on Fiction University:

Being nitpicky in a critique isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Aside from my critique partners, I also have a critique group I meet with twice a month. It’s just the three of us, all published, and all writing MG/YA fantasy. We’re a good match and it’s a solid and always helpful group.

We got together yesterday, and one of my friends said something (and not for the first time), that hit me a little differently than it usually does.

She said that she had a few things about my chapters that were just nitpicking, but she said it like she was apologizing for being picky.

I told her (as I always do), that I love nitpicks. Be nitpicky. Nits are where the gems comes from.

That last part was new, and it really resonated with me, because it’s so true. I really do want her to be picky, because some of the best parts of my novels have come from a tiny or nitpicky comment I received in a critique. Picky critiques are incredibly helpful.

Before I go on…let me clarify that I’m not talking about the “being picky just to say something negative” type of nitpick. We all know critiquers who criticize about little things that truly don’t matter, and use nitpicks as a way to tear down a writer instead of helping them. Those nitpicks are unhelpful and we don’t want those.

What I’m talking about are critiquers who care enough about your work to notice the little things that most people would overlook, because the writing is already good enough. But they see places where it could be better. The, “This is fine, but…” type feedback.

Here’s why I love a nitpicky critiquer, and why you should, too.