Processing Critiques

Run over by the locomotive of new adoptive parenthood, I dropped out of writers critique groups last year and have just recently moved back into seeking critiques for my work. As I settle back into the routine of being told what's wrong with my writing, I've been reflecting on rules of thumb I find helpful in receiving critiques:

1) Give minimal notes/background to critiquers. Obviously, this depends on context. If a critiquer is coming into to chapter 5 of your novel without having read the rest, you need to provide a summary. Likewise, you may be looking for a certain kind of feedback (ex. line edits) and wish to point critiquers in the right direction. In general, however, there is great value to letting a critiquer experience your text cold, as a regular reader would. Seeing how they respond without outside guidance is very revealing.

2) Sit on the critique for a while. Taking criticism is a mini-grieving process. You're proud of this nice piece of writing you've done. You send it out. It comes back torn apart, full of plot holes you hadn't seen and things you didn't manage to communicate. As with any grieving process, coming to grips with this takes time. Give yourself the time. Specifically:

Do not respond to comments for at least 24-48 hours, except to say "thank you," for talking back to a critique oft loseth both the critique and friend. My immediate emotional response to criticism of my writing often takes one of these four forms:

a) You totally missed the point!
b) How could that possibly be unclear?
c) Okay, I see your point, but HOW can I fix it?
d) What? I have to explain that my characters are human beings again?

None of these responses is helpful, of course, and there is great benefit to sitting on them until they go away and a calmer mind can, if needed, ask for clarifications and further assistance.

Read the critique, set it aside, and let your unconscious do the work. As with so much in life, intractable problems solve themselves with time. In virtually every critique I receive, I come up against an initial wall, some problem I have no idea how to address: no place to insert the infodump, no way to correct the screwed timeline. In response to this despair, I've developed a practice of just reading over all comments, reflecting on them as I go, and then putting the critique and the story out of mind for a few days. It's remarkable how often those intractable problems become readily solvable if I sleep on them.

3) Assume you should make the change unless you have a clear reason why you shouldn't. Again—rule of thumb: this isn't true 100% of the time. But in general, if I find myself resisting a proposed revision, I want to be clear on why. Do I really have a justification for keeping the original, or am I just being lazy, frustrated, demoralized, etc.? Sticking to the "why keep it" test greatly increases my confidence in my text.

Critiques are indispensable. They are as much a part of serious writing as writing is. And reading them often sucks. But I find if I go in with an open mind and an understanding of my own processing needs, I reap the benefit every time.