![]() ![]() Asking your friends or family might not be the best option, but if you can find someone in your social circle who can express their honest opinion, go for it. However, you still want to be selective about who you choose. The good news is that compared to finding experienced critique partners in the later stages of editing, you have more options. You have no expectations of wowing your audience or for them to transform your work into a publishable piece overnight. However, there’s also less pressure than sharing a super polished draft. Sharing your work is also a vulnerable process, even more so when your ideas are so raw. Broaden your choice of critique partnersĪs with any critique, the people you choose determine the quality of feedback you get. You’ll uncover paths you wouldn’t have been able to find on your own. This is where it helps to have multiple brains working together. What about your protagonist makes them seem bland or off-putting? What might be a more unique twist to your concept? Feel free to throw around ideas together and see what new directions you might stumble upon. What’s working for them and what isn’t? Why? What thoughts and feelings came up for them? Ask clarifying questions. Take note of your critique partner’s overall impression. ![]() This will shift the focus to the more important elements like characters, themes, plot, and structure. That being said, to avoid accidental critiques of your language, you might limit or not share your actual writing, opting to give a synopsis instead. Being on the same page will minimize misunderstandings and redirect attention from nitpicks to the big picture issues. It’s a given that details still need to be fleshed out and questions need to be answered. If you need help on a rough draft, you and your critique partner should already have a mutual understanding that you’re in the early stages of the process. Overall, getting some feedback early on will make revisions go smoother because you’ll be working from a better foundation. If someone had told me that my third protagonist in my first novel was unnecessary halfway through my first draft, I would’ve thanked them and could’ve focused on the narrative arc between the other two main characters. These preliminary critiques could help you avoid wasting time and energy on parts that aren’t working and allow you to focus in on what is working. Ultimately, compared to pushing through and saving revisions later, you’ll save yourself the trouble and catch conceptual problems.Įspecially for newer writers, it’s easy to feel frustrated and overwhelmed when you realize you’ll have to completely scrap your first draft. Or perhaps discussing your concerns with someone lets you determine that you need to rethink your concept. The feedback might give you new insights or information to resolve your block and discover a new direction. If you find yourself stuck, you might consider consulting with someone. Create a more solid first draftĬontrary to popular opinion, your first drafts don’t have to be complete wrecks. Here’s how you’ll benefit if you consider sharing your writing in its early stages. Maybe getting feedback at any stage in the creative process, even on a first draft or an outline, could be helpful. ![]() Perhaps critiquing shouldn’t just be limited to sharing work that you’ve spent months or years refining. ![]() Consequently, I wanted an opportunity to get feedback on stories that I‘d end up rewriting anyway. I wished I could write a solid first draft instead of vomiting out a total mess that I wouldn’t know how to salvage into a presentable form for a critique. Early in my writing career, I used to hate editing. However, the idea of sharing your writing in the initial stages crossed my mind years ago. After you spend some time revising on your own, then you’re ready to critique it with others, working together until its closer to a publishable state. You finish your manuscript in private, then shelve it for several weeks to gain some distance before putting on your editor’s hat. For the most part, I agree with and follow this common piece of writing advice. ![]()
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