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This week — Monday through Friday — I’m talking about criticism.<\/p>\nThis week — Monday through Friday — I’m talking about criticism.<\/p>\n
Monday:<\/strong> The Benefits of Criticism<\/a> I had somebody in development at a major film studio interested in a screenplay I\u2019d written. I’d hoped\u00a0 when the phone rang and I picked up, that I\u2019d hear them say, \u201cWe want to develop this.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, this is what I was told:<\/p>\n \u201cI admire the guts it took to write this right now. There are some parts I really like. But this lacks execution. You have good ideas, but they go nowhere in this screenplay. It seems hurried. I\u2019m sorry, Christopher, but I\u2019m going to have to pass.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It was the best critique I\u2019d ever received.<\/strong><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t to say that I didn\u2019t appreciate all the good critiques I\u2019ve received since I\u2019ve been writing. In fact, the reason this is my favorite critique, at least in part, is that it means the two previous critiques from this contact \u2013 glowing praise of the first two screenplays she read \u2013 were genuine.<\/p>\n Being told that the third screenplay I sent was weak meant all the good things I was told about the first two screenplays were real.<\/p>\n This critique let me know that I had a trusted reader.<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n My second and third favorite critiques went something like this:<\/p>\n \u201cThe story wasn\u2019t my thing, and I didn\u2019t like the characters \u2013 at all. But\u2026it\u2019s the best thing you\u2019ve written to date!\u201d [Followed by a list of reasons the stories were the best to date.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There are few absolutes in my life, but two of those absolutes are that my wife loves me, and that she\u2019s a reader I can trust.<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t be the writer I am today had I never met Mark Felps<\/a> and Deacon McClendon<\/a>. Mark has been there since I got serious about writing (about 20 years ago); Deacon\u2019s been there for the 6 years we\u2019ve had our writing group<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark\u2019s words when he\u2019s tearing a story apart can be so eloquent and crude that you almost want<\/em> to suck, just to hear what he comes up with. When he’s on a roll, you hear stuff like this:<\/p>\n \u201cReally?! This story is masturbatory at best. I walked away feeling like you gave me a facial!\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/em>Deacon offers no quarter, either.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not allowed to write beneath my abilities in their presence; they cut into me when I’m lazy. And when I do<\/em> write to the best of my abilities, they push me even more, making me a better writer each time we meet.<\/p>\n They are trusted readers.<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n I’m very lucky; I have many trusted readers.<\/p>\n But we make our own luck.<\/p>\n I have many trusted readers because I don’t take criticism personally. I didn’t write this series about criticism just to write something; I wrote it because I’ve lived by these rules and suggestions and hoped it would help others.<\/p>\n I’ve made my own luck by listening to and sharing with others. I’ve made my own luck by not being afraid to be rejected over and over in order to finally sell a story or article. I’ve made my own luck by being fair to others when offering them advice, even if they tore my writing apart for no reason other than a strange grudge against me.<\/p>\n I’m lucky enough to come home from a cruddy day at work today to see @legomummy<\/a> — a complete stranger — tweet about this week’s entries<\/a>. (Thank you!)<\/p>\n It’s really not luck, though. It’s work.<\/p>\n It’s hard to hear somebody tell you that something you put so much effort into is lacking. But if you work hard at writing, or any creative endeavor, you find that most <\/em>people want to help you. If you listen to the right things, you only get better.<\/p>\n And getting better is what it takes to see your writing in print.<\/p>\n Seeing an article you wrote in a magazine or newspaper, or a story you wrote in a book, makes all the hard knocks seem like a distant memory.<\/p>\n All that criticism is worth it in the end.<\/p>\n Never forget that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week — Monday through Friday — I’m talking about criticism. Monday: The Benefits of Criticism Tuesday: 5 Ways to Handle Criticism Wednesday: 5 Ways to Give Good Critiques Yesterday: Criticism — It’s Not an Editor’s Job Today: The Best Critique I Ever Received I had somebody in development at a major film studio interested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[3,59],"tags":[14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em> Tuesday:<\/strong> 5 Ways to Handle Criticism<\/a>
\n<\/em> Wednesday:<\/strong> 5 Ways to Give Good Critiques<\/a>
\n<\/em> Yesterday:<\/strong> Criticism — It’s Not an Editor’s Job<\/a>
\n<\/em> Today:<\/strong> The Best Critique I Ever Received<\/em><\/p>\n