Finding a Critiquer

Critique websites provide the opportunity to have your work reviewed by persons you don’t know and have only a passing relationship.

I subscribe to a critique website, and I submitted a chapter to the site, desiring an unbiased evaluation. I requested comment on whether the critiquer found the content interesting enough to continue reading.

The reviews come in

A few days later, I had three evaluations. Two were extensive. One reviewer spent over a thousand words critiquing my 1900 word submission. Another committed 800 plus words. The third was only a couple hundred.

Two critiques addressed similar concerns. The third appeared a quick read, and the comments were superficial. Only one said they would not read this book, wrong genre.

The value of critiques

What did I learn from the comments? The reviewers considered the protagonist superficial. This shocked me since I thought I had spent adequate narrative building her into a strong woman. Further shock, two thought the antagonist was the most interesting character in the chapter. I had less than forty words devoted to him in this piece!

Conflicted by the comments, I face which should I accept. Which should impact my story by leading to revision and change?

The comments I am considering are not those like failing to hyphenate words correctly, which I failed twice, but those of two reviewers addressing the story structure. An example: If the antagonist is the most interesting character in this piece, I didn’t foreshadow the protagonist as the woman she will become.

Problem with multiple critiques

Critiques by multiple reviewers can create problems for the author. For me it was one reviewer noting the narrative was inadequate and another reviewer saying the narrative was excessive. The third reviewer didn’t comment on the narrative. His perspective would have been helpful in resolving the dichotomy. This means another decision the author must make, more narrative or less.

I have put the reviews aside. I am in the second revision and two chapters beyond the one submitted. By the time I am ready for the third revision, I will have decided on the narrative for this chapter and ready to address the other issues.

Use the comment form to tell me if you use critique groups or just alpha and beta readers? Were they helpful? Don’t forget to click the follow button to receive an email when I post new material.

I joined an online critique group to gain reviews of my work in progress. I learned I had to earn the right to have my work critiqued by providing the service to others. This is an equitable trade.

I find writing a critique to be work. The hardest thing for me is not being able to immerse myself in the story. The second hardest is to remember this is not my story. I am not writing it. My final entreaty to the author is to make use of my comments as he or she desires.

I provided comment on three works before I submitted a piece. The comments I received were encouraging and comprehensive. The latter comments were what I wanted. I kept them in mind while I revised of my work in progress. I remember how I valued them when I do a critique.

The value of the critique group is the growth in my ability to see faults in my writing.  Such as, I love the word “that”.  I found I used it several times in the first chapter of my work in progress. I ran a search and found “that” 390 times in 50k words. *Sheepish grin.* I also found several telling words such as appeared, decided, felt, seemed, and thought. These require effort to replace. I have to find ways to show what I told which leads to new sentences, sometimes paragraphs of new material. The result, though, will make enjoyable reading.

I continue to give critiques. I gain something from every one I do.

Are you in a critique group? Have you been? What was your experience? Tell me in the comments.

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