Iron Sharpening Iron…I Hope

Most of the time, being a critique partner is awesome – you get to read (yay!) quality fiction (if you’ve managed to get someone who writes good stuff as your CP — I have) before anyone else (or at least before the masses, obviously someone’s spouse/sister/mother/whatever might get a glimpse before you, but in general you’re among the first to see it.) But sometimes? Being a critique partner is hard. (Hmm, maybe we need to get a Critique Partner Barbie.)

I got the last chapters of her novel from my CP over the weekend. I was anxiously awaiting these final pages – the heroine and hero were on the edge of their dire straits (though crawling up the other side with their broken, bloody fingernails), things were still breathless but heading into resolution…I could feel it. So when the chapters came, I set everything else aside and read.

And it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. The bones were there, but as a reader I was left wanting. So I closed up the document and spent a good while praying about what to do (because usually? The feedback I’ve given her has been pretty minor – she’s got a great book happening.) Finally, I screwed up my courage, wrote down my thoughts, and sent her some suggestions.

I’m still holding my breath.

See, the one thing every writer needs to grow is a thick skin. There are going to be people who don’t like your work – I get that. (Someday, when it smarts just a little less, I’ll tell you about the critique I got from someone whose work I really admire. Owww.) But no one mentions that, if you’re going to work with someone as a critique partner, you have to be willing to be more than a cheerleader and occasional grammar coach. (Well, maybe they mention it. I wasn’t listening.) But the goal of a true critique partnership is, at least in my mind, to help the other person make the best novel they can, so that an agent or editor doesn’t get to the end of the novel and say, man…it was so good up to now, what happened? Even knowing that goal – it’s hard when you find yourself feeling like you’re the one who needs to do it. Because my critique partner is also my friend and I like her and her writing. I’m trying to keep in mind that if my skirt was tucked into my panty hose, I’d want her to tell me about it (and, metaphorically, she has) – so I’m trying to return the favor.

Seems like criticism is the topic of the day.