Everyone has a different preference, and that’s all fine, but your taste becomes an issue when all you choose to consume is what suits you, not what you need. Having a diverse palate is always optional. But it is integral. Not just for your growth but to help you understand others in your environment better. Why do you need to understand them better? Sadly we live in a society where whether you want to or not, you will inevitably meet people with varying opinions. And though it’s not always rational or possible for you to accept their opinions, you will at least be able to understand where they are coming from, aiding you in helping them appreciate your point better. Though everyone loves to express their opinions it’s in writing that they manage to actually make an impact. There is no cheat sheet to appreciating or understanding write-ups that you may hate, but hopefully, the following tips will ease the process a bit in the long run.
Be Specific
Sounds pretty simple? But it’s actually very difficult because most of the time we don’t actually know what makes us tick about a certain piece of writing. Given hate is a feeling we usually just end our review with “I hate this piece”, but the real question to ask is why? Ask yourself, ponderously, what is it that sounds off? You never know your review might truly help a writer improve. But for it to be helpful it needs to be constructive, which implies being specific about what you don’t like. And while you put forward your point of view you might be pleasantly surprised to learn theirs. The only way you will know what you hate is truly detestable in general is when you specify why you find it detestable or hate it in the first place.
Dig a Bit About it’s History
Many a time we end up not liking or straight up hating something because of how confusing it may seem. The only way to get over that and appreciate it better is by truly immersing yourself in the writing. Try to understand how the writing came to be and trace the writing back to its source. What was the social, political, and economic climate back when it was written? What exactly is portrayed in that piece of writing? Is it referencing some real events? By digging deeper you truly understand the subtle nuances that make the writing what it is. It sounds like a lot of work, but if you truly want to understand it better so that you can argue why you don’t like it, then this is the way to go about it. And who knows you might actually end up loving the writing.
Keep Your Biases Aside
Whether we like it or not we are all biased in some ways. And most of the time, these biases come out in the worst possible way. Given how intrinsically rooted they are within us, it’s hard to keep them aside and be objective when you’re going through a piece of writing. And in the end, you might miss out on truly appreciating the work. But to truly understand what the other person is trying to say you need to keep yourself out of the conversation. And that includes your biases. It’s not something that everyone can achieve at one go but trying to detach yourself from smaller biases and then make your way to the bigger ones that form a big part of who you are, will surely help.
The Difference in Writings
If you hate certain writings then you must have a scale of what you consider good writing. Hating something can’t exist in a vacuum, there needs to be something for you to compare it with. And the writing that you consider perfect or the best is what you need to analyse next. This step will help you understand what you like so that you can get a sense of what you don’t like. It will also help you understand the different styles that many different writers use and how they differ but also are similar in certain ways giving you a wider perspective.
Talk to Fans of Writings You Hate
It’s hard to appropriately assess writing if you’re stuck in a pond with no other frogs that have differing opinions. Talking to the fans of the writer whose writing you hate and find detestable will help you realise why certain people like their writing and may clear out some assumptions you made about the writing unknowingly. As much as it’s important to find supporters of your argument, you must also find people who don’t support your stance to help you gain a holistic perspective.
Afterword
The true essence of all the above-mentioned tips lies in keeping an open mind. If you truly love written works and want to assess, you can’t do so by sticking to one perspective forever. Understand that true assessment of written works is like medicine for sickness, it can be bitter or sweet but in the end, it will heal you, and written words will help you better and gain a much larger perspective than you already possess in the long run.
