Music for the Day

It may be a simple one, but it’s one that I personally found to be invaluable. After all, as I said in a previous journal, I am not a perfect guy. I have a lot of flaws in my personality and my thoughts, though I do my best to work them out. Because of that, I can be blind to the writing flaws, whether it’s grammar (as if that ever happens to me ahem), story structure, and even the plot itself, until it’s pointed out to me.

In fact, when you let yourself be immune to criticism, you’ll often find yourself growing worse and worse since no one is helping you spot your flaws. After all, writers who get immunity from editors find themselves falling flat with their next project for that reason. Usually. And while it’s well known that editors, publishers, producers, etc., would destroy a piece of work a writer did, it’s just as often, if not more often, that a writer would produce terrible stuff without their help. So, in short, it should be a team effort rather than one is more important than the other. After all, the golden age of science fiction was the way it was because of editors helping to build up writers and their works to be the best they can be and writers learning from the experience.

An excellent thing that fellow writers should do is discuss stories, plans, ideas, and whatnot when appropriate. Through bouncing ideas with each other, the flaws in a story can be ground away in time. And though you may not always be happy with the results, or you find the group or person you’re discussing your story with not understanding it, it’s always best to understand and listen instead of dismissing it offhand.