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Beware Brutal Reviewers of Your Work
by Michael Neff
Are brutal reviewers always good for you? Are they more often right than wrong just because they're brutal, or are other factors at work?
So what spurred these questions? A friend recently said she had a "brutal critique partner" that could be relied on. It got me to thinking about brutal reviewers in my own experience who were worse than useless and actually destructive.
We need to keep in mind that the better an ms becomes, the harder such "brutal critics" are forced to dig for critique at all costs, inevitably focusing on matters of taste, e.g, "I don't like that character's personality..." as opposed to "I think this point could be made clearer by doing XYZ." You could put 10 of these brutes (Et tu?) in a room and they would each shred an unpublished novel to pieces in their own special way; however, chances are if the same novel were actually written by a commercial author favorite, they would not only praise it but compete vigorously to deliver the most positive, in-depth insight into the work. Amazon would be showered with five stars.
You could sit 10 of these brutal negative types in a meeting room and they would each shred an unpublished novel to pieces in their own special way.
In further support of the contention above, I suggest at least one profound and debilitating experience, if possible, with various coverage people in Los Angeles. I've fought huge battles with several over novel manuscripts and screenplays penned by writers known to me (two were editorial clients) who they had gone to great lengths to utterly annihilate (no exaggeration), and I noticed, the more perfect the manuscript, the more vehemently extreme the critique--as if a really good story and great prose infuriated them and made them all the more determined to find ways to chop viciously. On one occasion, the reviewer lied to great effect. She actually fabricated things that allegedly took place in the story, all in attempt to trash a very good writer and a great novel. It was definitely one of those incidents so hard to accept unless and until you've actually experienced it.
All in all, I came to realize that these LA "coverage" types made their living by using negativity as a substitute for authentic and insightful review, much like certain commercial book reviewers who go ridiculously negative in order to stand out. Besides, just a lot easier and safer to go negative, to appear brilliantly scathing, than to support the project and thereby take a chance that higher level execs might go negative instead and contradict your report, thus leaving you feeling foolish and perhaps even jobless. A coverage person in LA working for Lion's Gate once told me many years ago that she'd been on the brink of termination just for recommending two scripts for further review by her manager over a period of a month. This was out of over 200 scripts she'd panned as hopeless during that same time period.
A coverage person in LA working for Lion's Gate once told me many years ago that she'd been on the brink of termination just for recommending two scripts for further review by her manager over a period of a month.
And now for something different. When looking for feedback on a fantasy manuscript I wrote several years ago, I purposely sought out three writers who I knew would tear into it with a vengeance, and all three did, and yet, no commonalities. I'd assumed that reasonably intelligent writers straining hard to be negative would find an issue if it really existed. To my relief, they did not, however it was illuminating to watch them strive to be as negative as possible over essentially petty things. Indeed, one does learn from a negative, or in this case, many negatives.
I once sent a very polished ms by a client to a working pair of freelance editors in Iowa who I trusted at the time to simply put a final coat of paint on the top floor. Instead, for starters, they shredded the opening chapter of the ms in every conceivable and inconceivable way. They strained to dissect sentences and nitpick "the real meaning" in the context of words actually used, and in a manner I found, as an editor, nothing short of bizarre. They even hated the use of italics! Huh? Determined to be negative at all costs, the Iowa freelancers then went on to say not one positive thing about any facet of the ms.
When not provided their normal diet of necessary edits they had simply picked and picked until they created a series of false negatives.
Following a phone call with them about the client's ms, it suddenly hit me. When not provided their normal diet of necessary edits they had simply picked and picked until they created a series of false negatives. However, at a later date under totally different circumstances, I couldn't help but notice the exact same freelance editors, when courting a client for monetary reasons, fell over themselves being complimentary.
Conclusion. If you must use reviewers, searched for balanced personalities, and if you look for solid editors, seek those with track records in getting novel manuscripts actually published.
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