Why am I bringing this up? Because I talk to a lot of writers and artists, and one common topic of discussion is how often a person's creative work is met with negative comments, open derision, or even outright hostility. Unfortunately, especially among aspiring and new writers and artists, this can be devastating. At the very least the actions of a "hater" can cause someone to second guess their work or even their career choice.
Don't let this happen to you. The vast majority of people in the world are not only not creative, but don't understand the creative process. Some of these folks, not all but some, even feel that it's their duty to "offer" their version of they think of as "constructive criticism." It is much easier for these folks to pick out real or imagined flaws with your work than it is to say something encouraging. I remember that right after my first novel was published, I excitedly handed out free copies to family and friends. To my dismay, I learned that most of them never bothered to read it, and the only comment I received from the one person that claimed that they actually did read it was, "It has a lot of grammatical errors." Do folks do or say these kind of things out of some sort of bias? Jealousy? Anger? Actual hate? Do they actually believe that they're helping somehow? Who knows? But what I do know is that the subtle or not so subtle poison they so willingly offer to a creative person can have the effect of discouraging a creative soul and in extreme circumstances even sabotaging a budding or existing art or writing career. And that's a doggone shame.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about folks that offer up actual insight concerning your work, or truly constructive criticism, or sincere feedback. I'm talking about those folks that casually toss you negative remarks about your work (or writing in general); sometimes in an off-handed, I can't be bothered kind of way. I remember one person telling me that he placed my book in his bathroom since that's where he does most of his reading... was I too sensitive in feeling mildly insulted? Was that his way of telling me what he thought of my novel? I know that I would never tell someone that I keep his/her work in my bathroom. I know an extremely talented and creative person whose work was constantly disparaged by an art professor to the point where this artist was on the verge of giving up. The artist however stuck it out and is now much sought after in the art world... including by that same professor who, having forgotten his negative haranguing of this artist, now praises those same exact works of art he once ridiculed and tries to get her to attend his conferences or exhibitions. The thing is that this person's actions show that his initial disapproval was triggered by something other than simple artistic opinion. Was racism involved? sexism? Did he have a knee-jerk dislike for this person's lifestyle? Either way, he was willing to destroy this person's self-esteem and budding artistic career.
So what can be done? Well, there's not much you can do about the hater other than staying away from them or just not including them in your creative process. But there is something you can do about YOU. Creative people are notoriously thin-skinned. You have to toughen up and realize that some people will just never support you or see what you do as being a worthy enterprise. In that case, suck it up, dust yourself off, and get back to work. Not everyone is going to be a fan. Just like not everyone can write or paint or play the cello or crochet a capelet. You have something special to say via your art so get to it, that takes precedence over the negative mewlings of any naysayer.
And haters? Well, they're just gonna hate.
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