The Wrath of Critics

Everyone has their critics, if not in their profession, in their lives.  'Haters gonna hate.'

Writers though especially, get a lot of flak from critics. Who was it said that critics are mere frustrated artists who vent all their pent-up creative frustration at those who are daring to be creative? Something along the lines of 'if you can, do, and if you can't - criticise.' Just as in life, those who don't chose 'to do' like nothing better than criticising those who are doing.

Now, I don't mean constructive criticism. Constructive criticism - i.e. helpful feedback about a piece of work - is welcomed by writers. It helps us improve upon our work. And it's good to get another's perspective on our closed-doors work. But at the same time, when it comes down to it, a piece of writing is a sole production. We keep our readers in mind sure, but we don't write to the critics' crack of the whip.

Purely negative feedback is bad (and I can't say that I've ever experienced it in this form), but what is worse is no feedback except the bad kind. Regretfully, I have experienced this. I've had the unfortunateness of perceiving a negative pattern when it comes to criticism. People who never say anything about my work will pipe up if they see anything 'wrong' with it. Hundreds of blog posts and articles and poems go by their eyes with no response whatsoever, except that is, if they notice a typo, a wrong date, a shaky fact, a grammar mistake, or a general disgruntlement with the subject matter. Yes siree. They speak out then, and only then, to chastise, correct, complain. That's a tad snide don't you think? I certainly do! 

But on the other hand, I've had plenty of good constructive criticism to boot this experience away. I just find it curious how people have no hesitation in pointing out the negative aspects, but when it comes to positive, they remain tight-lipped.  Both in writing life and real life. I'm sure you all have experienced this too no doubt? Oh 'tis a competitive world we live in, and with critics and cynics waiting at every corner, the way is a challenging one.  But it's not enough to deter us.

As it seems writers, and all creatives, don't have much time for critics, judging by the quotes below anyway. And I most admire their defiant indifferent attitude. Here's to not caring about critics - good or bad!

~ Siobhán

***

'Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.'  ~Aristotle

'Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.' ~Frank A Clark

'The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have time to read reviews.' ~William Faulkner

Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.' ~Jean Sibelius

'Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.' -~John Osborne

'A critic is someone who never actually goes to the battle, yet who afterwards comes out  shooting the wounded.'  ~Tyne Daly

'Any fool can criticise, condemn and complain - and most fools do.' ~Dale Carnegie

'Having the critics praise you is like the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.' ~Eli Wallach

'Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.' ~Kurt Vonnegut You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one. ~John Wooden 'You can disagree without being disagreeable.'~Zig Ziglar 'I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works. An assault upon a town is a bad thing; but starving it is still worse.' ~Samuel Johnson 'Why is it that we only seem to believe the negative things people say about us, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary? ...Odd, but when it comes to life and love, why do we believe our worst reviews? The truth is, at any given moment someone somewhere could be making a face about you. But it's the reviews you give yourself that matter.' ~Carrie, Sex and the City And finally, yes, to live is to garner criticism! Infact, it could be seen as proof of pulse:

Wherefore Art Thou Readers?? SOS

Where, oh where, have all my readers gone?? 

Sometimes it feels like I'm blogging into the silent ether. I feel like no one's out there, no one's listening or reading. All's quiet on the blogging front.

Is anyone out there?? Anyone willing to share their views???  SOS - Speak Out Soon! (and please.)

Or if they are, maybe this is all just too bland to comment on. Is it? Do I need more spice? Suggestions would be helpful! 

But I get it. This is cyberland, totally random. I have a lot of traffic on this blog which  I am so grateful for, but I just can't help but wonder, how come this traffic doesn't speak, leave comments, react. 

And I get that this is not typical blog etiquette, but I just need to ask. Readers, where are you? 

(Maybe I shouldn't be writing this right now, because I'm in a bit of a mood...a malevolent, miserable, moody mood. But I can't help it. It seems on every writing front right now, I'm firing blanks, throwing stones into a still lake that won't ripple. And expressing this aching emptiness does somewhat alleviate the symptoms...) 

I give people my work to read and they don't reply. Why?

I wouldn't mind (hmpf), but I am always replying to others work and giving feedback! It seems a give-give situation. And it's very tiring. Giving and giving and no receiving.

On most days, it doesn't matter really. But some days it does. Some days it quite frankly sucks! :(

But oh, 'tis the life of a writer I suppose. We don't do it for other people. Have to be made of a tough skin and all that.

Still, some feedback would be nice...

Still, onwards and upwards and onwards I shall write regardless. (Regardless...)

moribund & miserable,

~ Siobhán

L'esprit de L'escalier & Other Speech Impediments...

 

It's fair to say that there's a lot of difference between the spoken word and the written word. A colossal difference in fact.

Speech - chatting, talking, gabbing, yapping, nattering - just doesn't measure up to writing for me. Is this every writer's perspective I wonder? For me, writing is true and exciting and exhilarating and revelatory. And speech I'm increasingly finding, is tiring, predictable,  draining and bland.

Maybe it's been my experience of late. Cul-de-sac conversations that are flat and featureless with phrases worn to rags and been-there-said-that fillers. One size fits all conversation caper, talking by ticking the usual boxes. Why can't people glitz up their conversations? Say something different. Add a bit of crackle and dare. Or better still, some truth. Some hint of identity and personality. Some original thought.

No, rather it's like most people stick to a script, a safe tried-and-tested small-talk script so that they'll never veer off into the dangerous territory of insights and personal revelation and unforeseen topics.

Language to a lot of people, is a means of concealment rather than communication. To me, it's a means of expression. What you say, what you write, tells so much about who you are. But when expression is stifled for socially befitting fill-the-silence drawl, it loses this aspect and falls into the category of perfunctory and redundant.

For example, a quintessentially Irish thing to do is talk about the weather. It suffices instead of a genuine greeting. Weather talk takes the place of 'hi, how are you?' - instead we have  'lovely day isn't it' or 'that's a nice day' or 'what a horrible day.' I don't know about you - but I'm much more interested in the emotional meaningful fronts you may be personally experiencing today, not the irrelevant meteorological ones.

Social conversations are the worst. People are so busy trying to stick to the normal verbal code of conduct, they have started to sound like clones. Individual sentiments are silenced for the louder collective phrases of the crowd, the area, the social situation. No true sentences uttered anywhere. No exclaiming of truths. No expressing of emotion. Just in the words of Yeats - 'polite meaningless words.'

Maybe that's why writing exists as a foil to the downfalls of speech. It's a space where you can fully express yourself, without any social trappings or expectations.

Like in the caption above, when I'm speaking I only say a fraction of what I really want to say. For every word I utter, there are hundreds more squabbling behind it. And mostly, what I say, it comes out wrong or warped or a weak, watered-down version of how I would write it! I can explain what I want to say so much more easily in writing than the muddily fuzzy speech bubbly compendium.

In writing, every word is measured and nuanced. In speaking, every word is rough and ready and more often than not, tame and tedious, a rehearsed conditioned run-of-the-mill refrain to suit every situation. 

And usually, when we're talking to someone, we subconsciously match our speaking style to theirs - their general vocab and colloquialisms - and let our own individual voice stay silent in response to this aspect of social conditioning. This does not happen in writing. In writing each to their own; in speaking, each must match the other. Because if there's two different modes of speech going on, effective communication just ain't going to happen. A case of - 'talk to the hand cause the face ain't listening' - because  'you just don't speak my language do you?' (And I'm not even going to start on the fact that so many conversations these days are made up of monopolising me-me-me monologues!)

I'm sure you're all familiar with  l'esprit de l'escalier - the French term which refers to that stinging sense of realization of the perfect remark you should have said at a time prior -  that classic comeback to a conversation long over. It literally translates to the 'spirit of the stairs' - the feeling of regret that strikes when you're leaving the place of conversation and realise what you should have said. This is a given with most conversations. More often than not, we never say exactly what we want to say. We hold back; we hesitate; we prefer the safety fillers of small talk, rather than the raw acoustics of real communication and so, end up empty and drained and worse yet, further compromised on our ability to forge a real connection with another. Whereas in writing, there is no l'esprit de l'escalier; the inking process is all-encompassing, there is no leaving out of anything. There is only hardcore truth and a real hand-on-heart communicating.

If only there was a way to reconcile these two mediums? To ditch the small talk and go for the big talk. The real stuff. The stuff that makes us tick. The truth of who we are. If only we all could open the books of ourselves and display the wonderful font and language we contain. Instead of settling for blether and blabber and polite meaningless chit-chat! And choose to express, not repress ourselves. To talk up and over and outside of the box and in all kinds of shapes and sizes and squiggles and scribbles and spontaneous gushing in deference of our individual, colourful selves. Burst our allotted speech bubbles and say what we want, when we want, and whatever way we want - regardless!


~Siobhán