What should I do if someone says they don't "get" my work?
I recently joined a critique group. It's small, 6 people in total. I'm the youngest (19), but, based on what they've told me, I've been writing the longest and most seriously out of all but one of them. The only guy who really seems serious about it is at least 50 and writes stories about horrific childhood trauma in concise, minimalist prose.
One guy's working on a mystery thriller he hasn't finished the first draft of, another writes a bunch flash fiction pieces about being young and angsty, one of the 2 girls writes typical YA stories very sporadically, and the other is an English teacher working on a futuristic/fantasy novel with her husband.
The old dude and the English teacher are the only ones who seem to have an above-average knowledge of writing.
They read and critiqued one of my stories, and the YA girl and mystery novel guy didn't "get" my story. But none of the others said said anything about it, maybe they didn't think to.
I gave that story to my English professor, and he read it once and knew exactly what I was trying to say. He took it home and gave his thoughts in-depth. When he gave it back to me, he said he showed it to another professor who wanted to meet me. When I did, she encouraged me to send it to her friend who works at a well-respected literary journal in the Midwest.
I wanted some more thoughts on it, so i went to the writing groups. But their advice seems really off-base.
I don't want to be narcissistic and think they just weren't capable of grasping for some reason, but a lot of the advice i got seem to undermine the purpose of my story, which they still don't understand.
How do you decide what criticism to listen to?
>>9395112
You listen to all the criticism, anon. Then you do what you want.
>>9395121
how do i know what to want though?
How do i tell who's talking out their ass, and who's talking from experience?
>>9395112
bummmmmmp
>>9395139
their work and an honest examination of your work after hearing their words.
>>9395405
that might just be the most generic, useless advice I've ever heard
I get the best critiques off of this board.
Honesty really is the key to a critique. If so many aren't "getting it" then you should change it.
>>9395569
What?
Read their work. Do you respect it? If so, then respect their opinion. Don't listen to shit writers.