Don't Shoot the Messenger! (Adventures of a Critic)

Let Me Explain Something

Critics tear your work apart. 

That's not a lie. I'm not going to deny that I don't rip your story and take it apart. I go to it with scissors and I cut each and every line and I paste it back on so it's able to be rearranged. That is what I do. Critics tear apart stories, but they also try to put them back together. 

And guess what? Just because we're critics, doesn't mean we're not hurt when the same thing happens to our stories. I'm not telling you you can't be upset when I tear apart your story, because honestly, it hurts, and I've felt that hurt too--what I'm telling you is that you cannot be absolutely horrifically enraged about it. You need to, ideally, grow up when you're critiqued. 

You asked me to critique it. Obviously, that means you're unsure of things in your novel, which means that I will find what you're unsure and tell you if it works or not. Then I will look at your other lines and see if those work with it or not. It's what we do. 

When you're asking for a critique, let me tell you this. You're asking someone to go through your story and pick it apart. To find plotholes, character holes, grammar inconsistencies, character inconsistencies, storyline issues, and whatever else. Sometimes we don't find any, sometimes we find tons, and that can change from chapter to chapter. 

It's the truth. And I'm not going to lie to you and say that when I'm critiqued I take it like I reflect bullets off my skin, it hurts. It sucks. You poured your time and effort into a story and now here I am sifting through and telling you that the parts that you loved don't work, and the parts that you weren't sure if you liked or not are spectacular, or maybe they suck, I don't know. I did the same thing with my story and that happens to me when my story is critiqued.

A bullet is a bullet darlings, and a knife is a knife. The only difference is is that you get to choose where these things hurt you. As in real life, avoid your head and heart and gut, because your head will make you pissed off and ragey, your heart will make you lose your drive and you'll be heartbroken, your stomach hurts like a bitch and is lethal. Aim for the thigh, or the foot, or the hand, something that will hurt like a bitch, but you can adapt and move on with it being hit. Get what I'm saying? 

Also, what you'll learn to do more and more overtime is that though the initial pain is there, you'll grow excited when you see a GOOD critique. I know that even though they just ripped apart my novel, I'm totally grateful and excited when I see that they were able to help me so much. You learn. It takes a while, but you'll learn with more and more critiques that you get. 

Now, also, we critics are around to help. We tear through your stories, but we rearrange it and give little pushes to show what it could be and the greatness that is inside the stories. Sometimes the greatness is easy to find, sometimes not so much. There are parts to your story that shine and some that need to be thrown into a deep abyss and never seen again. That happens with every story, professionals to rookies, it's a fact of life. 

So, just as an all out overall: we in Critic Land are aware of your pain, and we're not going to laugh at it, we understand (at least we should). We feel it too. It's up to you guys to choose how bad it hurts you, and if you can move on afterwards. We ALWAYS hope you move on, because you will be stronger and happier writers, because we want to see your story grow, not beaten to a pulp and thrown away. 

We're not around to trash your self-esteem. We're around to help you. It just looks like those two things are blurred together, but really, they are parallel lines, never meeting, never crossing, and if they do cross, that critic is a shitty critic and doesn't deserve to call themselves a critic. 

Dedicated to MetisRebel for being so supportive of this rant book, and for making an awesome one of her own called "The Write of Way". Totally recommend it.