The Wrong Way to Work with a Critique Partner

Have you ever critiqued someone else’s writing?  

It is scary (or at least it was for me) the first couple times I did it.  I second guessed everything I commented on.  Then I expended just as much energy worrying about what I had missed.  I was convinced that I was an idiot who lacked the magic editorial gene.  I KNEW I was doing it wrong.  

What I didn’t realize is that critiquing is a lot like writing.  It’s a muscle that gets stronger when it’s flexed.  Or to make it easier to visualize–it’s just like running.  The more you do the activity, the better you become at it.  You get faster and go further.  But running doesn’t just make you a better runner,  as you become stronger, you become a better athlete.  The benefits carry over.

So how does this translate to writing?  Sometimes it’s hard to practice the things that we’re learning (about writing) in our own writing.  We have so many balls up in the air at one time, some days we’re just lucky not to knock ourself unconscious trying to keep them all aloft.  CLONK!  When we work on someone else’s manuscript, we have the distance needed to safely practice using the tools in our bag of tricks.  And the beauty of this, is that our critique partner wants the exact same skill-set we’re bringing to the table.  They want fresh eyes.  It’s win-win for everyone.

Now, I freely admit that over time, I’ve grown by leaps and bounds in my ability to make suggestions in a manuscript.  The very fact that I’ve been through several rounds of edits with my brilliant editor, Anica Rissi of Simon Pulse, has given me the equivalent of a master class in critiquing.  And I won’t lie–I’m a lot more helpful now than I ever was.  Do I still have a long way to go?  You betcha!  But, even when I started critiquing and didn’t really know my ass from my elbow–you know what?  I was still giving a good and helpful critique.  

Huh?

Seriously–I was–because I cared.  I read the manuscript with the same attention that I would want for my own book.  I commented with praise for the things that I thought were well done.   I tried to be honest in a kind way.  My suggestions for improvement were not attacks.  I gave a good critique because, at the core, I’m an avid reader.  I might not have been able to point out the same details I know today, but I could give an honest evaluation of when I was confused and state why.  I could tell you why character A made me swoon and why character B infuriated me.  In the margins, I carefully logged my organic responses as a reader.   And even though a question I raised, might get clarified two sentences later, the author now had a running record of my thoughts and how I processed their writing.  This is valuable.  

If you are a writer, you should have your work critiqued.  You’ll learn a tremendous amount from the experience.  You should also evaluate the writing of your peers.  It is an equally powerful exercise.  In the video below, Jackson Pearce gives a visual guide of how to work with a critique partner.  She gives great advice.