Criticism is something we can avoid easily etc. Part 2

Recently, I've joined a new website which is meant to be a creative community for writers to share their work, to review and be reviewed.

Unlike the brilliant MoviePoet.com where I have been a member for 5 years and moderator for nearly as long, scripts are not anonymous. I really learned the value of this yesterday.


I reviewed a particular script, spending time doing so and offering praise for what was good but also constructive criticism for what needed development - which, in all honesty, was quite a lot.

This morning, I received the following from the writer of the above, with poor ratings, about one of my scripts (An extract - he did admit it was well-written)

"Does it make you cringe? yes...The storyline of the youngster dealing with burgeoning sexuality has beaten a well-worn path in the realms of indie-film making and this is nothing new. Worse still, this doesn't offer anything new:from Nico suffering at the hands of schoolmates on the football pitch right down to the feather boa and scarves at the climax. Not for me, but might find a home at a GLBT film festival in the 80s"

Constructive criticism? I don't think so. Apart from the fact he completely missed the main plot point in his haste to trash my storyline, if I were to listen to him, the only thing I could do as a result of reading it would be to consign my work to the waste paper basket. He left me nothing useful to work with. I am very happy to listen to constructive criticism. This was not constructive and verges on the homophobic.

Sour grapes, I think. (His, not mine)

What I love about posts like his is that it says WAY more about him than it does about the quality of my work.

Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing

Bravo, Aristotle!

I think he also said this: (No, not the jerk bit!)

 It's easy to be a jerk when, as a writer, you put your work out there and allow other people to review it.

It's easy to accuse them of being ignorant Philistines because they just don't get it and aren't full of gushing praise for your literary baby.

It's easy to think that if only the Right Sort Of People read your work then they would acknowledge its sheer brilliance and you'd become about as famous as J.K. Rowling and Steven Spielberg rolled in to one.

It's easy to conclude that nobody can possibly understand the obstacles you had to overcome in order to produce this piece of work and if its anything less than perfect it was because of that, not any inherent lack of ability.

It's easy to do what I do and simply delete unfavourable reviews or shred rejection letters into a million tiny pieces just so I can pretend they didn't ever actually happen.

It's NOT easy to read criticism carefully, to accept that it's just one person's opinion, to acknowledge that there's sure to be something useful in there even if you disagree with a lot of what's been said...

It's even less easy to put the next piece of work out there and lay yourself open to more of the same...

But isn't that just what we do, every day?

ARE WE INSANE?