The Delights of Criticism

So on Saturday I got a report from Hilary Johnson's reader. I didn't send the novel until the end of July. The fees have gone up. They're still reasonable, but I'm skint. But if I want to progress I must take this step, so I borrowed the money from my parents. They are to be paid back from the proceeds when I self-publish. I hope they won't be waiting too long...

The report must necessarily contain some criticisms and I wondered if sometimes authors ring or email, fuming, complaining that their novel has been misunderstood or misjudged.

I was determined not to do this, no matter what unpalatable advice I found therein. A TS Eliot fact I retained from school is that his iconic poem 'The Wasteland' was twice as long until Ezra Pound took a red pencil to it.

No good writer, I believe, writes entirely alone.

Often, in creative writing class, I remind my students that writers should embrace constructive criticism. Emphasis, of course, on the 'constructive'.

People who try to rewrite your work to sound sound like their work should be ignored. People who tell you that the book is rubbish and you are crap should be ignored - especially the little voice inside your own head. But those who point out plot weaknesses, formatting mistakes, typos or wooden characters should be thanked, and with gratitude.

These are your true friends, the people who help you to improve your writing.

Listen, and move your story from good to great.