↬ Talisman ↫ [Thoughts & Etc.]

To Address Some Things I've Noticed

Hi all!  Lately I've been seeing a lot of authors feel down due to comments or messages they've received from people, and I want to be the first to tell you - your work is your work.  What others say about it doesn't change its value, its worth, nor its importance in your life or the lives of others.  I know sometimes, especially on sites where feedback is easy to receive, writing something appealing to the masses may seem like your best option, but I feel like it's important to always remember that the difference between good writing and great writing always comes from whether or not the author is passionate about what they're writing.  So what exactly does that mean?  Well, I think it means you should write what you want to write, so long as it doesn't hurt yourself or others.  

Secondly, I want to address the topic of followers.  The most important thing I can say is that the quality of your writing absolutely is not determined in any way, shape, or form, by the number of people who have clicked the 'follow' button on your account.  Just because you've got one follower and another person has one thousand followers doesn't mean your writing is poor, or worse, than the person with one thousand followers.  One of the worst situations to put yourself in, I believe, is comparing your follower count with that of another.  Because - here's the key - you're not the other person.  You are you.  If you write what you love and love what you write, the rewards will come, but if you constantly beat yourself up for not achieving what someone else has achieved, nothing good will come of it.  Sure, it can certainly be a motivator, but I think it's better when a motivator is something that comes from your heart, such as having a story you genuinely want to share with other people.  c:

Thirdly, let's talk about comments and messages, because oh boy, have I seen some strange things.  I feel like it may be most important to firstly delineate what comments are helpful to authors and what comments aren't helpful at all - that way you can be an aid to the author while encouraging them to continue writing!  One of the most commonly misrepresented type of comments are constructive criticism, so I'm going to address that first~

To put it simply, a good definition of constructive criticism is 'the process of offering valid and well-reasoned opinions about the work of others, usually involving both positive and negative comments, in a friendly manner rather than an oppositional one.'  The key words here, at least to me, are 'valid,' 'well-reasoned,' 'opinions,' and 'friendly.'  Constructive criticism is very beneficial to an author, and is a good way to get your opinion or point across.  

Then what isn't constructive criticism?  Well, to me, it's anything where you do not offer ways to help improve the author's writing.  This definition is much more loose than the prior one, so I feel like offering some examples as to what constructive criticism vs. 'no solution' comments may look like.

Not Constructive Criticism: This character didn't act like themselves.
Constructive Criticism:  This character seemed to act a bit different than how I would've thought in that situation.  To me, it would make more sense if ___ happened, since I believe it better aligns with the character's personality, as they're shown to be very ___ in the source material.

Do you see the difference?  One comment is an observation and an opinion.  The other, while still being both an observation and an opinion, offers a solution to said observation.  If you were left with the first comment, you'd probably be uncertain as to what the comment meant.  Where didn't they act like themselves, and what made you believe that it was inaccurate?  Whereas the second comment clearly define precisely what the person writing it meant, as well as offering a possible fix to a perceived issue.  

And here's another important part: constructive criticism, although better than 'I didn't like this'-type comments, are still just opinions.  If you reread your work and believe you stayed true to the material you're writing about, or see no need to alter anything, then don't.  At the end of the day it's your book - your happiness with it, at least in my eyes, is more important than anyone else's.  On the other hand, if you reread your work and find yourself agreeing with the constructive criticism, feel free to edit it!  There's no shame in making mistakes, nor in changing them for the better.  Mistakes don't say you're a bad author, they show that you're a growing author, which, in my opinion, is the best type of author.  A growing author is one who never stagnates or grows complacent with their works.  They're always looking to improve, to add that extra spark to the flames of their writing.  By making mistakes and fixing them, you're showing that you have the capability of overcoming certain issues and learning from them in the future - thus improving your writing, even if it may be difficult for you to notice at first.  Ultimately it's rather simple - the more you write and read, the better your writing will be.  It's all about practice and experience~!

I want to close by saying that none of what I've mentioned are facts - just my opinions on some things I've noticed on writing websites, not necessarily Wattpad.  I am not attempting to target, harass, or harm anybody, and if it seems like I am doing this in this chapter, please, please, please, please let me know!  My goal is to help, not hurt, and if my poor wording misrepresents my ideas, I will be more than happy to alter it.  

I hope that 2019 is a wonderful year for all of us, and that we can all keep writing and enjoying our outputs!  <3

Love,
   - Petri ♥