Look up 'critique' and you'll see such words as evaluation and assessment. Look up 'criticism' and you'll see disparagement and disapproval. As new writers, we eventually find it necessary to offer up our work for critique. This isn't the same thing as asking friends and family to read your book. Your family will love it no matter what.
Your friends may like it. If they don't, they'll merely tell you they were too busy to read it. Maybe they were indeed too busy. Howver, you suspect they couldn't choke it down because your writing wasn't up to par.
You may not be getting an honest critique of your work if you don't enlist the help of other writers. If your mom says it's great and you jump the gun and start querying and sending partials willy-nilly into the publishing world, there's a good chance you'll be disappointed by the results. Rejections will likely pour in with the regularity of an electric bill. Maybe you'll give up, convinced that you suck.
Or maybe you'll realize that there are people out there who can really help. So, you join a writers' group or forum. You get tips on making your work better. You discover flaws like passive voice, showing not telling, info dump and wooden dialogue.
Some critique groups can be particularly harsh, and you might take their negative feedback personally. Perhaps you lash back, telling everybody you know that the critiquer is mean. If that's the case, you have a lot to learn about the critiquing process. Resist the urge to diss the critiquer. Don't flounce off in a huff because your brilliant prose didn't blow the socks off everyone who read it. Some people who think they're helping you are not necessarily professionals, and not all of them know how to assess another writer's work with an objective eye.
Take each comment, positive or negative, and store them in a safe place. Take some time to cool off and look at the comments again.
Some will be inconsequential, like: "I thought that joke was in poor taste and I don't think you should use it." So what if the reader didn't like the joke? A thousand others will. Disregard.
Some will sting: "Using excessive 'there was' is the sign of an amateur". Okay, that could have been worded differently, so take it in its intended context -- omit excessive 'there was'.
Some will be extremely unhelpful: "This sucks. You can't write." Or: "I didn't like the plot." Ignore these people and move on.
Most suggestions will be helpful, and eventually their advice will percolate into your psyche. If you see the same observations over and over again, there might be some validity in their opinions.
Above all, whether you agree or disagree, take the time to thank your critiquer. I love the people in my writers' group -- they all helped me hone my rudimentary writing skills until I was eventually published. Now they are helping me in my quest to obtain an agent. They are the sweetest, most generous and kind ladies I'd ever met online. Together, we help each other learn, we lean on each others' shoulders when tragedy strikes, and we laugh together on a regular basis. I don't regret joining the group, and I wish it could be open to the whole writing world, but it can't. They can't accept everyone, just like a dedicated couple can't adopt a whole orphanage.
Take advatage of the expertise of writers' advocate sites like Absolute Write, Writer Beware and Preditors & Editors. They carefully research any claims against agents, publishers and writers' groups, offering both sides of the story if available.
You might read complaints about blogs and forums who may have rejected a writer's work. A random blog has every right to complain about individuals in the industry, but it may backfire on the owner if they don't back up their claims with facts.
There are great critique groups out there, too. Run your first pages through Elektra's Crapometer and you'll get honest and helpful opinions. Give your query letter or opening paragraphs a shot at Evil Editor's blog and you'll laugh your ass off while he picks apart your pitch in a most hilarious fashion, followed by a revised letter that will likely be 300% better. Join in the office party at the Absolute Write water c
ooler and you'll get lost in a whirlwind of opinions, jokes, critiques, writing exercises and just plain fun (and a little flouncing). Hopefully, you'll fit in some writing, too.
On another note, the cover for my Champagne Books romantic suspense Bad Ice is ready. The e-book will be released in July.
--Sandra Cormier
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