<\/a><\/p>\n1. Get some perspective. I look at something else that same person \u2028has critted. I read the piece and then the critter’s opinion. Often, \u2028I’ll find that I disagree just as much with that critter’s evaluation \u2028of the other person’s work as of my own. In that case, I dismiss the \u2028critter, because our tastes differ. On the other hand, if the critter \u2028has useful things to tell other people, I’ll take what she tells me \u2028more seriously.<\/p>\n
2. Ask for specifics. I once received a crit telling me that my \u2028villains were cliche, and the ending ending to my book was obvious. \u2028This was not helpful to me. I emailed and asked *what* about the \u2028villain was cliche and what the reader thought the ending would be. \u2028The reader then told me it was because the villain wore black and \u2028some more specifics, and what they thought the “surprise” ending \u2028would be. This *was* helpful.<\/p>\n
3. Remember your own point. In the above example the critter was \u2028completely wrong about who the villain was and the twist at the end. \u2028But the critter’s reaction told me that I had correctly set up reader \u2028expectations.<\/p>\n
4. Keep in mind the rules of your genre. If a critter condemns your \u2028paranormal romance because he anticipates that it will end with the \u2028hero and heroine living happily ever after and that strikes him as \u2028sappy, boring and overdone, he doesn’t grasp the rules of the romance \u2028genre. Ignore him. Above all, do not give your romance an unhappy \u2028ending to please him.<\/p>\n
5. Consider that the alternative to the “trite” may be equally trite. \u2028I have had people tell me that they are tired of High Fantasy in \u2028which the good guys prevail over the Forces of Darkness. They want to \u2028see the bad guys win “for once.” Guess what. That’s been done too. If \u2028you want to do it again, in your own story, go for it. I don’t.<\/p>\n
6. Remember no story can be all things to all people. I like to \u2028observe the nasty things that people say about the writing of Stephen \u2028King, Nora Roberts and J.K. Rowling. It’s cliche, poorly written, has \u2028too many adverbs, is sentimental, is trashy, appeals to only to \u2028morons, etc. Maybe all true. But something worked.<\/p>\n
7. What is the true core of your story? Perhaps you have \u2028inadvertently fleshed out your beloved story with readily available \u2028cliches. The important thing is not to lose that luminous inspiration \u2028that first moved you to write, even as you brush aside the cobwebs of \u2028trite ideas from it and polish it. Good critters may try to \u2028distinguish between the diamond and the tinsel, but ultimately, it’s \u2028up to you, the author.<\/p>\n
Partly it depends on the piece. Partly it depends on how many people \u2028tell me the same thing. Partly it depends on the critter. Sometimes I \u2028put up an experimental chapter or story on the OWW, just to test the \u2028waters. I don’t have much invested in the piece. If I get a lot of \u2028negative crits I’ll shrug and pull it off and try something else later.<\/p>\n
Suppose I put up a slight revision of a chapter of a book that is \u2028nearly complete and over 100,000 words, and that has previously \u2028earned a lot of enthusiasm and maybe an Editor’s Choice along the \u2028way. I say in the intro, “I just want a final polish for nits on this \u2028chapter.” Or, “I added a new scene into the middle of the chapter and \u2028want to know if it still flows ok.” Then some innocent newbie comes \u2028on and tells me that I shouldn’t start the book there, I should make \u2028the main character someone else, and they already know the ending of \u2028the book and it’s trite. Am I going to listen to a word that person \u2028says? No. Might the newbie be right? Sure. But at a certain point, a \u2028book or a short story is what it is.<\/p>\n
Here’s a concrete example.<\/p>\n
I once received a crit telling me that my villains were cliche, and \u2028the ending to my book was obvious. This was not helpful to me. \u2028I emailed and asked *what* about the villain was cliche and what the \u2028reader thought the ending would be. The reader then told me it was \u2028because the villain wore black and some more specifics, and what they \u2028thought the “surprise” ending would be. This *was* helpful.<\/p>\n
They were also completely wrong, of course, about who the villain was \u2028and the twist at the end. But that told me that I had correctly set\u2028up reader expectations.<\/p>\n
In one of the introductions to her books, Bujold also talks about the \u2028fact that many of its Beta readers told her to take out the first \u2028scene, where Miles visits his grandfather’s grave. This slows down \u2028the action of the book, they said. She kept it in, because she was \u2028not writing an action book, but a character book with a lot of action \u2028in it. She knew better than to sacrifice what was really the bedrock \u2028of the book, even though out of context of the whole series, those \u2028scenes might have seemed unnecessary. And indeed, I would say that it \u2028is her superb characterization that makes her books stand out.<\/p>\n
Moral of the story: Making a general sweeping statement that the core \u2028idea of a story is trite is useless feedback. If you recognize \u2028cliches or you think you anticipate the twists or ending of a story, \u2028tell the author what you anticipate. BE SPECIFIC.<\/p>\n
This gets back to the “reader reaction” kind of crit, which I find \u2028the most helpful to receive. “Tara, I knew this guy was bad news, \u2028because, just like every other High Fantasy villain he dressed in \u2028black and Reeked of Wrongness” rather than “Your villains are too \u2028cliche. Try something new.”<\/p>\n
And if you’re the author and you receive a generalized negative or \u2028condescending review, ignore it unless the critter offers specific \u2028examples of what and why. A critter who can’t do that isn’t a very \u2028good writer him\/herself and probably isn’t offering good feedback \u2028anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now, we always give advice on how to crit, but, as we discussed \u2028earlier, perhaps it is more important to discuss how to receive \u2028crits. Personally, if one receives a crit that tells you, “Your basic \u2028idea is all wrong,” how should you take this? image: xkcd 1. Get some perspective. I look at something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,577],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criticism","category-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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