Critiques

Fine writers should split hairs together, and sit side by side, like friendly apes, to pick the fleas from each other’s prose.

– Logan Pearsall Smith

From Butler: “Just as you can have bad from-the-head writing, you can have bad from-the-head criticism…It’s the blind leading the potentially sighted."

From Chekhov: “It’s a hard thing to be alone when creating. Bad criticism is better than nothing.”

Getting your manuscript edited by a professional publisher will teach you a lot about different areas of your writing, but remember that it is just one person, even if this one person's views reflect those of the industry. It's also important to get criticism from a variety of people. Make sure to get someone from each of the following areas:

1. Readers who read your genre

2. Readers who don't read your genre

3. Writers who write your genre

4. Writers who don't write your genre

5. Someone with some authority (writing professor, someone in the industry, published author)

6. Strangers (not that you can't get critiques from your friends, but strangers might be more honest because they tend to be less concerned with hurting your feelings)

Also, get a variety of ages and experiences, a variety of cultural backgrounds, both male and female, etc.

I had ten people critique my novel before I sent it to The Editor, along with some other people who just critiqued parts of it. Because of my variety of critics, I ended up with ten very different critiques, each focusing on something different. What one person missed, the next caught. I recommend this technique to anyone. I will warn you, though, if you're having people read your entire novel, you need to do two things:

1. Give them plenty of time. I inquired my potential critics in the summer time if they could finish reading my novel by December.

2. Ask more than ten people. I asked about 50 people. 25 people said yes. I sent out the novel to those 25 people. I received 10 critiques back. That's just the way it works. People get busy, or forget, or something happens in their life that doesn't allow them the time, or they underestimate how much effort or time it takes to critique a whole novel. I knew that a lot of people would drop out. My goal was for 10 people, and thankfully I just made it. One way of securing your critiques is to do something in exchange, like critique their novel. But think before you offer. How many novels are you going to end up critiquing?

How to take criticism

First, tell your critics you're not looking for a pat on the head. If they have nothing but good things to say about your work, they are not the critics for you.

Once you've said that, stick to it. They're going to give you some feedback on what needs improving in your novel. This is not an attack on you. They're trying to help you. You might feel defensive or like the reader just didn't get what you were saying. Maybe they didn't get it, but that's more than likely your fault. That's okay. Fix it in the next draft. Make sure you're conveying all your points accurately. The criticism might hurt a little. It might make you angry or depressed, but whatever you do, don't give up. Maybe your story needs a little drawer time after ten critiques. That's perfectly normal. Work on something else for a while or take a break. But don't forget to come back to it.

Your manuscript doesn't suck. Even if it does, so what? Make it better based on the critiques you got. Your critics don't think less of you. In fact, they're probably impressed you finished a manuscript at all. Everybody's got a book in them, but a small percentage of people open the door to let it out. Your critics know that.

Remember that not all of the criticism you get back is going to apply. Here's the breakdown:

• One third of the feedback will be wrong
• One third of the feedback will be right, but not helpful: they will tell you what's wrong but not how to fix it.
• One third will be both right and helpful.

Do not abandon your main points or your genre because someone is trying to make your story into something that it's not. At the same time, don't ignore what others say just because it hurts a little at first. Evaluate it good and hard before you decide to disregard it.

For me, the hardest criticism to take tends to be on genre because my stories are mix genre. In Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury talks about how he was criticized for not being a sci-fi writer but a people writer. Since my early inspiration came from Bradbury's style, I realize that I have the same problem. I use fantasy and sci-fi as the backdrop to something that's mostly just about how people interact with each other and how they act in certain situations. My critics tend to want to see more fantasy and sci-fi elements. Where are the laser guns and dragons? they ask.