How To Handle Constructive Criticism

Constructive criticism can be a scary thing when you've written or made something for others to see. While you'd love for people to just tell you how awesome you are, it's not very realistic that someone would do that. People are more than likely going to point out what you could do better, and while it will feel like you are being stabbed, you'll find that you can actually learn from it.

Things to know about constructive criticism:

•  It can be painful to hear. It really can be painful to hear but you will learn to handle it better the more it happens and you'll be able to distinguish the good from the bad. 

• It can help you improve. There is a point where you are going to need help from an outside source, especially if you aren't planning publishing through traditional means. Constructive criticism is a way to help your story and your writing improve.

• You can learn from it. It kind of falls in with the previous point but I'm going with it anyway. Constructive criticism can help you find your weaknesses and places that need help. Learn from it so you don't make the same mistake twice.

 Things you SHOULDN'T do about constructive criticism

• Ignore them. Do NOT ignore the constructive criticism, especially if you asked for someone to review your story. That's just rude and you might end up losing readers. I guess this is for people who post online more than published authors.

• Laugh at them or play it off as a joke. Again, that's rude. That is disrespecting them and their opinion. If you don't like it then maybe you shouldn't be posting your work for people to see. 

• Reject everything. Just don't. Some things are okay. When it's consistent, maybe you should look into that. If they just tell you that you suck, then you can forget everything I said and ignore them. That's not being constructive. 

• Take everything too personally. There are people who are going to have biased opinions and aren't going to like what you wrote. That's fine. You can't please everyone. Just remember that there are going to be people who loved your story. Not everyone liked Harry Potter or Twilight or Hunger Games. It's going to be the same for everything.

• Ask for critiques if you aren't going to like it. I feel like this one is rather obvious but people tend to do this a lot. I'm not sure why you would ask someone to critique your work if you didn't want to accept it but just don't do it if you don't want to hear what they have to say. 

• Belittle the person giving you a critique. This is also rude. They took the time out to try to help you and you go and try to make them feel bad about it. That's not okay. Respect them. If you don't like what they said then just say "Thank you for reading my story," or "I'm sorry this story wasn't to your liking." etc. Be polite even if you want to reach through your computer and strangle them.

This might not have been the best guide ever to how to handle constructive criticism but I have a hard time wrapping my head around why people react to it badly. I get my fair share of constructive criticism and I welcome it. It helps me become a better writer and improvement is something all writers should strive for. 

Critique and Criticism

Critique and Criticism
What is your method of critiquing a piece of writing? What do you expect out of people critiquing your work?

I haven't critiqued in a really long time. In my head, I do it all of the time, but I haven't critiqued someone's work (with them being willing) in years. But, I guess I could say, that I look for inconsistencies or anything that stands out to me that really shouldn't be there (misplaced plot, forgetting to delete a passage before continuing, etc). I tend to ask a lot of questions when I'm looking over someone's work, mostly to benefit them. Instead of telling them that something is wrong, I ask them specific questions so they will figure it out and hopefully, it will help them improve other places of their story as well.

I also look for grammar issues and sentence structure flaws, if they ask me to, but I mainly focus on the story itself, rather than the syntax. At least at first. Unless the same mistake is consistent throughout the story. Then I'll point it out. For example: I was reading someone's story and they lacked commas.  I had to go back and read several sentences to figure out what in the hell they were trying to say. I definitely pointed that out.


When someone is critiquing my work, I would hope they would be honest with me and ask me questions as needed. Questions are beneficial, and so is being straight forward. Though, I haven't gotten close to this yet, I would hope that they would do their best to help me improve my writing rather than just be an asshole about it, but there is always that group of people who will be flaming jerks and just straight-up tell me that my work is crap. If they aren't going to give me a reason why my work is crap, then they aren't worth my time.

I don't mean to sound like a bitch about it either. I'm asking for constructive feedback to help me improve. Telling me that I suck at writing, isn't telling me where or why they think I suck at writing. It's just telling me that this person isn't into my story. That happens. I'm not delusional to think that everyone is going to enjoy my writing, since I know I don't enjoy every piece of writing that I come across.

Telling me how I should write my novels or stories is also something that I would like them to not do. My plot is written like this for a reason and trying to sway my story line isn't going to happen because the chances are, my story is already finished and the way I wanted it. They can question my plot if there are some major plot holes that need to be fixed or if the plot is weak (or has weak points) but their opinion on how my story should go is a big no-no. I can forgive small adjustments but not if they are suggesting that I go back and change everything. Just - no.

When critiquing, you're supposed to let the writer know where things really didn't connect with you, as a reader. If the characters come off a bit wooden instead of real, or if there is an incomplete subplot that never got resolved - these are things that should be pointed out. If they are a bit harsh about it, I'm okay with that, at least they are telling me where I need to improve. Let me know where my sentences get too wordy or if my sentences are too choppy. It happens. I catch them when I'm going through my edits. I hope that someone will catch them when reading through my story too (the ones that I miss).

Again, I haven't gotten to this point as I'm still going through my edits, since it's long and tedious but I'm getting to it. It's on my list of things to do once I finish editing the first short story of District Pluto.