Guest post: How Do You Handle the Big “C”? (Or What Do You Do With Criticism) by Nancy Ellen Dodd

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the wonderful topic of criticism, is brought to you by interviewee Nancy Ellen Dodd.

How Do You Handle the Big “C”? (Or What Do You Do With Criticism)

Personally, I handle criticism very badly. I cry. I tell myself I’ll never write again. I beat myself up for being such a poor communicator—or at least I used to.

Then I learned five simple words: “S/he is not my audience.” It’s as simple as that. My writing can’t possibly appeal to every person in the world, so this is someone my writing doesn’t appeal to.

Unfortunately, if you are in a group getting critiqued, you may find several “someones” who aren’t your audience. What typically happens in a workshop or writer’s group is that people feel it is their duty to find a flaw. If everyone figures out a different flaw, or if the group sees a flaw, but doesn’t know how define it, then you will get more criticism, possibly than warranted, and some of it may be hurtful, some of it confusing, and some of it wrong. I mean, have you ever jumped on the bandwagon when you weren’t sure yourself and agreed with someone who seemed to know what they were talking about?

The best way to handle criticism and negative comments is to know your own work so well that you know when someone is giving you good or unhelpful feedback. And even good feedback isn’t helpful if it derails you from your story.

Good feedback that takes your story in a different direction than you are interested in writing can cause you to lose interest in the story or even create writer’s block. If that happens, I suggest looking at your story and saying, what if it didn’t happen that way, what if it happened this way. Sometimes taking a fresh approach will reignite the idea you wanted to write.

So how do you know what you want to write and what will derail you. By knowing your story and being clear on what you are trying to say. Look at your theme repeatedly throughout your story development and see how you can tighten it, make it more specific. Look at your theme from different angles: as a premise, as a dramatic question, as a logline, as a brief synopsis, as a full-page synopsis. The more you write and develop your ideas, the more you understand what you want to say. Each time you rewrite and strengthen your theme, you get closer to the core of what you want to say about the world, about life, about humanity, about why cats sometimes love dogs, about whatever you are focused on.

How Do You Evaluate Comments

Let’s go back into the writing group. Sherry loves your story, Mack hates it. You’ve set your story in Fresno. Sherry suggests you move the setting to London—more people will be intrigued by a glamorous setting. Mack is sure it needs to be in a small rural town no one has ever heard of—you can create more mystery in an unknown setting and change the details to anything you want. They both have other ideas, Sherry’s from how to make it even better, Mack for improving it. However, they both agree that your main character would not spit on the sidewalk no matter who was standing there.

What do you do with all of this? First, it’s your story and maybe you don’t know why it takes place in Fresno, but the thought of moving it out of that setting feels wrong in your gut, however both Sherry and Mack have good points. And they probably do, they might even write a great story if they set it somewhere else, but that’s their story, not yours. There’s something in Fresno that matters to you, you have to keep writing about it until you figure out what that is and then use it.

Sherry and Mack both agree that you’ve misread your character. One of two things has occurred, you did misread your character and the character you thought you wrote about isn’t the same one they are reading about, or you threw something in to surprise the audience, but it doesn’t work organically with the character you’ve created. However, Jane loved the spitting on the sidewalk, it was so unexpected. How much stock do you usually put into what Jane says? If not much, this may not be the time to start; if a lot, then maybe the problem is that you haven’t completely setup the character to your readers that you have in your head.

Margo, along with several other people are telling you there is a problem with the way your characters are acting in the fourth chapter. Maybe if you change their attitude you can fix it, but everyone sees something different as the problem in chapter four. The motivation isn’t there. You’re missing a pertinent scene. Why do you have so many or too few characters? Something’s missing. You’ve included too much. No one can be specific or explain it in a way you understand. This means they may not know what the problem is, it just doesn’t work for them. You are going to have to keep working at it until you figure it out. However, too many people do a complete rewrite instead of tackling what could be a much smaller problem. Sometimes the issue is consistency or it may be a logic problem or maybe you haven’t set up the scene in such a way that the events are believable, which could be done with a couple of well-placed phrases.

Basically, when you get feedback you need to evaluate what that feedback means.

• Is it someone else rewriting your story with their own ideas?
  • If so, unless it feels like a direction you want to take, no matter how good an idea, ignore it.
• Is it a general consensus that you keep hearing?
  • If so, then you need to take a long hard look at whether you are being clear and communicating what you thought or if you are missing a key element in your writing.
• Is this negative comment an attack and/or the person usually cynical?
  • If so, then maybe s/he isn’t your audience.

Thank you Nancy, that was great!

For more than 25 years Nancy has invested thousands of hours of studying writing including two graduate degrees: a master’s in Professional Writing (MPW, which is a multi-discipline approach to writing) from the University of Southern California and an MFA in playwriting at USC’s School of Theatre. She has received numerous awards for her writing and some of her stories have been read on public radio. Nancy has also studied writing with several successful, award-winning writers. Her book, The Writer’s Compass: From Story Map to Finished Draft in 7 Stages, covers the full creative writing process. She’s published more than 130 articles and been editor of two print and two online publications. Presently Nancy is academic editor of the Graziadio Business Review, a business journal for the Graziadio School at Pepperdine, and currently teaches screenwriting at Pepperdine University to undergraduate and graduate students. Her website is http://nancyellendodd.com.

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with Stella Deleuze – the two hundred and forty-seventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me. You can also read / download my $1.49 eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords.

 

Blog interview no.246 with poet Rainbow Reed

Welcome to the two hundred and forty-sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with poet Rainbow Reed. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello Rainbow. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Rainbow: I have been reading poetry since I was a child. I used to go through poetry books and just memorize the poems I loved, I used to enjoy their rhythms as you spoke them out aloud, it was like singing without the hard bit. I used to make up tidy books with pictures in them, creating fantasy worlds and amazing people and hid them in my cupboard. Then I got involved with exams and my little books were forgotten. Years later I went to Uni and did a writing course as part of a poetry module at University. I loved the course, the writing flowed easily and I remembered how much I loved to write. The lecturer then told me to take up writing and forget about the teaching! This was really the first time anyone had ever said I could write and I was really surprised. I thought I would love to write but would I ever be good enough to publish anything?

So I soldiered on with the teaching course, which I hated, graduating and went on to do a masters, all the while experimenting with different poetry styles, forms and structure. I had several poems published in anthologies, newspapers and magazines but I was not happy with my work: it was too similar to traditional poetry, the romantic outlook on life was boring and mundane I wanted to write about things that preyed on my over active dark imagination. So I started writing horror poetry, little stories hidden in rhymes revealing the darker side of humanity, which was much more interesting.

Morgen: I’m not sure I’ve read (or even heard of) horror poetry and as a former Stephen King reader (in my teens, I’ve since mellowed to crime) it sounds intriguing. You said you started writing horror poetry, is that the genre you generally write?

Rainbow: Yes. I write in Gothic Horror and Dark Romantic poems. I am at present writing a fantasy horror book but I am not the sort of person to write about romance or soap operas!

Morgen: What have you had published to-date?

Rainbow: 2010: The Wicked Come. The Official Website is launched as a showcase for contemporary Horror writers. 2011: The Poetic Bond. A General poetry anthology, “The Storm”

The Wicked Come. A Collection of Gothic Horror and Dark Romantic Poetry.

Morgen: Have you ever seen a member of the public (whom you don’t know!) reading your book… in any unusual locations?

Rainbow: My book sells over the internet so I’ve never seen anyone reading it but I like to track where the buyers come from and image someone in a coffee shop in India reading it!

Morgen: … and really enjoying it, hopefully. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Rainbow: I do lots of marketing myself.

Morgen: As most authors have to. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Rainbow: I’ve won some regional competitions and been rewarded with a lot of poetry books as prizes which was fantastic.

Morgen: Do you write under a pseudonym?

Rainbow: Yes.

Morgen: …picking a very alliterative name. You said your books are only available online, are they therefore available as eBooks? And do you read eBooks?

Rainbow: My book is available as an ebook on Apple eg Ipad and Iphone but not on Kindle yet. I love real books myself, my house is filled with bookcases which in turn overflow with books so ebooks don’t really appeal to me. They don’t have the same smell or feel as a real book! So far I’ve sold no ebooks just real books.

Morgen: Oh, let’s hope that changes. I prefer paper books to eBooks (although mine are only available in the latter format) because I have so many to read and rarely travel but given a suitcase of books or an electronic gadget that can contains them all, and more, for the size / weight (sort of) of one they definitely are useful. If any of your books were made into films who would you have as the leading actor/s?

Rainbow: If my poems were made into mini plays I would like an actor I have seen in cameo roles he’s quite old with a strong southern accent and has been on Supernatural and Charmed. I don’t know his name but he plays malevolently evil characters with the smile of a sociopath which is brilliant.

Morgen: I’ve not read your poetry but John Lithgow sprang to mind (although he’s not particularly old) but he was in one of the stories (a creature attacking a plane) of Twilight Zone The Movie – he’s so versatile I think he’d make a perfect evilly-smiling character. Did you have any say in the title of your books? How important do you think they are?

Rainbow: I think the title of your book is everything, it is the primarily way of explaining the book to your audience. “The Wicked Come”, is so titled because it’s a collection of evil things and people that are coming out from the shadow lands where they live to visit you.

Morgen: Who designed that book’s cover – if you did it yourself how did you choose what to go with?

Rainbow: I did. I wanted a very simple dark cover with an eye watching people to represent the idea that you never know who or what is lurking in the shadows waiting and watching you.

Morgen: It’s very Blair Witch Project. Spooky. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Rainbow: Many. Mostly said my work appealed to too small a market. I took this as a positive thing though because no one ever replied back saying my poetry was awful and never to darken there door with it again! I just decided to prove there was a market for horror poetry instead!

Morgen: Absolutely. SO many people read horror prose so why not? What are you working on at the moment / next?

Rainbow: At the moment I am working on my second book of horror poetry called “Beware The Shadows” and a fantasy horror novel with the working title “The Torcian Quests: Regeneration”.

Morgen: Do you manage to write every day?

Rainbow: I try to write everyday otherwise I feel something is missing.

Morgen: Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Rainbow: I don’t suffer from it I have lots of ideas I suffer from Writers Confidence Block instead, I just sit and read and reread my work thinking is this really good enough. It takes me about a month of rereading work before I allow anyone to look at it. Then it goes to my closest friends and then if they are encouraging and force me then I will publish it.

Morgen: A question some authors dread: where do you get your inspiration from?

Rainbow: My mind, nature and people in my life.

Morgen: A good mix. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Rainbow: I firstly throw done a lot of ideas then try to plot them in a logical order.

Morgen: How about the characters in your poetry, do you have a method for creating them?

Rainbow: I meet them in my head and they become my friends so I get to know them that way.

Morgen: Yay, someone else who sees them as real. Do you write to form or free verse?

Rainbow: I write in the style which best suits the nature of each individual poem.

Morgen: You mentioned your friends; who is your first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Rainbow: My closest friends, never my family.

Morgen: Very wise, I have to be very selective (not the dark stuff) as to what I show mine. You said you can spend a month re-reading, do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Rainbow: I edit for months after each poem is finished agonizing over each punctuation mark and word.

Morgen: Although I don’t think I’d have your patience, poetry is more ‘fine’ than prose (as a prose writer I think that, anyway). How much research do you have to do for your writing?

Rainbow: As much as I can.

Morgen: Do you receive feedback from your readers? If so anything memorable?

Rainbow: Yes, my feedback is terribly important to me. I list all the positive feedback down to try to give me the confidence to carry on writing. It always surprises and delights me to know someone likes my work! One of my favourite comments was: “I love your work, so sinister, so dark, so awesome! I put all my positive comments on my poetry site just to give me the confidence to write more!

Morgen: It’s a shame that it takes that to give you confidence although I put mine on here too. What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Rainbow: I have to be alone and just let my mind flow into the story mode.

Morgen: Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Rainbow: I write in little notebooks, full up with scribbles and crossings out. It only gets on the computer when it is complete.

Morgen: Some writers like quiet, others the noise of a coffee shop etc. Do you listen to music or have noise around you when you write or do you need silence?

Rainbow: I write in odd places, whenever I get the chance to really concentrate. When I’m concentrating properly I hear nothing, no background noises at all so I’m quite lucky and I can write just about anywhere as long as I have my own space.

Morgen: It takes me a while to switch off if I’m somewhere noisy but I do zone out enough to write, although I do prefer quiet (or ideally with classical music). Do you use prologues / epilogues? What do you think of the use of them?

Rainbow: No, I think they act as spoilers.

Morgen: I used not to read prologues (or epilogues) but the latest book I’m reading (Trisha Ashley’s ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’) has a great one. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Rainbow: Yes.

Morgen: Most of us do (I probably have loads, and certainly one of my novels). What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Rainbow: Solitude answers both!

Morgen: If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Rainbow: That other people will actually read what I write and enjoy.

Morgen: A pleasant surprise. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Rainbow: Be true to yourself and write what you want to write!

Morgen: What do you like to read? Do you have any favourite authors?

Rainbow: I like to read forensic type detective novels: my favourite authors are Patricia Cornwall and Kathy Reichs. I also like to Samurai detective novels from Laura Joh Rowland.

Morgen: Crime’s my favourite too… and weird / quirky. Where can we find out about you and your work?

Rainbow: I run a website at http://wickedpoetry.jigsy.com called The Wicked Come which is for new and exciting dark romantic and Gothic horror poetry, some of my poems are there too but have kept a lot back for my poetry book, also entitled The Wicked Come.

I also have a fan site on Facebook called Rainbow Reed: Gothic Horror and Dark Romantic Poetry found at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rainbow-Reed-Gothic-Horror-and-Dark-Romantic-Poetry/136723169692261

Morgen: If you could have your life over again, is there anything you’d have done differently (writing-related or otherwise)?

Rainbow: I would have just stayed at University doing research and writing!

Morgen: And I might have gone to Uni. Thank you Rainbow. Lovely to meet you.

I then invited Rainbow to include an excerpt of her writing and she said, “Here is one of my poems which I hope you will enjoy! Its called ‘Dream Girl’”.

She floats
Outside my window.
Calls softly
In my dreams.
Tells me I am
Not Alone.
Black dress fluttering
All about her.
Glowing face of
Finest Silk.
Watching me through
Shimmery veil.
Scratches window with
Sharpened nails.
Bright eyes begging,
Long tongue licking
Caressing blackened
Rosebud lips.
Waking in a
Dreaming world,
I open window
She flies
In.
Vision of beauty.
A waning moon.
Drawn from Cracks
Inside my mind.
Beckons me with
Long sleeve flapping.
To creaky window sill.
She jumps
Falling
Into Darkness.
Rustling
Sounds of flight.
I follow
Desperate to belong.
Gusts of hope
Blow By.
I jump.
I fall.
The path bleeds red.
As smiling sweetly,
She swoops
To feed.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know. You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays.