1. Not everyone is going to like what you write. Everyone has their own opinions and if someone says they don't like what you've written, then that's fine--that's their opinion, and it doesn't mean that what you've written sucks. It just means that it didn't interest them in particular. That doesn't give you reason to jump all over them, call them names, and sick your rabid friends on them to harass them.
2. There is a difference between a flame and a critique. Just because someone is saying that you can/should/need to improve your writing does not mean that they're flaming you (or that your writing sucks; everyone has things they need to work on). They're probably trying to be helpful.
These are flames:
"This sux you sux go die YOU SUX AT RITIN MORON LOSER"
"What is this steaming pile of dog crap? I know rocks who write better than this. Go find something else to waste your time with instead of polluting the internet with this crap."
These are critiques:
"Hey, this wasn't too bad, but it needs some work. You should add paragraphs to make it easier to read, and use quotations when people are talking. It's kind of confusing as it is. It might not hurt to get a beta reader; they can be really helpful."
"This needs a lot of work. The characters are really out of character; I just can't see Character A doing any of that, and your original character seems like a Mary-Sue. You should be careful about that. It might be a good idea to use a spell-checker, too, because I saw several spelling errors just in the first few sentences. You also need to work on your grammar, because there were quite a few spots that were really hard to understand, with the way they were worded."
See the difference? Critiques are offering advice. Flames are just written to be mean. You can ignore flames, or laugh at them. But I don't recommend interacting with them or sicking friends on them, because they're just trolls and will keep coming back for attention if they know they're getting to you.
3. No one's writing is perfect. We all have things we need to work on. I know I do. Don't take critiques personally. Can it hurt to have your writing dissected, even the tiniest bit? Oh, yeah, definitely. Not all critiques are going to be super nice, patting you on the head and holding your hand. Some will be straight to the point, and sometimes might even seem kind of mean. But it's nothing against you, or your writing. They're trying to help and you should see if you can't put their advice to use. I've gotten some harsh critiques in the past, but I was able to learn from them once I got over the initial sting. (It's also helped me grow a thicker skin, which I'm going to need if I want to get published, because I know there are going to be rejections).
4. There are no shortcuts. I know, you were probably hoping that there were and that maybe I would share some with you. Nope. There aren't any shortcuts to getting better at writing. The only thing you can do is write, write, write, get some advice, and write some more. When I first started writing, I could barely spell. I had no real idea how punctuation worked. I was just copying the technical stuff from the books I read. If I were to look back at what I wrote when I was a kid, I would probably wince in pain. Just looking at what I wrote in middle school can be kind of painful, and by that point I at least had the technical stuff down. I can see a clear difference between the things I wrote in 8th grade and the things I wrote when I was a senior in high school, taking a creative writing class.
I'll likely be adding more to this list as time goes on, because I know I haven't thought of everything.
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