How to Interpret Criticism

This is, finally, the follow-up post to The Yin-Yang of Writing.  I previously asked for examples of criticism from readers, and received some really useful comments, which I shall use here.  I’ll also be presenting examples from my own experience.
I’m going to stick to criticism of fiction, because non-fiction is a little different, and doesn’t [...]

Stories that grow, and tidying up for the end of the year

Remember I talked earlier about stillborn stories?  The ones that start out with a shout and end with a pathetic whimper?
Well I was in the middle of another one, and despairing of my skill as a writer.  Why, I keep asking, can I produce evocative music one moment and pallid carrion flesh the next?
Thankfully a [...]

Liquid Story Binder Tutorial Part 2a: Setting up to write for plotters

When you have completed as much of the brainstorming as you need to write the story, you need to set up LSB to suit your writing style.
This is where things get tricky; because there are a myriad of ways that you can turn your brainstorming into a list of book chapters.  This is both a [...]

Handy tools for #NaNoWriMo nutters

I’m not participating this year, but I thought I’d put up a quick list of handy tools to help you make it through the month.
1. WikiMindMap
No time to research!  But if you need to find fast answers, Wikipedia is the way to go.  And the way to read Wikipedia is through WikiMindMap.  From the site:
WikiMindMap [...]

Spring cleaning!

Thanks to everyone who asked where I was.  Nothing dire happened!  But my mother left on Tuesday and I have guests tonight, so the majority of my Spring cleaning got condensed into a couple of days.  (Yes, I know Spring is 2 months old, but I have been sick.  And busy.)
I love Spring cleaning.  It’s [...]

A bit of alphabetic fun

Anna over at Quills and Zebras posted another challenge.
The rules are this: write a story that is 26 sentences long. This first sentence must start with the letter ‘A’, and every following sentence begins with the subsequent letter of the alphabet, ending with ‘Z’.
It’s a cute challenge, but there are some letters that are just [...]

Cranky

I had my weekend off from the net and it was mostly successful, except for an interlude where I accepted an award and posted an interview at the club.
Today I realised I have spent 12 days on a short story that has gone to pot beneath my pen.  I took the pressure off at the [...]

Juror Number 8

Tonight Fox Classics played the original 12 Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda and a lot of Hollywood greats that I have never heard of.  I’ve seen this story before on the stage in Brisbane a couple of years ago, but it was nice to see the movie.
If you write, and you haven’t seen this movie, [...]

Interpreting criticism

As a follow up to my post on ego vs criticsm, I’d like to do a post on how to read critical comments to get the most out of them.  I have plenty of examples of my own, but I would also love to have some examples from other people.
It can be the best you’ve [...]

The Yin-Yang of writing

This post is about criticism and ego, two forces in the life of a writer.  Both forces are essential to your writing health, but they are opposing forces, and keeping them in balance can be tricky.  It’s writing yin-yang.
Most people would assume the light side is ego, and the dark side is critique.  After all, [...]