10 Tips to Avoid Becoming a Triond Troglodyte

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Almost anyone who has surfed the Internet for a while has heard of the dreaded Internet Troll – those dastardly villains who enter a forum or chat venue, then spew inflammatory material in order to sit back and laugh at the furor their words have incited. They do this for fun, and the only way to defeat them is to remember “DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS”

The flip side of this phenomenon is the Internet Troglodyte – these hapless souls who, for whatever reason, believe that almost any and all commentary that does not immediately stroke their ego is an offense, an attack, or the opening salvo in an all-out war of words.

Triond, as a writing community, attracts a LOT of writers. Like any such community, the level of mastery of the craft of writing varies greatly, and can be plotted on a bell curve, with five percent being truly gifted and talented writers who consistently construct praiseworthy pieces, 90% who are working hard to master the intricacies of writing, and the last five percent who are wasting their time, and the general public’s time, by believing that what they produce merits the world’s attention.

Now, despite the placement on this bell curve of any given individual, statistically speaking, there is a small to fair chance that they are a Triond Troglodyte, since almost any comment that deigns to suggest the slightest improvement is commonly met with vitriol and invective. I myself was called the Anti-Christ just today, simply for correcting some obvious spelling errors that any high school English teacher would whip out her red pencil for, and pointing out a bit of flawed meter.

Here are ten tips to avoid becoming such a writer.

Tip #10 – Recognize your limitations.

If your spell checker gets more use than Paris Hilton’s razor & straw, then spelling might not be your strong suit. If you write an article and more than half of the comments can be boiled down to ‘Huh?’, then you are not being clear in your writing. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, and knowing what those are can go a long way towards avoiding getting your back up when an innocent comment refers to something that you could easily improve, should you care to.

True writers have thick skins, since rejection is par for the course when submitting your writing for publication.

Tip #9 – Call a spade a spade.

Quick, if you call the tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? The answer is four, because calling the tail a leg does not make it a leg.

Writing emotional drivel with cascading line breaks does not make it a poem. Listing thinly veiled insults as writing tips does not make it an essay for the ages. Re-hashing articles from two year old magazines does not make you a writer, nor will it make you any money on a pay to click site like Triond.

Tip #8 – Great networking does not make you a great writer.

Sure, you have added EVERYONE as a friend, and you spend time commenting positively on their works, so they are feeling obligated to do the same for you. Does that make your writing any better? Of course not.

The number of eyeballs you get on your works generates pennies for you, but it does nothing to improve your skills. The number of comments you get is worth NOTHING as far as Triond is concerned. The number of ‘likes’ you get likewise has NO value, other than stroking your ego. The only thing Triond offers to help you improve your writing is a vast collection of intelligent, erudite writers who may or may not peruse your work and offer an opinion. What you do with it is up to you. Use that resource to polish your works.

Tip #7 – Just because your mom likes it, does not make it good.

Let’s go back to those positive comments I mentioned. For the most part, they are encouraging words, a balm to any writer, reinforcement that you are on the right track, that you have successfully conveyed an emotion, or a message, or some valuable information. But as any rock star will tell you, a diet of sugary praise and nothing but sugary praise will rot your spirit and turn you into someone who cannot handle any negativity. Do not believe the hype. You are supposed to be your own best critic, but if you shut that off in favor only positive commentary, you run the risk of looking at dung and calling it donuts.

Tip #6 – Take the suggestion in the spirit in which it is intended.

Writers are a crazy bunch. On the one hand, we are solitary, hammering out our poetry or prose all by ourselves, but there is no group of people more into the communal aspect of reading and talking about good writing that we are. We love it so much we have formed dozens, if not hundreds of great writers communities, like Notes and Grace Notes, EditRed, WritersCafe, Writing.com, Inkspot, AuthorNation, of course, Triond, and so many more. (he said, plugging his own favorite writing communities shamelessly).

One of best things good writers do is help nurture and tutor those who show merit but need polish. In the twelve years since I was first published, I have gotten thousands of corrections on my posted works, and almost all of them were offered with a love of the written word and a genuine desire to see me improve.

Which leads me to:

Tip # 5 – Do not take a critique of your writing as a critique of you personally.

While your writing certainly does reflect who and what you are, your goals, personality and style, it is not you. You are more than a collection of 1’s and 0’s on the Internet, an amalgam of words, thoughts, emotions and syntax that is subjective by its very nature. You are a unique individual, just like everybody else. You, as a human being, are worth so much more than your mere words can convey, how is it that you can assume someone pointing out a flaw in your craft is somehow attacking you personally. Screaming “I did not ask for your help” is a fairly extreme reaction, don’t you think?

Tip #4 – You aren’t all that special.

C’mon, a little humility would not kill you, would it? Even the great Maya Angelou refers to herself as “a scribbler, a player with words.” And Robert Frost once famously remarked that he became a poet to avoid having to get a real job. We are all just folks, trying to do what we do, hoping that someone out there gets a bit of a kick from what we have worked on.

You are no better than anyone else, and yes, you have posted your work on the Internet, a wide open prairie of availability, making it easy for anyone who so choose to read your words, comment on them, like or dislike them, print them out and tape them to the wall, or take a big steaming dump all over them. You have no right to the privacy or sanctity of your words posted online. You do not get to choose what folks think of them, or what they say about them, to your face or in private.

Tip #3 – You are supposed to be an adult.

You need to be at least eighteen to enter into a contractual agreement with Triond to make money off of your postings, therefore, by definition, you should be an adult. So act like one.

Petulance is for children, So is whining.

As adults, we should be capable of dealing with the vagaries of life without resorting to either. This sort of behavior is not accepted in the workplace, a situation you voluntarily enter into in order to make money. Triond is no different.

So put on your big kid pants, suck it up, and deal with criticism like an adult.

Tip #2 – In order to take it, dish it out a little.

Try pointing out to other writers that you admire elements of their works that might be improved upon.

Share with them your insights into their works. Suggest modality changes, word choices, reference sources, or other things which you feel might be beneficial to their work as a whole. Be nice, be polite, remember that there is a human being on the other end of your critique, and be helpful.

Most likely, if their writing is not in the bottom 5 %, they will thank you for the suggestion, consider it carefully, and then make a decision whether or not to act upon your suggestion. The vast majority will thank you. The troglodytes will wail, scream, and gnash their teeth, and you will better understand what it feels like to encounter such a beast in the digital wilds of a writing community.

And last but certainly not least, the best, most helpful tip to avoid becoming a Triond Troglodyte:

Tip #1 – POLISH YOUR POSTS!

Double check your spelling, your capitalization, your grammar, your punctuation. Proof your work, or better yet, have some one else (preferably with a high school education) proof it for you. Read it forward for content, then read it backward for spelling. Check your line breaks. Double check homonyms, look out for those sneaky double words, and edit yourself diligently before pushing that Submit button.

My grandmother always said that sloppy language is just one more reason for someone not to take you seriously, and if you would be taken seriously as a writer, make sure that your online posts (which will be archived and hang around forever, by the way) reflect the care and craft you put into writing. Do not just dash off half a thought or two about something, and call it an article, or a poem.

Ask yourself – would I pay good money to read this if it were not free?

If the answer is no, go back to editing and polishing until it is.

Well, there you have it friends and neighbors, dudes and dudettes, boys and girls, amoebas and protozoans, ten hopefully helpful tips that will prevent you from becoming one of the most dreaded and ill considered denizens of a writing community, the troglodyte.

BTW, corrections, suggestions, and helpful critique is always welcome.