Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Pitfalls of Multiple Critiques

I have been doing a fair amount of critiquing these days. It clears my mind so that I can dive into my own manuscripts with fresh eyes.  I have also noticed a lot of first page critiques up on blog posts.  I read them, scan the comments, and often cringe.

First, hats off to those of you courageous enough to put your work out there for others to critique. It is a necessary and often difficult process. Let's face it, none of us want to hear that are ms is lacking in one are or overflowing with description in another.  But we need to.  Second, and more importantly, be careful.  Sometimes we get so lost on other people's opinions of our manuscripts that we forget why we originally wrote it . . . we forget that it is our voice we are honing NOT SOMEBODY ELSE'S.

Now, what prompted this post of caution?  No worries, it is not a critique we got back on SILO.  That baby has left the hands of our "small group of well-seasoned" critique partners weeks ago, the revisions being read solely by Ginger.  It's a couple of other things actually.  I got a ms to read from a long standing CP of mine, one that was already full of comments.  Content wise, I agreed with a very small percentage of the suggested edits, what I took exception to was her completely inaccurate use of  grammar.  My CP was stressed out, got the dreaded comment that her ms was riddled with passive voice.  It wasn't, which has me thinking maybe it is time for another post on the difference between past-tense active voice and passive voice.

That afternoon I read a blog post for a fantastic author who was seeking a critique on her first 250 words.  She was off to an amazing and strong start, better then three-quarters of the manuscripts I have read in the past year.  She threw you right into the story, had the perfect amount of dialogue to action, and set the tense mood within a few well-crafted sentences.  Ohh . . . but did she have comments.  Problem was each one was telling her to switch something different up.  There was no consistency in the suggested edits, just a bunch of personal taste floating around.  And that is what scares the hell out of me -- that authors like myself will start changing things, start hacking up our manuscripts according the the personal taste of a few dozen beta readers.

My advice . . . DON'T.  Remember that it is your voice, your story.  Trust your instincts.  Don't be afraid to revise, but you have to whole-heatedly agree with the suggested revision. And by all means, look for the common denominator.  If three or four of your CP's are telling you the same thing, then address it.  BUt please, don't ever change the way you write because some random commenter on your blog didn't like the second sentence of your third paragraph!

How do I get around it?  Like I said, small, well-seasoned group of CP's who know my style, aren't interested in changing my voice, and read solely for plot and character inconsistencies. Took me a long time to find them, but they are fantastic!

16 comments:

  1. I think this is great advice...and why I don't share what I'm working on with anyone but my writing group. :)

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  2. Thanks for this post! And, you are so right. I'm still forget that it's MY story sometimes. I tend to think that everyone else on the planet is right and I'm wrong, so I used to change every. single. thing. My first story isn't even the storyt that I had orginially set out to write and a good chunk of that is because of all of the comments I got back on it. I'm getting ready to query at the end of the summer and for the first time, I've really thought about the changes suggested instead of just making them.

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  3. Trisha, you are a gifted and talented person. I'm so glad to have met you. You are correct, a good solid critique group is so important. I'm lucky to have met some writers whose opinion truly matters, who I can look to for solid great advice. I'm thankful.

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  4. This was exactly what I needed to see this morning. I am in the process of trying to reconcile three critiques from people who don't know each other and didn't see the other's comments. After making several changes and stepping away from it for a week, I find myself going back and adding "my voice" back in.

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  5. Morning all. Glad my post helped. Just remember, at the end of the day it is your story, your voice. You tell it and nobody else!

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  6. I used to be afraid to have someone touch my work. In fact it wasn't until two weeks ago that I was comfortable with finding two fabulous writers to help me out. They believe in my work, they know my personalities and they are seasoned writers. I know this because they both have books out. They've been learning how to write and edit like their editors. They have insight on how to handle things. Not to mention they're sweet (a total bonus).

    They've shared tips that have worked for them and they don't hold anything back when it comes to my stories. I want it to be amazing and they do just that. This is the first time I felt like this novel is really going to be the one that lands me an agent. All thanks to the two girls who love my work.

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  7. I've run into conflicting critique advice before as well. I try to keep in mind that much of it is only one person's opinion. If I get two or three people saying the same thing, I'll take a much closer look. I've had people try to change my query letter too, saying that I need to insert much more suspense and darkness. It's not a dark book, though, and I don't want to misrepresent it. Anyone who helps out in any way is great, but you're right~ you have to sift through the feedback sometimes :)

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  8. Trisha, What an excellent post! Writing is such a subjective field. Some will love it, others may not. And when you find a CP that believes in you, that can only move you in the right direction. Thanks for the great post - you made a lot of people feel good about their stories again when they woke up and read this.

    A

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  9. Great post! I will be having having my ms read in about a month by beta readers - great things to remember. Thank you for the encouraging words & pratical advice!

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  10. Great post Trisha, one of those things many of us learn the hard way. :)

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  11. Great thoughts! Thanks for being one of my trusted partners! I always appreciate your input!

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  12. What is ms and CP mean? I've just started writing and am still getting used to the lingo here....

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  13. Hey Laurie -- thrilled to see you have taken up writing. MS means manuscript and CP means Critique Partner -- someone who reads your manuscript and gives you constructive feedback on what works and what doesn't. You will also see them referred to as beta readers form time to time.

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  14. That's great advice, Trisha. Learning to read crits is definately a skill. Not got there yet, often I end up agreeing with everyone, even the conflicting advice *sigh*

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  15. So true you have to stay true to your voice. Critique partners are great,but if they start to try and make you change your voice, then they might not be the right group for you. Great advice!

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