SquarePeg Books

My son has started writing and publishing mash-up fan fiction.

He’s having fun, and he says he’s getting a lot of views. He asks how I think Character X would react to Situation 34. He tells me about the chapters he’s just published.

He recently asked if I would like to read his work.

I told him “no.”

I explained that everything I read turns on my editing brain. I would put a comma here. You need to stop using there was/there were. I would’ve phrased it like this. Adverb use is okay, but not that many adverbs. This scene doesn’t lend anything to your story. Scythes don’t work like that. I can’t help it.

I don’t want him to feel like I’m tearing him down . I don’t want to ruin writing for him the way some people did to me.

I want to believe those people in my past didn’t intend to be vicious. Some I’m certain only had the best of intentions as they tore me down. I want to believe they just didn’t have good critiquing skills.

But my son is 15. That’s about the same age I was when the “bad critiques” started. I’m worried that I wouldn’t be able to bite my tongue if I read my son’s work.

He’s talked about approaching a critique group of fan-fic writers that are supposed to be really good. I’ve told him what I can about crit groups: you need to go in with a thick skin; note the list of things they talk about, then be willing to sort through it, looking for personal opinions vs valid critiques; it will hurt, good critiquing skills are hard to learn, and very few people have them.

I can’t help but think I should be able to be a better writing mentor to my own son. That I could try harder to temper how I say things so it doesn’t hurt quite so much, because every critique can sting, it’s all in the delivery.

I don’t have enough confidence in myself to believe I can make a delivery like that to NOT damage a 15 year old’s fragile ego.