Taking Criticism: Are You A Dinosaur?
Posted on 14 March 2008 by Sharon
A writing project got bumped back to me today (not one I’d written, but it doesn’t matter), and it got me to thinking about how writers deal with criticism. The following lines are taken from How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, and they sum up how many of us feel when our work is criticised.
Does a dinosaur slam his tail and pout?
Does he throw his teddy bear all about? …
Does he mope, does he moan, does he sulk, does he sigh?
Does he fall on top of his covers and cry?
No-one likes to be criticised, but when you’re a writer, criticism is part of life. Whether you are working for an editor or a client, there will come a time when someone won’t like what you’ve written. If clients are paying for your writing, then they will feel free to tell you so.
Sometimes clients are not clear about what they want, and even if you ask questions, you can’t deliver. It’s a hidden brief, which you have no hope of unmasking until you fail to deliver. Sometimes the brief is clear and you may still get it wrong.
Well, guess what? This stuff happens to writers. Even the best and most competent of us sometimes miss a client’s wishes by a mile. It may not always be our fault, but we have still have to suck it up and move on.
There’s no point in behaving like the dinosaur in this children’s story. If you do, you will lose your client. Whining will only reduce your credibility. The thing to do is to say: ‘Sorry, I misunderstood you’ and find out what you need to do to fix it. Make the changes quickly and behave gracefully and you will still end up with a happy client.
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Tags | criticism, freelance writing, writing
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March 14th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
People should learn from criticism, it makes us better for the next job. However, while we all say that we like to receive criticism, inside, we don’t like it at all and we like to argue with the criticism leveled at us. Surely the client is always wrong if they criticize?
March 14th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
It may seem that way, Stephen. Even though the client may actually be wrong (for example, in not adequately spelling out requirements), pointing this out doesn’t help the service provider. I’m not saying that you should never point it out, but there’s no point for minor changes. If clients change their mind about requirements and you have the evidence to back it up, then you have to weigh up the pros and cons of renegotiating the contract or just taking the criticism.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
It’s as simple as this: You’re doing a job. It isn’t about YOU, personally. No one is criticizing YOU. They just didn’t like the work. That’s it, that’s all, so you accept their feedback gracefully and try again.
Simple
March 14th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Spot on, James
March 14th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
My first bump back hurt badly. It was mostly the client’s fault but that didn’t matter, really. I just couldn’t cope with fixing it and in the end it cost me the client. I was so taken aback that I malfunctioned as a writer and couldn’t pull myself out of it. I lost sleep over some simple rewrites when it should’ve been easy for me to just make the changes and move on.
The client never gave me work to do again and it hurt a little because it was a regular gig (but with a new editor). It was my first real lesson in taking criticism and it taught me a lot. I still don’t like to be criticized much (who does, though?) but I have learned a little bit about how to handle it and not take it as such a personal thing.
All that said, I don’t want a client to come back five times for tweaks and rewrites unless they’re prepared to pay for my time. If I’ve not met the brief, it’s up to me to fix it but if they’re just picky and high maintenance either the price has to reflect the rework OR I won’t take on more work in the future from them.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Yes, Dana. There’s definitely a big difference between tweaking and a major overhaul. In most cases, if the brief is close to right and the writer is competent, then it shouldn’t be too much extra work. If it’s effectively a whole new project, then some renegotiation may be in order.
March 15th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Great topic. I think that most of us work-at-home writers get really used to being our own bosses and so it especially stings when a client sends something back with criticism. We’re just not used to that daily feedback that you’d get from a boss in an office.
For me, dealing with it depends on the situation. As you said, if the client is paying then you should generally just be polite and make the changes. If their demands are truly unreasonable, work out a compromise to resolve the problem. Vent about it in a journal but not to the client; we have to maintain our professionalism.
I usually don’t have a problem with this if I’m writing something that’s being published on a website without my byline. However, I’m a lot more careful about editing if my name is on the work. I take the time to really think through the criticism and make sure that I’m comfortable with making the changes that are asked of me. At that point, it’s not just the client’s needs that must be met but also the need to maintain my own integrity as a writer. If I think the client is wrong in this case, I’ll probably say so (albeit politely). What do you think?
March 15th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I try to learn from it, too. Sometimes, though, I encounter a client that is simply hard to please so I had to learn not to take everything too seriously. There is a limit to how much I can “learn” especially if the root problem is that the client is difficult.
March 15th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Great story with the dinosaur. I deal with it as James says. It’s not about me. Although I don’t make it personal, it’s sometimes still annoying, which is a whole other thing. But it’s all a part of the job. I’ve often thought about adding “Psychic” to my resume.
March 15th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
@ Kathryn: You’re right. Although I am quite hard on myself, it’s not quite the same as when I had a boss. There was always a chance that he would take a dislike to something, and that was just part of life.
I agree with you about having a polite conversation with the client. Sometimes that works. After all, if the client is paying for your expertise, it makes sense to give an opinion when it matters.
@ Katherine: We all meet difficult clients, in which case we just have to grit our teeth and make a mental note to be more discerning in future.
@ Amy: In spite of my advice, I sometimes get miffed too, but I try not to let the client know that.
March 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Sharon, I try not to let my clients know it either. Although if they read my blog, a few might be able to pick themselves out of my rants as of late.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Water off a duck’s back. Gotta have a thick skin for this business.
Its not nearly as bad as the print days. Print is a whole different animal. You want to talk rejection, try getting a novel picked up!
Great post, as always Sharon.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I’m afraid I have to admit to a personality flaw: I’m very thin-skinned. Oh, on the outside I handle criticism well enough: I apologize if I missed the boat and fix the problem regardless of who was at fault. But inside I’m feeling just like that angry, hurt little dinosaur.
The good news is, I handle criticism much better than I did when I first started out as a writer. If I do this another ten years or so, I might actually get to the point where it doesn’t bother me so much.