In my previous post I noted that you can only write like yourself (Read that one before this one). You have to follow your own muse, not anybody else’s. Ultimately, no one else’s opinion matters.

And yet, it does. Criticism from knowledgeable, trusted people is essential to growth in any craft. The trick is knowing what to do about it. And the trick is this: your critic is the Patient. You’re the Doctor. Your critic says, “Doctor, it hurts right here.” Or, “Doctor, your treatment is working mostly, but the side effects are awful. I keep falling asleep.”

In short, if a trusted critic tells you that you have a problem, you have a problem. Constant Readers can tell when something isn’t working, and you should listen to them. But you’re the Doctor. You know the story you’re trying to tell, and you need to figure out for yourself what the right fix is. This is harder than it looks, because your critics will usually express their criticism as a suggested fix without actually pinpointing the real issue. In effect, they are saying “Doc, it hurts when I do this.” It’s up to you to diagnose the underlying problem, and to determine the appropriate prescription. And in the end, this will usually be something other than what the patient suggested.

I’m not advising that you ignore the suggestions you receive. Sometimes they will be spot on—and if you find a critic who can reliably tell you what’s wrong and how to fix it, glom onto them with both hands and a rope.

“So where did you learn all this,” I hear you asking. “You’re not a published author…how much experience with this can you possibly have?” That’s all true. But on the other hand, I’m a software engineer, a mathematical modeler, and a skilled technical writer with twenty-five years of experience. I’m not sure I’ve put Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” into technical writing…but I’m not sure I haven’t. And all that time, I’ve relied on getting the best criticism that I can get. Fiction writing isn’t the same craft…but it’s a craft, just the same.