WRITING Critiques: the pros and cons (part 2)
Does receiving a critique on your work turn you into a hamster on a wheel, unable to stop and get off the circle of doom or does it turn you into a bird, making the wind beneath your wings stronger, elevating your work? Four writers discuss the highs and lows of getting feedback on their work.
Cath Jones
Cath Jones
Without critique groups, my new picture book, Slug Love, would definitely not exist. I was a member of Eureka, an online SCBWI crit group for about a year. Being part of a supportive group of writers kept me focussed and motivated. It made me create one new picture book each month for a whole year. I wrote Slug Love and received helpful feedback from the Eureka members. However, I couldn’t get the ending quite right. Some of the crit group loved it, others didn’t! I worked on that text for years but the right ending evaded me. I then had interest from a publisher but they wanted me to change the ending.
Slug Love, published by Maverick Arts
A couple more years went by and I took Slug Love to another crit group, this time formed from a group of friends who’d met on a creative writing MA. Their questions and the discussion that we had enabled me to look at my text in a completely new way. For the first time, I understood the true essence of the text and what I needed to resolve. Within a week, I had sent a transformed draft to my editor. The reply? “You’ve nailed it.” Without those two crit groups, Slug Love probably wouldn’t have just published in June.
David Richardson
David Richardson
I’ve been in various critique groups, including during my studies with the Open University. I’ve also organised critiques when teaching my creative writing classes. And, I’ve paid professional editors for feedback on my work.
My three tips would be:
- Always remember that comments from one person on another person’s work are very subjective. It is their opinion. And just because they are happy to give it, doesn’t mean it is absolutely right.
- Never try to explain the whys and wherefores of your writing or justify it. Just say ‘thank you, that’s really helpful, I’ll give that some thought’ and smile.
- When giving your work to someone to critique, it can be really helpful to ask for feedback on a particular thing. For example: are the characters convincing? Or, is my writing style too wordy for you? It really helps the critiquer and means you’re getting specific feedback.
When it comes to family and friends (who aren’t writers, but helpful readers), I ask them to put a tick on passages they like and a question mark on any sections which they don’t like or that confuse them. If they want to tell me why – that’s great, but I don’t ask them. It highlights parts that are not working, giving me the opportunity to go back and rewrite them.
Tracy Curran
Tracy Curran
One of the first bits of advice I was given when I started writing seriously in 2017 was ‘join a critique group’. Teaming up with a group of like-minded individuals, who were all equally invested in writing for children, would be, I was told, one of the best things I could possibly do. So, I signed up to SCBWI and found one! Since then, I have joined a wide variety of critique groups, paid for professional critiques, undertaken group mentoring sessions and completed a six-month mentorship programme through the All Stories Mentorship Programme.
Without a doubt, having your work critiqued is a game-changer. Find the right group and they will become friends who will celebrate and commiserate with you (and vice-versa) as you navigate your journey. Making a commitment to post on a regular basis (ie once a month) also helps to keep the focus. I’m still with my original picture book critique group three years down the line, we have a WhatsApp chat group, we’ve met in person and I wouldn’t be without them.
Meeting with a critique group on a regular basis can help you stay focussed
Being critiqued is something you can choose to engage with or not but at the end of the day, YOU are the writer and YOU need to enjoy the writing process
Critiques can be difficult to navigate but are ultimately about improving your work
Ultimately though, as invaluable as critiques and critique partners are, this is YOUR work and you have to follow your heart. If their vision isn’t your vision, make a decision and go with what makes you happy. Being critiqued is something you can choose to engage with or not but at the end of the day, YOU are the writer and YOU need to enjoy the writing process, whether that involves critiquing or not.
Jo Verrill
Jo Verill
* Header image and writing photos by Tita Berredo;
author images courtesy of themselves.
*
Fran Price is Deputy Editor of Words & Pictures magazine. Contact: deputyeditor@britishscbwi.org
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