: Re: How to stick to your vision when you’re highly suggestible? As a person, I'm a bit of a people-pleaser. I tend to bend over backward to avoid conflict and make people happy. I've reached

@Smith147

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It's a very good thing to pay attention to what your readers tell you, at least it gives the impression that you are a rather open-minded person. It seems to me that your reaction to criticism is rather a symptom of a larger problem. I'm just guessing, but maybe the reason you don't know whether to incorporate a plot change or not, is that you don't have a very clear vision of what you want to achieve.
It will be easier for you to distinguish between valid and invalid criticisms if you have a very clear vision of what your story is about (I'm not talking about the plot). What is the main message of your novel? Who are the characters? What kind of people are they at the beginning of the story, and at the end? What were their dreams and desires before the story began? What events will change all that, or give them the means to achieve it? What sequence of events will make them different persons between the beginning and the end?
If you know the exact steps your characters have to go through, you'll be able to spot the scenes that are unnecessary or inappropriate for your story more easily, and you'll be able to assess whether a change is useful or not. A reader who can explain why he or she thinks a scene slows down the story or betrays a character's spirit is doing you a favour. A reader who tells you that he or she would prefer more explosions or just says "Don't like it", much less.
Don't try to please anyone: you will always get criticism, even after fifteen revisions. Write a story in a world that you are passionate about, to say something that you find true, and there will always be people out there to cherish it.

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