What a writer has to do is write what hasn't been written before or beat dead men at what they have done.

I believe you, Hemingway.

I'm not sure, however, that publishers agree.

I've had the report back on Of Night And Light - the novel. In all honesty, I haven't read more than the first page. Feeling really rough isn't the right time to absorb constructive criticism in a positive way - constructive criticism that will entail a lot more work.

I was stopped by the phrases '...difficult to place. Publishers are looking for the next...' (insert your own choice here, like Harry Potter or Twilight.)

And here's me thinking that publishers would be looking for something DIFFERENT.

When I feel 100% again, I'll read the whole report and no doubt I'll do another re-write because I believe in that novel. But there must come a point, eventually, when I'll lose that.

Until then...

...onwards and upwards.

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.