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What’s the harshest or most honest critique you’ve ever received about your writing?
Now, I have a hard time getting raw honest feedback, because most of the people I hang around with (aka my siblings) are super nice.
But I really wanted honest feedback on my writing. So what I did was have someone on the KP team critique one of my short stories, but I emailed it to Kingdom Pen under a different name so they didn’t know it was me.
It’s such an interesting experience hearing what people think of your story when they don’t know you wrote it. It’s pretty crazy.
I asked them in person as myself what they thought of it (since we usually judge submissions together) and they said, “It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever read, but it’s pretty boring and average. There’s nothing that good or special about it.”
Now that may not sound that bad, but that’s one of last things I want my writing to be, “boring and average”.
But the critique was actually really helpful. Because of it I ended up writing a story they did really enjoy. Even saying it was unique!
So what was the harshest or most honest critique you’ve ever received about your writing?
@kathleenramm Hmm… I haven’t really gotten a lot of critiques on my writing. But sometimes people tell me that my themes are heavy, and I’m like “wait, really?” I mean, my series has a rather lighthearted tone to it, in my opinion (lots of funny things sprinkled in and lots of action) but is it really that heavy? So I guess I’m just working with that right now… I agree that there are some parts that are somewhat heavy but I want to leave them there to portray the Biblical worldview accurately, if you know what I mean. For example, in one of my novels (that i actually got the idea for and began plotting yesterday… shh), the protagonist, Tàe, ends up giving himself in order to protect his people. I don’t think that the ending could be written any other way; but I also want to handle the story with tact, since there’s a strong message of “how much are you willing to give for those you love?”. Know what I mean?
Okay, sorry if I got a bit off topic there, haha.
staring at the fields
if nothing's really real
i'll make the winter now my home@kathleenramm Probably someone said that the ending to one of my novellas was contrived. Lol. Maybe it was, since I was making it up as I went along. The person had reviewed one of my short stories favorablely, though, so probably I just need to work more on editing.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days@kathleenramm Ouchh, that would hurt. I’m glad it helped you though!
One of the harshest critiques I ever received was when someone asked me why all of my main characters act the same. I was pretty new at actually creating characters at the time and was just starting to realize that characters need–What’s the word I’m looking for? Oh yeah–Character, so all my characters did act pretty plain and boring. The critique helped me realize my mistake and move on though, so I am grateful for it.
This has actually made me realize that I haven’t had anything critiqued in a while, so I may have to send something in to you guys fairly soon lol. Thanks for this topic XD
@scripter-of-kingdoms That’s not always bad though. Sometimes I actually prefer a heavier book, and other times I don’t want anything heavy XD Just depends on my mood I guess lol. Also. I loveee the theme you chose. That sounds very….*random hand gesturing* inspiring. Good luck with that!"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."
@daisy-torres Me too. It definitely depends on my mood. :p Thank you! I’m excited to work on it, whenever that may happen. I’m totally in love with Tàe XD
staring at the fields
if nothing's really real
i'll make the winter now my homeI have a hard time getting honest feedback as well because my writing pals are too nice XD I guess the strongest criticism I got was that one character was being overdramatic? Which, he was. I don’t think I’ve really ever disagreed with critiques I’ve gotten, except when someone misunderstood something and critiqued based on that misunderstanding. Which is a sort of indirect critique that I need to make my meaning more clear.
I think my harshest criticisms have come from myself.
That’s pretty rough. But a good idea for honest critique…
So, my friend read a short story of mine once. You must understand, this friend was very nice and polite. But after reading my story she kinda cringed, looked at me, and said she’d get the edit back to me later. Yea, so a couple weeks later she hands me my book and it’s full of red marks. The notes were as encouraging as possible, in a way that was disguised, it basically meant: this is trash. I was 11 at the time, and even though she was nice about it, that hurt little me’s ego, who thought it was the best work of art I’ve ever done. Now reading it, yea, it kinda was trash XD.
Oof. That’s a hard one to recover from.
Totally I can relate. When my sister mentions something wrong or bad about my writing, I just sorta nod and say yes.
@kathleenramm I love this question!
This most difficult feedback I’ve ever received was on my little novel that I wrote when I was 17 and am still working on to this day. It was consistent feedback from the three people I’d picked to review the third draft and they all pretty much said the same thing, that I didn’t know my characters and that my story had no heart in it. Obviously this was pretty hard to swallow, but when I went back and read my third draft, and then read my previous drafts and realised that all the heart and passion in the first and second drafts had been sucked out of the third draft. So that was difficult feedback, but I’m so glad those three readers told me that.
But the harshest/most ridiculous feedback I ever received was when I was told I shouldn’t use so many Aussie slang words because no one would know what they meant (most of these words were actually the names of animals). That just made me very petty, so now I use as much slang as possible 😛 America is not the centre of the world 😀
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@kathleenramm The toughest criticism of anything I had, would be my mom on a story I wrote. it was very ridiculous, even for a 12-year-old’s writing and she told me as much and that I could definitely improve it. She said it lovingly, but at that point, it didn’t matter how she said it, it stung my childish pride. XD It was for my schoolwork and was about a girl who is mad at her dog who won’t obey and sit, and she can’t train her to lay down. It sort of reflected my annoyance at my dog, and I wrote it in a huff and it was obvious by my deplorable punctuation and the exclamation points that ridiculously frequented the entire thing. needless to say, I didn’t get a good grade for that one, but I did better.
The most embarrassing critisism is when I use a word in my writing in the context I know it means, and then someone informs ignorant little me that it also has a (usually more recent) slang/bad/inappropriate meaning. That is absolutely mortifying for me. I know, I need to get a grip, but still XD
@seekjustice that’s so cool you’re from Australia!!I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title
Yeah, heavy themes can be really hard to write well.
But I do really like the ending of your story with the hero scarifying himself at the end. It makes the theme hit so much harder. I barely know anything about your story, but I can see how the theme and character arc might feel half-hearted without him sacrificing himself at the end. I had a story like that once where the ending wouldn’t fit right without the main character sacrificing himself at the end.
I feel like a lot of writers are afraid of making bold choices like killing a main character, and that ends up hurting the story. And because of that so many stories are bland, forgettable, and similar. And I don’t mean bold choices for shock factor, but bold choices that developed characters, the plot, or theme. Something that enhances the story while also taking a risk.
Okay, that was bit of a rant, but it’s just something I’ve been thinking about recently.
Is there a reason why you like writing stories with heavier themes?
People said that I should use tree sap instead of tar and feathers.
Even though it was a fictional comedy, and I was like 8.
I’m still salty.
(To this day it’s the best thing I’ve ever wrote)
Flawless and handsome (as ruled by my grandmother.)
@kathleenramm They can be. Thank you! Yeah, I feel the same way. The ending would be a complete FLOP if that didn’t happen. But with that ending, it’s so much more heartbreaking… I think I might actually cry while writing that one XD
EXACTLY. It’s so true. This is the reason why I HATE the deux ex machina trope!!!!!! The author is like “okay, we’ll be risky and give up a character, BUT WAIT NO NO I DONT ACTUALLY WANT TO DO IT-” it’s so dUMB. I hate that trope with my life ✨ I think that if you’re going to sacrifice a character, DON’T BRING THEM BACK FOR FANSERVICE. YOUR READER WILL BE MORE IMPACTED IF THEY STAY DEAD.
No, don’t apologize! I’ve been thinking about it too.
Uh… I kinda do it instinctually. XD I really want to write stories that impact the reader after they’ve finished it, though. A story that they have to like close and sit on their bed and stare at the wall for a while.
staring at the fields
if nothing's really real
i'll make the winter now my homeThe worst true criticism I remember was when my friend told me the characters from my dystopian fiction were way too trusting of each other. It didn’t actually hurt that much, I was just kind of shocked at first. Then I realized, she was telling the truth. So that prompted me to rewrite it! It still needs tons of work, but if it hadn’t been for her criticism I wouldn’t have rewritten it and made it better.
What really annoys me is when my brother won’t let me talk about my characters and stories because he says he’s heard about them too much already. That’s not real criticism, but it’s still quite a bit annoying.
"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers
I get what you mean.
I will say that there is a balance that takes a while to get; it’s like talking about pretty much everything in life. If you talk about anything enough every person will want a break or not want to hear anymore.
It’s like me listening to people talking about trucks and cars; I don’t give a hoot how much horsepower the new truck has or whether it’s chevy or ford or what year it is and what brand and models are the best, I really don’t care. I’ll listen to it for a little while before I remind them I have no idea and no interest and change the subject or be done talking. It may seem rude, but it’s sometimes necessary.
Also, you could try recording yourself explaining it all. I know it sounds weird but I have done it before and it’s fun! XD I keep them to see how different they are compared to what I have written. I usually discuss each character or aspect in a separate recording, just for kicks and grins. 🙂
I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title
@elfwing Yeah, I get it too. And recording all the aspects of my worlds and stuff sounds cool! I’ll have to try it! (It’ll probably take up a ton of time, since I have so many different dragonman species–and that’s just from one story)
"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers
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