I met with my writing coach today and we spent 3 hours reviewing my latest story – so far titled, That’s Funny. While he believes that this is my most sophisticated story yet, he believes it is still in a draft form and needs a significant amount of development. As usual what I have in my head is not coming across on the page. I am a minimalist by default.
Now, I’m not gonna lie to you. Three hours of constructive criticism is tough. It’s hard to keep up the appearance that I am a mature, rational, gracious adult who values everything my writing coach tells me because I know he knows more about the craft of fiction writing than I do, for 200 minutes straight. But I think I did a pretty good job. No tears. No choked throat. Now that I’ve recovered from the initial blow to my ego, here are some tips I am telling myself to help me make the most of his constructive criticism.
1 – Don’t wait too long to act on it. While it helps to let things settle after a difficult conversation, if I wait too long I might forget what all the comments and notes really mean, and I’ll just end up having the conversation and hearing those criticisms again.
2 – Break it down into bite sized pieces and address the clearest points first. A whole bunch of criticism can be overwhelming. I think it’s easier to try to organize them. Some may be the same point just said in a different way. Focusing on what seems obvious and getting those items out of the way will at least get me started on the difficult task of addressing the criticisms in general.
3 – Let go of my emotional attachment to what needs to be addressed. I lose nothing by trying it another way – and I can always go back to the original if I want. But, more than likely, by addressing it I will learn something, and if nothing else, I’ll develop a stronger appreciation for why I do things the way I do them.
4 – Trust that my critic does not have a hidden agenda and is as intelligent as me. Seriously. This isn’t my 5-year-old friend who is trying to Jedi-mind trick me into giving up my last piece of gum. This person is a professional, and even if the criticism comes from the fact that he “doesn’t understand me” then I need to make myself more understandable.
5 – Embrace the criticisms that point out areas of strength and be sure to capitalize on them. I need to recognize those parts, develop them, and do more of them, until I get to a point where I can call upon those strengths when I need them. Also, it’s a lot easier to leverage what I am already good at then to try to change or otherwise improve skills that I don’t have. I learned that in a leadership development workshop.
Ok, I feel better now. Time to resurrect this fragile little story that up until 11 am today I thought was pretty fucking good. Thanks Teach…
storiesbyray 