Does critique from your close-ones ever get easier?

[chopper]

mrs chopper knows i write; she just doesn't read it. "Life's too short, and i don't like SF anyway," is her considered opinion. that's fine for both of us - if she was reading everything over my shoulder i'd never get owt finished. likewise people at work - they can wait and pay for it (especially as they seem to think i write explicit erotica...oh, wait... ).

my 2p is that family and old friends should not be part of your critique/beta group. you don't invite them to your workplace to judge you, do you? well, then.

 

[Hex]

Uhr see my whole family are academicy sort of people (well, not the kids) and we all tend to read each other's papers and stuff so it's sort of second nature to force them to read my fiction.

Thing is, though, fiction is a lot more personal and scary than academic stuff. When I first asked my dad to have a look at my WiP he said: "Won't this be like critiquing your first born child?" and he was right (except the WiP is much more difficult because, naturally, first born perfect in all imaginable ways)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

my 2p is that family and old friends should not be part of your critique/beta group. you don't invite them to your workplace to judge you, do you? well, then.

Writing is my workplace, and if I think they are qualified to critique my writing, I show it to them. My two best friends, as mentioned, because they both read and write SFF. And my husband is my first reader, because I acquired the habit of showing him my writing back when I didn't have anyone else to show it to. He rarely has criticism, but when he does I listen. Some of the time he simply nods wisely and tells me what happened in the bit he just read (which is slightly annoying, because I already know what happened, but at least it means that he can follow what I've written). Some of the time he says, "Go and write more; I want to read it."

It think it is a great advantage to have a spouse who reads the kind of books that you write. We bonded over books when we first knew each other.

 

[chopper]

more than fair enough; it's a definite advantage. but i ain't gonna swap out mrs c for a anybody else i'm lucky enough to have made friends from the writers' groop here in Sheffield, and they'll happily tell me when something is physically impossible or if the name i've just invented actually means Bacon-Tree in english....

i meant, i guess, to refer to those of us who have to juggle writing along with other paid work. never the twain should meet, in my opinion.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

i meant, i guess, to refer to those of us who have to juggle writing along with other paid work. never the twain should meet, in my opinion.

Well, Yorkshire is a long way from Silicon Valley (where you can't walk down the hall in any company where people work in cubicles without tripping over a dozen or so technical writers and computer programmers who are aspiring SFF writers).

You may be fortunate in that.

 

[Fitzchiv]

more than fair enough; it's a definite advantage. but i ain't gonna swap out mrs c for a anybody else i'm lucky enough to have made friends from the writers' groop here in Sheffield, and they'll happily tell me when something is physically impossible or if the name i've just invented actually means Bacon-Tree in english....

i meant, i guess, to refer to those of us who have to juggle writing along with other paid work. never the twain should meet, in my opinion.

Which leads me on to another question, the prospect of a writing group has me squirming quite a bit - obviously the value that can be gained will be immense, but i'd lose a lot of that whilst I got 'used to' the people etc. Unfortunately i'm one of lifes very reserved people!

Suppose at some point I'll have to take the plunge, as my partner doesn't read this genre and to be honest isn't a big reader full stop.

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

I am hesitant to believe anything anyone tells me when they've read my work. An old girlfriend of mine said my story was great and couldn't wait for the next part... only it was awful and I scrapped the whole thing to rewrite it. An old college buddy of mine praised one of my pieces, except my english teacher handed it back to me for a complete overhaul.

My dad is an avid fantasy reader, and he likes what he's read of mine, but he could just be saying it so I don't get my feelings hurt... You know, being his son and all.

What I take to heart is unobjective third parties, unrelated to me, and who barely even know me. That, or a real blunt in your face "tell it like it is" soul who will give it to me straight, no sugar coating. I thrive on honest. I find family and friends are terrible for that.

 

[The Judge]

Fitzchiv, I'm very much the same as you -- the thought of meeting a roomful of strangers and having them rip my work apart would have me hyperventilating! So the trick is, make them non-strangers first. I think there is an SFF writing group in Nottingham, because they hold conferences/conventions there, but there's certainly one in Leicester, which might be manageable for you depending which part of the county you're in. J-WO is a member of that so he can give you details.

What I'd suggest is you ask if you can attend a couple of meetings without submitting a piece for critique. That way you can get a feel of the group and work out if they seem your kind of people or not. Then when you are ready to show them something, they will seem a little less forbidding.

Good luck.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Some of the time he simply nods wisely and tells me what happened in the bit he just read (which is slightly annoying, because I already know what happened, but at least it means that he can follow what I've written). Some of the time he says, "Go and write more; I want to read it."

I would fall down in a dead faint if my husband did either one of those things! He never understands what's going on in my stories, and when he does get a little bit, he definitely isn't interested in reading any more of it!