100 Things You Should Know About Writing (Part 2)

34) How to Handle Critique

It's really funny how this has been happening lately. I decide on subjects days ahead, only to have them become oddly relevant in my life around the time when I want to write the section. As someone who regularly does critiques for people, I often find some responses from authors I critiqued absolutely drive me up the wall. I do understand, though, having been on the receiving end of critiques for my books. Nothing lets me see the other side of the critique coin as well as having someone tear something I wrote (and loved) to shreds.

The thing is that no matter what my opinion on a critique I get, I know that there are certain things you just don't do. Since it seems apparent that most new writers don't get this by themselves fast enough, I thought I'd expand on it a little bit.

It all comes down to one simple truth:

If you want praise, don't ask for a critique.

That's not to say that it's okay for someone to be downright insulting toward you as a writer. Something like: "Oh you're a terrible writer" or "Your whole story reads like one big cliche" isn't acceptable in a critique.

On the other hand, something like "Your characters aren't making sense in this bit", "You need to stop telling and start showing", "Your flow in this chapter is way off" isn't insulting. It's pointing out flaws so you can fix them.

This is exactly what a critique is for. So if you ask me to do a critique, then tell me I don't know what I'm talking about just because I didn't slather on the praise... well... there is an asshole in this equation and it's not me.

Which brings me to another truth to keep in mind when you've read a critique you don't like:

The person doing your critique is doing you a favor.

The people who know what they're doing when they critique are usually serious about their writing. Which means that they've stolen time from their writing just to spend at hours on helping you. No matter how much you disagree, throwing that back in their face is never acceptable.

Again, this is not about people out to just be bitchy in an attempt to look smart. (I'll get to those in a few.) I'm talking about people pointing out legitimate issues in your plot, characterization, pacing, story, motivation, language, grammar, etc. 

By the way... Writers responding with "Yeah, but my literary intentions were..." tends not to be acceptable either. Unless it takes a form of: "My literary intentions are these, but how can I bring that across in a better way?"

Why?

We didn't critique your work in order to enter into a useless debate about it.

Remember what I said about us stealing time to critique? Useless debates steal more of it, so don't expect a response unless you hired the person critiquing you (and you're going to pay extra for the time they take to further respond to your questions). It's also not a nice thing of you to ask for suggestions, and then to show the person who critiqued your book how little you plan to actually take their advice seriously. 

However, further questions are okay. Not attacking questions, mind you. Just ones that help you nail down the solution. Experienced writers/critique partners usually know exactly what causes the problem highlighted and probably will briefly explain. Or, they might assume you know what they mean.

For example... "This jarred me."

If used in a way that connects to a phrase you can see, the assumption is that you should be able to figure out why. Although that said, most people I know usually go for something along the lines of: "This jarred me. Ten year olds don't sound like this." And they then figure you know what a ten year old does sound like.