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Moondragon says 'Edit yerself'-How to view criticism about your work.

Moondragon says ‘Edit yerself’

By @AngelaStevens562

How to view criticism about your work.

H: Hey up Moonie, wassup?

Moondragon places a pile of paper on the desk.

M: We are going to get serious.

H: Sirius? Isn’t that a character in Harry Potter?

Moondragon glares.

M: Nope. We are going to get serious with our editing. Up to now we have fixed some of the little niggly stuff that puts the reader off. Typos, spellings, adjusted our grammar, addressed some punctuation, and made our dialogue better.

H: Huh! I thought we were finished with all that.

M: Nope. That is only half of the editing.

H: Only half? Are you mad woman? What else could possibly be left?

M: Well your manuscript can be clean- ie: no grammar, typo, punctuation or spelling mistakes, etc. And it can look a whole lot better and be easier to read, but it can be full of other errors.

H: Like what?

M: Plot holes, inaccuracies, lack of description, too much description, character flaws that affect your plot, plotting that digs you into a hole, plotting that doesn’t add up, things that are too convenient/ coincidences, the pace is too slow, the pace is too fast…

H: Oh good grief, Moondragon! How the heck am I supposed to know if I have a problem with any of that stuff?

M: You have someone beta read it and/or critique it.

H: I hate when people critique my work they just nit pick.

M: Ah, but that is what we want.

H: We do?

M: Yes we do.

H: But it hurts my feelings.

M: Then you need to get over it. Look, a good critic is worth their weight in gold. You, as the author, are blind to all those mistakes and problems. You know, the ones that you have hidden under the rug of your novel. You need to find someone you trust, to give you honest feed back.

H: How honest?

M: They need to tell you everything that is bad. Forget about those thousand wonderful comments that say “Awesome”, “This is the best book on WP”, etc. They are nice but they will not improve your book.

H: I dunno, if I want to hear the bad stuff.

M: Well, if you want your manuscript to be the best it can be, you need to grow a thick skin and take it.

I have an editing partner. We have worked together on each other’s books for about nine months now. When we look at each other’s work we do so with the intention of finding things that need to be fixed. I don’t really need to know what bits are good. I need to know what bits are God-damn-awful so, I can make them good.

H: That is brave.

M: No it isn’t. It’s sensible. You have to look at your critic’s comments with an open mind and trust their judgment. Remember they are not trying to hurt your feelings, they are trying to offer help, advice, and direction.