User blog comment:Memai/Why I cannot take your OC seriously./@comment-34814-20120213052400

PRG, you should try to learn to not get so emotional. But everyone else should either learn or remember that learning to take critique is one of the hardest things to learn to do as an author.

Here's a story about me. I don't write fanfiction. I play a competitive writing game called "efedding". And efedding, much like fanfiction, has all levels of writing, from one paragraph stuff that might as well be a facebook status update to stuff good enough that the author really ought to be trying to get paid because s/he's good enough to go pro.

In about 2001 I got dumped from a tiny little "efed" into a huge one full of people who'd been doing it for years. I got ripped an absolute new one. People criticized me for things that I thought were the proper way to do them, they criticized me for things I'd never even realized were things, they criticized me for using writing crutches, for using flat characters, for covering up bad writing with purple prose and schlock.

And I didn't take it well at all. I ragequit that particular efedding community and stifled my growth as a writer for YEARS because I didn't even read anything by any of them until it was too late and they'd either gone pro or quit because they were old enough to have families and careers and stuff.

If you're just writing for fun, that's one thing. But if you have any interest in improving, the best thing to do in regards to being criticized is bend over, take it, and when they're done, say THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER.

All the things that Memai and Zak are saying are things I've thought about the fanfiction here, but I've refrained because despite what some people think about me, I'd rather _not_ ruin everyone's good time, and offering unsolicited advice to people who in some cases are more than 10 years younger than me (yes, I'm old as fuck) just isn't something I've cared to do.

So in conclusion.

1) PRG is not the only person who doesn't deal well with negative feedback. Learning to take it can be tough.

2) If anyone is interested, I'll throw my name in the hat of people willing to give honest critiques.

3) No I'm not putting my money where my mouth is and posting any of my writing here. If you're really, really, really curious, you can get Dan's AIM name from Jenny, get my AIM name from Dan, and ask me for a link to something I wrote.  Seriously though it's a privacy thing, I have a couple harassers here on wikia and I don't need them following me elsewhere.