I Got a New Attitude
Your use of language is incorrect, I know better.
You need to read these books (X, Y, & Z) for proper context.
Why do you think you have the right to write this story?
Pushback. Negative attitude.
Writers and authors all get this. Sometimes it comes from well-meaning colleagues, industry professionals, or even family. Sometimes it comes in the guise of 'friendly advice'.
That doesn't make it correct or wanted.
The above three criticisms came from an editor's critique I paid for at a conference. Criticism is hard, but a good author will learn to set the emotional aspects of the criticisms aside and examine them for feasibility. We learn that not all criticism is valid because everyone has their own prejudices, backgrounds, and beliefs. In the above case, I took a month to reflect and review (after the initial shock of the hostility), I came to the conclusion that the editor was wrong on all of them. One, the foreign language I incorporated into the book was correct because I'd had it checked by someone who was an expert; they translated both English and German, had studied and lived in Germany, and the editor was not a native German speaker. Second, the books the editor wanted me to read had nothing to do with my novel other than being in the same time period (World War II). Not every story in that time period set in Germany is about the Holocaust. And third, I have German and Swedish ancestry. I still have family in Germany and Sweden. I think that shows that I am not appropriating a different culture (although freedom of speech and fiction gave me the right in the first place). Everything in the editor's critique was pushback and negative. Why, I have no clue. The editor seemed almost angry I would write a story about a German zoo.
That critique stays with me still and is an important reminder that you can't please everyone all the time. Yes, if I want to get published traditionally I will have to please an editor, but first I have to please myself. I have to be happy with the story (not that there isn't room for improvement; the best books can always be tweaked also).
I put the story aside to work on others, but I will not kill it. I will look at it again someday, and even if I independently publish, the story will live. No one can push me away from a story I truly believe in unless I let them. I've looked at other stories after a year or so away and with a fresh critique, I can see how the story wouldn't work in its current form. There is always something positive about any story, even if it's hard to see at first. When we authors get that pushback and negative attitude, we owe it to ourselves and our story to step away and come back when we can look at it without attitude or emotion and determine if the pushback and negative attitude was appropriate.
Charlotte writes MG, YA, NA, and adult novels in sci fi, fantasy, contemporary, and paranormal genres. She is the author of the award-winning middle grade Evolution Revolution trilogy, Simple Machines, Simple Plans, and Simple Lessons. She co-authored the YA novels Blonde OPS, Sirenz, and Sirenz Back in Fashion. She has two short stories in the Beware the Little White Rabbit (Alice through the Wormhole) and Scare Me to Sleep (Faces in the Wood) anthologies. Having finished her MFA, she's applying what she learned and is working on several children's and adult novels, along with some short stories. She lives in NJ with her family and her floofy cat. When they trimmed the backyard tree, the crazy squirrel couple had to move out.
It only takes one editor to appreciate your vision for a story as well. Thanks for this pep talk, Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteYou're so right--you've GOT to know what your story is and fight for it!
ReplyDeleteSuch an important reminder: you have to please yourself. This is EXACTLY what I needed to hear. Thank you!
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