The Value of Critiques

Isn’t it amazing how many different viewpoints there are in the world?

Isn’t the diversity amazing?

Aren’t the many, many different styles incredible?

In writing, all of the wonderful diversity of human life is there on paper. Ta-da. This is even more so if you include electronic stuff like blogs that don’t have to make their way past an editor or have to prove ‘saleable’ to get out and reach people. Speaking of saleable, how do you make your work more saleable or at least more palatable so you can get an agent or publisher to pull it out of the huge stacks of ‘this is the next great thing’ pile they have clogging up their workspace? How do you make use of all the different styles, opinions, viewpoints and experiences that are out there when you are doing something like writing? How do you use them to your advantage? Well, my answer is, you find some poor sucker to critique your work.

Now, getting someone to critique your work, I must warn, is not for the faint hearted. First of all, you have to be ready. You have to believe in yourself and you have to believe in your work. You have to be strong enough and have been writing long enough that someone else’s harsh words won’t leave you a trembling mess in the corner, afraid to pick up the pen or type another adverb ever again. You have to be ready to straighten your back, don your helmet, stick out your chest and announce, “Bring it on!” When you put your work out there, you can’t assume that everyone is going to be nice. You are asking them to pick apart your words–a part of you. And if they are any good, they are going to do just that.

Second, when you feel you are ready to go looking for a critique partner, you have to find someone you can work with who hopefully has some experience and is trustworthy. These people, ideally know something about your genre and what you are aiming to accomplish. They also have to be willing to take the time out of their day to think about your work and to give you constructive criticism–which means you might not really have the opportunity to be choosy. It can be difficult finding someone who is trustworthy, will protect your work, won’t charge you money, will be helpful and not rewrite your entire work using their voice/style/opinion on how it should all play out.

Third, you have go to be patient and you have to listen. When you get your feedback, read it. Then go away. Think about what they have said in the back of your mind. Ignore the good stuff (after you have gloated around the house for a few minutes) and focus on the poor stuff. See if you can incorporate their improvements/suggestions. It might hurt, sure. But it might hurt because they are right and they have just caused you hours more work on a product you expected to have handed back with a nice red note saying, ‘Ready to go. You are the next best thing.’ In fact, if you get a note like that, you know that they are not being honest. And if they are not being honest, they are not being helpful. The point of a critique is to improve your work. And ideally, you will have two or more people critiquing your work so you can compare what each party thought was good and what needed improvement and make your own final verdict. At the end of the day remember: it is your work, it is your voice, it is your project.

I have two people currently looking over one of my pieces and at times, they find the same flaws and other times, they do not. I take every comment they make into account and ponder it. If I think their ideas will make improvements, I make changes. Sometimes, I tell them, wait and see; the next chapter will answer your questions. And sometimes I write back and ask them for further clarification. Other times, I figure that they haven’t a clue. And sometimes I slap myself up side the head and go, well, yes, that is rather obvious to me now. I must go fix that. But if it is a major suggestion/fix that they bring up, then I sit back and think about it for quite a long time before I make a move–causing the process, at times, to feel agonizingly slow!

Either way, a critique can be an invaluable favour that you receive from someone else–and if you can return the favour–go for it. In the end, I want to be the best writer that I can be, and I can’t do that alone, thus my undying appreciation for my critique partners.