Comments on: Trust Your Writing Instincts, but Know When They are Truly Yours

By: editor

editor — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:55:27 +0000

Perhaps the cure is to write ourselves a check when we write something. LOL!

Ooh, blog post idea forming!

By: Karen Swim

Karen Swim — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:49:46 +0000

Hmmm, that is a good point. I think it’s not necessarily the financial but maybe the mindset that it is “work for hire.” Also, my client work is not “my voice.” I am writing for their audience, their tone, their style and often it’s the polar opposite of my own personal style. So perhaps it depersonalizes it in a way that you cannot disconnect from what emanated from you. Perhaps the cure is to write ourselves a check when we write something. LOL!

By: editor

editor — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:41:30 +0000

@Karen I think you’re right. I know I never have any problem changing client-type stuff either. It all pays the same. Perhaps therein lies the crux… When you’re getting paid, it’s easier to let go?

By: Karen Swim

Karen Swim — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:26:00 +0000

I wonder if we every truly overcome this or if it is the writer’s thorn in the side. When I write for business, I write it and let it go. If the client wants changes, I am never offended. I thought I was cured but apparently that laissez faire attitude does not transfer to my own writing. I have gotten better about separating but certainly have not mastered the art. Thanks for digging into this and offering tips.

By: editor

editor — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:52:39 +0000

@TL Glad I could help!!! I’ll look forward to reading the post! B)

By: Tekaran_Lady

Tekaran_Lady — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:16:49 +0000

@ Editor This is why I’ve given up trying to classify my writing beyond genre. I’ll send it out to agents and publishers who cover the genres I write in, and I figure they can decide which age group to market it toward should they buy it. I know I was into dark stuff on deep topics as a preteen and teenager, but I also know that’s not necessarily the market norm, especially when it’s parents and grandparents buying or approving the books for a large segment of the younger end of the spectrum. Not that I write trashy or overly graphic stuff, mind you, the topics are usually just a touch on the heavy side.

I think your last comment might have given me an idea for a blog post.

By: editor

editor — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:03:18 +0000

@isle Learning how to use negative feedback is a challenge. In my case, I find that if I spend a lot of time explaining a particular part to someone after the fact, I either need to cut it or rework it substantially. Of course, fighting can be fun too.

@TL Not to open old wounds, but I’ve written some pretty dark stuff for my kids. They seem to like it and ask for more. I also did a folklore session for a large group of kids last year. Seems like all they wanted was to hear more bloody pirate tales. Could be that they’re wrong and you’re right!

By: Tekaran_Lady

Tekaran_Lady — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:53:06 +0000

“Put some distance between the work and the feedback.”

You know, I’ve been writing for about sixteen years now, and this is one thing I just started figuring out in the past several months. I think perhaps this is both the best and worst thing about writer’s groups. There’s the push to finish up one WIP instead of jumping from one story to the other and back again, but you’re right, getting feedback immediately after “finishing off” a story or chapter leads to taking it all far too personally. There were several cases of hurt feelings in the writer’s group I left about a month ago for this very reason. (It was a YA writer’s group, and I recently accepted the fact all my really good ideas are generally way to dark for children and teen markets.)

Don’t even get me started on publishing a novel serially in a magazine. It’s just not a good idea.

By: isle

isle — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:14:45 +0000

“What did you want the reader to get from the story?”
What? damn. You mean I am supposed to be writing for the reader? That explains alot.

At first I thought you were writing about how bits of other writers styles get caught up in our own, and I was prepared to defend that as a natural process/progression to finding one’s own voice…then I realized that you meant trying not to let other’s feedback, pos or neg, affect your actual writing. (of course, this realization came after actually reading what you read. My prejudice, not a reflection on your writing)

I haven’t written for a while..but I well remember how any negative comments or lack of “getting the point” hit like a kick to the gut. It did influence me. I stopped showing people, unless I was in the mood to pick a fight.

I’ll have to remember that “writing for an audience” thing. Sort of helps, hmm.

Can’t help you with listening to one’s own advice , I don’t listen to me either.
Contrary I am, -whatever I suggest to myself, I deliberately do the opposite.