I’ve written before about where to find critique partners but I wanted to touch on something just as important…

… namely why you should be a good critique partner yourself.

A good critique partner is an incredible asset. And I don’t believe they’re made overnight. Learning how to give useful, good critique is a skill that you develop over time. And it’s an important one, as a writer.

Why?

1. The better you are at critiquing, the more likely you are to attract a good critique partner for your own work. Like calls to like. And believe me, you need good critique partners.

2. Critiquing another’s work can help you find problems within your own work. It’s easier to criticize something that’s not yours; you’re not attached to it. You have objectivity. So you may find something problematic in their work that you would have overlooked in your own–and it can help you see those problems in your own.

3. Helping someone else improve their work is a worthwhile joy. After all, we’re writers because we want more good stories in the world, are we not? So aside from writing your own story, helping someone else with theirs is a way to do this.

So how do you learn how to be a good critique partner? That’s the subject of another post. Stay tuned!

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