Critiquing other people’s work is a sign of respect for the number of hours they’ve put in their creation process. It is identifying they can be better if they tweak a few things and highlighting those areas to them. Also, critiquing other people’s work is a great way to show off your expertise to your fan base.
However, to successfully critique someone’s work, you must read it! Way too many writers are guilty of skipping over other people’s work to advertise theirs. When was the last time you purchased someone’s book even when you got a complementary copy?
Have you ever hosted a reading around someone else’s book?
Have you ever announced the launch of another person’s work?
This is a good marketing and partnership technique. More importantly, it is the habit of a person who knows the laborious demands of creativity and celebrates anyone who pays the due.
You and I have met patronizing people but that’s definitely not you. You are a writer who is committed to the cause whether it’s your work or not. You are the writer who knows the world needs more creative pieces that spark imagination. You know a good piece of writing when you see it and you’re not afraid to say “hey world, this piece is magnificent”.
Until we overcome our creative low self-esteem, we will not celebrate other writers who create amazing collections in our genre and beyond.
Benefits of celebrating other writers
- You are building or solidifying a relationship
When I critique your work with the intention of helping you improve, you do improve if you take the suggestions or you show me where I’m wrong. Either way, this dialogue brings us both to a place of mutual respect.
Respect is a key factor for partnerships; you neither recommend people you don’t respect nor form alliances with them. Every writer has paid some form of dues and are still doing so. The last thing any writer will do is recommend a total stranger online just because they have search engine visibility. Beyond visibility, you want to be known by dialogue that shows your expertise.
If I read your writing and I send a detailed analysis of the high points for me as an individual, you are likely to expect my next review of your work, ask my opinion on something unpublished or read my actual work to see who I am and how I creatively show up.
- You are building your circle
One writer may be a friend but twelve writers who trust your judgment could be a mastermind like you have never imagined. In my Medium article titled Shield of love, I spoke about getting love from every industry.
Your shield of love as a writer would consist of
- Writers who have been published by publishing companies who know how to negotiate better terms and conditions
- Writers who understand the menace of plagiarism and are learning how to protect their work
- Writers who mastering how to be bestsellers and top the chat
- Writers who are learning to diversify their income and investment portfolios
- Writers who understand the place of writing in societal education.
Notice how I keep mentioning all these different categories of writers that you may not be as a person. However, as you engage and build community, these new writers will come in with their flavour and influence how you show up as a writer.
They all would not be nice supporters. Some of them would be hyper-critical in a way that makes your work feel unworthy; take their corrections, improve and let go of the negativity.
Some will always support everything you create and you will never know if your work is good enough on a global level; take the boost, feel great about being creative and let go of the hype so you can continue building instead of settling.
- You’re increasing your audience base
Most fans are invested in people who enjoy what they enjoy. This means the followers of the person whose work you’re reading and complementing are likely to come check you out thereby increasing your fan base if your work is appealing to them as well.
How to effectively critique another writer
- Review the work, not the person
In marriage counselling, we tell the couple to fight the problem and not each other.
Why?
- You don’t know the person well enough to review them.
- You do not know the circumstances surrounding their writing.
- You have invested too little in their works to have such a high opinion of their skill set.
- The author has a right to life aside from writing.
When unsure, read the book multiple times. If possible, read other materials by the same author to be sure about their writing style.
- Critique with growth in mind
There is a huge difference between disagreeing with a point and being disgusted by it. Many of us critique people with disgust. We are so confident of our criticism that we opine that the work should not exist.
When we critique, we must do so with the intention of helping the writer become better in their content research, delivery and techniques. Creative critiquing has become loathsome because we critique with the intention of destroying each other. That’s why creatives are getting more isolated instead of forming community.
A writer’s critique is on the side of good writing. If no one can critique your work, there’s a problem.
- Create continuity
While each writer is a separate entity, each writer is also an extension of the culture, language and expectation of their time.
When you critique, you cannot critique a writer in isolation from their time, age and the historical work that influence their writing. This means the critiquing process is research writing process in itself. To thoroughly research and write with continuity in mind is to invite non-writers and upcoming writers to the world of good pieces.
Creating is important but without proper critiquing, mediocrity is born.
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Read – Create – Affluent Authors Column – Liza Chuma Akunyili
