This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Cal Poly chapter.
1. “Can I read it?”
Love: We love that you are taking an interest in our work, especially if you’ve read our stuff before. It really makes us feel like we’re doing something right.*
*That’s a pun if you read it out loud.
Hate: Our work is very private. We’re not going to just hand it over willy-nilly and let you see what we have so far. We slave over each and every work, contemplate each and every word, lose sleep over proper punctuation! Unless we ask you if you’d like to hear it, we usually don’t want you to hear it.
2. “This is really good!”
Love: We really like that you enjoy it. It makes us feel accomplished!
Hate: Telling us our work is “good” does nothing for our growth. If we don’t know what we’re doing wrong, you have to tell us. Also, we want specifics, otherwise we might think you’re lying.
3. Any kind of critique.
Love: As writers, we thrive on constructive criticism. We don’t always know what we’re doing wrong, if our work makes sense to the first time reader, or if it absorbs the reader the way we want it to. It’s always awesome to hear thoughts on how we can make something, and ourselves, better.
Hate: On the outside we’ll be nodding our heads and taking notes, but on the inside we’ll be going, “WHHHHYYYYYY??? I I’m a failure! This is so embarrassing… *incoherent blubbering*” We pour our souls and all of our effort into a work so while your criticisms may be fair, we are secretly berating ourselves for not being Hemingway or Shakespeare.
4. Nothing.
Love: Sometimes, silence is a good thing because we simply blew you away! If we share a piece and see by the look on your face that you don’t even have the words to talk about our words, no words can be quite the compliment.
Hate: If we are presenting a piece that we’re not happy with, your silence confirms our thoughts: we wrote a bad piece. While this is known to happen occasionally even to the best of writers, it still stings when we watch you grapple for something nice to say about it. That’s another reason you should wait until we are ready to share it with you. We need to mentally brace ourselves for your reaction.
5. “Is this based on real life?”
Love: Glad you think the work is so realistic! Writers often draw from real life and put it into fiction, but, depending on the type of writing or unless it is otherwise stated, you should never assume a piece is autobiographical.
Hate: Whether it is or it isn’t, it is our business so we might tell you or we might not. The only time you should ask is when you are seriously worried about the writer’s welfare. There might be some really personal stuff in there and it might be awkward for some people to acknowledge it outside of their writing or it might be mix of fiction and non-fiction and they may not be in the mood to go over the differences.
6. “Have you finished that thing yet?”
Love: Again, so glad you are interested on the progress of the work. Your enthusiasm is encouraging and makes us want to work harder and finish sooner if only to appease our adoring fan!
Hate: Writing is a long process. We don’t just sit down at our writing desks with our aged parchment and ink-dipped quills, ready to jot down a quick short story or well-crafted poem in an hour. It takes time, thought, and a lot of re-writes before we get to where we want to be. It’ll be done when it’s done, thank you.
7. “This kind of reminds me of Twilight/Hunger Games/any pop literature.”
Love: For some, it feels good to hear that we are writing something that you would be willing to read more of in the future. Sometimes the hardest part is capturing the reader’s interest.
Hate: As writers, we like to think that we are original and don’t want to be compared to something twelve-year-olds fawn over. So, while being compared to J.K. Rowling can be a compliment, being compared to Stephanie Meyer is not, and having a female archer should, hopefully, not remind you of Katniss. So, unless you are trying to warn me that it’s verging on plagiarism… Please. Stop. Trust us. That is not what we were going for.
8. I don’t get it.
Love: Aha! Something we can fix! Writers often become so familiar with their own material that they don’t realize what does and doesn’t make sense to a new pair of eyes so when you tell us you’re not getting it, it’s not because you’re stupid, it’s because we need to figure out how to introduce or explain things better. This is one of our favorite mistakes because of the challenge and learning experience.
Hate: Yet another failure on our part. Back to the word processor…
So, remember folks, writers are sensitive creatures. Their works are like their children and if you ever want to tell them something, always prepare them first. Some may be thick skinned and appreciate the critique, others may be more sensitive and need gentler treatment. Sometimes one writer can go back and forth in between these two ends of the spectrum so remember: A writer is an artist, their work is personal, and they might not always like what you have to say, but they will always grow from any input you offer, even if it is a simple “good job.”