#writetip
How do you overcome the ‘Yeah, but . . .” syndrome? It’s oh so tempting to respond to critique with the dreaded ‘Yeah, but . . .’ – the temptation to explain why you wrote something the way you wrote it.
My advice is delay a rebuttal. You might be surprised what your brain does with the critique if you let it mull over what’s been said. If the answer comes to you in the middle of the night, be sure to write it down.
My reader, Sue is particularly good at pointing out where I need more emotion in a scene.
My reader, Janice points out where I need one level of emotion for the main characters and another for the secondary characters.
They are usually right. They don’t tell me how to fix a problem, only that the scene has one. Invaluable, but only if I’m willing to hear them.
My trick – I don’t respond to critique right away. I listen to it, go away and think about it, and then I have a non-emotional response and can decide logically if I want to make the requested changes or not.
Related articles
- A Critique Is a Gift – It Contains Choices and Possibilities (joanyedwards.wordpress.com)
Kristina Stanley 
Dear Kristina,
Your idea to wait awhile before you do anything with a critique is an excellent idea. It’s very heallthy and leaves you more open to see what they are really saying to help with your story.
Thanks for linking to my post about critiques. I appreciate it very much. Do something to celebrate you and your gift of writing today.
Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards
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Waiting is hard, but I think worth the effort. I’m looking forward to reading your blog too!
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Dear Kristina,
Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.
Joan Y. Edwards
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Hi, Kristina *waves* Found your blog through Kirsten’s Hopscotch blog today and am a new follower:) Non-emo response to critiques always a plus IMHO!
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Hi Jamie, Thanks for the note and the follow. I really appreciate it. Kristina
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With getting critiques, I swing wildly between questioning why I even bother writing, and then going to change everything the critic pointed out because I really want to make my story better.
You make a good point that neither of these responses is logical, and that I need to formulate my next changes from a place of reason, not emotion! My readers so far have been fantastic in helping me to understand this, but thanks for the reminder.
Critiques have been invaluable to my growth as a writer, but learning from them is something I still need to work on. I’m off to check out that article! Thanks for the link. 🙂
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I liked the blog that I linked to. It’s quite detailed and a lot of thought went into to. Enjoy.
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