Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Critiques: How Do You Take Them?

I was posed the following question by a friend: At what point do you take writing advice and start completely over or just leave it be?

I sent her this email in reply:

Your question today hit my I'm-passionate-about-this button: Critiques. Ugh! They are horrible, huh? A necessary evil just like editing. I cried after my first three or four crits. Now, I've built up tough skin and crits aren't as bad anymore. Not like the dagger twisting in my heart.

There's a fine line with critiques.

Meaning, they are ABSOLUTELY important to have and to feast upon there wisdom.

But!!!! BUT BUT BUT! Did I emphasize that well enough?

You have to remember that it's YOUR book. Not theirs!!! You are the one who is passionate about the story. Therefore, you can take what they say with a grain of salt or devour it like its the most delicious bowl of ice cream. Ever!

For the most part, my critique partners/betas have been amazing, even if what they told me was hard to take. Ie: One of them told me I had to take out one scene in my book. I fought it. Hard! But in the end, I knew I had to cut it cuz it didn't push the plot forward at all. Yet, some things my most trusted CP's have told me, I didn't use because it didn't fit in with the vision of my book.

Like I said, my books are MY BOOKS. I hone them in through having others read them, but if I don't like their SUGGESTIONS, I don't have to use them.

And having lots of different crits is IMPORTANT BEYOND IMPORTANT. It gives you an idea of what your story really lacks or does well. As in if two, three, four people say you need to work on imagery or showing, not telling then you can be assured it is a good idea to revamp those things. One persons crit isn't the end of the world. If you want to brush thier SUGGESTIONS off your shoulder than DO! That's your right as the author. Although, if you feel they are valid points, then maybe you should go back through the book ONCE YOU ARE DONE and fix it.

That brings me to my next point: If you feel this person's SUGGESTIONS are valid then from the point you're writing now start putting them into action. Does that make sense? Then go back. The first draft of a book is supposed to be rough. It's not supposed to be perfect. Yet! That's what revisions and edits are for. The important thing is to get it on paper in its entirety. If you keep going back, then you are never going to finish it.

Have you noticed, I've been capitalizing suggestions a lot. Why? Because crits are not the god-of-all-knowledge-and-this-is-how-it-HAS-to-be type thing. They are ideas that others feel may make it better. Sometimes they hurt, sometimes they don't. All I can say is my book wouldn't almost be in the hands of publishers if I hadn't bit the bullet and embraced them. And even with an agent, I've had to take her advice--even had to write a new ending (of which I LOVE LOVE LOVE).

The End.

So what are your thoughts or advice about critiques?

Writing. Jewels.

12 comments:

  1. These are some good thoughts. Critiques can be sooo helpful, but at the end of the day it is your book and you get to decide if the criticisms are something you're going to heed or ignore.

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    1. Katie - I'm glad you agree with me. As authors, we couldnt get anywhere without crits. So helpful. Yet, it is the authors book.

      Thanks for the comment, girl!

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  2. I agree with everything you wrote, Julia! Your book, your rules. Every crit partner should understand that what they provide are SUGGESTIONS, not mandatory changes! If the suggestions change the overall tone, the basic plot or character interactions, then it's time to move on. I'm talking mostly of CP's going deletion happy because they may not know how I had structured the story--that removing a particular element at the beginning of a chapter may change the ending of the novel!

    Again, your book, your rules! :)

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    1. I like that, Jack--your book, your rules. That should be a phrase etched into a how to write book. haha

      Thanks for the comment, Mr. Jack!

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  3. Good points. I think most good readers know not to be nasty. Some day you may need to ask that author to read one of yours.

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    1. David - Yep, readers should be constructive, not destructive. Haha. I love that. I'm gonna frame that on my wall. Thx!

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  4. The biggest thing I do with a critique is set it aside. I read through it when it comes in (or two days later when I finally get the guts) then put it away. My brain knows what needs to be addressed. If I set the critique aside and let my brain process it, I figure out what really should be addressed.

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    1. Totally, Stephanie! I've had some crits that were hard to take but after letting it settle in my system, I realized what the CP/beta suggested was pretty spot on.

      Great thougts.

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  5. I always look at the source. I've beta'd some books that were such an absolute mess I'd never take the author's advice seriously. But when I beta someone who definitely knows their stuff, of course I'll take heart to the suggestions made and apply :)

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  6. I am actually about 90% finished with my first draft, and getting to a point where I need to start looking for betas. (maybe I should have done this sooner? bah. too bad!) I've been blogging for a long time, and I get a lot of MEAN comments, so I am hoping that I can take critiques with the same aplomb, but we shall see. We. Shall. See.

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    1. Yay, Gina! 90% is fantastic. Yep, with my first book, I wished I'd have had peoples eyes looking at it from the beginning. You live and you learn.

      That sucks that people have writen mean comments on your blog. Pft! I spit at them. haha

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