by James H. Kleiger
The Business of Writing
Jeffrey’s Experience
Consider a writer I’ll call Jeffrey. New to a writers’ group, he brought in a manuscript sample with understandable anxiety. The feedback was respectful and useful, but it exposed weaknesses. At the next meeting, Jeffrey admitted he had not been able to write for a week. Many writers recognize this reaction. Critique is necessary for growth, yet even generous feedback can feel like a blow when the work carries something deeply personal.
Critiques, Reviews, and Vulnerability
Critiques usually address works in progress and offer the possibility of revision. Reviews evaluate completed works. Both place the writer in a vulnerable position, awaiting judgment that may affirm, discourage, or wound.
Why Critique Hurts
Creative work often expresses the writer’s inner life, values, and sense of self. For this reason, criticism of the work can feel like criticism of the person.
Winnicott and the True Self
Psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott offers a useful way to understand this sensitivity. He emphasized the authentic “True Self” and described creativity as emerging in a “transitional space” between inner experience and external reality.
There, the writer plays with ideas, characters, images, and language. Winnicott called this living expression the “spontaneous gesture”—creative vitality made visible.
When Critique Feels Like Impingement
Winnicott argued that when a child’s spontaneous gesture is ignored, misunderstood, or criticized, the child may feel a threat to the self. Writers can feel something similar. A critique may seem to squelch the gesture through which they felt most alive.
Then criticism becomes an “impingement.” The writer may retreat into compliance, defensiveness, or silence—the realm of the “False Self.” Creativity becomes cautious. What is needed is not the absence of criticism, but an environment where honesty and support coexist.
This explains Jeffrey’s reaction. His group did not attack him, but the critique disrupted his authentic expression. The wound was not only about craft; it touched the vulnerable place from which writing begins.
Growth Through Critique
With time and experience, writers can learn to metabolize feedback. Critique from peers, editors, beta readers, and reviewers can become less paralyzing and more useful, strengthening both the work and the self who creates it.
About James H. Kleiger
Throughout his career as a psychologist/psychoanalyst, writing about people’s struggles has been central to James Kleiger’s work. He has authored six professional books and scores of papers on the psychological assessment of severe mental disorders and recently completed his fourth novel in the Nicola Kitts psychological thriller series.
For More Information
Website: https://www.jhermankleiger.com/
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