Worst Critique Experience Evars!!!

I've never really had a bad one for myself, but I was just in a fiction writing class which basically turned into a crit group during the second half of the semester, and two people ended up breaking down in tears at the end of their day to be critiqued. In all fairness, though, one of them just wrote about really personal and emotional topics. She was totally fine with taking criticism later on another piece of her writing.

My worst crit experience was from a person who never read a word of my writing. She came into my office one day while I was discussing a piece with a friend. She looked at me and said, as from the Mount, "You won't ever get anything published. You know what? You should just be a librarian."

I'm still not sure whether she thought being a librarian would be a boon or a punishment.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to sending her a copy of my debut novel. Along with a list, for her own use, of Library Science programs.

I had one person tell me "at least I was honest" when my avatar tagline said "brings nothing to the table" (they also accused me of just siding with Theo because we were in some sort of anti-boy's club)

one tell me they felt sorry for my children and that I was heartless

one claim I was "weaponizing my education"

one call me "quickslime"



bonus point for any of that?

callalily61 said:

Several years back, I was in an online crit group for (mostly) Christian fic. At the time, I was working on a religious horror with a FMC. One of the members sent me a full-page, single-spaced crit, mostly in red. It ripped my plot, my writing, my MC, my worldbuilding, my faith (seriously? from a piece of fiction?), and said emphatically that he thought my work would "harm new Christians." All of this in separate paragraphs, with headers for each point. He concluded by telling me he hoped my work never got published, and signed it "with love from your brother in Christ." Seriously.

I blew him into the group mod, who told me that the guy was an evangelical pastor who had issues with strong women. The mod blocked this guy from ever critting my work again.

I tossed the crit, because while I laughed through most of it, it stung. I do reference it when I'm running a meatspace crit group, or when people ask me for crit advice. It's my go-to story of how not to crit.

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I think your "brother in Christ" and my "library woman" should get together.

One particular phenomenon irks me, because it still crops up now and then: Whenever I'm "warned" for using a particular perspective, the rest of the crit becomes difficult to take seriously.

I had one crit send back helpful nitpicks and useful questions, but she began the crit with a warning that I was unequipped to handle my own character's perspective, just because the character was a different sex from mine.

I diplomatically asked my crit partner to give me some credit, to which she responded by sending me back a quote from another author on writing members of the opposite sex like it proved her point.

I have yet to actually call this crit partner sexist, but I'm about to.

a girl who no longer spends time here told me she has a beta send a crit that her title was completely misleading....the story was about a guy going to Hell, and the title was "What Dante Didn't Tell You."

Her beta informed her that this made no sense, as the MC was not, nor was anyone else in her book, named Dante.

She deserves at least one point, wherever she may be......

I don't think I've been lambasted for giving a crit. I did have the embarrassment early on of over-critting things on blogs and such. No one called me on it, but later on, I realized I was being too nitpicky and making suggestions based on my own style (before I could recognize it as such). Similarly, the first couple of crits I did in beta situations ended up with the writer thanking me for the first chapter and then disappearing forever. So I assume I did a really offensive job there.

I've also been Hmmm, well that's nice'd in SYW--politely dismissed--for what I suspect were similar failings on my part. I still haven't gotten the knack for crit.



These days, I try to crit lightly. (It's less offensive, since my opinion is so meaningless, and it also saves time.)

I also haven't been critted very harshly. I haven't really put much up for crit, though, to be honest. In the two venues where I do post work, I got a crit on something I wrote years ago for being purple (which I was). The crit was written in such superfluous language that I could barely understand the point... point made.

Another crit was for a fanfic chapter with a strong romantic element. A reader who had been following the story didn't like a plot element for personal reasons. Fair enough... but then she wrote a scathing 2-page review of it that accused me of all sorts of things you could, in no way, extrapolate from what I wrote. It was as if I'd written about a man buying a beret, and she accused me of murdering French people in my real life.

She used several of the plotpoints in that chapter in her next fic...

Obviously, she was being an unstable poo-head. But getting such a vitriolic review about something that was completely not about the work itself (but rather her own hangups), really stung and embarrassed me. I quit writing that fic because of it.

getting such a vitriolic review about something that was completely not about the work itself (but rather her own hangups)

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That's a tricky situation. I feel like those are the people you should try to convince to read your material, since they're the types whose minds you want to change with your writing.

But yes, it absolutely sucks.

CharacterInWhite said:

That's a tricky situation. I feel like those are the people you should try to convince to read your material, since they're the types whose minds you want to change with your writing.

But yes, it absolutely sucks.

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Eh, well I totally see what you're saying, but in my case it wasn't so ground-breaking or important that I needed to change anyone's mind about it. People like what they like in a love interest, and that's their prerogative. I just don't expect the whole story (which she otherwise liked) to be trashed for the one element she didn't or for her to paint me as such a worthless person for "ruining the hero" in her eyes. I guess that just goes to show. *shrug*

Now, I just don't respond to unsolicited feedback that's so obviously about them and not about my work.

CharacterInWhite said:

That's a tricky situation. I feel like those are the people you should try to convince to read your material, since they're the types whose minds you want to change with your writing.

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Personally, I'm a writer, not a therapist. Adults need to take responsibility for their hangups, not vent them at artists, IMO.

I once had a critiquer who suggested I needed to brush up on basic grammar because "Laura's hand" means "Laura is hand", and the correct way to write the possessive is actually "Lauras hand".

Yeah.

jjdebenedictis said:

I once had a critiquer who suggested I needed to brush up on basic grammar because "Laura's hand" means "Laura is hand", and the correct way to write the possessive is actually "Lauras hand".

Yeah.

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how big were her hands? Do you think Laura could suffocate me, and would I smell my spit on them?


*runs and hides

In my local area, I was in a critique group disguised as a writing group. If anyone gave constructive criticism, one woman in the group would interrupt (even if it wasn't her OWN story) to tell the person they were wrong. She would list points why their opinion was wrong, and she would demand others to agree with her. She wouldn't let it go until one person would speak up. If she did let anyone finish, then she'd demand how the person came to that conclusion (as in prove what you're saying with a reference).

Everyone else was pretty cool beans with listening to feedback and letting it sink in. We appreciated that people took the time to look over our stories. She was the only one who took any suggestions as a personal attack on her. Not on her writing style.

Let's just say, I didn't last in the critique--oops I mean "writing"--group very long after that.

quicklime said:

a girl who no longer spends time here told me she has a beta send a crit that her title was completely misleading....the story was about a guy going to Hell, and the title was "What Dante Didn't Tell You."

Her beta informed her that this made no sense, as the MC was not, nor was anyone else in her book, named Dante.

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Bless. That's almost cute.

My "worst" crit--meaning the one that hurt the most--was one guy coming to tell me everything that was wrong with my story immediately after a fiction reading. I don't even remember what he said, but this story was something I'd been working with a writers' group beforehand, and the reading is what we do after several weeks of critiquing each other and polishing our work. Was the piece perfect? Eh, probably not, but there's a right and wrong time to tell me what needs fixing about it. Immediately after a fiction reading is the WRONG TIME.

well, if passive-aggressive counts, I've gotten tons of "thank yous" that were thinly veiled "hey, you know what would be swell? If you went and fucked yourself. And then died.."s

Years ago I wrote a short story. It was my first attempt at non-fiction. I'd gotten some great props from a professor at school about the writing in my papers and he'd encouraged me to try creative writing. So I did.

I asked my then-husband to read the story and tell me what he thought. He started to read it, then he started laughing. He giggled and he chortled and he chuckled until he got to the end. Then he walked away, still laughing. No, it wasn't a comedy.

It took a long time for me to figure out that crushing every little nascent hope or dream I had for myself was kind of like a hobby for him. And it was many years before I ever got up the confidence to write again.

Ever wish you could go back in time and give your younger self a good talking to?

@acockey--Eh, probably about an 8. Mostly I just wanted him to shut up. He wasn't even in the group, y'know? That wasn't cool.

Also, I just want to posit that I've hardly ever interpreted a "thank you" as anything other than a "thank you." Maybe I've been insulted many times and just never noticed. I tend to take people literally, especially on the Internet, unless I know them really, really well.

CharacterInWhite said:

One particular phenomenon irks me, because it still crops up now and then: Whenever I'm "warned" for using a particular perspective, the rest of the crit becomes difficult to take seriously.

I had one crit send back helpful nitpicks and useful questions, but she began the crit with a warning that I was unequipped to handle my own character's perspective, just because the character was a different sex from mine.

I diplomatically asked my crit partner to give me some credit, to which she responded by sending me back a quote from another author on writing members of the opposite sex like it proved her point.

I have yet to actually call this crit partner sexist, but I'm about to.

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My worst crit experience was when I drew attention to something I found stereotypical in my swap partner's manuscript, wrote him a lengthy response explaining why I felt that way and attached a quote from Junot Diaz about the difficulties men face when writing from the POV of women, and instead of ever responding to me he just made a post on a public forum bitching about it.