I received the following email from girl called Amy today:

A long while ago we wrote short stories in my english class. I wrote this really cool story that I really liked and enjoyed writing. Then when I got it back, the grade was okay, but I decided to do a rewrite on it. I talked to my teacher about my story before I set out to rewrite it. She told me she liked it, but wanted me to change my entire story! Well, except for the characters and the vampires and stuff. But anyway, I was kind of upset when I found out that in order to get a higher grade, I would have to change just about everything!!! I almost didn't even do one because I was offended by what she wanted me to do, but I decided to do a rewrite, and see how it would turn out. Well, I have done my rewrite now, and my story has improved a hundred and ten percent. I changed the whole thing, while keeping the basic outline of it and the characters. Do you ever feel offended or upset when editors tell you that you need to change things in your stories? How do you manage to revise without losing the things that you like most in the story?

This is a question every writer will face -- how do you react when somebody tells you your story isn't working? It's never a nice thing to have to deal with -- I think every writer wants everything they write to be brilliant, to be met with gasps of awe and lauded to the heavens. I doubt if any of us sit there, when we've sent our work off to an editor or agent, thinking, "I hope s/he really hates it and tells me I have to re-write it entirely!!!!"

When you're starting out, it's very important that you take on board the views of people who read your work, whether that's a friend, parent, teacher, whoever. If you choose to show your work to somebody, you need to listen to what they say. If there's something they don't like, look at the story again and see if you can see what they see. Don't make the easy mistake of dismissing their comments automatically, of thinking they just don't see the brilliance of what you've created. In most cases their criticisms will probably be justified.

I've always been of the opinion that, if you can see lots of flaws in your work yourself, it's probably not a good idea to share that work with other people. I wrote a long blog about this just a while ago, about each of us having to choose to show our work when we feel ready to show it. If you know your work is flawed, I don't think you can gain much by letting other people read it -- they'll only confirm what you think, and that can be depressing!! But if you think you've created something good, and you're ready to show it to someone to see if they agree, you have to be realistic and accept their negative feedback if there are elements about it that they don't like. You might not like what they say, but if you consider their comments fairly, and go away and do a re-write on the basis of them, you'll probably find, as Amy found out, that you'll do a better job next time.

But of course, you won't always accept the criticisms. If you're serious about being a writer, a situation will almost certainly arise where you disagree vehemently with another person's view of your work. It happened to me with Cirque Du Freak. When I first tried to get it publish, loads of publishers turned it down and said very negative things about the book. I didn't agree with what they said, so I ignored them. Sometimes as a writer you have to do that -- you have to stick to your guns, stay true to your vision, and stand by your work no matter what. Sometimes people just don't share your vision. That can be lonely and frustrating and heart-breaking, but if you're convinced that your work is good, you just have to keep on fighting and hope somebody finally takes your side.

But the most important thing is that when somebody does take your side, when an editor expresses interest in your work and wants to take it further, but has some reservations about it, you need to consider their reservations very seriously. You have to be able to recognise your friends from your enemies, to separate constructive criticism from plain negativity. For instance, I have a great agent, Christopher Little. I always respect his opinion, and even if I don't share it, I will always make the effort of seeing his point of view. When I first sent Hell's Horizon to him (the second book of my D B Shan trilogy), he said he didn't like it at all. So I re-wrote it and sent it in again. He didn't like it that time either. Now, I could sense a really good story. I was certain this could be a good book. There was no way I was going to let it drop. But Chris wasn't seeing the quality that I could sense, and I figured that if he couldn't see it, other people wouldn't either. So I went back and did a third complete re-write, trying to help Chris see what I could see in the story -- and this time he loved it.

It's very easy to get lost in a story, to feel so close to it that you stop seeing its weaknesses. You need people you can trust to tell you honestly that they can't see what you see. It's then your job to try and help them see, by improving your story, by re-writing and editing. I'm not talking about making changes to please other people -- I'm talking about making changes that will please the story, that will help it shine for others the way it shines for you. Writers can sometimes have the same view of stories that parents have of children -- we struggle to see their flaws. I always think that parents sometimes need to be told when their children are doing wrong -- and writers need to be told when their stories aren't working.

Having said all that, there will also probably be times in your career when you've done everything you feel you can do with a story, when you're delighted with how it shapes up, when you feel you've worked on it as hard as you can and are totally content with the results -- and yet your agent or editor still doesn't like it!!! In that case you need to hit them over the head with a blunt instrument, dump their body in the river and push ahead regardless!!!!!!!!