The Two Kinds of Critiques

June 2, 2024 by Harvey

In today’s Journal

* A Few More Admin Notes
* The Two Kinds of Critiques
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

A Few More Admin Notes

I’m building as I go on TNDJ, so bear with me. (grin)

1. I’m still posting the Journal to the website, mostly for formatting purposes. But for now I’m marking each post Private (only I can see them).

2. On those days when I open the post up to everybody, that post will be marked Public and will be visible on the site. I will also post that edition to both this Substack and to the old one.

3. If it’s a truly big deal to you (paid subscribers only) to read the Jounal at the website, email me. For those who do,

• I’ll create a Subscriber account on the site and send you the Username and Password via email.

• Then I’ll try to create a single password for all the “private” posts on the site so you can access them there.

4. Only the posts are marked private. Everything else on the Journal website—old archives and other freebies, services, etc.—will still be available on the site to everyone.

5. TNDJ is for paid subscribers only, but do feel free to share with current non-subscribers now and then if you think they would be interested. And finally

6. I’ve removed all TNDJ subscribers from the old list. So if you ever receive two newsletters—both TNDJ and the old “(Almost) Daily Journal,” please email to let me know and I’ll remove you from the old list. Okay, I think that’s it.

Whew! I’m glad that’s over.

Any questions, please email me.

Now for something you might actually find useful. (grin)

The Two Kinds of Critiques

First, a gentle reminder—

Creating is a function of the creative subconscious. It includes both writing into the dark and cycling instead of revising, rewriting or editing by any other name.

A few detractors—absolutely none of whom write into the dark or follow Heinlein’s Rules—have said cycling is just another name for revising.

But that simply isn’t true. There’s one significant difference.

Revising, rewriting, and editing all are intentional, critical (and therefore negative) functions of the conscious, critical mind.

This is true whether we’re talking about you or someone else, like a member of your critique group or a beta reader. But there are two kinds of intentional critiques.

The Mechanical Critique vs. the Casual (Content) Critique

Every time anyone critiques your work, that person is “looking for” (conscious, critical mind) things s/he deems “wrong” (negative).

Even I do that in the professional critiques of openings that I offer, though I never critique for content. Ever. I do a mechanical critique.

When I critique of an opening, I’m looking for whether the story pulls me in and keeps me reading. Then I comment on why it does or why it doesn’t. That’s it. Nothing to do with content.

That’s the equivalent of an honest first reader saying “Oops, I was ejected from the story right here” and telling you why. In other words, mechanical critique has nothing to do with content, only with how it’s arranged.

Content critique is just wrong.

Content critique is an outsider, whether you or someone else, telling the character who’s living the story that you or s/he somehow knows the story better than the character does.

Even in my professional edits of others’ works, I don’t critique for content, though I sometimes critique how that content is arranged. Sequence is critical in sentences, thoughts, actions, and events.

If what the casual critic finds are wrong words (waste vs. waist, solder vs. soldier, etc.), misspellings, and inconsistencies (character has blue eyes in one scene and brown eyes in another), you don’t need anyone to consciously look for them.

They will pop off the page at your first reader as s/he reads the work.

You can also serve as your own first reader. If you read your work aloud with the same creative subconscious you use when you write, any wrong words, misspellings, and inconsistencies will pop off the page to you.

That casual critical mind might be your own or, if you seek critique or other critical input, the critical mind of one or more other people.

And that’s just insane. Again, when you accept a “fix” of content from any critiquer, you’re saying that person’s opinion is more important and valid than the input of the characters who are actually LIVING the story. How can that possibly be right?

Not only that, but you’re saying that critiquer’s opinion is more important and valid than the opinions of the dozens or hundreds or thousands of other readers who will eventually see your work.

When you apply the critical voice to content, the critical voice is always negative. That’s the key.

Any little voice inside you that talks about anything “wrong” (negative) has to be from the conscious, critical mind.

Think about it: Such a thought can only come through your own doubt about where the story’s going. So again, the source has to be the conscious, critical mind.

Also remember, the characters are pure.

The characters are just living the story. They don’t think about where the story’s going or what will happen next. They’re actually going through it and whatever happens, happens.

Consider this: If you sit on your porch and watch three children playing acoss the street, you’re an observer, looking in on the small part of their story that’s unfolding before your eyes.

If you decide to write that story down, you’d probably never even consider fretting over what’s going to happen next. You’d just keep writing.

And of course, that’s exactly what you should do.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

Stoicism. A Philosophy, Not a Religion

In Defense of Shame Not specifically about writing, but whatever fills the well, right? This is a very intelligent essay. And spot-on. I’m SO glad I was born in the early 1950s.

The Numbers

The Journal……………………………… 990

Writing of When the Owl Calls (novel)

Day 1…… 1884 words. To date…… 1884
Day 2…… 3699 words. To date…… 5583
Day 3…… 2086 words. To date…… 7669
Day 4…… 3167 words. To date…… 10836
Day 5…… 4011 words. To date…… 14847
Day 6…… 1724 words. To date…… 16571
Day 7…… 1633 words. To date…… 18204
Day 8…… 1378 words. To date…… 19582
Day 9…… 2332 words. To date…… 21914

Fiction for June…………………….….… 2332
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 342929
Fiction since October 1………………… 645986
Nonfiction for June……………………… 1740
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 185370
2024 consumable words……………… 528799

2024 Novels to Date……………………… 8
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 90
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 239
Short story collections…………………… 29

Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies, and they will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.