I was listening to Jenna and Julien's podcast, and they were playing a game involving movies and movie titles. They went on a brief tangent about how they judged movies when they were younger, and something Julien said stuck with me. He and his friends would watch movies together all the time, and at the end of every movie, they'd always had a lot of fun. So, their assessment of the movie would always be positive. Jenna said it sounded like he never had a movie hit him in that "hate spot," because they would always end with "it was good, it was a movie, we all had a good time."
It got me thinking about how our inner critics are made, not born. We need to learn to train ourselves as critics if we want to become better self-editors. So, I decided to start a series of Tuesday posts with some quick tips to help tune up your editing brain.
First of all, start reviewing books and movies after reading/watching them. You don't have to sit down and write an article about them, just think over what you liked and disliked. What made you feel things? What changes would you have made yourself? Some of you might say, "well, duh," to this tip, but I suppose it is more for the Julien's among us. I think I used to be that way, believing that everything that made it to print or to the screen had to have made it for a reason. But I do have another tip for those less-than-ultra-casual viewers.
Another great way to begin training your critical brain is to go to the library or bookstore, and assess a book as though it was by a first time, self-published author. It's easy to be less critical of a traditionally published book, because we trust that it went through an intense screening, and intense editing process. But traditionally published certainly doesn't mean perfect, and we as readers can let a lot slide by accident when we trust in those words. I do warn you though, this game can be as frustrating as it us fun for those of you planning to self-publish in the future!
It got me thinking about how our inner critics are made, not born. We need to learn to train ourselves as critics if we want to become better self-editors. So, I decided to start a series of Tuesday posts with some quick tips to help tune up your editing brain.
First of all, start reviewing books and movies after reading/watching them. You don't have to sit down and write an article about them, just think over what you liked and disliked. What made you feel things? What changes would you have made yourself? Some of you might say, "well, duh," to this tip, but I suppose it is more for the Julien's among us. I think I used to be that way, believing that everything that made it to print or to the screen had to have made it for a reason. But I do have another tip for those less-than-ultra-casual viewers.
Another great way to begin training your critical brain is to go to the library or bookstore, and assess a book as though it was by a first time, self-published author. It's easy to be less critical of a traditionally published book, because we trust that it went through an intense screening, and intense editing process. But traditionally published certainly doesn't mean perfect, and we as readers can let a lot slide by accident when we trust in those words. I do warn you though, this game can be as frustrating as it us fun for those of you planning to self-publish in the future!
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