When critiquing someone’s work, you have to try and strike a balance. Some folks are so keen on fixing things that they’ll pick a story apart so finely that an author can walk away wondering if he or she ever had any talent to begin with. On the extreme other end of the spectrum, and far more prevalent, are those who are so concerned with not hurting someone’s feelings that they’ll do nothing but gush positive, and the author will come away thinking he or she should be accepting a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Obviously neither of these approaches are correct. For my negative friends, you need to also
find ways to highlight some of the positives(assuming there are any…if there
are not, then that’s a whole other discussion between you and the writer) so
the author will know what to continue.
If it’s all negative, then the writer might abandon all elements of his
or her writing, accidentally discarding stuff that might’ve worked. Very few stories have no positives, and
writers need to know what they have that should be continued and can be built
on.
For my super-positive friends, writers need to know how and
what to improve. Yes, criticism can hurt
sometimes – we all want to think we’re perfect – but it’s necessary. As long as it’s not personal, a writer should
be able to take it in stride and use it to get better. If you’ve got a writer who gets bent out of
shape over every little critique, find a new writer to help, for that person is
not worth your effort. Real writers want
to know what’s wrong so they can make it better. And real writers also know that they don’t
have to take every criticism, but it’s better to know the criticism and to
analyze its merits than to wander blithely down the road, ignorant of how their
work comes across.
Balance. Balance is
the key. Find it. Use it.
It will be appreciated by any author worth his or her salt.
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