In my last post I touched on giving a critique and this
time I will be touching on getting a critique.
Let me start by giving you two pieces of advice.
1.
Get tissues
2.
Grow a tough skin, really tough skin
Not that you have cried and used all the tissues in the box
and have realized that no matter how hard you tried your skin was not tough enough, I will
now tell you that it does get better.
Trust me, I know.
I spent two years working and writing my book. Countless nights up until three in the
morning writing, I stole time to do
research and listened to other people tell stories and gained inspiration from
those stories.
I built plots and brought personality to made up
people. I put in a lot of hard work and
had a lot of fun along the way. When I was
done, I was proud of that book. I knew
it was the first draft and knew that it needed work, but deep down I knew and
still know that I have a good story. There
are people out there that will read it. It
has betrayal, a cheating spouse or two and a murder. Come on, who wouldn’t want to read that?
I wanted to know what others thought of the book before I started
the rewrite. Not sure if others do this,
but I did it. I enlisted my friends to
read it. They told me ‘good job’, but I was
looking for more. I once again began
searching the net for places to submit my work for some feedback.
On the advice of a friend I became a member of a writer’s
web site. I have decided not to name this
site in fairness to them. Most of the
members stated they received a lot of support and became better writers because
of this site. For me, however, I did not
have that kind of experience, quite the opposite.
I began looking around, reading both stories and the
critiques for that story. Some were
tough but seemed to offer help and suggestions. So, I built up the nerve and
posted my first chapter and within hours I got my first critique. He was an editor and retired agent, well that waswhat he put on his profile, he pointed
out what I did wrong and told me that there was not a publisher any were that
would publish that story. He did give me
some good ideas and suggestions on what I needed to do to fix it. He did tell
me that he thought I had a good story.
I was feeling confident, this was really not that bad, not
bad at all. Until (oh you that was
coming) more critiques came in. They hurt and hurt bad. The following is just a sampling of what I was
told.
One critique wanted me to describe each
character. I have about 8 characters in most chapters. This person wanted to know
what each character looked like, their full back ground and personality. This person also wanted a full description of
the house and the church. The first
chapter takes place in the home of one of the characters and in a tiny room in
a church.
I was told to ‘show, not tell’. My guess you have done your research so you
have heard of ‘show, don’t tell. I am still
learning that one.
I was told I needed to reveal what
was going to happen in the book in the first chapter.
I was told that I had a great script
for a T.V show but it was “a terrible attempt
at writing fiction.”
I made one person drunk with all of
my dialog, and he stopped reading.
BUT, my all-time favorite critique
was the one that pointed out everything that I did wrong, added a website
telling me why it was wrong and ended each and every paragraph (there had to be
20 paragraphs) with “you made that mistake because you are an inexperienced writer.” He also pointed out my POV (point of View)
changes.
I sent a message to this guy asking
him if he would be so kind as to let me know where my POV issues were. I got a response form him and he told me, “Clearly
you know nothing about writing, if you don’t know where the POV issue are you
are an even a worse writer than I first thought and not worth my time.”
This site did not help me, it hurt. Because of this site and the critiques I almost
gave up on a dream. I wanted to take
everything and burn it. All my notes,
all my hand written chapters, my character outlines, I want to set fire to it
all. I decided to put the book away, but
just for a short time. I needed time to
heal. I knew I had a diamond in the
rough, it just needed some work.
Once again, I began my search for a writer’s group and
decided on a writers critique group on Yahoo Groups. I began reading old posts and did like what I
was reading. I gained my confidence and
submitted my first chapter again. This time
is was a second draft of the first chapter.
I used some of the suggestions and rewrote the chapter.
I waited and I got my first critique. I did not rush to read it. I have to admit, I
was scared to read it, some of those wounds were still there. The email sat in my in box, then the second
and a third. I finally got the nerve,
ok, I really prepared myself for the worst.
I read the email.
The first thing that I noticed was the tone, it was
different. It was more positive. It pointed out what was wrong and I was given
ideas and suggestions to fix it. There was
even some humor added in. The other two
were the same, pointed out what needed work and was given suggestions. I even found out what my POV issues were and
how to fix them.
These critiques were not sugar coated, but they were
encouraging. I feel this group wants to
help. What I have learned from both groups.
1.
What works for one person may not work for
another
2.
If it does not fit your personality, move on.
3.
Think about the critique and use what you want.
The following are things to remember when getting a critique
on your work.
1.
A critique is just one person’s opinion
2.
If more than one person points out the same issue,
you should rethink it.
3.
Any suggestion can be accepted or rejected
4.
Do what is best for the story.
5.
Don’t take the critiques personally.
If a critique or something in a critique upsets you, don’t just
delete it or dismiss it. Sit on it for a
little bit and then revisit it. Those
suggestions may end up working better than you first thought.
