Rants and Thoughts

Ignore the Haters??

So whenever I see someone say something like "ignore the haters, just write whatever you want".

I see "don't listen to anyone that criticizes your work, they're haters, and you should just write whatever you want".

I know there are two ways to look at this...

One way:

You don't have to take every suggestion someone gives you. You also don't have to listen to people that are rude and condescending and just find every way to hate on your work without actually suggesting something or telling you what's wrong.

I agree with this. Not everyone is going to like everything you do with your book and that's fine. You don't have to take every suggestion. They are just suggestions.

Another way:

Any criticism you get, you should ignore it. Those people are just haters. Just write what you want to write, how you want to write it.

See, this is what I have a problem with. Criticism is good. Listen to it. Even if you don't take their suggestion, thank them. They are taking their time to read your book and they are trying to help you.

Just because someone says your character is one dimensional or not believable doesn't mean they are a hater. No one is a perfect writer and anyone that thinks they are, has sucky writing. Because then they are not allowing themself to grow.

If someone tells you that you lack diversity, don't ignore their advice. You don't have to sprinkle some poc characters in your current book. But what you should do is consider this advice when you're writing future stories. Especially if you're character lives in somewhere like New York and every character is white for some strange reason. Even if they live in some small town, the entire population usually isn't white. If you make the entire population white for some reason, then ask yourself why you're trying to avoid writing poc.

When someone talks about stuff like diversity and cliches, I always see someone say "I can write what I want". Yes you can but that doesn't mean people can't criticize you.

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Kinda went off topic there)

Anyways, the problem I see with people saying, "ignore the haters" is that people take it as "ignore anyone that says your story isn't something that fell from heaven". So yeah don't be that person.