As Sandy mentioned yesterday, the Magic and Mayhem authors have donated a 4 for 1 partial critique on a paranormal romance or urban fantasy for the Brenda Novak Auction. This is a great cause and I’m so glad I could be a part of it. Critiques are scary things. You’ve pretty much given someone the green light to tear your baby apart. But through the great crits I’ve received, I became a better writer. And when I crit for someone else, I try to pay that forward.
First of all, I always use track changes. I know there are people out there who prefer not to use it, but I don’t think I could live without it. I also make sure to leave as many positive comments as I can. It hurts to read a crit that is peppered with nothing but criticism. It’s just as important to tell someone when they’ve written something great as it is to point out something that doesn’t work. I’m also big on suggestions. When it comes right down to it, the piece I’m critting isn’t MY book. I’m not the author, and I think it’s important when reviewing a critique to remind yourself that you have total veto power. If you—as the writer—don’t agree with the critter’s opinion, you reserve the right to ignore it. Therefore, if a sentence, or word, or phrase isn’t working for me, rather than change it, I’ll tell the author why it isn’t working for me and offer a suggestion or two as to how a change might be made. The important thing about critiquing is that you have to approach the story like a reader, not just a writer. I’m always sure to tell the author if a plot point doesn’t make sense, or if there are story gaps that need to be filled. I’ll also comment on pacing.
As far as line editing goes, if I find a grammatical error, I’ll fix it. But I can tell you from reviewing my own manuscript fresh from my editor; I have a hard time with commas. And semicolons. I either use them too much or not enough. I’m not a grammar pro. So unless I’m 100% sure, I won’t make a change.
The end goal here isn’t to tear someone’s hard work apart. Nor is it to shatter the writer’s self-esteem. There’s always room for improvement, no matter what phase your writing career is in. How do you feel about critique? Does the idea of criticism make you break out in hives? Or do you welcome suggestions with open arms?
May 3rd, 2011 - 4:17 pm
I LOVE Track Changes. That’s what I prefer to give/receive crits in. And it’s a good thing, too. That’s what my editor and the copy editor used for edits. It would have been an added stress if I had to learn Track Changes while working on revisions. So, writers don’t have to love it, but I really would encourage them to at least get used to working with it.
You brought up lots of great points here!
May 4th, 2011 - 12:18 pm
I’m a track changes user also. Makes it so much easier to keep track of changes. They can also be turned on and off if necessary.
So glad you pointed out the important thing. A crit is just another person’s opinion and you can take it or leave it.
May 5th, 2011 - 12:51 pm
Who does crits w/o track changes? You can’t do anything, not even basic edits, w/o using it, now that publishers are moving to digital editing to cut cost.
May 5th, 2011 - 3:33 pm
I agree with you in that it’s just as helpful to tell a writer what they did well as it is to tell them what might be improved. I remember in a workshop, there was a writer who was amazing with dialogue (she used to write screenplays), but her narrative wasn’t quite as strong. Because of the rules of the workshop, we had to frame our criticism with positive comments (at least 2) and of course everybody mentioned her superb dialogue. When she submitted again after the rewrite, her story was much more dialogue heavy, which worked! It sped up the pacing and sucked us readers in even faster.