Ā animercomĀ replied to yourĀ postĀ :<p>Hi ferret! i was reading your recent posts and...
Even if you are writing for fun, how are you going to improve your writing if you delete feedback?
I mean, I assume youāre just trying to bait me, but sure, letās play, hahaha. This assumes that a) improving is a goal for me (spoiler alert: itās not.) b) thatĀ āwriting for funā still somehow meansĀ ātrying to meet someone elseās expectationsā (second spoiler alert: it doesnāt have to, if thatās not fun for you) and c) that some rando on the internet telling you that you wrote the characters wrong cause itās not how they would have done it is inherently valuable because itāsĀ āfeedbackā (spoiler alert: please stop).Ā
Actual constructive criticism relies on trust as a foundation. The primary part of that is the trust that the person providing the criticism has a shared goal of bringing the artistās piece closer to the artistās goal not the criticizerās goal. You canāt do that if you donāt know the artistās goal. To know my goal, youād have to ask me. Shockingly, no one whoās ever left a critical comment on one of my stories has asked me what my goal was with the piece. Why is there an assumption that if youāre making and sharing creations, you must be trying to get better? Like, I donāt go to karaoke and assume everyone up on stage is there trying to win Americaās Idol. Probably, the bachelorette party is just wanting to have a good time with their friends, and theyāre too drunk to care that Becky canāt hit the high C. They certainly donāt need me walking up and telling them that. What they do need is more nachos.
I do not trust people I donāt know to criticize with my goal in mind. I trust my beta, I trust my friends, I trust the people who were part of the creation process.
I can already tell that @animercom and I have different goals, cause Iām not here to āimprove my writing.ā If itās fun for you to have people out in the wild tell you what you did āwrong,ā (according to them) by all means, ask for that, keep your critical comments, bathe in all the āfeedback.ā But donāt put your goals and desires on me. Thatās not fun for me. I choose not to make it part of my hobby, that I do in my spare time, for fun. And my message is to other creators to tell them that itās okay if a) improving isnāt one of your goals b) criticism isnāt fun for you or c) you want to keep criticism contained to the people who you trust to have your goals in mind.Ā
Iām not going to bother trying to stop people from leaving critical comments. That conversation has been going on for millennia and the message still hasnāt gotten through, so Iām not wasting my breath on that right now. But I do want my fellow creators to not feel guilty for curating their own space and chasing their own joy, regardless of what shape it comes in. You donāt have toĀ ātake everyoneās opinion into account.ā Itās your art. Itās your opinion. Ignore anyone elseās that you want to ignore. It is okay to just be here to have a good time, dancing around, singing your own way, even if itās not on beat or on key. Heck, pass the nachos.
You donāt owe it to anyone to make improving to their standard part of your goal for your personal fun time.












