Today, I
would like to chat about critique partners, or just referred to as a "CP.”
I always find it odd when I meet or chat with other writers who not only don't
know what a CP is, but they have never had one.
What is
a CP?
Basically,
it is another writer with whom you exchange entire manuscripts or portions of
your manuscript, or for short "MS," with to obtain honest feedback on
the storyline, characterization, plot, pacing, dialogue, etc. You critique
(edit and offer feedback) on their work and in exchange they do the same.
Every
serious writer should have a CP (and use a professional editor at some point).
Your CP is one of your most valuable allies when venturing into the world of
publishing. A CP will tell you when you’re writing is
awesome–or when it sucks. A great CP will also encourage you when the
rejections start pouring in, and be the one to sympathize with
you about publishing woes.
But you need
to be really cautious when choosing a CP to share your novel with. You want a
critique that works best for you. A great CP should have a similar
writing style, goals, and editing/writing skills. Friends and family, and I
mean ANYONE who is NOT a writer, should not read or offer feedback on your
work. It is nice of them to offer, but I strongly encourage you to say no,
thank you. Only other writers will have the knowledge and insight to point
out plot holes and other story issues. You mom or brother-in-law or coworker cannot offer solutions to fix
any major story problems.
I recently
had another writer offer to critique my work. She seemed very nice and had a
sincere desire to help. We wrote in completely different genres and our writing
styles were vastly dissimilar. In my opinion, it helps to find someone who
writes in the same genres that you do. They'll "get" your stories and
be able to offer constructive criticism because they obviously read and write
in the same genre as you do. So I sent a few pages to this other writer and
what I mostly got back in the comments was how much she hated the genre and
even somewhat accused me of writing something just to get book sales. Some of
her feedback was helpful, but most of it was not. And yes, I was kind of
insulted.
It is critical to find a CP who you connect with. I cannot
stress enough how valuable and rewarding and insightful it is to have a good
CP. Plus, having someone else edit your work gives you a fresh perspective on
ways to improve the storyline. A CP is someone you can brainstorm with and
bounce ideas around with.
The best
part of having a CP is that you have someone to share the crazy ups and downs
of the publishing world with. Someone to cheer you on when you get discouraged,
or cry with over a bad review. Or who understands the struggles of rejection by
agents or publishers. A writer friend who you can chat with about the creative
writing process when your non-writer friends just don't get it.
How to learn from Critique Partners
Looking back, when I first started querying
agents my query wasn’t that great and my MS wasn’t ready. Sure, I’d used beta
readers, but I'd never had an actual critique partner. By that I mean—another writer.
So now I can see why I got so many rejections the first time around. I needed a
strong, honest, critique partner. When I finally found one, I was amazed.
What a difference!
A good critique partner indicates obvious
overlooked errors, and is brutally honest yet respectful in their evaluation of
your manuscript. Feedback is crucial to a writer, but in the end, the decisions
of what goes into a novel are still the author’s choice. It's helpful in the
beginning to tell your potential critique partner exactly what type of critique
you're looking for.
Editing is a long, hard process. It can take even the most
experienced writer a great deal of time, effort, and patience, but the end
results are well worth it.
When one of my critique partners sent me an
email regarding her recent experience with two other writers from a well-known
"writers" website, who had read her work and sent her back extremely
nasty critiques, I felt the need to blog about it. These comments were so mean
I was shocked. Now, I don’t usually visit that forum, I like AgentQuery.
Everyone there for the most part is straightforward but considerate in his or
her evaluation of sample pages posted. No flaming or nastiness.’
Crit partners are supposed to encourage,
support, and help each other find any overlooked mistakes. Which leads me to
the topic of my post today…
Critique Etiquette
101
Okay, first off, any writer who “thinks” his/her
novel is perfect needs a reality check. Even published authors have critique
partners and beta readers—they are called agents and editors! (I
personally know quite a few published authors who still use critique partners
and groups to review their work before they send it to their agent.)
Why use a crit
partner, my mom thinks my writing is great?
Because most of the time a writer cannot be
nearly as impartial about their own work to notice its flaws. A great critique
partner is firm in his/her belief that you are a good writer, but they are
never hesitant to indicate ways for you to improve your craft. It should be objective, and not reflect the personal
opinions, likes, dislikes, and biases of the other writer.
Don’t we all want to
develop our skills as a writer?
You would think so. As a writer, you should
quickly learn that one of the most appreciated gifts you can receive is a
candid evaluation of your work. All writers need a “second pair of eyes”
because our work is too close to our heart for us to see its weaknesses. If someone wants to exchange chapters with me, I always start with a five-page sample. Never more than that, because I want to see if we are compatible
and check out the level of writing.
A writer friend of mine once mentioned that I
was too harsh in my critiques. So, what if they overused certain words or used
the “to be” verbs abundantly. Well...
As a critique partner, I just highlighted what I
considered common writing mistakes in sentence structure. I’d been taught early
on to eliminate weak verb/adverb combinations and to use strong action verbs
instead.
In my own evaluation of other people’s work, I
make suggestions on improving scenes, and emotional character development, or
advise cutting a section, BUT it’s still up to the writer to disregard the
suggestions or revise.
Now if your CP points out common writing
mistakes such as weak verb usage, abusing odd connectives, info-dumps, passive
voice, show vs. telling, or dialogue tag overuse, then those simple suggestions
should always be taken to heart and revised. These are usually red flags to agents, and readers/book reviewers that your work hasn't been polished.
And that is what a good critique partner does.
They show you things that perhaps you’ve overlooked. Or possibly, the writer
didn't realize some errors were a universal oversight that many new writers
make. That's why so many agents tell newbie writers to read "THE ELEMENTS
OF STYLE" by William Strunk and E. B. White, considered the bible
for editing. So, take the criticism and be objective. Or try to be. It is still up to YOU to
either accept or reject their advice.
Did I agree with all of my critique partner's
suggestions on revising certain sections of my MS? No. I used my own creative
judgment when making those kinds of revisions. But I do revise any grammar, typos,
or common writing mistakes that they took the time to point out for me.
Most CPs will comment on:
A line-by-line edit
An evaluation of pace and
flow
General feedback about
what works on a grand scale and what doesn't
Dialogue and
characterization
Redundancy
Point out clichés and
overused words
Some CPs will also point out your common crutch words, comment
on specific awkward phrasing that yanks the reader out of the story, or make
comments such as, "cut this paragraph in half, it's slowing the
pace" that might leave you dumbfounded. That’s only because you
haven't learned enough yet to see beyond your own writing to the different
essentials of editing a novel. But once you realize why they pointed out these
overlooked errors, those comments are like finding buried treasure. You can use
them to polish your work.
Now when you critique someone else's work try to separate, as best you can, your own preferences and choices from your
attempt at an unbiased critique of their story.
Admire what there is to admire, BUT also include
constructive comments on important elements such as:
What seems to be missing in
the story?
What doesn’t quite flow
together?
What remains puzzling about
the narrative?
Answers to these questions will really help give
the other writer a sense of where and what needs improving. The writer needs to know
specifically which scenes you thought slowed the pace, or even found repetitive
before making the appropriate revisions.
TOUGH LOVE
Personally, I only give tough love in my critiques, which means that if you want someone to only tell you what a wonderful writer you are, but not tell you where your strengths and weaknesses are too, then I would not be the CP for you. My goal as a CP is to suggest ways that could make the manuscript even better. Otherwise, what use is the critique, right?
Keep in mind, you also reserve the right not to
alter your work. Each critique reflects the opinion of the reader, and the
author always has the final decision on edits. A wise author, however, considers
even negative comments carefully, remembering that if the manuscript cannot
stand on its own without verbal defense or explanation, it won’t have much
chance with an editor or agent, or with readers if you self-publish.
As a crit partner/editor it is so much easier to
see inconspicuous errors in others work, because as the writer we are too close
to our own story to see the flaws in pacing, POV, descriptions, tone, and
characterization.
But it is not necessary to be cruel.
Still, it might be a good idea to develop thicker skin. NOW. If you
don’t...just wait until you get reviews.
Try to look at what your CP was commenting on with an open-mind.
After receiving a critique, please remember that this is still YOUR story. Not anyone
else’s. You may not agree with your crit partners and that’s fine. You know the
story better than anyone and you know what works and what doesn’t. But do try
to look at it with a critical eye. Like I said, I don’t always change things my
crit partner’s remark on. I use my own artistic instincts before making
changes.
I don't really mind harsh feedback as long
as it's done tactfully. One of my critique partners called my attention to the
overuse of the compound “but.” At the time, I hadn’t even realized that I’d
been over using it. And I mean, I had abused that word in just about every
other sentence.
A few years ago, one CP noticed my
misuse of the exclamation point. My MS was riddled with them. I had every
character using it to get a point across. Not good. And embarrassing.
Unfortunately, these were all signs of an amateur writer, and a big tip off to
editors and agents in the publishing field that my writing was in desperate
need of revision.
And that is what a good critique partner does.
They give you advice with considerate and honest
feedback. Critiques are meant to help, not hurt. Yet, be prepared when you put
your work "out there" for the public in these writing forums. You'll
get all kinds of unhelpful and hurtful advice...along with some good.
What should you do when you receive an overly
offensive critique of your work?
Buy a gallon of ice cream, and vow to never
write again.
Ah, no! But don’t make
justifications for all the negative feedback you receive either. It can be easy
to ignore suggestions we don’t like. Be objective. Be open-minded. Try to see
past the negative and use it to grow as a writer. There is ALWAYS room for
improvement.
Learn what writing advice to follow, and what to ignore.
This
is a gut instinct that you’ll eventually develop. Just remember that you
(and no one else) are the best judge of your own work.
And be careful of getting too comfortable with a
CP. Once I made the mistake of unintentionally insulting one of my long-term CPs
when I offered some constructive advice on her current WIP. Sometimes how we word
things can be misconstrued in comments or feedback. She was very upset, and
although I tried to apologize and explain, the partnership couldn’t be
repaired.
I guess, I’m tougher skinned than most writers. I
tell my CPs to let it
bleed red and
don’t be afraid to rip my manuscript’s guts out. Honestly, I’d much rather hear
how awful the book is in the privacy of my inbox by a CP than have my Amazon
product page splattered with one star reviews, or get repeatedly rejected by
agents or publishers. And first drafts are supposed to be messy and error
riddled and have plot holes. That’s why we need CPs to help us polish the
storyline into something worth reading—worth being proud of.
I always say...SPARE the READER, NOT the WRITER!
So I strongly urge you to find at least two
experienced CPs (critique partners) to exchange chapters with on a weekly
basis. I rely heavily on my own CPs to help me draft a more comprehensible and
engaging storyline before I send my work off to my own editing team. Also, try
to get at least three beta readers (NOT friends or family) that read your
genre.
Some great blogs about critiquin:
Getting
the Most Out of a Critique
This forum for YA writers is awesome.
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Post by editor and author S. A. Soule
