We've covered resting and editing. But how long should you let critiques rest before you use or dismiss them?

Once you've taken the leap and put yourself out there in the form of a story, critiques often become a hairy issue. You want them and you love to hear input on your story but as they start to fill up your comments sections you notice that you've got some mixed feelings about them. Just like when you open the fridge and see piles of tupperware dinners, there will be critiques that you like, that you don't like, and ones that make you kind of nervous because you can't tell what it is just by looking at it.

But the longer the crit sits there, the more you know you've got to eventually decide what to do with it. It's time to be brave and see what you've got.

Before we go any further, though, I want to distinguish between comments/reviews and critiques.

are about the writing and for the writer. They are almost always given with the knowledge (or vain hope) that the writer is looking to and likely will edit sometime in the distant future.

The focus is about the story and making it better. Very often, it's an open dialogue with the writer (IE: if you pm a critter they are often happy to explain themselves or offer further advice). Critiques tend to be specific and address specific elements or areas in the writing. There might be opinions mixed in, but they're mostly backed up with context, or can be, if you ask.

The critique is your mother admiring your freshly vacuumed room and telling you that you missed a spot, and your shades are crooked and one pillow isn't quite as fluffed as the other. Or it's your grandmother, telling you that your buttercream frosting needs a splash of milk. Or, in my sister's case years ago, it's me telling her that her cake turned into cornbread because, in most recipes, "white sugar" does not mean "powdered sugar."

Two things to note here:

A short critique is not a comment!

99.9% of people giving critiques aren't out to get you! They're just trying help your story succeed the best way they know how to.

Comments and reviews are for the reader and often reflect personal opinions. (Mostly. Obviously a writer can look at them and having comments can make you feel better than silence.) C&R are meant to provide observations, and are not given with the knowledge that the writer is going to change anything. A comment is a closed conversation. The person leaving the review or comment has absolutely no obligation to you or the story. They can say whatever they want and they do not have to defend themselves, explain their position, or ever respond to you. Comments are usually general and nonspecific and aren't given with the idea that the writer is going to further edit the work.

A comment is a person walking down the street and saying you have a beautiful dog. Or your sister saying she doesn't like pickles on her burgers, or the bishop claiming Charles Darwin is a crock or that Shakespeare used too many adjectives.

One thing to note here:

Be respectful of people's opinions, even if you don't agree (or want to smash their stupid face with a hammer). If you posted or published something in a public space, they have every right to be there and there's often very little you can do about it (if it happens off Wattpad).

If you put it up on Amazon and you're never going near that sucker ever again, everything is now just a comment. If you're still trying to perfect your story, maybe everything, even "Bob seems mean" is a critique.

Not everyone is going to like your story. That's just the way of the world. One of the first things you must do when looking at comments, reviews, and critiques, is to decide whether or not the content is valid, or if someone's just out to ruin your day.

In most circumstances I will absolutely discourage you from snooping on the critter. As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, there's a lot you don't know about the person giving the critique. Some people are better with editing than writing, etc, just like some people are better off coaching basketball than actually playing it!

But I'm going to help you out and give you some very dumb reasons for those bad apples:

1. They heard about the story through the grape vine, and even though they won't admit it, they wanted to find something wrong with it and be that cool kid who goes against the grain (especially if they're friends with other cool kids). So they go in reading and immediately are so sickened by your fist page they almost threw up in their mouth, it's so awful. They just don't get why everyone else is so obsessed with this worthless drivel. The end. They literally didn't read any further and they felt so disgusted by what they read they felt the need to point it out to everyone.

If it sounds like they're just being contrary to be contrary, you can probably ignore whatever they wrote.

2. They obviously skimmed or weren't paying attention because they complained about something not happening that actually did happen (they say: Bob never found the sword so how did he magically have it? You: Bob found it at the end of chapter two. *breathes fire*).

If they clearly didn't read properly, you can probably ignore whatever they wrote.

3. You reviewed something of theirs for some reason (random or agreed upon or otherwise), and they took offense at what you said and came for revenge.

This is not uncommon, especially on sites where not everyone has developed a thick skin! You can usually figure it out pretty quickly based on whether or not you recognize the username.

If it's personal (they attack you and not the story) or they just spew hateful things without backing up their opinions, you can probably ignore whatever they wrote.

4. You made a comment or met someone or saw someone or they thought you did something that they don't like. This is the person who comes over and leaves a low rating or a negative comment because you said you liked cats better than dogs, or someone told them they asked for your autograph at the local watering hole and you pushed them in the mud, or they heard that your protagonist punches a guy and violence is bad or that your female protagonist likes to cook and that's teaching young girls the wrong thing.

These are the people with an agenda, and it's fairly easy to recognize them since their views tend to mostly be "me, me, me" and are focused on what you did wrong, not the story. They're mostly "bigger picture" views that aren't necessarily wrong, they're just being expressed on the incorrect platform.

If it sounds like they're here to promote themselves or their ideals, you can probably ignore whatever they wrote.

5. They're just breezing through. Maybe you asked someone who hates romance to drop by your story and they did to be nice, but they're still not into romance. Or everyone is leaving a message so they thought they would, too. Or they're out to troll you or they cared enough to tell you they aren't impressed, but not enough to tell you why.

These are usually short, generic, and leave you wondering if they actually read your story or not (such as: This story is alright.... I liked this... It could be better... Not bad...etc.).

If it doesn't sound like they could even name the title of your book, you can probably ignore whatever they wrote.

We'd badass writers who want to be the best we can be. We're tough and we get results and we aren't going to let morons get under our skin.

Take everything that made you mad or made no sense or whatever and read it. Every comment and critique you're about to delete, save. Read over the valid stuff then all the crits you were about to eliminate. Let them all stew in your brain for a week.

NEXT, read through the chapter/story/paragraphs/whatever you're going to edit and just make any changes along the way that come to mind. Don't worry about getting everything, don't worry about the critiques and don't go back to them, just edit what you want to.

AFTER THAT, take the critiques and comments that passed the sniff test and begin to edit. Go through them one at a time. Change what you agree with. If you hesitate, just save that for later and move on to the next crit and do the same. Under no circumstances are you to look at the annoying ones. But don't delete them. We're saving them for something special.

So now we know what to do with critiques.

How do we actually edit?