The Journey Here: Learning How to Crush Other People's Dreams
Last time, I talked about my early writing days of clueless, aimless, ignorant nonsense. Back before I even thought of the writing industry as an industry, before I knew the difference between an agent and a publisher, and when I carried over my childhood writing hobby into adulthood. The key ingredient that allowed me to pupate from wee baby author into proper professional author was: critique.
Brandon Sanderson's creative writing videos on Youtube were put up and managed by the website Write About Dragons, so naturally I wandered over there and discovered some helpful blog posts. One person there directed aspiring authors to check out Critique Circle, so I did. And if you don't mind me getting overly dramatic on you, that changed my life. That's really where I found my footing, learned what was what, and got launched in the direction of professional writing.
I have checked out other writing sites, and none of them fit me as well as CC. Some are too unprofessional, some are more about sharing and cheering each other on than about teaching and learning. Some I was just plain confused by, or didn't have a critique system that met my satisfaction. The nice thing about CC is that you have to write your own critique on a piece before you can read what anyone else has said, and that makes a huge difference. I also like the organized credit system, and the multitude of writing tools the site offers.
The most important thing about these critiquing websites... to get critiqued, you have to give critiques, often in a 2:1 or higher ratio. And it turns out, you learn way, way more by forcing yourself to critique others. That's where I really had to train my analytical eye. I started challenging myself to explain why I didn't like something, and how I would rewrite a passage. I learned to use my editing brain, separately to my writing brain. I started out giving bad advice and submitting amateurish pieces, but over a few hundred critiques, I've learned a thing or two.
The world of critiquing is deserving of its own blog post, or maybe a post mini-series. I'll avoid too much detail here, since it's tangential to the topic, but keep an eye out in the future.
Long story short, I sharpened my teeth on other people's stories, and got to a point where I'm pretty good at critiquing. I'm probably better at it than writing. The fun part is... now I have a bit of a reputation. While I try to be polite about it, I really took the spirit of critique to heart, and completely tear into stories. It doesn't help that I have impossibly exacting standards, and mentally compare amateur first drafts to polished famous published authors, but I don't hold back. It helps my own writing so much, and when you're only looking at type on the page, not your starry-eyed friend who's watching you read their handwritten notebook, it's a lot easier to be objective
I've learned that, while this is fantastic for training my "inner editor," it's not good for sensitive souls. I've gotten plenty of angry notes, defensive complaints, submissions taken down or deleted, and I've even been blocked. One of my friends said my critiques "crush dreams like cars beneath the wheels of a monster truck." :S I swear I'm not rude! At least, I don't think I am. But I do hit on sensitive nerves. I'm too busy thinking about the writing, so when I objectively call a main character naive and shallow, sometimes the author feels like I'm calling them naive and shallow, and takes the whole thing very personally. So uh, my critiques are not for the faint of heart. (I do have objective data to prove I'm good at it, though, as I maintain a very high "grade" from authors on CC, despite critiquing hundreds of different users)
I love the process of critically analyzing a piece of writing and figuring out how to make it better. It's why I don't mind editing my drafts, even though a lot of writers hate that part. If I wasn't so busy and tired all the time from work, I'd make it a goal to write at least one critique every single day. I don't think it's something you can outgrow; it's more like a muscle that you exercise and strengthen. Or to be more literal, a skill, that you need to practice. Maybe I'm being selfish because it helps me so much, but I think it helps the author on the receiving end, too (even if everything I said was wrong and dumb, at least I made them stop and think about it, right?).
Come back next time to hear about the wonderful writer friends I've made through critiquing, along with links to their blogs and social media!
Brandon Sanderson's creative writing videos on Youtube were put up and managed by the website Write About Dragons, so naturally I wandered over there and discovered some helpful blog posts. One person there directed aspiring authors to check out Critique Circle, so I did. And if you don't mind me getting overly dramatic on you, that changed my life. That's really where I found my footing, learned what was what, and got launched in the direction of professional writing.
I have checked out other writing sites, and none of them fit me as well as CC. Some are too unprofessional, some are more about sharing and cheering each other on than about teaching and learning. Some I was just plain confused by, or didn't have a critique system that met my satisfaction. The nice thing about CC is that you have to write your own critique on a piece before you can read what anyone else has said, and that makes a huge difference. I also like the organized credit system, and the multitude of writing tools the site offers.
The most important thing about these critiquing websites... to get critiqued, you have to give critiques, often in a 2:1 or higher ratio. And it turns out, you learn way, way more by forcing yourself to critique others. That's where I really had to train my analytical eye. I started challenging myself to explain why I didn't like something, and how I would rewrite a passage. I learned to use my editing brain, separately to my writing brain. I started out giving bad advice and submitting amateurish pieces, but over a few hundred critiques, I've learned a thing or two.
The world of critiquing is deserving of its own blog post, or maybe a post mini-series. I'll avoid too much detail here, since it's tangential to the topic, but keep an eye out in the future.
Long story short, I sharpened my teeth on other people's stories, and got to a point where I'm pretty good at critiquing. I'm probably better at it than writing. The fun part is... now I have a bit of a reputation. While I try to be polite about it, I really took the spirit of critique to heart, and completely tear into stories. It doesn't help that I have impossibly exacting standards, and mentally compare amateur first drafts to polished famous published authors, but I don't hold back. It helps my own writing so much, and when you're only looking at type on the page, not your starry-eyed friend who's watching you read their handwritten notebook, it's a lot easier to be objective
I've learned that, while this is fantastic for training my "inner editor," it's not good for sensitive souls. I've gotten plenty of angry notes, defensive complaints, submissions taken down or deleted, and I've even been blocked. One of my friends said my critiques "crush dreams like cars beneath the wheels of a monster truck." :S I swear I'm not rude! At least, I don't think I am. But I do hit on sensitive nerves. I'm too busy thinking about the writing, so when I objectively call a main character naive and shallow, sometimes the author feels like I'm calling them naive and shallow, and takes the whole thing very personally. So uh, my critiques are not for the faint of heart. (I do have objective data to prove I'm good at it, though, as I maintain a very high "grade" from authors on CC, despite critiquing hundreds of different users)
I love the process of critically analyzing a piece of writing and figuring out how to make it better. It's why I don't mind editing my drafts, even though a lot of writers hate that part. If I wasn't so busy and tired all the time from work, I'd make it a goal to write at least one critique every single day. I don't think it's something you can outgrow; it's more like a muscle that you exercise and strengthen. Or to be more literal, a skill, that you need to practice. Maybe I'm being selfish because it helps me so much, but I think it helps the author on the receiving end, too (even if everything I said was wrong and dumb, at least I made them stop and think about it, right?).
Come back next time to hear about the wonderful writer friends I've made through critiquing, along with links to their blogs and social media!
Excellent! I've also learned a great deal from Critique Circle -- both in giving and in receiving.
ReplyDeleteI love CC too, for all the reasons you give. But the part about receiving critiques and not getting crushed by them is exactly why I wrote The Critique Survival Guide, because getting your baby torn apart is a daunting and painful experience.
ReplyDelete