avatarAutumn Christian

Summary

Critique is not the best way to improve writing skills, especially for beginners, as it can hinder creativity and instill self-doubt.

Abstract

The article discusses the common advice given to aspiring writers, which is to write and join critique groups. However, the author argues that critique can be detrimental to creativity and self-expression, as it focuses on flaws and can instill self-doubt. The author suggests that writers should instead focus on internal feedback, writing daily, reading books about craft, and indulging in sensations and experiences to improve their writing skills. The article also includes a quote from Brenda Ueland's book "If You Want To Write," which emphasizes the importance of focusing on the goal rather than avoiding mistakes.

Bullet points

  • Critique is a common tool used to improve writing skills, but it can hinder creativity and instill self-doubt.
  • Writing daily, reading books about craft, and indulging in sensations and experiences can improve writing skills.
  • Focusing on the goal rather than avoiding mistakes is important for improving writing skills.
  • The article includes a quote from Brenda Ueland's book "If You Want To Write" that emphasizes the importance of focusing on the goal.
  • The author suggests that writers should stay away from critique groups and instead focus on internal feedback and other methods to improve their writing skills.

Why Critique Won’t Make You A Better Writer

Critique is a good analytical tool. But becoming a better writer is more than just analyzing your flaws.

Image by StartupStockPhotosPixabay

If you want to become a writer, most of the advice is the same: First you must write. And then you must also join a group of writers, or take a class, and get critique.

People think the best way to improve your writing is by people reading your work and finding its flaws. If you go to any of the critique websites on Reddit, where writers submit google docs of their works in progress, they’re all filled with comments by strangers dissecting the grammar, dialog, logic, tense, continuity, and language. For the popular docs, almost every line is peppered with notes on how each individual sentence could be improved. Sometimes with conflicting ideas.

But is that really the best way to improve our craft? An anemic sea of red liner notes, bringing the document to a chugging halt, covering the story in its reef of perceived flaws?

Creativity flows from the subconsciousness. And in order to access the full extent of our creative power we have to feel free to write without consideration to harsh judgment. When we first begin to write we’re unsure of ourselves, trying to gain footing, figuring out our voice and how words flow. Our words will be messy. Our characters are inconsistent. But much like anything we do, we’ll find ourselves often improving without outside feedback as long as we keep putting in effort.

I can’t think of anything that would tighten the pipes of creativity more for someone just beginning to write than to drown them in the obsessive self-doubt that makes them question every word that springs out from their keyboard.

Maybe you waited for years, tiptoeing around the idea that you could be a writer. You left out missives and honeyed milk to a muse that you weren’t even sure existed. Then she arrived, and you decided it was time to try. So you sat down to write a story. It was raw and flapping at the edges, like a stretched out piece of meat. It may have been a poor cut, but you knew the spirit was good. It was expression brought into material existence. And you saw inside that story that your raw skill could be cultivated into something more.

But then you joined a writer’s critique group, and instead of nurturing that shy, hesitant muse, they beat it to death right in front of you.

Every time I went to a creative writing workshop always felt like walking into a stale oven. There always seemed to be this hesitant feeling of dread. Like at any moment, someone was going to crank the heat from some ancient burner and burn us all alive. These workshops always took place in stilted libraries and dusty corridors and in the backs of churches. They were always full of people who sweated because they weren’t used to wearing suits, or who hadn’t showered in days, or who pushed their slick black hair back in disdain when they didn’t receive unanimous praise.

They didn’t seem like writers to me. They seemed like birds who had their backs broken years ago, and they never quite healed right. I almost never returned after one session.

Animals instinctively know not to go into dangerous, dark places without escape hatches. It kind of felt like that. Like an animal, I’d run away. Retreat back into a place with windows and warm light. I’ve improved as a writer mostly by internal feedback. By writing almost every day for 15 years. By continuing to read books about craft and books that I

And besides that, it always seemed to devolve into quibbling about minor details or technical inconsistencies. Is arguing about the proper usage of a term for 20 minutes really going to make us better writers?

Recently I read an excellent book called If You Want To Write by Brenda Ueland. Many books about writing focus on things like plot, voice, grammar, dialog, and characters. But Ueland’s book focuses more on the soul of writing, and what it means to be an artist. Intellectualism can’t create a good story, and all the technical know-how in the world won’t give you the desire to express something that will tether you to writing that “has infection.” (Writing that is infectious, compelling, and

Here’s a quote from the book about critique:

When giving violin lessons [Francesca] never tells a child that he is playing a bad note. Why do that? He knows it himself. All are trying to get nearer and nearer to the true pitch, to perfection, anyway. Why fix their attention on the avoidance of mistakes? It just tightens them up, contracts them, and makes them dislike lessons. Moreover, when they are thinking so vividly about the bad notes that they are warned to avoid, they play them again and again, just as a man learning to ride a bicycle goes into the tree he is afraid of. To play a note truly, as the simplest person knows, your mind must be on the true note, your Imagination hearing it as you want to play it.

If we want to get better at something, we need to focus on the goal and not just avoid all the ways that we can fail. There are infinite ways to move toward error, but to achieve something usually requires specific steps to completion.

When you’re trying to play an instrument, there are many wrong notes you can hit. But there is only one right note. It needs to be affixed in the mind like a jewel. So it is with becoming a better writer.

Critique can help push a piece of writing that last 5–10% that it needs to really shine, and all books need to be edited. But critique can’t take you from a new writer to an advanced one, and it can’t help you figure out how to find your voice. It can’t nourish the desire to speak and to write the things that come inflamed and true inside you. It was never designed to do that.

So if you’re just starting out as a writer, I advise you to stay away from critique right away. Here are a few things you can do instead to improve your writing that isn’t joining critique groups:

  • Writing story after story.
  • Writing in a sloppy, old journal every morning to get used to the feeling of keyboard and connect yourself to the idea that you have an imagination.
  • Submitting your stories to publishers to get an idea for the process and what they’re looking for, even if you get rejected.
  • Getting into the habit of writing every day.
  • Writing things that interest, frighten, and delight you. Writing things that make you excited to get out of bed in the morning so you can get back to it.
  • Reading stories in multiple genres that inspire you.
  • Reading writing memoirs that inspire you.
  • Highlighting passages that you love the style of, that sing to you, and trying to recreate them in your own voice.
  • Going for a long walk and allowing your mind to wander.
  • Allowing yourself to become bored for long lengths of time so that your mind begins to wander (Like the aforementioned walking).
  • Indulging in sensations — tastes, sights, smells. Then trying to think of unique ways to put them into prose. To get used to transforming a lived experience onto the page..
  • Doing that thing you always wanted to do but never felt like you had the courage to. I’m not talking about writing. It could be anything. Skydiving. Ziplining. Since most of us are at home, maybe it just means finally talking to your crush on Zoom. There’s nothing that makes me want to write more than feeling alive and wanted that juice to run down into my words.
  • Meditation, to get used to being more aware of your thoughts and your body in space. It’ll allow you to get comfortable with being by yourself and the words for long periods of time.
  • Developing a personality with experience, hard work, setting yourself challenges, traveling, cultivating relationships, or indulging in art. Almost all of your favorite writers have interesting styles that were created with interesting personalities and unique experiences.
Self Improvement
Motivation
Writing
Writing Life
Writing Tips
Recommended from ReadMedium