikavale) and I'm gonna chat with ya'll about how to deal with constructive—and not so constructive—criticism.

We've all been there. Whether it's a negative comment from a book club or just a hater who decided to take a dump on your story, we've all felt the stinging pain of a BIG BAD COMMENT.

So, before you reach for your theoretical baseball bat and proceed to beat the crap out of them, let's take a moment to think about this.

You have to distinguish between someone who is trying to help you and someone who is trying to tear you down. 

I admit, there are times when I receive a harsh comment and after a quick glance at their page I'm like WAT DA FUQ??? HOW DARE THEY!!! It's purely bewildered anger. And that's not constructive.

Then there are times that someone leaves a comment nitpicking at tiny things, deliberately looking for flaws, and if they can't find them, inventing them. My gut reaction is frustration because constructive criticism is not about pointing out all the things you hate about someone's work.

Let's be honest. As friendly and inclusive as Wattpad is, there's always a few people out there who aren't going to support you. And that stinks. It can be hard to get a bad comment out of your mind. 

But ask yourself: Is this person trying to help me? Even if their words are harsh, are they trying to help me improve?

Usually, the answer is yes. Some people don't sugarcoat their words, which may make them sound blunter than they intended them to.

In which case, thank them for their time and feedback. You can always decide to ignore it. If it's useful, implement it when you edit the story. And it may be that time will give you perspective. What upsets you today may not upset you a year from now. You may look back and think, "Oh, that person was right. He/she had a point. I see what they mean now!" 

Our stories are our babies. When someone takes a swing at our babies, we want to go all mama bear and protect them. We want to chew on the person who attacked our baby. And because we're so close to our work, it hurts all the more when we get those harsh reviews. 

But sometimes, the answer is no. Sometimes, someone doesn't understand the meaning of constructive criticism and instead thinks, "Wow, I don't really like this genre. I don't really like this story. Eh, I don't like the main character's name. Man, there's no action. Where the hell is the romance? Where is the hot guy? Why are there no werewolves here?"

Those people tend to view all stories from the narrow viewpoint of their own preference. It's hard to eliminate your own bias entirely, but the purpose of constructive criticism is to provide well-reasoned feedback to the author, providing both the positives and negatives of their work and what they could do to improve upon it. Essentially, this means being objective. It means judging the work on its own merit and not holding it up to your personal standard of what you think makes a good book.

Not everyone is capable of doing this—or they simply don't want to. Much easier to criticize other people instead of helping them, right?

It can be hard reading those unfounded comments when you and your five/fifty/five hundred/five thousand fans know otherwise. 

So what should you do? Reply back and say, "Thanks for the feedback". Simple as that. Keep your cool and stay classy. Alternatively, you can ignore it. If you think someone has left an unfair comment on your work, you don't have to engage them further by responding. Just put it out of your mind. And if you can't? Hey, you can always delete the comment!

Remember, Wattpad doesn't care whether you get a good comment or a bad comment. The algorithm just counts it as a comment. Even if someone tells you how much they hated it, that still counts in the algorithm! That still helps you!

But whatever you do, don't get into a flame war with the person. Not only does that make YOU look bad, but it isn't fair to even the person who left the review. Even as sucky as their opinion might be, it's still their opinion and they're free to express it. And you're free to delete it. But engaging in a war for everyone else to see is in bad taste. You may just be sixteen and you may not give a hoot about looking "professional"—but it's important. And it matters more than you know. Things which happen on the Internet have a way of living on.

It's like this. Wattpad is engineered so that people can respond to what they read. That's why we have votes and comments. By the very fact that you uploaded your work onto the Internet and put it out there for people to read, you are inviting controversial opinions about your story. You are literally saying, "This is my work, please judge it". It's as simple as that.

Even if their comment is judgmental and unfounded, it's valid to them. Remember: NOT EVERYONE KNOWS HOW TO GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. And not everyone cares. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to change that.

To summarize: 

Know who is trying to help you and who is trying to tear you down. 

You can acknowledge and respect someone's opinion without agreeing with it.

Be open to other people's viewpoints—be willing to rethink their merit after you've cooled down.

You don't have to do anything you don't want to do with your story.

You can always delete negative comments you don't like.

And whatever you do, don't antagonize the situation by attacking the person in return.

Have anything more to add? Comment below and let us know! Do you have questions? Let us know and we will do our best to help you! But remember, we are not mind readers so we won't know how to help you if you won't ask! :)