I‘m not that old, but I’ve been around (these are the things you say after you hit 30). Been in a ton of writing groups, even joined a cause or two. I was once firmly in the If you don’t critique them, how can a young writer learn? camp.
I’m not, anymore.
One of the realizations I’ve had over the years in discussions with my best friends, is that a lot of the critiques given in writers’ groups are largely useless, because a lot of them are given by struggling writers themselves. This doesn’t mean you can’t help each other–but that’s supposing you want to help each other. More likely than not, you’re going to run into a forum bully who has insecurities about their work and makes themselves feel better by ragging on a newcomer’s work, under the guise of helping them improve.
Are you a beginning writer? Do you really, really want to get started on this craft? Great! Go buy some books on writing (Stein on Writing by Sol Stein, On Writing by Stephen King, Steering the Craft by Ursula Le Guin, just to name a few). And then go lock yourself up in your room and write and write and write until your fingers bleed. YEARS later, then maybe you can tentatively approach writers’ groups and search for beta-readers who share your same values and can offer actual help.
Do you know why you have to be alone and write and write and write until your fingers bleed first? Because you need to know who you are, first. You need to know what parts of yourself you’re trying to express, what you’re trying to say beyond just telling a story. You need to know what you’re good at, what you’re weak at, and that you actually do like doing this. You need to find your voice, which you’re not going to find on social media. There’s this dance between you and your manuscript alone, and you’re supposed to dance it until your feet get weary.
Speak with other writers for support, by all means. You need it–we all do. But make friends cautiously. Don’t make the mistake of letting them tear you a new one before you’re ready. I’ve read too many comments by certain “critics”, made towards young writers, that is just so unhelpful and hurtful and damaging.
And maybe it won’t be so bad if that young writer was just looking for approval over a hobby they decided to pick up on a whim, but chances are that’s someone who needs to write, who needs to express the way they look at the world or their own being or so God help them they might go mad, and here’s some know-it-all telling them it’s shit. Well, of course it’s shit. They’re just starting out. Let them come to the conclusion, and then later go forward seeking answers to real, palpable questions, like “How do I tighten this scene?” or “How do I add more description?” or “The relationship between so and so and that guy is off, how can I improve it?”
If you’re a young writer, understand that you’re going to be okay, you’re doing well. Not as well as you think, probably, but not as badly as you fear. Whatever it is, there’s a lot of stuff you have to figure out for yourself. Just keep writing. Keep writing until you don’t know what to do with yourself anymore. And if you truly think you need a critique? Find someone who knows what they’re talking about, not some other struggling young writer on a forum.
Read the The Agartes Epilogues. It won’t take too much of your time.
