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Captain Awkward's latest post got me thinking about a particular phenomenon I see in writing groups and critiques, and I felt like putting a rant down in words.
Writers, artists, fellow creative types?
If you think a work is already perfect, DO NOT SUBMIT IT FOR CRITIQUE.
If you think the work is already everything it needs to be? If you think it's saying exactly what you need to say, in the way you need to say it, and is ready to be published and presented to the world as a complete finished work? Then you should not be submitting it for critique. You should be submitting it to a publisher.
I've done that! I've skipped the critique process and gone straight to publisher submissions before on a couple of occasions, and on some of those occasions I turned out to be right and the story sold!
Other stories, I have held off and sought out the feedback and critique. And the difference is, in those cases, I knew that the story was NOT perfect. That it COULD be better. But I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it on my own, beyond a vague sense of "not there yet", and I needed another set of eyes/ears/neurons. I didn't always take the advice I was given. I didn't always agree with the advice I was given. But if I'm seeking advice, I know I need it, and I never argue with the person giving it, because whether or not I think they're right about the solution, they are helping me figure out the problem, and that is exactly what I was asking them for.
Critiquing is troubleshooting! It is problem solving! If you are refusing to even accept that your work has any problems, why are you wasting yours and the critiquer's time? What are you even hoping to get out of the process? Be honest with yourself. Do you want someone to just stroke your ego and confirm your own opinion? Why? If that's something you need, then you need to get your ego out of the weird halfway place that it's in. If you are a brilliant perfect genius creating masterpieces that need no improvement, then you need to be able to tell YOURSELF that. Don't hope other people will say it for you and get mad if they don't. Get a mirror or a nice motivational poster to tell you how awesome you are.
If you are a flawed human creating flawed works, and can acknowledge that, that is when you can reach out to other humans for help.
Writers, artists, fellow creative types?
If you think a work is already perfect, DO NOT SUBMIT IT FOR CRITIQUE.
If you think the work is already everything it needs to be? If you think it's saying exactly what you need to say, in the way you need to say it, and is ready to be published and presented to the world as a complete finished work? Then you should not be submitting it for critique. You should be submitting it to a publisher.
I've done that! I've skipped the critique process and gone straight to publisher submissions before on a couple of occasions, and on some of those occasions I turned out to be right and the story sold!
Other stories, I have held off and sought out the feedback and critique. And the difference is, in those cases, I knew that the story was NOT perfect. That it COULD be better. But I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it on my own, beyond a vague sense of "not there yet", and I needed another set of eyes/ears/neurons. I didn't always take the advice I was given. I didn't always agree with the advice I was given. But if I'm seeking advice, I know I need it, and I never argue with the person giving it, because whether or not I think they're right about the solution, they are helping me figure out the problem, and that is exactly what I was asking them for.
Critiquing is troubleshooting! It is problem solving! If you are refusing to even accept that your work has any problems, why are you wasting yours and the critiquer's time? What are you even hoping to get out of the process? Be honest with yourself. Do you want someone to just stroke your ego and confirm your own opinion? Why? If that's something you need, then you need to get your ego out of the weird halfway place that it's in. If you are a brilliant perfect genius creating masterpieces that need no improvement, then you need to be able to tell YOURSELF that. Don't hope other people will say it for you and get mad if they don't. Get a mirror or a nice motivational poster to tell you how awesome you are.
If you are a flawed human creating flawed works, and can acknowledge that, that is when you can reach out to other humans for help.
