We all need critique, but when we have no body else to look at our work who do we turn to and who do we share with? Friends and Family! Of course friends are great, they adore you as a friend. But they don't care for your book. Most likely because they have no idea about the publishing or the literary world. Maybe because they are a bit envious that you wrote a novel and they didn't. When I told my friend I am trying to publish a novel she just said "Gosh you are going to be so rich." Of course my answer was "No I won't be! I will consider myself lucky if I even get an agent." So she was off the list. The problem is that they simply don't understand the hardship and the competitive world of writing. so then it comes to family...
you see them often and lots of you even live with them so why not let them read your novel? To be honest I saw too much advice to never let your family critique your work, particularly your loving mother but from personal experience it really depends. For me, my mother helped me tons with my novel. I guess this is an exception though because she is in science (Bio-physics and brain research) and she has the most logical mind ever. If she reads something and it doesn't make logical sense she tells me, because she knows I want to be published and she knows you have to be tough on the manuscript for that. So what about you guys, do you let your family read your novel? How about friends? What do you think are the pros and cons?
I blogged about this once too! I let my family read it. Just for entertainment value, they are will read anything I put in front of them...lol. They're not really "romance" readers, sav one, so I take their advice with a grain of salt. They are mainly there for typos and things the really don't understand. Other than that, I leave everything else to the beta. YAY BETA!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteJustine- lol! I hope they were very enterntained with your novel(s)! Not ALL my family reads my book but advice is good. I too leave the rest of the issues and critiquing for the beta! Our poor betas are probably overworked. :D
ReplyDeleteMy best friend is a to-be author like us, so we swap novels frequently and offer pretty intense critique. The trouble is, what with life and all it's difficult to work through so many rough drafts. But that's the same for any reader of yours...
ReplyDeleteI've put off showing my work my mum for years. She's a psychologist and I'm pretty sure she'll write me off as insane if she gets close to my novels, heh.
SAVE THE BETAS! =D
I have a sister who's a tough critic. No way she'd say she likes something if she doesn't, and she's helped me with my fiction and non-fiction--proofreading and making suggestions, which includes ideas and titles.
ReplyDeleteMy mother liked to read my work and always praised it, even when she didn't understand some of my SF ideas, I suspect. The closest she got to criticism was--Couldn't they have gotten married first. (The story couldn't have worked then.)
Alyson,
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I'd hesitate showing my work to a psychologist, especially if she were my mother!
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ReplyDeleteStay away from the shrinks!!
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