(no subject)

[owlectomy]

Critique (whether I'm critiquing or being critiqued) makes me feel like writing really isn't something you can learn or teach--or else, that I'm really bad at putting my thoughts into words and should just give up now. I don't want to be the one to whine, "You don't understaaaaand my genius!" because I hold to the school of thought that if you can't make yourself understood, it's not so much genius.

I think, maybe, that there are some things that the author won't see no matter how many times they get pointed out, because the author isn't at that level yet. And that goes for me, too. There are a few things where I'll grumble and say, "Yeah, you're right," and a few things where I'll say "Why didn't I realize that before?"... and a few things where I'll say, "You don't understand my genius!" and I just can't budge. And maybe I'm right, and maybe I'm wrong, but as long as I can't see WHY, it won't do me any good to mechanically implement someone else's suggestions.

Which makes it all a bit frustrating. I can only hope that a round of novel submissions will give me some indication of whether I'm moving forward at all. My intuitions say that it's good, but how reliable are intuitions, anyway?

Comments

Trust your intuitions!

[nonamecity.livejournal.com]

critiques are so hard for all involved, unless your a gutless cruel individual that likes being beaten as much as he loves to beat!....I doubt that's you;-)

I have that problem in art. I look at the drawings I do everyday and somedays I can look and say "yes, this is something I've got! I cna only get better!" and other days "maybe this is not what I was meant for, and this is all I have..." With crits whatever the person says I always feel the opposite. It's so frustrating^_^; But crits are fun is a way, whatever side you are on.

I'll keep submitting if you do! And then we can both self publish together! whoo!

Re: Trust your intuitions!

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

The difference between the comic industry and the book industry, as I see it, is that the mainstream comic industry is pretty bad at publishing the sorts of comics that people want to read. The mainstream book industry is actually quite good at it, good enough that I see good amateur writers get published, good enough that it's reasonable to take repeated rejection as a sign that one isn't quite there yet. Self-publishing can be sensible in comics, but I wouldn't try it with my fiction; I honestly do believe that I will get published if I write the sorts of things that people want to read, and if I don't write the sorts of things that people want to read, nothing's lost if I keep what I write to myself.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I find critique helpful only if the other person and I are on the same wavelength as to what a fic should do and what we want this fic to do and whether we see the characters the same way. (True of OCs as well as fanfic. I've had OCs totally misunderstood by people applying the wrong cultural references to them.) So maybe it's not so much 'You don't understand my genius' as 'You don't understand my vision.' If many people don't understand your vision then-- you're possibly wrong or possibly just caviar to the general. Go with your instincts. They're what serve you best.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

You're right, of course; but when one's setting out to write commercial fiction, there's not that much difference in practice between writing badly and writing something that isn't to many people's taste.

If necessary, I'll eventually accept that my tastes are kind of obscure; for now I can labor in the delusion that the only thing stopping me from getting published is a slight improvement in skill...I really envy those who can write without the slightest bit of profit motive.