One thing I wish I knew how to do is encourage negative criticism of the thematic elements of my writing. The thing is, no matter what level of quality my characterization or dialogue or plotting reaches, my writing is still going to be bad if the thematic content is bad. And obviously I do like praise, and also view many types of praise as meaningful criticism (and certain negative comments as non-meaningful).
At the same time, I don't have a praise only mindset, and I don't want to encourage praise to the exclusion of all else. That just seems like echo chamber mentality to me. I don't think people should criticize things just to be criticizing them (and unfortunately so many people receive critical comments with meaningless criticism of this sort), but I also don't think people should have to choke down every qualm they have with my work just so as not to hurt my delicate feelings. Like, it's silly to ask someone who doesn't have any negative commentary of one's work to come up with it, but it's arrogant to view one's own work as so perfect that it could never possibly need negative commentary.
At the same time, I deeply understand the impulse for self-censorship in this area, as I rarely give negative critiques myself, and have almost no real positive experiences of doing so. At best people just don't respond to the critique, at worst they decide to hate you forever, even if you praised nearly every other aspect of their work. I'm also not so great at replying to things myself though I'm trying to get better at that. I don't think people have any kind of duty to perform this often thankless task, either, any more than they have the duty to call people out every time they spout racist or misogynist nonsense or the like, as that quickly becomes an exhausting exercise in futility.
I just wish I knew a good way of encouraging and engaging with this kind of negative criticism.
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