Greetings, all.
I appreciate your patience. And bear in mind, I am not a total wiz, but I sure did learn a thing or two in my journey.
This time, let's talk about an artist's sensitivity.
Let's face facts: Artists and creators have pretty fragile egos as a rule. I'm not talking about everyone, but mainly those who honestly expect their work to be received with the enthusiasm with which it was created.
We start with the premise that this work on which you have embarked began with a blank page and ended with 90,000 words (or more) of your heart and soul. You poured countless hours into making it just the right image that you thought you wanted. And you want the world to see and appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears you've poured into it. Let's start there, because first of all I want to honor you for the effort you've put in. You actually wrote a book. And it's perfectly reasonable to expect a response from acquisition editors or the public. I mean, that's your baby, after all. And how many people actually complete a book on their own?
Now, let's introduce some reality. Fourteen rejection letters later, you're wondering about you're worth as a human being and wondering what the hell is wrong with those editors, that they don't recognize a best-seller when they see one? Or if you're an indie publisher, why haven't you been inundated with 5-star reviews?
The first thing you have to realize is that you are entering a highly competitive industry with a fickle (at best) clientele. It's a rare book that hits the market at just the right time and hits exactly the right nerve that makes it go viral. The rest of us languish in the "after-thought" bin.
It's nothing personal. Let me repeat that: IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL. It's not about you, or your beautiful baby (we'll get to that in a bit), or an insult to your talent. It just is what it is. And here it is:
If you edit your own work, you are too close to your baby to see what could make it the best it can be. All you have is spelling and grammar. Yay you. You made a boring story that totally lacks the pizazz it needs to be to become a best seller. But it's not a reflection of your talent. It's because you don't know what you don't know. No one ever taught you how to tighten it up hard, to force every word to be critical and do its job. No one taught you about lazy writing and overuse of adjectives, or how to actually communicate. No one can see your world because you assume they are seeing what you are seeing.
That is where critique partners come into play. You need someone who is not invested in the story to look at it and give honest feedback on what they are seeing. And honest feedback can hurt. I had a beta reader look at my first novel after I had completed the first draft. His feedback? "It's pretty good." That was it. No detail. I wanted to know what was good, and what could be better. "It's pretty good" says nothing to me.
I found Critique Circle through the SFWA website. The first critique I received on my first chapter came from a sixteen-year-old girl who chewed me to little tiny bits on what was wrong with my prose, my point of view, my writing style, and let's not forget those over-used adverbs. I couldn't sit down for a week after that one. I also wanted to come back at her. I felt honestly insulted.
But then I took a day or two and actually thought about what she said, and I had to admit she had some really good points. It made me change my whole outlook. Now, there were others who had feedback as well. I had to learn how to sort what I thought made my story better and what just didn't fit my vision. Plus, I ha to learn how to ignore some opinions. Prime examples would be, the one opinion that differed from the five others I got on the same passage. Sometimes the five won, but sometimes the one won. Either way, I adjusted my style so that I was sure I was actually communicating my story, showing it rather than just telling it.
I also got support from others by knowing that those rejection letters were strictly business. Acquisition editors have hundreds, if not thousands, of submissions to get through in a month, and a form rejection is all they have time for, if they have to pass on a story. And the reasons they pass are many and abundant. Maybe it's a brilliant story, but not what they are looking for for that period. Maybe they just can't connect with your main character.
My point here is that having a think skin means not taking rejection or correction personally. It actually made me a stronger person once I quit expecting approval or reinforcement.
Because, dude, I want my books to be the best out there. And if that means putting my ego aside and listening to corrective advice, I will do that to give my babies the surgery they need to be beautiful babies. You should want the same thing.
Like the Bible says, better are blows from a friend than kind words from an enemy. and "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
Put aside your own ego, and let go your pride. Develop that thick skin, and make beautiful babies.
