Writers Need To Parse Criticism Carefully Before Making Changes

When your whole job is making sure you have a happy audience, it's important to keep an eye out for criticism. I've said more than once that if you create something, and people don't like it, that doesn't mean the audience doesn't "get" what you were doing as a creator; they're the ones who have the final say in whether or not you are successful. Talent, vision, a large platform, a big marketing budget, all those things can help, but at the end of the day the question is whether or not this thing you made pleased your audience.

But there is a flip side to that coin. Because there's going to be criticism of your work no matter what you choose to make... the question is whether the people and quarters the criticism is coming from matters, and if it should require you to change course or not.

Original comic by Phillip M. Jackson

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If They Aren't Part of Your Audience, Who Cares?

I talked about this back in my post Cancel Culture is Not a Thing, but I wanted to reiterate it this week for all the authors who are feeling skittish here. You cannot please everyone. Period. You could write the most heartfelt romance with absolutely soul-clenching drama, and there are going to be people who hate it. They might not be fans of the genre, or they think it's too bombastic, or they feel there's no substance; whatever it is, there will be people who hate your work. You cannot avoid that.

And that is not the kind of criticism you should be worrying about. At all. Why? Because the people who are making these complaints aren't part of your audience. There is nothing you can do to please them, so it's pointless to try to do so because (as the comic above proves) you're more likely to alienate your current audience than you are to win over a new one.

Your complaint has been noted. Now piss off.

Imagine for a moment that you ran a burger restaurant, and someone came in off the street to complain about your menu. You didn't offer pasta, or your vegetarian options were lacking, or you didn't have a smoothie machine, and they're mad about it... what difference does that make to you? Are they an existing customer of yours? Have they been loyally supporting your operation, and they're simply making a request about something they'd like to see you offer in the future? Or are they someone who doesn't actually patronize your establishment who is loudly complaining that you aren't catering to them, even though they aren't actually part of your demographic?

Because if we're looking at the former, those are people you might want to listen to. They're already interested in what you're making, and they'd like to see more of it, but they also want you to take their wants into consideration for future expansion. If we're talking about the latter, though, who cares what they want? Especially if the things they're demanding aren't part of your service, and it isn't something they're going to support, they're just blowing wind.

Consider Who You're Trying To Please

Too many of us just assume that if people are criticizing us that we must be doing something wrong, and we need to fix it before we do damage to our reputations and careers. And that might be true... or you might just have blowhards screaming at you because they're mad they aren't the center of your universe.

And sometimes, if you listen very carefully, the criticism you're getting can actually tell you if you're going in the right direction.

The guy with the Confederate battle flag in his profile is upset? Good.

Give you an example. When I was working on my 100 Kinfolk Project for Werewolf: The Apocalypse I had all sorts of less-than-desirable folks slinging negative criticism my way. I had people who were upset that neo-Nazi characters were only present in the villain book, and not available as "edgy" allies for heroic characters. I had people throwing hissy fits that I "overrepresented" gay and trans characters in the project (something I addressed in A Response To The "Flaw" in My Kinfolk Project for those who are curious). However, given that the whole purpose of the project was to be more inclusive of the sorts of people usually ignored by the game's material, and to make it clear that we were no longer playing in the 90s, these were basically people who were mad I'd baked a chocolate cake. They didn't want chocolate, they wanted vanilla, and they didn't want to share it with anyone else.

If you get my drift.

Should I change the content I'm putting out to make those people happy? No. If they don't like it, or they think it isn't white or straight enough for them, I don't really care. If my work upsets somebody because now they can't play a neo-Nazi without everyone calling them out for it, good, I helped in a small way. But if someone who was part of a marginalized group reached out to me and told me I'd messed something up, or used hurtful language? If someone wanted to correct a mistake I'd made regarding a tribal identity for an indigenous character? Now that I would listen to, because that is literally the audience I'm aiming for, and the purpose the work was supposed to fulfill. So if I can't make my intended audience happy (or if they appreciate the effort, but feel I should fix problematic aspects) then that is something that is definitely a problem that needs corrected.

So keep that in mind when your work is being criticized. Are the people pointing out factual errors that should be fixed to make the work stronger? Are they trying to be helpful, or telling you what they want to see more of when you come out with your next piece? Or are they just screaming at you because you aren't catering specifically to them, and they're mad about it?

Consider the source, and if what they want is something you want to serve with your work, before taking out the red pen.

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That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

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