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I’m in the middle of revision purgatory at the moment, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the critiques that we both give and receive. Let’s face it folks, this ain’t my first rodeo. I have just started my seventh novel, and I’m revising number five. I’ve worked with critique partners, entered numerous contests, and sat through many workshop classes on my way to getting my Master of Professional Writing. Sometimes the amount of “advice” a writer receives is overwhelming. If you’re not careful, you can change your story too much or not enough. You can lose sight of your original vision or stick so doggedly to your idea that your story languishes with inconsistencies and plot holes. So, what’s a writer to do? Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
5. Don’t take it personally. Someone says your hero is a jackass or that he’s spineless. Yes, he’s your baby, but don’t take it personally. Try to look at those passages objectively. Get a second opinion. If several folks reading your work don’t see your characters as you do, obviously something is getting lost in translation. If only one individual doesn’t see your characters as you do, that one person may be crazy. Even if you determine the advice you have received has come from an utter lunatic who needs to be taken away by the nice men in the clean white coats, you still have to be nice. Thank them for their time—especially if the person in question is a harried published author.
4. Learn to laugh at yourself. We’re all going to have typos. We’re all going to write a first draft of a synopsis where someone shoots a cow in cold blood. (Oh, wait, that’s only me.) If you can’t laugh at the fact your husband points out every “me” instead of “my” in your manuscript and writes “Arr!” in the margins, you are taking life entirely too seriously. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at the inconsistencies of your first synopsis and then make it better. Feeling bad about yourself? See comment about including a shot cow above. And, sadly, there are plenty more examples where that came from.
3. Consider every comment, but don’t accept every comment. At some point you have to be confident enough to know why you made a certain artistic choice. That said, what is it going to hurt to consider someone else’s comments? One of the great things about writing is that you can write 50 pages and then delete them or relegate them to the scrap heap any time you want to. Some folks are paralyzed at the thought of deleting a passage; I think of it as freedom.
2. Report truly negative criticism. Personally, I’ve been lucky enough that my contest feedback has all been professional. And usually dead on, if I’m being honest with myself. If, however, you have someone write a comment like “This poor excuse for writing is never going to be published” then you need to tactfully let the contest coordinator know. Better yet, give the judge an example of what was written. Contest coordinators constantly struggle to find enough judges for these contests, and the judges themselves are often worn diaphanously thin, but contests should be helpful. Truly negative comments are not helpful.
1. Consider the source. All feedback is helpful, but some feedback is going to be more helpful than others. If the person giving you advice on your sweeping, romantic family saga prefers existentialist, dystopian short stories, his or her opinion might not be as useful as that of your author friend who writes historicals. Also, I can remember turning in one contest entry and receiving a much lower score from a judge who was an unpublished author than from a judge who was a published author. For the most part, I discounted the former because she marked me low on grammar and punctuation—obsessively so. The published author focused on plot holes in the story line, and fixing the story was more important. Buffing and polishing could come later. Another time, I entered my very southern story in a very northern contest. I had some interesting comments that I chose to ignore because the reader clearly did not have a feel for southern fiction. That same story, with minimal changes, went on to win the Duel on the Delta and final in the Maggies.
So, dial back the defense mechanism, weigh feedback carefully, and know the people you can trust. And most importantly? Have fun. If you’re not having fun, it’s going to show in your pages. Now what about you? Share some of your best—and worst—critiques. Remember: tact is the name of the game, though, so be nice and change names to protect the innocent.
by Sally Kilpatrick
31 comments
Sally,
Everything you say rings true. I was especially interested in your Point #3. Consider every comment but don’t accept every comment.
At Saturday’s Georgia Romance Writers meeting, the very gifted writer Tanya Michaels was presenting a talk on Voice. She said, “Protect Your Voice. Don’t take every piece of advice you’re given or your voice will get lost. You’ve got to know who you are.”
Most of the advice I’ve received is on target. Sometimes, it’s confusing because one judge will say one thing, and another just the opposite. But there’s always something you can take away.
Whether a judge is published or unpublished may not make as big a difference as we’d think. A judge is a reader first, so if we’re not getting through to a reader, there is probably a valid reason.
On the other hand, if we take every change we’re given, we might end up with a mishmash of a manuscript. It’s when two judges say the same thing that I sit up and take notice.
Marilyn
Wonderful reminders, Sally. I love your take on this, especially the point about sifting through the good and the irrelevant comments. It’s so hard to put into practice, because – as you say – this is our baby, and it’s hard to be objective.
I have to say I’ve had some very helpful critiques over the years. One time, a judge wrote “Get to the good stuff now!” in the margin. Sure it stung, but man, I needed that to get me out of my rambling backstory and nothing-is-happening-AT-ALL opening scenes.
And then there was the sage advice from Anna Adams, who told me to come out and state the issue the heroine was having with the hero early on. Priceless.
With the Gin Ellis workshop and the Maggies, we GRW members are so lucky.
I am just finishing my very first manuscript and have had only one professional critique so far – by our own Sandy Elzie – but I will definitely keep your advice in mind as I continue my journey. Thank you for sharing your experience and advice!
Great reminders, Sally. Best critique was from an editor when I was a newby. She gently explained what was good and what I needed to correct. That critique helped me focus on what I needed to learn. When I receive a harsh comment, I put down my entry and remember judges are people who sometimes have a bad day. It also reminds me never to judge when my day isn’t going so well.
Marilyn,I think you make a very good point about sitting up and paying attention when two judges say the same thing. If two people point the same thing, something’s wrong.
And I didn’t mean to knock unpublished authors. That was merely a specific example–I get LOTS of good feedback from all people who are kind enough to read my work. And I appreciate them.
Even though I didn’t care for some of the advice I mentioned, I would like to point out that I did send thank you notes to EVERYONE who judged, whether I took their advice or not.
Linsey, good point on the Gin Ellis Workshop. That workshop alone makes GRW membership dues a good value. We should bring wine and chocolate to those meetings.
Pam, you are doing the right thing. I think it’s wise to get an entire first draft out before you get too, too much advice. A great shout out to our own Sandy Elzie, who is always willing to share her expertise. I had a wonderful little plot twist that revolved around a suggesting she made about the ball at the top of a newel post–you never know when bouncing ideas off each other will lead to something great.
Good reminders, Sia. I’m a big fan of “tough, but fair.” And I try to put down GH entries if I’m in a rotten mood. I also try to finish an entire entry even if it’s setting my teeth on edge–we each owe it to each other to finish an entry and to try to separate our own dislikes from the artistic merits of the work we’re critiquing.
Oh, the Southern versus Northern thing is always interesting. One of my heroines was a contemporary Southern gal who took a headache powder, a.k.a. Goody’s etc. and I was told that headache powders were “historical”.
Debbie, that is too funny! Just the sort of comment I was looking for. We forget that some of the things we take for granted–Goodys, 19th century camp meeting tunes–are not at the forefront of everyone else’s mind.
Great post Sally, and so timely!
I suppose some of the best comments I got back were from some agents I submitted to. Several of them, particularly the ones I had met in person or pitched to, offered concrete advice and encouragement. I’ve also had some invaluable feedback from critique partners, but again, I’m with Marilyn on your point #3 – one doesn’t necessarily have to change everything but make sure you at least digest everything to see if it works for your story.
I think the main critique I didn’t agree with was from one agent who represents Christian fiction as well as commercial fiction, and she lived in a very conservative town. My characters (4 women) met for a margarita one night per week. The agent said that made them lushes and she didn’t like characters like that. I realized it was her own personal taste, as well as her location/specialties, that caused that comment, as I certainly don’t think having 1 margarita one night per week with friends was “being a drunk lush.”
My rule of thumb is did more than one person say the same thing about the manuscript? If so, then it might be worth looking at.
Good post, Sally! And congrats on working on your 7th novel! I’m on my 6th now.
Elaine
What a coinky-dink.
It’s funny you bring this up.
Last week I met with my beloved crit group. You know who they are. Three wonderful ladies I think the world of.
I had finally, after a year of work, trimmed a 10 page synop into a 5 page work of perfection…
Or so I thought.
They ripped it to shreds.
And I reacted as though they had torn one of my children to pieces.
Terrible huh?
I was so upset by their critique that I started crying at our table in Panera Bread. People were staring.
I didn’t agree with a word they said.
When I got home, took a breath, cradled my ragged, bloody synopsis in my arms, and got ready to call Dr. Frankenstein to come and revive it, I noticed something.
The words I had fought over, cried over, shook my head and growled in defense over, were…crap.
I was too darn close to it. And worse, I thought it was best seller (if they had best seller synopsis that is) material.
It wasn’t. There were holes all over the thing.
Like you said, we have to learn to laugh at ourselves and don’t take it personally.
I know for a fact that my CP love me. They would never, ever intentionally hurt me, and most importantly, they would never ever steer me the wrong way. They have always been supportive, yet firm, kind, yet truthful. And not everyone can say that about the people they let read their work.
I’m a lucky duck.
I went back, took into consideration all they said, changed the 90% I totally agreed with, and you know what?
Now the thing is a best seller
Loved the post Sally!
Good luck with the revisions!! I’ll be pulling for you
Have a lovely, warm, and productive day!
Tamara
Yes…sorry, I wrote a book up there
But, you inspire me Mrs. Kilpatrick!
Sally,
I know exactly what you’re talking about. We have to be careful to protect our confidence in our story. I have a friend who has let her critique group change her voice. It happened slowly over time but now she sees it and can fix it. I’ve got some good contest feedback but I got one that was so hurtful that I kept it to remind me to be careful in my own judging.
Great, Sally! I’ve learned that the thing you least believe take most seriously. One of my CPs said I write like a robot. She’s right! I’m half cyborg, but I now make an effort to write more “accessible” language.
Another great post, Sally. One thing I have to get better at is sending my work out to more contests. One of the most frustrating responses I once had was when someone made comments that didn’t make any sense at all to my story. It lead my CP’s and I to believe she either never actually read it, or got it mixed up with a different story when she wrote her comments. I love working with CP’s because you learn so much when you work with others. That kind of support and compassion like Tamara was talking about is priceless. For all you writers out there, if you don’t have a critique partner, I highly suggest you find one or at least a few trusted readers – with writing experience.
Elaine,
First, you’re absolutely right about advice from agents. I got some really great advice from Chelsea Gilmore last year–more incentive to enter the new PFHT Contest.
Your example of a conservative agent not liking women characters meeting for margaritas is the perfect example of critique advice to avoid. It’s important to know that some readers might not identify with your characters, but that only matters if those readers are your target readers.
Oh, and good luck on number 6! (My number 6 is yet another one of my infamous doorstops.)
Tamara, you may write me a book any time. I’m sorry about your baby, and it really is hard not to get upset when you realize something spiffy isn’t up to par. My last experience with receiving dead-on advice I didn’t want to hear resulted in a deep crimson blush instead of anger. I think that’s improvement. I hope that’s improvement…let’s say it is, shall we?
Susan, I think you’ve done a brave thing to keep the hurtful criticism to remind you to be nice. I still remember one of my college workshops where one of the class members referred to my novel as “Sally” Untitled Thing.” That hurt. To make matters worse, some of his criticism was actually very good advice, but I made a note that how we deliver criticism is almost as important as what we say. I don’t always live up to my goal of being tactful as well as truthful, but I try my best.
Nicki Salcedo, if you write like a cyborg, I’d hate to see your fully human writing. I think it would be too much for us mere mortals.
And thanks for the advice that one of my heroes needed to “man up.” That’s another example of excellent advice I might not want to hear, but I so needed to hear it. I really learned about about myself and my voice from all of the things that were wrong with that novel. : )
Darcy, we could write a book about sending our work out. Whether contests or queries, sending it out is rough, and getting confusing feedback is frustrating. As an undergrad, I had a fellow student say about one of my short stories, “Well, I couldn’t figure out if the narrator was a man or a woman.” I bit my tongue, but I really wanted to say, “Take a look on page one, line fifteen, and you’ll see he refers to himself as a widower.”
And you’re absolutely right about great CPs–they are worth their weight in gold!
Great post, Sally. Like Tamara said, timely. I’m working on revisions I put away almost two years ago. I hated the comments then, but now I can look at them and really “see” what they were saying.
One of the worst critiques I ever received was from a lady who told me I knew nothing about writing cops and the way cops speak. I was floored since I had spent more than three years as a police dispatcher and had even gone through training at the police academy to do some of the matron duties I was assigned. It took me a while, but I eventually figured out that what she “meant” was that I wasn’t writing big city cop speak. For the small town (about 5,000 people) I grew up in and worked in, that was exactly how they spoke. I guess it is a matter of perspective and where the person who is critiquing is from. Go figure.
One of the best critiques I ever received had a note telling me to do a search for my thats, feels, felts, etc and try to change most of them. When I did this, I could definitely see where I had been telling my readers what was happening. This one trick really made me open my eyes to how to change that pesky showing issue. Well, most of the time…grin…
Thanks for a fun post, Sally. Good luck with your revisions and your writing. You can do it!!!!
Tami
Tami,
Another good example with the person who suggested you didn’t speak “cop.” I had someone tell me I wasn’t writing a realistic teacher; at the time I was an 8 year veteran of the class room. Ouch!
I love using the “Find” function not just for all of the “that”s but also for “was” or any other word I just love to use. Like “just” apparently.
Awesome post Sally! I was just talking to someone about this. You’re so right about not taking it personally.
Sally,
This was exactly the night that I needed to read this. Not because I’m deep in editing/revision hell, but because I’m feeling discouraged about my writing in general. This has reminded me to keep plugging away, and that every line and every critique is one step closer to achieving the things I want to achieve. If I can even get halfway to where you are now, I’ll feel successful!
Kristi, that is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said. You’re a great writer and should definitely keep at it. I know how tough it is to work all day and then write. I have trouble sometimes, and I’m not even teaching anymore.
Let’s just hope that seven’s a charm. Or maybe five, since it’s still out and about. ; )
Amen, sister! I first entered the Golden Heart competition 20+ years ago and got 2 so so critiques (the judges were overwhelmed that year), 2 who loved it (one said I was ready and one gave me her agent’s number) and 2 who absolutely, totally, had nothing nice to say hated it. One said “People don’t talk like that” which was hilarious as I’d taken the conversation from a real life one. Kris Rusch, who writes romance as Kristine Grayson, said that meant I was doing some pretty powerful writing. While it was a long time ago, I still let the two negative ones get to me. BTW, I read a novel by one of the negative Nellies and I HATED it! It was horrible, with no romance in it at all! Sorry for the book, but you are right–find your voice and pick your battles. Thanks!
Good advice, Sally. I remember receiving a contest packet back from a highly respected contest in early August that had one critique with a few comments but telling me the book was ready to pitch. The other critique took apart pretty much every page and told me “You have a nice little story that might show promise if you work at it.” I had just won the Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier 2 weeks before. And I sold the book as well.
That doesn’t mean to ignore deeply critiqued pages, only those where comments are clearly by a frustrated writer. I got some of my best advice from judges who gave me the lowest of three scores because she/he saw something in the writing and pointed out places I could improve.
Chudney! I missed your comment up there! Not taking it personally is the hardest part. And the most important.
Julee, I could write a book about the widely divergent responses. You are right that it’s generally all about a strong voice. And you are so right about how we cling to the bad when we should be celebrating the good.
As to the Negative Nellies, I really should tell my Elizabeth Spencer story one day. That one happened when I was 18. It’s such a wonder I’m still at this–either that or I am a total glutton for punishment.
Dianna, thanks so much for chiming in. And if I ever sell Beulah, I’m going to have to remember you and Mary since I had that idea while sitting in your one-day workshop over in Alabama.
You put it so well when you say the comments to avoid are the ones from obviously frustrated writers.