CRITICISM IS GOOD FOR YOU
CRITIQUE & REVIEWSHey writer, do you know that criticism can be good for you? It’s actually true, and today I’m here to tell you why. “The trouble with most of us is that we’d rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.” – Norman Vincent Peale – In this…
THE WIDER CURRENCY OF CRITICISM
CRITIQUE & REVIEWS Hey writer, do you know that successful people tend to look at the wider currency of criticism? Instead of taking each review – whether positive or negative – too much to heart, they see it for what it is: Useful feedback to extract data from. And no, that…
CRITIQUE MAKES YOU STRONGER
CRITIQUE & REVIEWS Hey writer, do you believe that critique makes you stronger? Most of us could share quite a few stories about the criticism we’ve received in our days and the mark it left on our psyche. We all know it can leave us feeling weak, misunderstood, and vulnerable,…
DO YOU KNOW WHY IT HURTS?
CRITIQUE & REVIEWS Do you know why it hurts? Criticism stings, and it can sting even more for writers as it relates to something we made. Something that may be deeply personal, or that we feel very protective of. But then again, as Aristotle taught us: “Criticism is something you…
NOT ALL FEEDBACK IS VALID
CRITIQUE & REVIEWS Not all feedback is valid. I can’t stress this enough, so I’ll say it again: Not all feedback is valid! As I’ve mentioned before, people can’t help themselves. They just love to dish out criticism for all sorts of reasons, whether they know what they’re talking about…
WE ALL GET BAD REVIEWS
CRITIQUE & REVIEWS No love, you’re not alone - we all get bad reviews. Every single storyteller, every single creator, gets bad reviews. Granted, some get more than others, but generally speaking, we all get our confidences knocked down a peg or two every now and then. But it doesn’t…
JUST DON’T BE A DICK
CRITIQUE & REVIEWS Once upon a time I used to love reading the reviews in The Sunday Times. It was my most precious indulgence as a poor single mum living in the north of Sweden. I’d pick up the thick envelope from my newsagents on Wednesdays and put it aside…
THE WOLF SONG, ASTRID LINDGREN
LET’S LISTEN to Vargsången (the wolf song) by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren and composer Björn Isfält. This is the second of this year’s Advent Calendar treats. You can find the lyrics in English, and the reason why I decided to make this song the second stop on the guided tour…
ODYSSEUS, BJÖRN AFZELIUS
LET’S LISTEN to Odysseus by Swedish singer, songwriter, guitarist and author Björn Afzelius. This is the first of this year’s Advent Calendar treats. You can find the lyrics in English, and the reason why I decided to make this song the first stop on the guided tour of my backwaters,…
ANIMAL CHARACTERS A – Z
ANIMAL CHARACTERS A – Z is like a Who’s Who of animals I’ve come across in storytelling. I list the main/central animal characters from books, tv-series, films and games. Because there are so many of them, I won’t be able to list every single animal I’ve spotted in the stories. …
CRITICISM
When To Pay Attention?HEY WRITER, do you know when you need to pay attention to negative feedback? And, by extension, when you should just ignore it? “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and…
CRITIQUE & REVIEWS
DOs and DON’Ts for CriticsHEY WRITER, have ever you been a critique partner? Maybe a member of a writing group? Or, my personal nightmare, had friends and/or family ask you to give them feedback on something they wrote? After all the posts about being on the receiving end of criticism, today, I want to…
WHAT DOES FANTASY MEAN TO YOU?
FANTASY IS PROBABLY my favourite genre in storytelling. It gets a bad rep among literary snobs, but fantasy is so versatile it can, literally, be anything. If you think about it, quite a few of the stories that are held up as beacons of Good Literature (or words of a…
DATING THE STORIES
IF YOU WERE wondering how I go about dissecting the stories that interest me, I thought I’d make a post about my workflow. This is a system I have “perfected” over many years analysing different types of texts and finding interesting ways of presenting the information. As I only have…
MY PANDEMIC PANIC ROOM
HELLO AND WELCOME to my pandemic panic room! This is a fictional writer’s room. A happy place I’ve created to make the solitary confinement of COVID-19 shielding bearable. As of today, my front door is locked. Like millions of other weak and vulnerable people across the globe, I will be…
