When I joined Absolute Write (AW) in April of this year (2009), I was a confident writer with seventeen chapters of a story waiting in the wings for the remaining five or so others to be written. Not even two days after joining, my confidence was shaken to its foundations. It took a fair bit of praying to restore a modicum of willpower to write again. By mid July, I committed writer’s suicide several times. My poor Angels must have been working overtime to boost my spirits.
Penny’s Critique Rule Number 1:..Be mindful of what you say and when you say it.
Words, to a budding writer, are like gods. They can either build or destroy confidence. Haven’t we learned that in grade school with bullies and rotten teachers? And just like in school, bullies haunt the halls and rooms of writing forums and critique groups. Only now these bullies are called critiquers. Words are their weapon of choice and the demolishing of your self-esteem and hopes in being published are their target. Intentionally or not. Some critiquers forget there are live, human beings cowering behind that forum post or web page username. Some don’t give a damn about your feelings, hopes or dreams.
Having your labored over scene or chapter ripped apart with negative comments is disheartening to say the least. Especially so if you’re already straddling the writer’s cliff of “Will I succeed?” and “Should I continue?” Thanks to AW I truly know the sting of not having your work liked. If you have decided to brave the halls of a writing forum or critique group be prepared to fend off the word warriors. Well intentioned as these individuals may be, your feelings are often overlooked and you’ll find your writing skills in danger of being attacked and mutilated, if you’re unlucky, that is.
Penny’s Critique Rule Number 2:..Retract your fangs and exercise restraint.
Writing is a competitive skill. There will always be someone who writes better than you. Thus, when the vast number of articles shout at you to “grow a thick skin” they aren’t bull-shitting. They are preparing you for the word warriors that infest the halls of life replete with book agents, editors, publishers and critiquers that will gladly rip your manuscript into so many pieces your head will explode with hurt pride, anger, and a host of other emotions. Of course, the latter sentence assumes your manuscript actually makes its way into the hands of an agent who will actually read it. If an agent throws a bit of encouragement your way, count that as a blessing. But until that rare event happens, it’s the critiquer’s job to steer you in the right direction by helping you to sort out the genre, your writing voice, pacing, and to hack away the backstory, shake off the pillow fluff and the like.
That having been said, some people are naturally sarcastic and it comes across clearly in print along with their contempt for the work being critiqued. There are also those who really want to be helpful but to the point that they overwhelm the person being critiqued. Sadly, I’m guilty of critiquing with zeal, but at AW I learned to pull back from the full critique—essentially a page blanketed with suggestions and sentence rewrites (more on this later). Critiquing is an art form, and it takes tremendous skill to get one’s point across without offending the recipient and crushing their spirit. Although writers want other writers to build a tough shell, we must not, in the meantime, strip away what little confidence and enthusiasm they have.
Some critiquers plow into the job of critiquing with such zeal that you’ll need a seatbelt to keep you in your seat and a shovel to pick up the debris that was once your story. Receiving critiques is not for the faint-hearted. Don’t expect critiquers to be aware of—or follow–the forum rules. If there are any. At AW, even the moderators won’t warn members that their comments violate critiquing rules such as “finding something positive to say.” In fact, I did a poll once and moderators joined in the verbal fray and sided with the violators, despite my several attempts to clarify my intentions. Potential members of writing forums and other groups must be on their guard against this type of wolf-pack response when you dare to say or write something controversial or unpopular. And God forbid you use the wrong synonym of a word like using intriguing for interesting when referring to reading rape scenes. Oops and Ouch! People will twist your words into unintended meanings.
Another concern is the confusion that arises out of critiques where the critiquers give you advice that is inaccurate for the genre and era you’re writing in. Be warned that they may be no better at grammar rules than you are. Some published authors that lurk the halls of writing forums and groups, relish the opportunity to tell you your work isn’t publishable. How many bestselling authors have heard that remark? These self-appointed experts may cloak their feelings of contempt by stating that your work, “in its current condition” won’t get published or catch an agent’s eye, but a review of what was said throughout their negative critique will reveal they actually mean that bottom line, “You’ll never get this lame duck published.”
Penny’s Critique Rule Number 3:..If you don’t normally read in the genre or era that’s to be critiqued, or can’t connect to the theme, move on to the next post or graciously decline the critique request.
How can a critiquer who is unfamiliar with the writing styles and inherent rules of Mystery, Romance or Historical Fiction, for instance, offer a useful critique? At AW I found that people made comments regarding the use of incomplete sentences, a use that is a no-no in educational and occupational writing environments but in fiction is perfectly doable depending on the genre and writing style of the author. One critiquer, a published author, who lives in the States, mind you, told me that I needed to learn proper King’s English. Okay, I could let that slide since my novel is based in England. However, if your target audience is America which has it’s own writing rules and spelling nuances like ‘color’ instead of the British version ‘colour’, her comment would seem rather snide since such spellings are optional just like not using a comma after the last word or phrase before the ‘and’ in a series.
Penny’s Critique Rule Number 4:..ALWAYS find something positive and encouraging to say.
Now, I can take a fair amount of negative comments about my writing, but I’m not invincible. At AW one published writer—the same person and whose work I previously complimented—PM’d (private messaged) me and basically said that my work wasn’t anywhere close to being publishable, and that I had no chance of having an agent read my material. I’m not sure if she meant in its current state or ever in life because my writing skills sucked.
The next day the person PM’d me and suggested I write the book for my own satisfaction and have it published by one of those On-Demand companies so I could at least give out copies to friends and family. They went on to say I could market the book myself, but again, I probably wouldn’t do well with it. Urrgh! Now of course the person was probably referring to the book in its current state, but that wasn’t made clear in the second PM. Neither did the critiquer bother to offer one word of encouragement or say I did anything reasonably well. Or maybe she did and it was drowned out by all the soul-crushing remarks. This writer continued on, saying that it was his/her duty to tell me the truth even if it hurt. Apparently me more than them. The wounds haven’t healed. That’s what I get for asking this person for a critique. So much for compassion.
Penny’s Critique Rule Number 5:..Don’t overwhelm the person being critiqued with too many negative comments. Unless they state they can handle it. And even then, check the sauna, it may be getting too hot for them.
I’m not totally innocent in giving negative critiques. I’m naturally sarcastic and am guilty of one word zingers like “fluff” and “zzzzzz”. What? I never said I was innocent.
Penny’s Critique Rule Number 6:..Temper truth with compassion. Never tell someone they will never find an agent, never be published or that they should quit writing.
I first learned about negative critiques and how important it is to know what the critiquee wants or needs to know before a critiquer attempts to critique a work. At MYLOT a member started a thread, asking people to check out an article she’d written. She wanted feedback on what people thought—a violation of the chat room rules. Then came her subsequent thread for comments to be left on the website. Then a third request for feedback. Comments were left on her article post, on the chat room thread and Private Messaged (PM’d) to her. The comments weren’t entirely positive even though her article was basically a good one.
I PM’d her my comments a thorough assessment of what I thought worked or didn’t work along with my usual zeal for offering suggestions. Good ones, I thought. And straight forward. She PM’d me that my comments did not offend her and why should they. But there was a strong voice of distress, most notably a comment about her not liking that someone would tell her to quit writing. Whoa! I thought. I never said anything like that! I never would. Suspicious that something more was going on, I went back to the three posts in question. On two of them, I saw the reason for her angst. On one of them, a fellow MYLOT member actually suggested, among other things, that she quit writing. I couldn’t believe my eyeballs. Nor was I happy that my well-meaning critique ended up in the midst of a writing firestorm.
The result:..The article writer announced that he/she intended to quit writing.
My response:..I tried to do damage control and encourage the person to continue writing.
I left MYLOT for the some of the same reasons I don’t hang around AW that much anymore: nitpickers, perfectionists, zealots and the uninformed. So would I recommend Absolute Write to budding writers? Yes, because the site does offer valued info, and amongst the negative critiquers, there are an excellent majority who actually do encourage writers. But be warned, those word warriors roam the halls in cliques.
Truth is truth but mean-spiritedness is unacceptable. If you feel a writing forum or group stomps on your feelings and writing abilities, don’t give up writing! Just move on to another forum or group! There are plenty others to be found.
USEFUL ARTICLES ON CRITIQUING
Below are a selection of articles about giving and receiving critiques. Hopefully they will help you sharpen your critiquing skills.
Here is an excerpt from Dawn Copeman’s How To Give And Receive Critiques. More articles on critiquing and other writing-related subjects can be found at Writing-World.com:
How to Give and Receive Critiques
by Dawn Copeman
As some point we all need feedback on our writing. This is especially true in fiction where we want to know if the story works before we send it out into the big, bad world. But critiquing is a two-way process. Many sites insist on people reviewing others’ work before they are allowed to post work of their own to be critiqued. Therefore, to get the most out of the process, we need to learn how to both give and take critiques.
Be Positive
When I was a secondary school teacher, there was a rule we had for parents’ evening: “always find three things to praise about the child before you move on to criticism.”
This is a good starting point for any type of critique. Granted, for some children the only praise I could come up with were things like: “x always has a pencil”, “x has never missed a lesson”, even if I sometimes wished they had and “x has a lively personality.” So the first thing I would say is try to come up with something positive to say about the piece you are reviewing.
When I say positive, I don’t mean such non-comments as: “I like it!” or “This is good.” These sentences, whilst good for the ego . . . . READ FULL ARTICLE
A Critiquers Notebook: Critiquing Other People’s Work
by Francine DeGrood Taylor
How To Critique Fiction
by Victory Crane
Here’s a Google Search using the keyword phrase: Critiquing Others Work
Hard Core Critiquing Advice
by Amy Sterling Casil
Also by Amy:
Hard Core Critiquing Guidelines
by Amy Sterling Casil
An HTML version of:
PLEASE NOTE: The article below is a Microsoft Word document. I included the cache link, but it may not work for you. You can click on the Google Search I did here then click on the View as HTML link. The article is worth the effort.
Open Up Your Work (and Your Ego) to Criticism
by Laurel Olson Cook
How To Accept Criticism
by Johnny
Ray Rhamey has done critiques on his website Flogging The Quill:
To read (or listen to) a sample of his book The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles please click here.
Hope the articles help!
Until next time, happy writing and whip that prose into shape!
Copyright Rene Isaiah / Penny Manning 2009
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LAST UPDATED: March 03, 2010
COMMENTS FOR The Art Of Critiquing, PT. 2
(ORIGINALLY POSTED TO Writer4Writer on BLOGGER)
6 COMMENTS:
Libertine said…
August 20, 2009 7:09 AM
Welcome back and thank you for sharing so much info and advise.
Penny Manning said…
August 20, 2009 8:58 PM
You’re welcome, Libertine and Thank YOU for reading!
rachel whetzel said…
August 27, 2009 2:05 AM
GREAT advice!! Very well put. I agree… we all need to be careful about how we word any criticism… invited or otherwise. There is so much room for permanent damage to a creative soul. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Thanks especially for leaving me a COMMENT!! 🙂
Penny Manning said…
August 27, 2009 7:04 PM
You’re welcome and I had a great time at your Mine To Thine blog. Keep up the great work! Likewise, I appreciate your visiting and taking time to comment. Blessings to you…Penny
Raymond said…
September 6, 2009 10:29 AM
I have received very little criticism since I actually write very little and rarely post what I write on the net. I get the drift of what you are communicating; criticism should be straightforward but not mean. But that could mean many things to many different people. A lot of people will write and post something with their minds made up about its merits, not knowing that it has shortcomings, and any advice or criticism given to the contrary will rankle them.
…On many occasions, one will come across work that’s plain disastrous and the only nice thing you can say to them is ‘thanks for the effort.’ How the hell are you going to critique such work without hurting anyone’s feelings?
…Personally, I prefer giving it to me rough and unadorned. That way its more sincere; the more one tries to be nice, the more truths they hide. Anything helps me better my writing, be they snide, cruel remarks. Even then, I know that not everyone is like me, for example you, Penny.
Penny Manning said…
September 6, 2009 10:44 PM
Thank you for your input, Ray! Hmmmmm…when we encounter material that just isn’t our cup of tea or that which we feel is not up to our standards, so to speak, we can politely bow out of doing the critique.
Perhaps inform the critiquee that their work is not in the genre you are familiar with or prefer; tell them that you feel you cannot give their work a fair and impartial critique; or if they are not expecting you to do a critique, (as in the case of writing forums where the critiquer gets to pick their crit) simply pass them by.
When no one takes on the challenge of critiquing a work, that should eventually send off warning bells to the critiquee that their work may need MORE work, is posted under the wrong genre, is posted in an annoying font, is lacking proper spacing, or is too long for any mortal to read in one sitting. Mind you, there are other reasons.
At AW, one will often come across work that is just plain not interesting or hard to read. This are many reasons for this: improper punctuation; spelling mistakes; post if too long; frequent choppy sentences; genre isn’t posted in correct forum, isn’t appealing to a critiquer, or is unclear/ambiguous; critquer clearly states they are doing it for fun or experiment (some critiquers do not want to spend 30 minutes or more critting a work for someone who isn’t serious about being a writer); work goes off-topic; story topic/plot isn’t interesting; leading sentence/paragraph doesn’t capture attention; and a host of other reasons.
I like my critques rough but it wears my spirit down after a while when I am constantly told that my slaved-over prose isn’t interesting, the era-related details and behavior isn’t true (mind you, its a rough draft not a researched, final draft). Some critiquers/reviewers neglect–purposely, I suspect–to point out what part of your work does capture their interest. Naturally, there’s an excellent chance that the critiquee will come away feeling that very little if any of their story has any interest.
One thing to remember, is that even if a person says “Give it to me straight,” critiquing etiquette requires critiquers to point out what in the material is of particular value and/or interest. If a critiquer can’t find anything of value, at least encourage the person to keep writing and do this WITHOUT hint that the material is below par!
Costume Queen said…
November 1, 2009 1:15 AM
These are excellent tips!
This is more general life, not necessarily writing, but it still applies:
I’m playing Cinderella in R&H’s Cinderella, and our assistant director needs to read these tips on giving constructive criticism. He says things like “Cut that note off shorter, because you held it out and it sounded TERRIBLE, and was throwing you guys off and was just a mess, so do it my way this time and I promise it will work much better than what you were doing before.”
That isn’t helpful. That’s hurtful.
A better way of conveying this critique is to say something positive (but also honest). For example, “the song sounded great! You did this and this and this perfectly, I like how you added that little thing there. At the end, cut the note off earlier and it will be perfect!”
HUGE difference. ALWAYS state something positive when you give critiques. That allows the person to see that you don’t “hate” their writing and gives them an idea of what is good and what isn’t (which is really the point of getting critiqued).
The Drifter said…
November 23, 2009 5:27 PM
Hello,
It has been a rather long time, but I wanted to let you know, again, that what you said on my post about suicide was beautiful. I wanted to tell you that I appreciate it very much and I am very pleased you think as I do on this subject. As I said though, it has been a very long time since that piece. Thank You.
Jon Paul said…
January 12, 2010 5:11 AM
Nice post–great info! I think it’s easy to forget that critiquing is a skill just like writing. Some people do it very well, some poorly.
Laying out a few ground rules as you have here is very useful.
The 18th Century Planet 