FIVE WAYS TO SURVIVE WORKSHOP CRITIQUES
It's happened to all of us. We present the work we sweated, bled and cried over to a critique group-only to have members tear it apart. "They just don't understand," we moan. But they do understand. They're writers. They are intimate with the process of writing and know what it's like to have work judged.
A critique group's purpose is to give feedback to the writer. However, feedback, due to its presentation or content, can be unpalatable to the author whose work is under consideration. How can a writer gain valuable help from a critique group without feeling personally rejected? Here are five suggestions:
1. Pick a critique group whose members write what you do.
Authors who write romance, science fiction, or westerns know the genre, and can help a writer avoid pitfalls specific to that genre. Otherwise, find a group whose members have diversified writing backgrounds. Try the chosen workshop out a few times. Do you like the way members critique? Are valid suggestions offered? Most of all, do you feel reasonably comfortable allowing your work to be read in this group? If the answer is yes to these questions, become a member.
"Writing is such a solitary craft," comments Sonnie Alexander, a writer who has participated in critique groups for several years. "It [the critique group] gives us a wonderful camaraderie, a wonderful social support system."
Suzan King, a writing instructor and a published author, says that writers need to be mentally prepared before entering critique situations. She believes that the classroom gives beginning writers a foundation and suggests that they start by taking classes such as the non-credit ones offered at community colleges.
"I'm not suggesting [they're] a bad writer when I say take Novel I," she says. "I'm suggesting that we then know that we all have the same vocabulary to work with ... that we've all had some commonality in our experience. It just makes it easier for us to talk and to relate to each other."
2. Listen.
A gentleman in one of the first novel workshops I ever attended was intent on explaining his book's plot rather than listening to our reactions. I think he wanted us to understand the book so thoroughly that we'd finally stop recommending changes. I suspected he wasn't in the workshop to improve his writing skills, but to receive congratulations on his brilliant writing.
Listening to everyone's comments can benefit your writing, especially when you can strip away the ideas and critiques you don't like and keep the ones you do like. Opening your work to criticism is difficult. It's as if, upon showing your new baby to a stranger, he said, "The ears are too big, the lips are too small and it needs some hair." Listen to all the suggestions and then decide which, if any, best fit your story.
King believes writers should entertain all suggestions, giving themselves time to think over critiques before making any changes. "You think, 'Oh that's the worst suggestion I've ever heard.' And then in a week-it may still be the worst suggestion you ever heard-but it makes you think of another suggestion that is good ... so it really has been a valuable component because it forced you to look at that issue. Even though you rejected that [original] suggestion it was the bridge to the next one."
3. Develop a thick skin.
An acquaintance of mine enrolled in the same college novel workshop as I. Soon after the class began, she presented a novel prologue that included a rape scene. By the time fifteen people had commented on her "unsympathetic protagonist," who "was an idiot to answer the door," she excused herself to go cry.
"A bad critique can be devastating," says Donna Egbert, a writer who's participated in several critique groups over the years. "A bad critique group can ruin a career."
But only if you, the writer, let it.
King maintains that the "group has responsibility to be sensitive to new people." However, she also says that writers seeking critiques should want help and also respect the people in the group. Writers should feel comfortable with the group and at first, attend sessions without bringing manuscripts in order to see how members critique.
Although preferable, tact is not a requirement for critiquing manuscripts. Sometimes, a manuscript's problem can't be communicated in a "nice" way. Try not to construe comments as negative. If that doesn't work, remember that less than tactful comments are not a personal attack.
4. Don't explain.
Published authors don't go to readers and say, "But this is what I really meant in my book." Once a work is read by others, it's open to interpretation. Not everyone has the same perspective and will naturally interpret a work according to their life experience. It's not necessary for a critique group to understand your work's intentions. Unless asked a specific question, keep explanations to a minimum.
"A good critique group paces you against yourself, rather than against anyone else or some arbitrary standard," says Alexander. Listening to other writers without imposing your own viewpoint into their comments is the first step towards becoming a better writer.
5. Remember-it's your story.
In a workshop in which I participated, a woman, who hadn't turned in a single page of her own novel, presented a reworked first chapter of another member's young adult novel. She liberally changed several aspects of the story and read the chapter aloud. The author listened politely and then said, "Thank you, but it's my story."
Egbert had a similar experience. In one critique group in which she participated, a member made several suggestions. She went home, made the changes, and returned the next week with the rewritten material. The same person who had made the suggestions questioned the changes in Egbert's work. "Never rewrite for somebody else," she says. "You should only rewrite if it rings true to you."
No matter what suggestions, opinions, or criticisms other writers offer-the work is yours. Even if the phrase begins, "You'll never get published if you don't ...," use your own judgment. Take the comments you like and leave the rest.
Writing is a difficult task. We want compliments on our talent and hard work. Yet our labors are not going to receive instant rewards. In order to make our writing the best it can be, we must allow fresh eyes to review our words and we must accept criticism-or our efforts may never pay off.