Why Criticizing Other Authors Doesn’t Help You

I spent a lot of years as a literary critic before I turned to my own writing. Yes, it taught me some things, but it also interfered a lot. I had to spend a couple of years of deprogramming before I could write in my own voice again.

You need to develop your own vision, not poke holes in someone else’s vision.
Passion fuels you longer than hatred.
It may distract you from getting words on the page, and make you feel like you’ve actually done something when you haven’t.
Seeing what other writers do right may be more useful in the long term.
Snobbery doesn’t sell.
You need to find friends, allies, mentors.
It’s all in the eye of the beholder/reader.
You may make the same mistakes too someday and suddenly see why someone else did.
Do it better or shut up.
You need to be shelved somewhere, next to someone.