My sister used to help me so much when it came to my writing skills. I'd ship off some whack, disorganized mess of a short story to her all the damn time. She'd always build me up with all the good stuff like what works as a plot, memorable dialogue, or even just a solid flowing description. So much good was amplified and I felt like I was shining so bright, just in that moment.
She'd then wait like two days later and come crashing down on me with the scorn of the grammar pantheon of the english language. Every nitpick, missed comma, bad quotation, poorly constructed sentence and so much more was shoved in my face. She told me my shit was good but it could be great. Go fix it. You bet I jumped right on that with the follow up drafts. I kept thinking about how good can become better all the time because she put so much emphasis it. The negativity didn't mean anything because I could see potential, I just had to be told it's there.
Some people wield validation and criticism like surgery tools and they know just what to do at any given time. On the other hand, some people got that hammer and bonesaw approach (sometimes incidentally like me lol) and it's not very effective and eventually just not fun to live like like that for anyone.
There's probably a real reason why I almost stopped writing for the longest time. I'd guess it's just not very inspiring when someone says, "I liked it." with no follow up. I don't need editing help, I need to know if it's "good and can be great"!
My sister used to help me so much when it came to my writing skills. I'd ship off some whack, disorganized mess of a short story to her all the damn time. She'd always build me up with all the good stuff like what works as a plot, memorable dialogue, or even just a solid flowing description. So much good was amplified and I felt like I was shining so bright, just in that moment.
She'd then wait like two days later and come crashing down on me with the scorn of the grammar pantheon of the english language. Every nitpick, missed comma, bad quotation, poorly constructed sentence and so much more was shoved in my face. She told me my shit was good but it could be great. Go fix it. You bet I jumped right on that with the follow up drafts. I kept thinking about how good can become better all the time because she put so much emphasis it. The negativity didn't mean anything because I could see potential, I just had to be told it's there.
Some people wield validation and criticism like surgery tools and they know just what to do at any given time. On the other hand, some people got that hammer and bonesaw approach (sometimes incidentally like me lol) and it's not very effective and eventually just not fun to live like like that for anyone.
There's probably a real reason why I almost stopped writing for the longest time. I'd guess it's just not very inspiring when someone says, "I liked it." with no follow up. I don't need editing help, I need to know if it's "good and can be great"!