Reading Critiques

"I think this sentence could be stronger if...."

"Awkward sentence...."

"I don't get what you're saying here...."

This is the look I tend to give the computer as I read critiques

I have a moment when I read what my critique-ers wrote and say, "Psshh, that sentence is fine, you don't know what you're talking about." I will actually start talking to my screen sometimes (which I did in front of a friend the other day, oops!) and say why what I wrote is fine, and why what my beta reader is saying is crap. And it's for this reason, and this reason alone, that when I get my edits back from people I read through them...don't make any changes, make the face you see above, and close the browser.


Honestly, I think we're all entitled to this. I think it's okay to defend your work, your writing, and get mad at the edits people give you. But give it time, go back to it.


For me, it's usually two days later. I re-read what I've written, and then with a face more like this:

A little more submissive...

I open the edits, and with a little less confidence and a little more openness, I read what they wrote, and find that 8 times out of 10....they're right. That sentence DOESN'T make sense. I DID use Barley instead of Barely. Oh...and I did forget that I mislabeled a chapter/changed a character name except in that one spot...etc. Once I start opening to that, I open myself to scenes I should have added in, things that I can clarify. This is why we need people to read our work, and why we need to be willing to change things.


As writers, we're protective of our work, and we should be. We've put in a lot of time and effort for those sentences. But, at the same time, step outside of yourself; sometimes outsiders (especially when they're readers) are able to see things that you can't because you're too involved. I know I'm guilty of this. Are you, too?