Your Guide to Writing the Perfect Story

Finding a Good Editor/Critic

In the last chapter, I suggested looking for good editors and critics. The thing is, that's a lot harder than it sounds. In this chapter it is my goal to help you not only find an editor or critic, but find one that will be beneficial to you. Many people advertising their services really aren't as good as their advertisement sounds, but there are ways to judge. I'll walk you through the step-by-step process on finding such people.

Step 1:

The first step is to search for people advertising services. There's a real easy way to do this and it is called the "Improve Your Writing" club. Inside, there are pinned threads. Two of these threads are for finding editors and critics. Click on them and search away. Also, be on the lookout for people advertising critic or editor services on their profiles or in their messages to their followers. You just might find someone. But please don't ask a favourite author of yours to critique your work if they haven't offered services anywhere. You'll have better luck elsewhere.

Step 2:

Once you have found someone who is offering their critiquing services, take a look at their ad. There are some things that you should look out for so you can help eliminate your options and find the best person who you think will help you. Please don't skip the people who have bland black and white ads and depend on the fancy ones. It doesn't mean anything.

a) Are their services still open? Usually advertisements have either "Open" or "Closed" indicated at the top of their ad. If it's open, great.

b) What do they critique? Make sure you read their entire offer before sending in a request. Some people only critique books of certain genres or don't like anything Mature, etc. If your story fits their requirements, keep looking.

c) What sort of things do they do in their critiques? Some critics will specify just how long and detailed their critiques will be and also what they focus on. For some, it is characters. Others do plot. You may notice some people will only do three chapters whereas different people will do ten. Often times, there are multiple options that you can select with varying payments involved.

d) What is the payment? If the payment asks for votes or a permanent follow, usually I like to avoid those. Voting for a story that might not even be deserving doesn't sit well with me. And neither does having to follow a user that I don't necessarily want to for all of my time on Wattpad. Also, you might get a "Critique For Critique" kind of thing show up. Decide whether you are willing to put in the time in order to get some advice back.

e) Does the person sound professional? This is usually a pretty good indicator of the quality of a critique you will get. If the ad is long, your critique probably will be too. If they make many spelling errors, it probably isn't a good idea to choose that person as your editor. Consider these things.  

Step 3:

So you've found a person whose advertisement you like and are ready to ask for some help. But slow down for a minute. If you are going to do a payment for this person, you need to make sure that their help will be worth it. It's important to do some research before you make a decision. Believe me, more often than not you will be disappointed by the help you receive. I can testify to that. But how do you judge whether someone will be good at critiquing or not? I'll tell you how. 

1. Open a new tab and pull Wattpad up on your screen.

2. In the first tab, check the username of the person offering their services and find their profile on the new tab. 

3. Read their profile. Do they sound professional? If you answer "yes" that's usually a good indicator of someone who can help you.

4. Check how often they update their stories. If it's often, they probably have a lot of time on their hands. That means it shouldn't be a huge wait before they get to critiquing/editing your story.

5. Check to see the quality of their writing. If they make many errors, don't use them as an editor. If their writing is poor, they probably won't know how to give you very good advice for writing your story.

6. Look through their comments to see if they have critiqued anyone else's work lately. If they have, you can judge how well they do it. Keep in mind that some people critique through private message and you may find nothing.

If you have come to the conclusion that they will be helpful to you, move on to the next step.

Step 4:

Take a look at the form that they have in their advertisement. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that term, it's what you must fill out and send to the person for them to critique your story. Usually they ask for a title, genre, number of chapters, a link, and the occasional other option. Be sure to fill out everything that they ask for or they may not accept your form. Also, if you have any concerns, include it somewhere so they are aware. 

Step 5:

You have filled out the form. Now is the time to send your message, with the form, to the appropriate person. Please don't just send the form. It's very rude and critics hate it. Say hello and maybe some other friendly things. Always finish off with a thank you. If you are kind and cordial, they will be more likely to accept you.

Step 6:

Be patient. It may take a long time for some critics/editors to reply. Never send another request, even if they never answer yours. If they didn't reply the first time, you've probably been declined or they just don't go on Wattpad very often. Asking again when there's still a chance they may accept you is extremely annoying.

Now, say they do accept you, you still need to be patient, even if that means waiting a month for your critique. Critics are very busy and most of the time you end up on a waiting list because more than one person tend to send requests in. Don't keep bothering them to leave comments on your story. They will do it eventually. However, if you haven't heard from them in two months and you already did their payment, then I would say it's appropriate to ask them what's up. 

Step 7:

It's okay to settle for one editor until they either decline or accept you because editors all do pretty much the same thing. However, with critics, you can never have too many. Send requests to every critic you find that qualifies according to my previous steps. Many of them will either turn you down or just not reply anyway, so it's good to ask as many people as possible. Plus, different viewpoints are always good to hear. You can never get too much advice.

That's it! I hope that this chapter was beneficial to you and that you will find some wonderful editors and critics. Thanks so much for reading!