This is a short little copy/post from a post I made on MPD's Tales of the Blog thread, about how I see criticism being taken by creators as breaking down into categories.
criticism hits a story (any story not just for the comics), on three fronts IMO of course:
Kill your darlings: is a phrase I ran into about the parts of your work you may love, but an editor would want removed for a better story.This can also apply to having high drama/bad things happen to your characters in a story as well, but I'm not using it in that context here. You have the art/dialogue/scenes whatever you really enjoy, and think you got right but majority opinion will tell you: no it needs to be reworked. Or the tried and true you know where the story is headed, but no one else does so they can't really follow you pit fall. The general response to this is "damn I thought I had it", then back to the keyboard/ drawing board/ note book/ cave wall/ or what have you because you know it should be better.
She's fading fast: Then you have the scenes/structure/ character etc; you know isn't quite right, but you don't know quite how to fix it. So you know you need input/feedback a fresh pair of eyes to look at things in a new way and help you find a better way to accomplish what your trying to accomplish.
The darlings you can't kill: Refers to the parts of the story no one (and I mean no one) else but you might like, but they stay in there for the creators own enjoyment. Who hasn't seen a book/ movie/ comic/ with some scene, or line and wondered what the hell was that about? It doesn't just happen with newbies, it goes on with seasoned vets in whatever form of entertainment your enjoying. It's there for the creators -a kind of hedge- so that even if no one else likes it, the creators will.
A story should mainly be made up of the top two so if it doesn't work you just need more work and thought put into it, but if one or two darlings you can't kill get in there -it just proves your human.
[With a thank you to everyone who has read my latest script and helped me polish up, or polish off as need be, the story.]
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