Writing more stories doesn't mean you're better · 10:58pm Jun 4th, 2014
It doesn't mean you're a better writer, it doesn't mean you're a more devoted fan. It certainly doesn't mean you're a better person, or that you're above criticism. And if you think that it means any of that, then that means that you're horrible.
Why am I saying this?
It's really just something that I've noticed from some of the mid-level writers here. They've likely written somewhere between ten and twenty stories and somebody who had written one (or perish the thought no stories) had dared to criticize their pristine work. And instead of acting like a mature adult, they decide that it's better to try to shame the person who dared to have something negative to say about their work.
No names are going to be plastered here, but if you're insulted by this then you likely should be. If you're not, and you know what I said in the first few sentences, then you're awesome and you should know it. I've read the blogs of plenty of people that have written tons of stories, easily dozens, and they're usually some of the more humble people in comparison.
Small rant done.
This is both correct and incorrect. It's incorrect because the use of a person's writing experience as a comeback to critisism just means the critisism was correct and you couldn't think off any way to fight it, therefore insult. However, it is a partially valid point. There's no difference in the accuracy of judgement between authors and non-authors, but the judgement will usually take a different form. Anyone can say what they don't like about it with fair accuracy, but what I tend to get from authors is why it's wrong and how I could fix it. Advice from authors - and regular editors, for that matter - is generally more helpful.
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I've actually gotten some of my best criticism, some of the things that helped me advance as a writer and storyteller, from people who haven't done anything more than read a lot.
*shrugs*
Mostly around here, I don't get much more than "there's a typo here" or "you forgot to close this tag" or "moar".
Also, if someone has one pony story on FimFiction, they might have 399 stories on fanfiction.net or in some archive of Harry Potter fics or something. They might be a professionally published author. You can't actually tell if someone is an experienced writer or not just from looking at their account here.
Not that that makes critiques by non-writers or inexperienced writers invalid anyway; just pointing out that you literally have no idea how experienced a writer is unless they tell you.