Don’t show your rough drafts to people who only know how to critique.

Early work is fragile in a specific way: it is not good yet, and it is not supposed to be. Hand it to somebody whose only skill is finding faults and they will find plenty, all accurate, none useful, and the thing usually dies right there on the table. That is not proof they were right. A draft cannot survive being judged as a finished piece.

Choose your first reader carefully, somebody who says what is working before they say what is not. Save the sharp ones for later, when it is strong enough to take it. If nobody good is around yet, finish it before you show anyone.