3 Types of Haters Every Writer Has To Deal With
And how to use their hate to fuel your journey to be a better writer: lessons I learned from 7 years of writing online.
And how to use their hate to fuel your journey to be a better writer: lessons I learned from 7 years of writing online
I remember that day vividly.
I was twenty-one, in my final year of undergraduate studies. I had just started writing on Quora. The last night, one of my answers went viral.
Back in 2014, 20,000+ views for a single story was huge. This was my first exposure to fame on such a grand scale. I couldn’t have been happier.
After a full day of classes, I came to my hostel room and sat in front of my computer to write something new. That’s when a new thread of comments caught my attention.
“There is nothing of value in this story. She got so many upvotes because she is a girl and has a pretty profile picture.”
Below that, at least five other people — all men — commented that they agreed.
My mouth went dry. My heart started beating faster. I’d spent two hours writing, editing, re-writing, and finally gathering the courage to publish that story. And in just five minutes, these men had declared that my writing was worthless. That all the traction I was receiving was because of my profile picture.
The notifications, the words of praise, the surge of happiness — everything faded. All I could think was how there were people who thought such unkind things about me. I got upset and started crying. I even skipped dinner and refused to write anything new for the next two days.
It’s been more than six years since then.
At least a hundred more viral stories and hate on a larger scale have taught me only one lesson: you cannot let the hate on the internet get to you. If you do, your writing will deteriorate, and your mood will be affected by something that’s not in your control.
In this post, I’ll discuss the different types of haters every writer has to deal with and the important lessons seven years of writing online taught me. This will help anyone who’s started writing and is clueless about how to deal with hate.
You cannot let the hate on the internet get to you. If you do, your writing will deteriorate and your mood will be affected by something that’s not in your control.
1. The “I know better than you” haters
They will always have an opinion about your writing. Without hesitation, they’ll be ready to tell you why your writing sucks and how they’ve read better writers than you. Surprisingly, these are ones whose messages will always be filled with grammatical errors.
How to use this to become a better writer
If you’ve ruffled some feathers, know that you’ve made it big. Someone somewhere in the world must be so envious of your success that they spent precious few moments of their lives trying to bring you down.
Use that as motivation to achieve even more. Aim to reach such heights that no negativity can touch you.
2. The concern trollers
They will tell you hurtful things while making it sound as if they have your best interests at heart. They often try to throw in a “friendly” bit of advice about why what you’re doing is wrong and how you can rectify it. They might even add a friendly emoji at the end of their message in a half-hearted attempt to prove that they only want the best for you.
Netizens of today call this kind of behavior concern trolling. It involves someone opposing an idea or viewpoint yet acting like they’re an advocate for the cause. A concern troll tries to undermine your voice under the guise of genuine concern.
How to use this to become a better writer
Firstly, ignore what they said about what you shouldn’t do. That’s their opinion, and it doesn’t reflect even for a bit on you.
But don’t forget to focus on the positive side they mentioned. If there’s some aspect of your writing they enjoyed, it must mean you’re doing something good in that direction. Try writing more articles on that topic and niche down on it until you become the best-known writer in that category.
Hey, it might sound lofty and unattainable, but if you earned praise from a hater, you must be doing something good, right?
3. The labelers
They’ll call you names. They hurl baseless accusations at you. They pull references out of nowhere and claim you’re propagating something you’ve never even heard of.
And the worst part? Sometimes, they do this on an article that’s got nothing to do with what you’ve written about.
How to use this to become a better writer
Since most of their accusations are baseless, it’s best to ignore them and move on. It might be tempting to start an argument to prove your point, but speaking from experience, this will only be a drain on your time and energy. It will achieve absolutely nothing.
“Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” — Mark Twain
Bonus: The misogynists
This is especially true for female authors. No matter how good your articles or ideas are, someone will always comment that you got all the attention because of how you look and not how you write.
As a psychological analysis of internet trolls by N.C. Asthana of The Wire establishes, “Trolls’ often have a natural antipathy to logic, knowledge, and education, usually a result of their inferiority complex. Call it misogyny or whatever; educated and ‘successful’ women, in particular, give them a huge inferiority complex.”
How to use this to become a better writer
It was never easy for women to talk openly about the issues that bother them. The blatant misogyny on the internet makes it harder.
If you identify as female, remember that the world has been conditioned for thousands of years to conform to patriarchal standards. It falls upon you to take a stand and refuse to budge. Your victory will pave the way for women born after you. You’ve got to shine on. You cannot let a few haters on the internet dim your flame.
If you identify as male, make yourself aware of the struggles your female counterparts have to face on a daily basis. If you see a fellow man commenting something similar about a female content creator, tell him it’s wrong. Support female writers in whatever way you can. You might not even be able to imagine the kind of struggles they have to face on a daily basis.
The bottom line
Writing online is never easy. You expose yourself to the risk of being ridiculed by millions of people. If that hate brings your spirits down, remember that most of it has got nothing to do with you. It mostly reflects on the people who spew such remarks.
Hate comments mean you’re doing a great job.
So, pat yourself on the back and move on. There are so many interesting and productive ways you could spend your time. Worrying about why strangers on the internet hate your writing is not one of them.
I create content in many different forms related to self-improvement, body-positivity, and feminism on several other platforms. Join my email list to make sure you don’t miss out on anything new.