Haters Gonna Hate

I don't like admitting to myself that even a moderate amount of critique can be difficult to deal with. If it's well meaning, I can almost always get something out of it, but knee-jerk, hateful criticism never really gets easier to deal with.

You may find that anyone who's very quick to judge a creative work so vehemently has likely not created anything of substance themselves. It is far easier to throw shade then it is to find the positive in something we don't immediately vibe with. Regardless of how a work is received, however, it's inevitable that someone will despise it.

And truthfully, I don't much struggle with a desire to please everyone: I have been kicked while down far too many times to invest in such pointless pursuits. Still, I want my readers to enjoy my curations, and if I can't offer inspiration with my writing, what am I really doing with the medium? Self expression is important, but no one will be able to convince me that any author writes a fictional work for self expression alone.

There is a kind of truth and reality in fiction that can be communicated if the work is true to itself. The subsequent inspiration sparked from such works cannot be synthesized, nor can it be faked. I would rather a handful of readers enjoy my earnest writing than the whole world embrace a noncommittal fallacy fabricated specifically for mass acceptance.

It's been said that a work created for everyone is a work created for no one. I believe this to be true. I can't please everybody, but if I can inspire even a single reader, all this effort will have been worth it.