Wednesday, April 28, 2004
I heard a quote today on the radio that I felt was very true: "Whenever you're doing something worthwhile, you are going to have critics." How true that statement is indeed. I think about professional writers and how much criticism they receive from various groups. As popular as Pottermania is, there are groups out there who feel the books are bad for children to read, promote ideas of sexism, add to the over-marketing of products to make money, or are anti-Christian, believing that these books are teaching witchcraft. I have read reports and critiques on JKR's masterpieces that have been negative, and although I disagree with their assessment of these books, I sometimes do understand where they are coming from. If their arguments and believes are backed up well enough with plausible and coherent explanations for why they feel a certain way, then that makes it easier for me to understand their point of view. So, that in mind, I realize that whenever I receive criticism on my writing that it negative or at least somewhat negative, I realize that people will think how they want, believe what they will believe, and are entitled to their own opinions. At least they are being honest.
Also, I know that I should be my own worst critic. If I'm not happy with a new chapter I have written, then I know that it needs improvement. Judged by someone else's standards, a piece of writing always has room for improvement, so when is it finished? When I feel it's finished. When I feel it's the best I could do (at that given moment... I may come back later and change my mind...). When I write, I am writing for me. When you write, you should be writing for you. The reason anyone writes is for himself or herself, not for his or her audience. If you don't believe me, then perhaps you should re-evaluate just why you are writing. If you try to write something for someone else, then you will never be happy with it, because it is not truly your own. That story and its plot and its characters are not what and who you would create them to be. What's more is that if anything, we don't write the story as much as the story writes us. I know it sounds strange and perhaps even near impossible, but I have heard professional writers say time and again that it is their characters that demand to be written a certain way and to do certain things in the story, not the other way around. When the characters are able to do that, to provoke the writer to be the servant to them, then you know that you have created very real and very believable characters that have a life of their own (at least to you). Critics will say what they will, but if your characters are speaking to you, then I believe you have your own masterpiece.
posted by Sindie 8:54 AM
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