Blogger: Rachel Kent
What do you do when one critique partner loves your book and the other just doesn’t get it? Or when two editors at different houses ask you to change different parts of your manuscript and you aren’t sure what changes to make?
If you are ever faced with conflicting critiques, here are a few suggestions for you:
1) Take a moment to pray for wisdom and an open mind. It’s hard to take feedback, and we’re all programed to only want to listen to the good reviews. Pray that God will give you discernment when looking at the critiques so your own feelings and opinions wont bias you.
2) Go back to the critique partners and ask questions to understand if the different critiques pinpoint the same problem. For example, if Critique Partner One said that your character was flat in a particular scene and Critique Partner Two said that your character wasn’t at all likeable, go back and ask Critique Partner One if he or she felt the problem extended beyond that scene. Then ask Critique Partner Two if that scene was a big part of the problem. This cross-referencing of your critiques will help you to glean more information and will help to you understand what they were telling you. It’s not always appropriate to go back to the editors to ask these questions. I recommend step 3 if you are in a confusing critique situation with editors.
3) Seek another opinion. If you’ve only had two people critique your manuscript, seek out a third opinion. If you have an agent, it would be great for the third opinion to be your agent’s. If you don’t have an agent or have already heard your agent’s opinion, be sure that your third “critiquer” is part of your intended audience and has the time to take a good look at your manuscript.
4) Don’t get caught up on minor issues. If one person loves that your character adores chocolate and the other was annoyed with the chocolate addiction, let those two opinions cancel each other out and move on to something that actually matters. However, if you hear from everyone that the minor issue is a problem, go ahead and change it.
5) Rate your critiquers’ opinions based on the level of experience each has and weigh the opinions in that order.
Have you ever been in this situation?
How many people do you usually have read your manuscript once you’ve finished?
All the Good Worry Accomplishes
I’m part of the ACFW online critique group and have had as many as six or seven people critique a chapter. I’ve had lots of opposite suggestions and usually decide based on my gut instinct regarding their suggestions, especially since most of them are unpublished like me. I’ve gotten some great feedback and help through this group!
Does the critique partner fall into my target audience?
I was once in a critique group with a sci-fi writer. It’s not a genre I read, and I said so upfront in my critique. I could address things like sentence structure and gaps in action without loving the concept of the book. The one critiquing should also pray for discernment and an open mind.
This has come up a lot for me. I’ve had several times where a critique partner will say they absolutely adored a passage and then a professional will suggest that I cut the whole thing. Or a critique partner will suggest a manuscript-wide change that a professional then suggests I change back. Sigh. I am feeling a bit like a yo yo at times, but I think that I am growing as a writer to recognize when to trust myself and my story idea. While there are times that I dig in when I should make a change (yes, my critique partner was right to suggest that I could not have the grizzly bear “snork down” several poor dogs during my story and still call it a RomCom. Don’t worry, I saved the dogs!) I am sometimes too quick to make the suggested changes, presuming that I am a dunderhead, and then when those changes don’t work I kick myself for not trusting my gut. This yo yo experience is very good for me. I am realizing that yes, there are times to listen, but that there are also times to ignore advice and trust my vision for the story.
Thank you Rachel!
My motto is if 2 or more people agree a particular change should be made than I need to look at it and deeply consider.
A chorus [chord] of 3 chiming in is not easily broken!
This is can definitely be concerning and happens a lot. Thank you for these suggestions of how to deal with this! I definitely pray before I read any critiques and often have to read, then step away, pray again, and come back so I can sort through it all.
Hi Rachel,
This has really been on my mind lately – I think having critique partners as part of your intended audience, or close to it is hugely important. I got into an online critique group where men outside my intended audience started chiming in, and all of the nitpicks and dissecting of my sentences where I made stylistic choices have been hard to shake as I press on.
Thank you for this advice – especially that last line on rating critiquers’ opinions based on experience. Some tend to wave writing ‘rules’ like flags, but they aren’t experienced in applying them or understanding exceptions.