Critique Your Own Work

Even the best authors on this website can and have written bad poetry. I wouldn't consider I am one of the best writers on this website but I do consider that I am at least good at what I particularly write, in the vein in which I write in. I used to just write bad poetry, and nothing but. People would tell me it's good either to make me feel good, to inspire me to keep writing, or just to be nice. None of those things helped me in any way of improving my work. So, if they weren't going to help me improve my work then I would help me improve my work.

I just judged a contest that had over 250 entries. I'd say about 50% (which is less than usual) were me pointing out errors, and apparent ones. Some people rated my comment 1 or 2 stars and either stated it was "fine the way it is", or they deleted my comment.

Now, if you're posting a poem, you wrote, on the internet, especially on a website where people can comment on your poetry or work in general, you should expect some criticism. I also noticed a lot of the poems that I commented on were in previous contests that garnered them a Gold Trophy, Silver Trophy, Bronze Trophy, or an Honorable Mention Trophy. This doesn't automatically mean that what you wrote was without error, or even good. When you enter your poem into a Contest from a Judge who either has the same mindset of what you write; the same mentality of knowing how to read and write poetry themselves then of course they may think, assume, or know that your poem is without error because they can't see the errors 'cause they are not intellectually sound in the composition that is displayed before them. This doesn't mean they are not competent, it just means that what they're reading is good to them because it's how they write themselves or their understanding of what they know of reading and writing poetry.

Even the best authors on this website can and have written bad poetry. I wouldn't consider I am one of the best writers on this website but I do consider that I am at least good at what I particularly write, in the vein in which I write in. I used to just write bad poetry, and nothing but. People would tell me it's good either to make me feel good, to inspire me to keep writing, or just to be nice. None of those things helped me in any way of improving my work. So, if they weren't going to help me improve my work then I would help me improve my work.

I, personally, am not good at sentence structure, and punctuation. The only thing that I know that I am good at is spelling correctly. I am sure in this article that I am writing right now has punctuation errors and sentence structure that is incorrect. But since most others will not help me improve then I have to seek within to improve myself as best as I can and then hopefully others will help me along the way, and I will correct anything that is incorrect accordingly, and without judgment of that person.

When you write a poem, or any other type of literary work, and post it on a website to share with others you should expect criticism. Whether it is free of error or not not everyone is going to like what you write. You don't like everything that you read so why should you expect that everyone will like everything they read? But then you may ask, "Why would they comment on something they don't like?" Perhaps they didn't like it for various reasons, and they are pointing out what they didn't like, and that's what you can do to improve your work to their liking. This is something that you'd have to choose to do by your own conscious. Some people do not like what I write, and they suggest to me how to rewrite it in the vein that they'd like, and I usually ignore those people. However, if they are pointing our grammatical errors then this is different than them trying to change what I wrote to suit their needs. It's not the same thing. Fixing the errors, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, is not lessening your work but enhancing it to speak what you initially wanted to state when first writing it.

Most people are fearful of others reactions. This is in concern of those who post their work on the internet for people to read other than close friends and family; who will praise your work because they do not wish to hurt your feelings, and they wish you to proceed in something that seems to make you feel good, or at least keeps you out of doing things that you probably shouldn't be. Those people do not count in such regard unless they actually, when seeing errors, point them out. If they don't, then, they are just a crutch. They are there as your support. Everyone else is not. So, if you do not wish to be criticized, then, all you have to do is learn how to critique your own work.

As stated above: I am not good at punctuation and sentence structure. So, I try to use those to things that I'm not good at to my advantage when writing. I try to use as little punctuation as possible, and I try to use the sentence structure to my advantage by creating my own structure. And, for the most part, it works for me. If you're not good at spelling, it's okay. Some spell checks do not have every word, and sometimes it does have a word but they don't have various spellings of that word. Example: Baptize is correct but so is Baptise. Baptize is the most common spelling of the word but Baptise is also correct but the least common spelling, and so most dictionaries and spell checks will not have it listed as being a correct spelling. But to know for sure, consult various dictionaries. Yes, this is a lot of work but if you're wanting not to be criticized based on your spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure then you're going to have to teach yourself how to either use them to your advantage or to use them in a way that seems poetic and people, for the most part, will ignore based on such license.

For some it takes little to not time at all. For others it may take years, and for most people it'll never happen. Just because you think you are good at something or believe you could be good at something doesn't mean you are good at it or will be good at it. It took me years of writing poetry to get to the point where I actually started liking my own work. Yes, I do not like most of my work. And, that's okay not to like your work. It's probably best that you don't because then you can judge it from that standpoint, and edit it accordingly. If you have written something you don't like, and you think it can't be improved then take the lines you like from it, and discard the rest and start over.

Now, there's a saying that is: Quantity doesn't make Quality.

This is true for almost everyone who writes in Quantity. However, for a select few it doesn't apply. I feel I'd be one of the select few. I have written well over 15,000 poems since I first started writing poetry in 1992. I started writing in Quantity in 1997, and between 1997 and 2005 I wrote close to 10,000 poems. The two years that I wrote the most in were in 2001 and 2002. In 2001 I wrote over 1,000 poems, and in 2002 I wrote close to 2,000 poems. Most of all those poems were all bad poetry. There may be a few that aren't but they are few and far between. However, writing for me in Quantity taught me how to write in rhyme, free verse, and form. I found out what form I'm good at, and what form I'm not. I found out that rhyming is mainly forced rhymes, and weak rhymes, rather than not. I found out that I'm best at free-verse or a mix of free-verse and rhyme. Also, writing in Quantity I learned to spell better, to write metaphorically, using similes, and how to make something placid more visual. This is what Quantity did for me. But I recognize, and I personally know that most of all those poems that I wrote in Quantity during that time period are not good poems. And, when a person writes in Quantity this is something they need to realize. Quantity doesn't create good poetry but it does create, at times, a better writer. However, writing in Quantity isn't for everyone 'cause it takes a lot of criticism not only from yourself but many other people, especially if you display that work for them to comment on.

If you're an emotional person, and we all are, especially as writers. Artists of any kind are probably the most emotional people on the planet because they don't want to hear someone say something bad about their work or what they find to be bad about their work, even if very minuscule. But if you're an emotional person you should realize that when a person critiques your work they are not trying to hurt your feelings. So, if you're going to display your work for people to read, then you're going to have to learn to keep your emotions, in such regard, to yourself, and either take the criticism or give it to yourself. If you don't want others to criticize your work then criticize it yourself. I sometimes, after posting a poem or even a comment, I reread what I wrote to make sure what i know is correct is correct and if I see something that I know is incorrect I edit the poem or comment. This is something I think we all should do. I do it almost every single day, and people do take notice to it.

You're not the best writer in the world. And, just because a poem or two that you wrote garnered a Gold Trophy on this website doesn't mean it would garner one in a Contest outside this website. Realize that anyone on this website can judge a Contest. From teenagers to really old people. Both of which could write bad poetry, and judge based on their own intellect of such poetry, and then there are those who are highly intelligent concerning poetry, and judge accordingly to their own work and ideals of what great poetry is or should be. This shouldn't be a discouragement, it should be a goal.

-Nam