The harsh critique.

I am both a writer and a critique partner.

Sometimes combining the two has been difficult and I have lost friends from the blank honesty of my critiques.

The problem is not that I am rude, or cruel, or even use hard words. I will never slam a work no matter how bad it is, and I will always try and find a helpful suggestion for every crit I make and every point I bring up. I find what is fine and good in the work and mention those parts I like even if sometimes they are few and far between.

So why am I considered harsh?

That is indeed a very good question, one I have only recently managed to figure out myself

The thing of it is, as a writer there are some things we like being critiqued on, some we wince but accept and some that strike us down to the bone with shattering and painful accuracy. And it is the last one, no matter how gently put, or how many good points come before it, that will leave you gasping from the blow.

The first critique is the one on punctuation and grammar. A word too much used here, one left out there and who the hell really knows where to put a damn comma? That kind of crit  you enjoy, because you know the person who sat for hours correcting your million and one misplaced comma splices, has made your work shiny and polished.

Then there is the one that makes you wince, the one that normally starts like this “I like where you are going with this, but this whole paragraph is really not necessary since you have already established……” Or “I don’t understand this, who’s doing what to whom and why?”

The first for me sometimes feels like an amputation. Yes sure I have already explained all that, but the dialog in that paragraph was sooooo cool. The second one is even tougher, because in my mind that bit or section is clear as a bell, and how can it be any clearer?

This kind of crit means a lot more work for the writer because we have to start trying to figure out what works and what does not and then re-write those sections.

Which brings me to the last, and most devastating crit. The one that starts with, “the idea for this story is great but…“  and is usually followed by, “the characters are not working for me”.

OUCH!!! (I’ve actually had that one from an editor. She told me “I don’t feel any connection to your character…” and yes, I can still feel the sting from that one.)

Then there is the even more painful variations “I can’t visualize your story.” Or “The plot is weak, the setting needs work.”

Double OUCH!!

The reason why these critiques hurts so much is that unlike the other two, this one you can’t just fix with a bit of creative writing. This one basically means, strip the story down to the roots, salvage what you can, and then start again.

It’s hard for seasoned writers to recover from that harsh a critique, which is why I hesitate to critique beginners. I am honor bound to be honest, but at the same time I would hate to feel that my crit had made someone loose their love of writing, and the danger of shattering a fragile confidence is much higher in a beginner than in someone who’s had to deal with editors.

Which brings me to the point of this post, if you are going to ask for a critique, be very sure that you can accept the pain that comes with that.

If not, there is no shame in admitting you do not want to know what is wrong with your love child just yet. The best thing you can do is have another child… (no I do not mean this literally.)

Edit your story over and over again, read it, enjoy it, print it out and read it some more. Let your family read it and give you all the loving good feedback that your writer ego needs. Build up your confidence, if you feel there are grammatical problems in your work, get books and read up on how to fix those. Take as much time as you need to do this.

Eventually the muse will be bashing you over the head to write a new story, and that is the very best thing you can do. Join a writing group, find a writing partner, someone who likes your work, works well with you, and whose work you like.

Only when you have managed to re-read your work, and found yourself wincing at those parts that are suddenly not quite as brilliant as you first thought, will you have enough distance from the work to be able to weather a harsh crit.

It will still sting, but the blow will be dulled by the new work and your confidence will not be completely shattered. You will more than likely already have suspected a lot of what is brought up in the crit and other more experienced writers will more often than not be able to help you find a solution.

For those out there who are smarting from a harsh crit, who perhaps got more than they bargained for *hugs* and don’t give up. Every journey starts with one small step.

Just don’t toss the work one side in a fit of rage and self-loathing. Take a deep breath, give yourself time to ride out the pain, and then come back to it. Let your mind absorb what the critique’er suggested… and then decide if you are up to the task of fixing it. If the answer to that is yes, then you have just earned your big girl/boy Writer pants!! But more than that you have learned something, and it will show in every work you produce after that.

I  also highly recommend following this link, for both critique partner and writer. This post was both inspiring and hauntingly real for me. http://wyrdsmiths.blogspot.com/2010/03/confidence-and-confidants.html

And always always… Happy Writing!!!

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