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I hate being ridiculed as much as the next person, but I also can be quite competitive. So most times when I hear people say, "Oh, you want to be a writer? That's nice, but what are you really going to do for a living?", I get the urge to do everything I can to prove their assumptions wrong. All writers need encouragement, just like all people do, but I think every once in a while, the occasional bit of negativity is essential to rekindle the fire within and make us want to show the world that we can indeed be writers and be successful.
I have been very lucky that I receive a lot of support from many people. My mum, my sister,and my friends just to name a few really believe I can and want me to be a successful writer. But while I love all this support, after you hear it for a long time, the positive feedback turns into background noise. You hear it so often, it losses its meaning. That's why I think it is not necessarily bad when someone tells you that your writing sucks or that wanting to be an author is a terrible idea and you'll end up hunger on the streets. That negativity makes us value the support that much more; in a way it renews its worth.
So while no one wants to hear that they are terrible at something or that their ideas will never pan out like they want them to, it is essential that we hear that feedback so that we can prove them wrong. By proving them wrong, we also banish any last doubts about ourselves from our minds – at least for a while longer.
What do you guys think? Is negativity essential? Or can we function just as well with purely positive feedback?
