If they had said my writing wasn't good enough, fair enough, that's an opinion. But to say it's too complex is to insult the intelligence of the so-called young.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I've been criticised for writing in too complex a manner for younger people.
A lot of people ask me, 'Are you born a writer?' And I don't think it's necessarily true. I just think what you either have or you don't is this ability to see something that's complex and worth talking about.
I think that if you are a serious writer, you are almost obligated to provide the intelligent average reader with something that they can relate to and care about. If you are writing only for a tiny elite, then that surely should sound alarm bells.
One of the great mind destroyers of college education is the belief that if it's very complex, it's very profound.
At the beginning, I experienced writing as a sort of constraint. Starting so young as a writer is pitiable: it's beyond your powers; you have to lay bare things that are very heavy, and you don't have the means for that.
Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and mental energy. There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple.
If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
People are complex. I'm just showing my complexity.
When you combine something to say with the skill to say it properly, then you've got a good writer.
Even when I think I'm writing really young, they say it's too mature.