Updated: Jan 8, 2021
In Coping with Critique and Criticism: Part 1, I revealed the painful truth—many self-published writers also self-edit. And self-editing has distinct limitations.
My greatest concern about this self-editing trend is not that editors like me won’t have any work before too long. Editing professionals will always be a hot commodity. Instead, my fear is that self-editing is creating a plethora of so-called published authors who have never subjected their writing to the scrutiny of a professional editor. And, should the time come that they are asked to do so by a publisher or editor-in-chief, they aren’t going to handle it well.
There are two ways to toughen your writer’s skin: one is by hiring an editor like me (please, do), but another way to learn to receive criticism well is by joining a writing group whose purpose is to offer critique to one another.
Fun fact: Someone who critiques the writing of another is referred to as a critter or crit. Yeah. Really.
So, if you are reading this and you have never had your writing critiqued, I would like to offer some guidelines, dare I say rules of conduct, to make the experience productive and relatively painless.
How to Receive Critique in Groups
If you have been writing and self-editing for a long time, accepting criticism of your writing can be tough. Remember this—it is the work that is being critiqued, not you. You must separate yourself from the work. Some will find this challenging, especially if they have been told for years by family and friends that they are great writers.
It’s hard to not take criticism personally. Let’s examine how to do it gracefully.
If you show up to a group meeting expecting to hear applause and accolades for your work, you might be in for an embarrassing disappointment. The time has come to let your work experience scrutiny. By learning to differentiate helpful criticism from nonsense, you will grow as a writer. But you must be willing to let others put your work under their microscopes.
Prepare yourself for negative comments. Think through how to receive less-than-stellar remarks about your writing. Remember, it is not about you, it’s about your work. Critique groups will always have their fair share of jerks who see only what they don’t like. Don’t fall into their trap.
Don’t get angry or defensive, which is easier said than done. Remember, these are just the critters’ opinions. Take them for what they’re worth to you. More often than not, you will hear comments that are valid and helpful. Don’t let the sound of negativity drown out constructive criticism.
You do not have to accept every piece of advice or make every suggested change. Your work will always be your work. If criticism seems to lean toward altering your tone and a bulk of your wording, you might be at risk for losing your writer’s voice. Accept the remarks politely and move on.
How to Work With an Editor
Since I am an editor, I assure you that all editors are perfect and they never say or do anything that is inappropriate, in error, or hurtful. And pigs can fly.
The fact is, editors are human. We are as flawed as any other human. Some are OK, some great, and some stink.
As with accepting criticism from a group, be open-minded when working with an editor and acknowledge that you might actually have something to learn. A good editor is a partner in the creation of your work.
What should you expect from an editor? Here are general guidelines. Follow them if you are asked to be a critter of the work of another writer. Treat other writers as you wish to be treated.
If a passage doesn’t make sense to an editor, he or she should talk with the writer about it. Clarification stops the editor from spending time reworking a passage while guessing what the writer meant.
The editor’s critique should be worded in a constructive—not accusatory—manner.
An editor’s comments should never personally attack the writer, never belittle, and never, ever take an adversarial position.
An editor should not indiscriminately rewrite large chunks of material. An editor who takes it upon him- or herself to do major rewrites has wandered from editing into ghostwriting. Do not let an overly zealous editor steal your voice.
Speaking for myself, as I said in my second blog article in May 2018, I ask that you receive my comments and suggestions in the spirit of fostering teamwork and allow my editing skills to complement your writing skills. Trust is a requirement of the editor-author relationship. You must trust that I want your work to be of outstanding quality and I will perform my services in your best interests.
I’ll end by quoting the wildly successful author George R. R. Martin, who said this when he was addressing an audience at CoastCon II in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1979:
A good editor tries to figure out what the writer was trying to do, and helps him or her do it better, rather than trying to change them into something else entirely. A good editor doesn’t insist or make changes without permission. Ultimately, a writer lives or dies by his words, and he must always have the last word if his work is to retain its integrity.
In addition to my business Strike The Write Tone, I am a contract editor, writing coach, and ghostwriter for The Cheerful Word of Hendersonville, NC.
Updated: Dec 29, 2021
As an editor, my job is to evaluate a piece of writing (be it an essay or a full-length book) for structure, thoroughness, organization, and PUGS (punctuation, word usage, grammar, syntax). But I also have a responsibility that I take just as seriously—to guide, advise, and, in some cases, mentor a writer. That is not an obligation, it is my choice.
What I have found is that some writers accept criticism well. And some do not. This latter group makes my job harder. But it makes my responsibility painful.
Self-published Writers Bypass Editors
I’m going to let you in on a little secret; the world of professional editing is being rocked by a surge in self-edited, self-published books. On editing forums (yes, we have those) editors lament this undeniable fact: people write, self-edit, and self-publish without ever letting a professional editor lay eyes on the work. With all due respect, this has resulted in a glut of books of questionable quality available for online purchase. And Amazon, the undisputed giant of online book sales, does not care whether the books that writers self-publish are fair, good, or stink to high heaven. It’s all the same to Amazon, which makes money whether your book sells 100,000 copies or none at all.
But I’m not going to debate the Amazon model, because, let’s face it, Jeff Bezos is doing pretty well and doesn’t want my opinion.
Skipping the Editor Due to Cost
I am in several writers’ groups on Facebook. These folks, many of whom have no training or education in writing and have never published anything, are constantly debating the necessity of hiring a professional editor. My brain nearly explodes every time dozens of people chime in about how “you are perfectly capable of editing your own work.” Or this question, which is common, “I’m finished writing, but I can’t afford to hire an editor. What should I do?” This question is answered with a barrage of bad advice like “You don’t need to hire an editor. Just ask friends to be beta readers and let them catch errors.” Should I cry or punch the wall? Decisions, decisions.
Here’s where I want to go with this discussion. It’s a change in direction and I don’t want to lose you. I want to focus on the issue I alluded to at the beginning of this article: self-editing creates writers who have thin skins.
They are happy, even proud, of what they’ve written, but have never subjected their work to the scrutiny of the eyes of a trained, professional editor. I am foolish enough to try to inject reason into some of these groups by making the comment “You don’t know what you don’t know.” You know? Your ability to edit your own work is limited by your knowledge, or lack thereof, of the rules of skillful writing. You could make the same grammatical mistakes over and over and not know it. No amount of self-editing is going to fix that. And your beta readers might not know any more than you do.
It is impossible for me, personally and professionally, to understand the attitude that doing everything you can do to make your work as close to perfect as it can be is unnecessary.
If a writer can’t afford to hire a professional editor, then this might not be the right time to publish.
Shop around. Just because one editor quoted you $1000 to edit your manuscript doesn’t mean that it is a reasonable quote or your only option. Investigate. Negotiate.
Writing Cannot Improve Without Critique
So, what I’ve done here is explore the “I can do it myself” and the “I can’t afford an editor right now” excuses. But I think there might be more to it. Some writers, even those who have already self-published, have never, even once, had a professional writer or editor read their work. They are content feeling they’ve cranked out a really good book; after all, their parents and friends love it. And this absence of listening to and accepting criticism is, in the long run, a barrier to ever improving as a writer. Ever. Your writing cannot improve if you do not allow more knowledgeable eyes to review it. Learning to accept and assimilate criticism for the betterment of your writing is crucial to becoming the finest writer you can be. There is no growth without objective scrutiny.
In Part 2, I will explore the many ways a writer can find helpful free writing critique. Learn from others and thicken your skin.
Updated: Jan 8, 2021
UPDATED 1/8/21
A memoir is about something you know after something you’ve been through. The theme of a memoir answers the question “What’s it about?” Before you start to write, sum up your memoir in one sentence that answers this question. One sentence.
This paragraph is a combination of three crucial points I make in the Introduction to Memoir PowerPoint presentation I give locally. The definition of memoir— it’s about something you know after something you’ve been through—comes as a surprise to everyone in the audience at these presentations.
Why?
First, because most people think that memoirs and autobiographies are the same. They are not. A memoir is more like a novel than an autobiography. I discuss this in greater detail in my blog post With Creative Nonfiction, Reality Meets Storytelling. Second, because most people don’t understand the difference between theme and plot.
Do you?
A sample memoir theme is,
It’s about how my mother’s death from lung cancer at a young age caused me to quit smoking and become an anti-tobacco advocate.
The plot explains what happened. What actually happened. The facts. The details. The names, the dates, the places. But that is not the theme. The theme is how the author was changed by her mother’s death from lung cancer; a change that included quitting smoking and becoming an advocate for the anti-tobacco movement. The why of the story—the death of a loved one left you saddened but ultimately wiser and stronger, determined to make a change.
If I’ve already written (a bit) about this, why am I addressing it again? Because I specialize in teaching and editing memoir. I love the genre and I’m determined to help people understand that memoir isn’t autobiography. It’s way cooler and more interesting. But, as I’ve already said, I tell folks, before you start to write, sum up your memoir in one sentence that answers the question what’s it about?
Our Brains are Hardwired for Story Lessons
What has brought me back to this subject is, I’m reading Wired For Story by Lisa Cron. The subtitle is, The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence. This isn’t your average creative writing guide. The main contention of the book is that our human brains have evolved to tell stories to share information and experiences and to want to read or listen to these stories to learn about experiences we have not yet had ourselves. When an early Homo Sapien created a cave painting of a bull goring a man with his horns, it was meant to teach the next guy who moved in a life-saving lesson.
In the first two chapters, Cron works hard to make sure we understand the key concept of storytelling: our brains have evolved to want stories that teach us something. We don’t like chaos or confusion in our minds when we read. We want a problem posed and a problem solved. Even in fiction, our brains crave lessons. What problem is the protagonist facing? How will this problem be resolved? What lessons will the protagonist learn along the way? And, as Cron makes clear, this is not the plot—it is the theme.
Theme in Storytelling is Paramount
The theme, clearly defined and addressed, is more important than the minutia of the plot. Readers want a dilemma presented and triumphed over, because our brains still like to learn something from everything we read. A story that fails to do that will only leave readers frustrated and disappointed. Says Cron,
Since theme is the underlying point the narrative makes about the human experience, it’s also where the universal lies. The universal is a feeling, emotion, or truth that resonates with us all.
I have many pages to go in Wired For Story. But I’ve already learned a valuable lesson as an editor (see, Cron is right): as I do with teaching memoir, a client who is a writer of fiction must be able to answer the question “What’s it about?” with an understanding that I don’t want to hear the plot. I want to know the theme—what the protagonist will know after what the writer puts them through. If a writer can’t answer that question, they are not ready to begin writing.
[UPDATE 8/20/19: I feel the need to clarify Lisa Cron's point about theme vs. plot. She says in a later chapter that theme is not more important than plot; they are equal in importance, but not to be confused. An author should not write a story that uses the theme as the plot. Says Cron, "...your theme begets the story's tone, which begets the mood the reader feels.... Because as crucial as theme is, it is never stated outright; it always implied."]