Kaitlyn’s Dare: Critique and the Art of Aggressive Positivity

A phrase stitched together one of the more mind-altering critiques I ever got on a story. Half of it was a common phrase, and an often maligned one. Maligned by those of us of the “you must have a thick-skinned” school of thought around stories. Because you do need a thick skin to be a writer. Without true and honest feedback, you can’t grow.

The maligned phrase was “I love this!” A phrase that gets appropriately maligned, because most of us use it as a blind. If you just say you love stuff, then you can be as harsh with your subsequent criticism as you like. Or you can tell yourself you can be, because you said something nice, so now you can be harsh and wretched as you like.

It’s for their own good, right? And a lot of the time it is. And I hope all of us have peers who can give us harsh feedback and we can grow from it. We do need that.

But that’s why “I love this!” has been so maligned. Or part of why. We say it’s unproductive. Because usually it is.

It isn’t always, though. And I had the good fortune of being treated to the exception once.

Because…

The magic was the sentiment “because…”.

• “I love this part! Because…”
• “This works so well, and the reasons are…”
• “This part is so effective, and it works since…”

Those were the phrases that started every note of the critique I got—this memorable critique one what became one of the best stories I’ve written.

There were no negative phrases.

Nothing that said “this isn’t working,” even with an explanation.

No “this needs to be changed” even with reasons why.

None of it said “I didn’t connect with this” even with suggestions for changes.

This substantial, aggressively positive critique only pointed out what worked, talked about why, and asked for more of it.

And it was built on an important knowledge base: it was as thoroughly technical as any other critique I’ve ever received. It came from subjective taste, of course, but its observations were precise, knowledgeable, and well-informed. The critic spoke to story mechanics with as much eloquence as anyone I’ve ever spoken to about stories. More than some, on account of this particular critic had a touch or three of brilliance about her.

Pretty cool.

The Effects

Now, a hypothetical counterpoint: I’m speaking so highly about this because it’s a rush when someone tells you how great you are.

Certainly that.

But what use is that, I ask myself, if it doesn’t also highlight problems that need work?

That too.

Here’s what happened, though…

Shrewdness fueled by eagerness. Since it was such a thorough and technical screed of observations, I had as much of an enhanced perspective of how the story worked as any good critique should bring about.

But rather than a litany of flaws to fix and a vague sense that maybe the rest was all right, I had the opposite idea.

I had a stronger understanding of the cool backbone of the story and more clarity about the mushy fluff that I’d stuffed in to meander between salient story points.

I felt more confident about what was working, and that allowed me to reevaluate vast chunks of the story that simply weren’t helping. I was armed to reassess scenes, paragraphs, characters in the story that came from that part of my writer’s mind that knows how to fill in and get to the next important part.

It was as educational as any harsh or moderate critique I’ve ever had, but also encouraging.

The Power of Causation

The key, see, is the “because.” Because is a powerful tool for writers. Cause and effect reasoning is a tool that can empower everything we do—I’ll write a blog about “because” and plotting soon, maybe.

“Because” is what empowered this aggressive positivity too. My critic didn’t just say she liked it. She brought all her technical skills to bear to explain why she liked it. She used “I like this” as a signal that something technical was happening in that moment, and she analyzed that.

That’s what I’m advocating for. Analysis. Synthesis. Then critique. Just like any suggestion about stuff that needs to be fixed, but applied to stuff that’s working too.

So formations like this:

• This character introduction works so well, because of the timing and level of detail…
• I love how this plot point is being evolved! It’s giving the story a sense of…
• The pacing of this tension is perfectly balanced. You introduced it and…

Make some up of your own. Ain’t hard. “I like this, because…”

Kaitlyn’s Dare

I do not myself have quite enough bravery or mastery to build my critiques entirely out of aggressive positivity. I still spend a lot of critique airtime talking about “problems” and dislikes.

Whenever I write critiques, though, I at least ask myself “What would Kaitlyn do?”

She only ever gave me this one critique, you see, and it’s precious. It’s part of an important legacy to remember, because Kaitlyn died a while ago. Rare heart defect.

It’s important to remember the ghosts who influence us, carry on with the challenge to do better they leave us with. I didn’t know Kaitlyn well. We were in the same honors society and Facebook friends. Never met her in person, except in passing. But on Facebook, she would talk about her writing and how much fun she had and the short stories she was sending out for publication and the novel she was working on.

Once, I sent her this story and asked if she’d be interested in giving me this feedback. She did, and here we are.

Then a rare heart defect. In and out of hospital. Decline. Now, no more stories from Kaitlyn. I never knew her much, but I am still heartbroken.

I hope she appreciates this small part of her legacy. I remember, and it’s changed how I do things.

I challenge you to remember the lesson: “I like this, because…”

Positive reinforcement doesn’t undermine your critique if you’re just as technical about your feedback as you would be if you were being harsh.

What are your favorite critique techniques?