You're facing conflicting feedback on your creative writing. How do you choose the right path forward?

It's easy to drown under the weight of other people's opinions. When this happens to me I step back and ask myself 'Is what they're saying true?' which helps me to consider whether there's any factual basis for their comments or if it's simply an opinion - I find this especially helpful when the comments are more personal or affecting me on a personal level letting me look at them with detachment and objectively. I also question how much I value their expertise and opinion. If I asked for their thoughts, then I'm happy to give their comments due consideration but for unsolicited negative feedback, I consider what is driving their comment. Is their feedback coming from a place of genuinely wanting to help or are they simply being mean?

Yes, after completing your first draft. Go for a walk, take a long shower and leave the work for some hours. Come back to it when your mind is fresh and you'll find so many things which need improvement. Emotional distancing from work allows for objective and constructive feedback, ensuring that personal emotions do not overshadow the evaluation. By maintaining a balanced perspective, writers can offer positive feedback that focuses on the work's merits and areas for improvement, fostering a supportive and growth-oriented environment for their peers.

Let me also add to this. You should also make sure that trusted circle is made up of people who don't know you personally or people who would be brutally honest with you. What I've noticed is that most times, people who know you on a personal basis might not want to be honest so they wouldn't hurt your feelings and so they might sugar coat their opinions.

Since you created the piece of writing in the first place, you are the best person to judge what works for it. When you have conflicting opinions, it helps to draw out a chart and list the pros and cons. The purpose is not as much to analyse objectively, as to find out what 'feels' right to you. When you analyse the two sides point by point, you will get a clear perspective in the process about which one you should go forward with.