1, 28, 33
1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)
So, when rating other media I tend to rate it differently based on scales of “is it good” vs “do I like/enjoy it.” For me personally, I greatly enjoy my own writing. I tend to write for myself about the things I like, and I basically write the kind of story that I’d want to read. As for actual quality, though I think I’m a pretty decent writer, I’d still have to say that I’m still learning and maybe not everyone is as into my writing and it’s certainly not as good as other pieces of media or fics that fall into both the “good” and “I like it” categories. So I guess, averaging out the two categories I’d give myself a solid 4.
28. How well do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing?
If I’m being honest, probably not as great as I should. I am trying to work on being better about taking criticism though. It’s a bit of a struggle, since it kind of hurts when someone criticizes your work, even if it’s well-meaning. But I do tell myself, that most folks are just trying to help (and in most cases, they are).
I’m usually better about it if I ask for the criticism. For instance, if I join some sort of contest, or ask a friend/beta-reader to give feedback - I asked for that criticism, so I’m much better about taking it and listening to what folks have to say.
I tend to dislike getting criticized unprompted, however. Again, that can depend on the situation. For example, if someone lists things they like along with what they dislike, or if after leaving a basic comment they leave a quick note of “by the way you have a typo here”, then it’s okay. But if someone is just criticizing my stuff out of the blue without any other feedback or prompting, I find that kind of rude. Also, if someone leaves feedback that basically sums up to “I don’t like [thing that is basically the whole point of said fic] you need to change it”, I find that unhelpful since it would require me to redo the entire thing, and I’m not going to put that amount of time and effort into doing so just because one person doesn’t like it.
I’ve had that last one happen to me a few times before, and often I try to check myself to see “do I dislike this comment because it’s hard for me to take criticism?” or “is this comment actually not helpful or productive to my writing?” I usually figure this out by giving myself a few days to calm down/think it over, and trying to see if there’s anything I can do in the story that would improve it moving forward. If the end result would add on several unnecessary chapters/pages or upend the plot or character arcs, then I usually ignore the “advice”. If it results in adding a little moment here or there, or changing up some wording to better present a character or theme, then I take the advice. Overall, even though it hurts to take criticism for me, looking at the feedback from that lens has helped a lot, both with my emotions and with my writing abilities.
33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?
I guess 2 main things:
One, is that it takes a lot of time and effort - both physical and mental effort. Sometimes my hands/wrists/arms hurt. Sometimes I gotta take breaks. It’s probably why I dislike it so much when someone is like “you should write/draw this”. Well, unless you wanna pay me for it, I’ve got a bunch of other personal projects and things that I want to do that take priority to any “requests” or “suggestions” out there. And I have a lot of personal projects in mind.
Two, is that it legitimately means the world to me when someone takes the time to reblog, comment, and interact with me or my work. I got an ask earlier about what my favorite comment/feedback was, and honestly there are so many to count, I just love all of them, and the support that everyone has given me is so important and I love you all!
