A Voice Unheard- Part I: Prose

Public Opinion

Being a writer I often wonder what is the best way to judge something I have written. The usual (and time tested way used by many people) is that of showing your work to someone else and asking for their opinions. This does seem like a nice and simple way to go about it, or does it? Experience, has conditioned (or should I say hardened and forced me) to confidently say: NO. You see, as simple as it may seem, this method of evaluation is where the real problems start: Whose opinion is the valid one? Let me give you an example from my own life. There was this one person who once "critically examined" my "work" and her assessment was thus: "You're better in your short stories than in your poetry." This assessment, I might add was given by a peer, someone of my age group who thought to be one of the few real specialists in the literary arts in my class. Well, she certainly thought so.

About month later I happened to receive a comment on one of my pieces from a relative, where she said, "This poem is a piece of high class poetry! Wonderful! I feel you are better and more expressive in your poems than your short stories." This "opinion" to my mind seemed to be somewhat of a contradiction to what the expert from my class had said. Whatever way the comments were supposed to be construed, I was still left pretty conflicted. Who was I to believe? Even for the future, how was I to decide whether something I had written was worth its salt or not? It is safe to say that this troubled me for many days after that.

The answer to my doubts presented itself in the course of a conversation with a really good friend of mine, a fellow writer if you would. She is of the practical disposition, being someone who had a lot of clarity in her thoughts and actions. She knew what she wanted, always, which is a pretty stark contrast to me because I tend to get confused sometimes on what the right thing to do, is. (But I do get by. Somehow. Miraculously. Thankfully.) Anyway, she being a veteran in all of this very calmly said to me, "The arts are a very selfish set of things. You do it for yourself. The rest all don't matter." Her words were so comforting that I couldn't help smiling. I went home that day feeling very pleased with myself for having reached a state of closure on the matter. So to all you budding writers, let me cut short this anecdote with a little advice: If it feels right, it is a good thing. If you feel good about what you've written, then that's all that matters. Other's opinions should be entirely secondary. Write what's in your heart, and not because others tell you to or because writing is what everyone is doing. Do it for yourself and that way it should become a good, if not great piece.

So bonne chance as they say in French and don't stop writing! Write for yourself, and no one else!