Don’t be nice to me

By Dianna Love Snell

News flash! Writing is not for the faint hearted.

Have you ever asked someone the following? “Would you please take a look at my manuscript, but be nice?”

At this point, the best possible scenario for the person helping you is to peruse the first page, hand it back and say, “Type style is correct, spacing looks good and that’s fine quality paper.” This way everybody is happy.

If you want to be happy, ask you mother to read your manuscript. If you want to become the best writer you can, develop the power of detachment.

Do you get your feelings hurt when your manuscript is returned with corrections and comments written all over the pages? Why? What was your purpose in entering that contest or asking another author to “look” at your manuscript?

Tiger Woods is extremely gifted, but I assure you no one stood beside him daily saying only, “Good shot. Great drive. Wow, what a putt.” He wouldn’t be where he is today without having endured hard work or been receptive to honest critique.

He focused beyond being Good. To be Better didn’t enter his realm of consideration. He set a goal to be the Best.

What is your goal? If you are writing to be published, these first critiques are just the tip of the red pen. An editor or agent assumes you are serious and, therefore, are going to accept criticism professionally in the interest of improving your story. When you get past them, the next group to put your book under a microscope will be the people who review books. Are you going to write a note to each reviewer and ask the writer to be nice to you?

To succeed at anything in life, be it writing, painting, computer skills, tennis or whatever appeals to your creative side, you must start at square one. Think back on everything you’ve learned since childhood. Unless you were a child prodigy, no task was simple the first time. How is that any different from today as you begin a career in writing? To expect perfection right off the bat puts way too much pressure on yourself and anyone who tries to help you.

The last time you received an anticipated critique from a contest, a critique partner, or the published author who so kindly took her time from a deadline to edit your pages, did you consider the comments or burst into tears? I can only offer a tissue for tears, but there is an alternative to crying.

First, toughen up some. With the exception of the rare obnoxious critique we’ve all heard about if not experienced, you have been blessed by receiving an honest accounting of how to improve your book. It’s your baby. Do you want an ugly baby or a pretty baby? Oh, you want a beautiful baby.

Go through the pages and ask yourself: Is my hero a little mean and unsympathetic? Instead of true conflict, are my characters just arguing for no purpose? Does the book drag in spots? Is that passage confusing?

If you can’t figure it out easily, put the manuscript out of sight and out of mind for two weeks, then reread the notes. I’ll bet the changes suggested will be pretty obvious to you. Even you edit your own writing. The only difference is the person going through your manuscript has either more experience or a fresh eye – both very necessary to spotting problems you are too familiar to catch. Thank goodness an earnest soul is willing to spend the time. Don’t punish them for their sincerity by trying to argue the critique.

I’ve been told I’m pretty tough-skinned about critiques. I am not defined by one manuscript, one page or one critique. Neither are you, so don’t take it so personally.

As a last word to all the unpublished authors in our group, keep something in mind. I’ve yet to meet any new member who is not impressed by the support and wealth of information offered by the selfless published authors within GRW. We have an amazing base of resource available to everyone. I am trying to read a book by each of our authors, regardless if it is the kind of story I normally read, and then pass it along to four or five new people to give the author exposure. Try to find something within your time constraint and financial situation to return the support they give us.

And when you get a critique, remember you asked for an honest opinion and help with your work. Eagerly read through the notes and look forward to a better book than you had yesterday. The time required to edit through a manuscript is much longer than the few minutes you’ll spend sending a thank you note.

The next time you ask someone to look at your manuscript consider saying, “Please tell me what you really think.”

No but.