Does anyone else feel that people who don't get great reviews just seem to quit? Like they expect to find a pound of gold the first time they look. Does anyone else feel this, or have you felt like quiting after a bad review?

Bad reviews, to me, are as good, and even sometimes better, than good reviews. Many times you don't even know if people have read your work or the comments about your work. Some tend to agree with the train of other people's thoughts just for credits. At least with most bad reviews you know if someone actually read your work. Opinions are opinions, however, and we can take nothing to heart, especially if your a writer who is writing from the heart. If your writing only to get approval from others, then I would suspect you would feel bad when someone hits you with a bad review. We must take the good with the bad. If someone points out errors or a bad train of thought in your writings, don't immediately get on the defensive and justify why you have that there. A lot of times writers will defend their works to the death, even if they are wrong. I mean, look how much time and mental energy was consumed in writing, what they believe to be, a work of art.

One of the first stories I put on here was slated.I listened to the critics and it's now one of the best stories I've written.I think sometimes we gotta be careful how we give our critiscm.
I read one comment on a poem that told the author that maybe she should think about doing something else because she is not a poet.
It was a pretty good poem.

Good point flossy, yet, we should not be overcome by the one bad review. To that person who wrote that comment the poem was probably really bad, to them. But to others the poem could be great. Individuals are just that, people with their own identities entitiled to their own opinions.

Pilgrim wrote:

QUOTE:
Bad reviews, to me, are as good, and even sometimes better, than good reviews. Many times you don't even know if people have read your work or the comments about your work. Some tend to agree with the train of other people's thoughts just for credits. At least with most bad reviews you know if someone actually read your work. Opinions are opinions, however, and we can take nothing to heart, especially if your a writer who is writing from the heart. If your writing only to get approval from others, then I would suspect you would feel bad when someone hits you with a bad review. We must take the good with the bad. If someone points out errors or a bad train of thought in your writings, don't immediately get on the defensive and justify why you have that there. A lot of times writers will defend their works to the death, even if they are wrong. I mean, look how much time and mental energy was consumed in writing, what they believe to be, a work of art.

yeah, i agree. 'bad reviews' are good ones for me. that way i get tips on how to improve my writing. and somebody else has spotted a mistake that i had missed.

I think you gotta have a bit of arrogance to post here.Just try your best and release it.As long as you know that it's your best then sod the critics.
And if someone tells you youre not good enough ,tell em to sod off.
Dont give up.

There, Flossy. You hit the nail on the head. Even if ten thousand people tell you that your work was the worst they have read, it doesn't matter. You are the one that wrote it, you can always be the one to appreciate it, even if nobody else does.