Die By the Pen: Criticism, Friendship and Workshopping
In Die By the Pen, Jared Gniewek discusses what feeds his fires as an author of comics, screenplays and radio dramas.
Hopefully, we all have people in our lives to whom we can say anything. Our parents have forgiven the most only in that we were of an age to speak impulsively the most at that time. In any case, whether its your best drinking buddy, your priest, girlfriend, mentor, or psychiatrist; you need to be able to express yourself without being judged sometimes. The time to NOT speak freely, however, would be when critiquing the work of a friend or colleague. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be honest…far from it. What I’m getting to is that you shouldn’t speak FREELY. You must speak carefully and with even temper.
The internet can be a cold place. I sometimes imagine filmmakers and television actors crying in front of their monitors, wiping their eyes with piles of cash. People are very quick to attack the work that folks—both decent and not—put forth. People are even quicker to be dismissive of all the hard work that goes into a creative endeavor. In their minds, I imagine they must feel that by keeping to such particular standards they are doing their part to stem the tide of poor quality work.
What quite a few people should remember, though (and this is what makes me truly sad) is that most times people enter into a creative endeavor with the best of intentions. What I mean to say is that most times people are trying to create something for which there is a purpose. I was talking to Rick Parker a few months ago and he said something to me which I thought to be a great thing to remember: “All ideas are good.”
