After much thought and introspection, I finally got up the nerve to tell someone whose WIP I was critiqueing that I didn’t think the story fit in the genre it was stated as. The writing itself was quite good but the parts of the story that stood out and were memorable to me were pretty much at direct odds to the genre.
My heartfelt belief was that the story needed to be reworked to either fit the intended genre or to fit the other genre which is where I actually feel this author has a very strong voice.
Finally, after much soul-searching, I wrote a private email last week with my thoughts to her. It was hard because I am SURE it is not what she wants to hear at all but I just don’t think I would be doing her any favors by not telling her, either.
My personal feeling is that if I am reading someone’s work to offer feeback or critique them, I owe them honesty. Not cruelty, mind you, but definitely honesty.
What do other people think? What do you want or not want in a critique partner? What is the hardest part of being someone’s critique partner?
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