There’s a philosophy of critiquing that goes something like this: be as absolutely mean, vicious, and cutting as possible when you’re critiquing someone’s story. If the author of said story is really cut out to be a writer, he can take it, maybe learn something, and maybe even get shocked into becoming a better writer. On the other hand, if you scare them off and they never write again, they were never meant to be a writer in the first place and you’ve done them a favor.
I don’t recommend this technique. I’ve been on the receiving end of it, and while I proved that I really am cut out to be a writer because I didn’t quit and came back with a better story, the trauma it engendered has stayed with me on some level for a very long time. And I pretty much stopped listening to the person who delivered the critique entirely.
Here’s a much better litmus test to discover if you or someone you know is really cut out to be a writer:
“He left her.”
“He left her alone.”
What are the differences between those two sentences?
Now, if you just spent fifteen minutes thinking through every permutation of meaning you can achieve by adding or subtracting the word “alone,” you’re probably a writer.
(And yes, I really did get stuck on those sentences a couple of nights ago. I was just describing someone leaving a room, but I became utterly fascinated with how the word “alone” changed the sentence, and the tone of the entire page.)
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Purely from a reader standpoint, I hate those style of cutting critiques. They don’t do anything for me, and do not influence whether or not I choose to read the book. All they do is make me feel bad, and get me in a fighting mood. I do not believe they benefit anyone.
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I went into your post thinking , here we go, it’s going to say something abotu how “if you don’t love it, or do it for love, then don’t do it.” Since I often do not love writing, I thought I’d end up thinking, I shouldn’t be a writer. But guess what. I DID spend time thinking about those sentences and the differences and all they implied before moving on.
Guess I am really a writer.
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I followed the link from Ken Scholes’s facebook post that his Genreality blog was up, and saw this post.
I read it, nodding, because I thought he’d written it, and I remember this incident like it was yesterday.
Then, I realized that Carrie had written this. It was a bit of a gear shifting moment, but it made me realize how similar our experiences are. I find it fascinating.