Thread: Searching through my peers.

Ever since I started to take writing seriously I've had a close friend critique my work. I send her things via Facebook at least once a week and she always comes back with something like, "I don't think you're following one topic at a time." Or simply, "Sounds good." She doesn't ever give me anything constructive. Once she told me I was, "All over the place," when I clearly followed my thought process to a T. I love this girl so much and I'm afraid of telling her she's being extremely biased when reading my work.
I've never actually read anything of her's to even know if she understands the writing process or what is good/bad. But, I do know what she reads. Shes always going on about this Vampire Academy series she's been reading. She loaned me one and, oh god, it was terrible. It's a book for pre-teen's and the dialogue is extremely unrealistic. I might have read through half the first chapter before I realized they were talking perfectly. There was no realistic tone to the book. At least, that's how I perceived it.
Anyways, I'm really unsure about how to go about finding someone that knows how to critique someone's work without almost demanding it be written the way they want it to be written. I guess that's how I feel about her in a nutshell. I feel as if she's pressuring me to write what she wants to read, or in the context she wants to read. I write kind of like Elizabeth Gilbert did in Eat, Pray, Love. I kind of bounce around but never so much that I become completely off topic.
Any help would be appreciated.

My only advice would be to talk to her more in depth about your writing. Find out specifically where she takes issue with your writing. If you look in to the particulars, maybe her opinion will make more sense to you. Also, consider that in all likelyhood you're more biased about your writing than she is. It's very possible that she's not correct in her assessment, but be careful with how you treat a critique of your work. Ultimately, you're writing to be read as much as you are writing to express yourself, so it's important to take people's opinions under consideration.

As for finding people who will offer impartial opinions of your writing, this site is quite useful. Post some of your writing. You'll likely get more and higher quality reviews if you return the favour and take the time to critique the work of others.

And why would you take here criticism seriously?

Buah?

Originally Posted by DELFIA

And why would you take here criticism seriously?

I'm sorry but is there a reason you are so cold to me?

Farror summed it up. Check out the critique areas -- and decide for yourself whether or not the you should take the criticism here seriously. What others may think about it isn't important.

I don't think having just one critiquer is a good idea. I've always sent my work off to lots of people to get different opinions. And that's always what you get.
So then you figure out what's the common problem cropping up in your work if everyone is mentioning it, and if it's just little stuff, then pencil it down to the individual and you decide how important you think it is.
A smorgasbord is the way to go.

Your friend does not sound like the ideal reader. I don't let my regular friends read my work very often, only people I'm friends with through writing, because I know they get it.

I don't have many friends willing to take time out of their lives to read my work. Unfortunately they're all kind of snobby. And I'm a little apprehensive about posting my work online. But I'll post some of my older stuff on here and see what kind of feedback I get.

Originally Posted by UnWritten

I don't have many friends willing to take time out of their lives to read my work. Unfortunately they're all kind of snobby. And I'm a little apprehensive about posting my work online. But I'll post some of my older stuff on here and see what kind of feedback I get.

Welcome to WF.

You'll find that the Writers Workshop is a good place to post any work that you're sensitive about as it's only visible and accessible to members of the site.

Thanks Baron. I've posted a little snippet of my work in that forum and am waiting for someone to reply!