It also hurts when the criticism is said in a very blunt and unfeeling way - when the person criticising forgets that there's real person under there....
I know several actors that I used to work with said they didn't read any reviews just because they felt NONE of them were going to make them a better actor, just more worried about giving a poor performance (which they were always worried about anyway!).
I wonder if those people who are unable to stay away from reviews like that are the ones who don't have pressing approval needs, too. I mean, I'll admit that I have a disastrous need to be liked that stems way, way, *way* back. I seek out the reviews, even when I expect the worst. The people who don't are likely secure enough in themselves to be strong enough to avoid them.
I think that being an artist can be dangerous because so much of a person's psyche can be damaged by the push/pull of external validation. I think most artists start down the path of their art for internal reasons. They can get seriously sidetracked (and even derailed) by the beast of external validation. Compliments always feel so good. Especially if you've worked hard to achieve the thing being complimented, yes? However, too much reliance on external validation can ruin an artist. One (or a spate) of bad reviews can destroy that inner critic that every artist has. "I thought it/I was good, how can he/she/they think it was so bad? If I'm wrong about this one thing, I can/must be wrong about others." And so on, into a death spiral of doubt. I think as an artist matures in their art, more of what they do is driven by internal reasons rather than external. But that doesn't mean compliments still don't feel good, or that harsh criticism still doesn't hurt.
You've nailed it. It's so difficult to ensure criticism doesn't breed seeds of doubt. And it doesn't even need to be in the form of reviews. It can come from editors or people whose opinion you trust, which is worse actually, because they're people who are supposed to know. A fine line, most definitely.
I think, in the end, an artist has to learn to trust his/her inner voice. It has to be the true arbiter of what is good or bad; which so highly subjective anyway. Others (editors, betas, 'critics') can help in terms of basic execution, but I think the art itself belongs to the artist, who has the only true vision of it, and can be the only one to be able to truly articulate it
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I think, for the most part, I do write what I want to. I've tried to stretch my boundaries to write things that I normally wouldn't, but rarely has that come back to bite me in the butt.
I think my ultimate question is how do you not lose sight in your vision if a lot of people think it's rubbish? Maybe it's just time. I've certainly changed a lot over the years. Or maybe it's the conviction of the belief. If we truly believe in what we're doing, how can somebody else's opinion break that?
i found you. *grins* god i'm so slow i swear. First why i'm here. i was readign your story beg the liquid red and i wanted to say how wonderful it is and god, you're really made me remember why i love spuffy so much.(hopefully it will kick my damn spuffy muse into gear and i can finish some of my fics) Second, chapter 6 is not linked to chapter 7 in the actual story pages. (just wanted to let you know
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Where is the link broken? It's posted in a few places, and I'd rather go straight there than try and fumble around.
And of course I don't mind if you friend away. The more the merrier. :)
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I commented to somebody else above that the one thing that makes me think about all this is you're left questioning just how badly you believe in something. Those that last will be those who either a) aren't in search of external validation and believe 100% and unshakably in the message of what they're trying to, or b) don't care enough about others' opinions to let them affect them. I know I'll never be one of the latter. The goal is to become one of the former. :)
This is so very true. It took me a good long while to post my fic, mostly because of one jackass in particular. His reaction to a short story that I wrote convinced me (at least for a while) that I would never be able to write for anyone but myself and my best friends. Thank goodness I got over that.
On the other hand, my roommate often has to listen to me rant about negative reviews that I've received. Venting gets it out of my system and can take the sting out, but like you said, it still hurts. It feels very personal a lot of the time, even when it's not meant that way.
You're one of the handful of people online that I think I understand the best, mostly because I always get the distinct impression that we operate in much the same way. More than once, I've read one of your posts, and think, "Oh yeah. I totally get that," or "I would've reacted exactly the same way."
I think tisiphone318 hit the nail on the head about external vs internal validation. It's hard not to take criticism to heart, even in the face of validation. I think that's just the nature of being creative. However, maturity does help with that, and believing in yourself and your own artistic expression and integrity. I think if an artist does whatever it is that they do with integrity, then they can be proud of themselves and that integrity will show through
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I suppose that's another delineation that needs to be made - those that are in an echelon where money isn't the deciding factor and those that aren't. I probably think of those as two different beasts, mostly because there are so many more of us in the former, lol.
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I know several actors that I used to work with said they didn't read any reviews just because they felt NONE of them were going to make them a better actor, just more worried about giving a poor performance (which they were always worried about anyway!).
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Just my 2 cents...
Tis
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You've nailed it. It's so difficult to ensure criticism doesn't breed seeds of doubt. And it doesn't even need to be in the form of reviews. It can come from editors or people whose opinion you trust, which is worse actually, because they're people who are supposed to know. A fine line, most definitely.
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I think my ultimate question is how do you not lose sight in your vision if a lot of people think it's rubbish? Maybe it's just time. I've certainly changed a lot over the years. Or maybe it's the conviction of the belief. If we truly believe in what we're doing, how can somebody else's opinion break that?
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And of course I don't mind if you friend away. The more the merrier. :)
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I commented to somebody else above that the one thing that makes me think about all this is you're left questioning just how badly you believe in something. Those that last will be those who either a) aren't in search of external validation and believe 100% and unshakably in the message of what they're trying to, or b) don't care enough about others' opinions to let them affect them. I know I'll never be one of the latter. The goal is to become one of the former. :)
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On the other hand, my roommate often has to listen to me rant about negative reviews that I've received. Venting gets it out of my system and can take the sting out, but like you said, it still hurts. It feels very personal a lot of the time, even when it's not meant that way.
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*hugs*
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I suppose that's another delineation that needs to be made - those that are in an echelon where money isn't the deciding factor and those that aren't. I probably think of those as two different beasts, mostly because there are so many more of us in the former, lol.
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