Open Door Critiques [CLOSED]

🚪 The Online Trap!

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Some time ago, I critiqued someone's book.

As it was to be a light critique, I chose to simply address grammatical errors and syntax choices. Nothing in-depth enough to be offensive.

Is what I believed.

The vitriol I received from them in return stuck with me for several days, and made me truly understand the minefield and pressures many editors have to go through and endure. So on that note, thank you, editors!

Now, regardless of this author's reasons for lashing out, the incident ultimately got me thinking about a topic I had been ruminating on for some time prior.

The online sphere and the environment it cultivates.

Here are my musings:

Online writers, by virtue of being online writers, are uniquely placed in a position that offline writers wouldn't ever really be in. And many are primed to fall prey to the trap that can only truly thrive online, simply due to how its community functions. And the trap is this:

False affirmation.

Give-and-Take. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. This is how many of the book clubs, review shops, and contests work in the online biome. And I totally get it. I mean, this very critique book is a shameless way for me to plug The Omen Girl. 

But the very nature of this give-and-take system ends up lending itself to a culture of cotton candy comments: short and sweet and generally positive, but innutritious and full of fluff.

A book club reader may not take the chance of telling you the truth, because you're also reading their book. Many reviewers also might not bother with the truth, because they don't want to risk any backlash. The judge of a community-run contest is also oftentimes not even qualified to be a judge, and are simply doing it for the follows. 

And the bottom line for all these readers is that, well, telling the truth takes time. Telling the truth is hard.

Lying, is easy. 

Now, I'm not saying NONE of the comments you get are real. You are of course going to get readers, unaffiliated with anything or otherwise, who genuinely enjoy your work. Celebrate those readers! Bask in those blessed moments!

The main takeaway of this chapter is simply this:

It's tempting to form a protective bubble out of the praise we receive. It's a comfort to use that praise as armor to deflect any and all attempts to help, to challenge, to level up our craft. 

Don't fall for it.

Don't allow cotton candy to stunt your growth.

(And even if your work truly is the next Newbery Award winner, there will always still be room for improvement.)