Why Critiquing is Like Gaming

You guys have critique partners, right? If they're good (and brutally honest), it's likely you'll experience a wide range of emotions during the process. Maybe it'll be like this:

Why CRITIQUING is like GAMING

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You start off raring to go.
Infinite opportunity lies before you in the land of Agentopia, but you have to tame that beast of a manuscript to get there. With a little help from your closest ally (critique partner), you just might make it.

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You begin your journey overly confident.
As you wander in what you assume to be the right, general direction, your ally warns that your pacing might be off. You feel a little defensive about your strides, but adjust anyway.

You brought her along for a reason, after all.

Later, you start to veer off the beaten path, and she grabs you by the arm. Why? Because the way to Agentopia isn't through valleys or over grassy knolls. You have to stay on track, or you'll never get there.

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Time goes by without incident, and you start to relax. You take a deep breath, look up at the sky, and—

Fall into a plot hole.

It's a big setback, but after a few hours in the dark, you manage to claw your way back. Your ally offers you a hand up, shaking her head. "You weren't listening, were you?"

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You come to a fork in the road.

You start to head left, but your ally cuts you off. "Sorry, but I think you're headed in the wrong direction."

Wrong direction? You? But you've been planning this journey for months, maybe even years. Why did you trust her with that map, anyway? Grumbling, you head right against your better judgment, just to see how it turns out.

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Luckily for you, she was right.

You're almost to Agentopia, and you're getting pretty cagey. Maybe it's time to track that manuscript down, once and for all.

It'll be tamed, or you'll die trying.
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Using everything you learned along the way—more things than I could ever possibly list here—you find the manuscript and take on the fight of your life. It's long and grueling, but you know what? You emerge victorious.

The manuscript really was able to be tamed, after all.

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You thank your ally, take to the skies, and head straight for the gates of Agentopia.

Now to get past those gatekeepers...

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There you have it! A silly little post to start your week. I hope you're all well and making great progress on your stories. For the record, this wasn't a recount of my experiences with critique partners. *grins* I ♥ my critters to death, and they're some of the most awesome people I know. They've yet to deliver a blow I haven't recovered from. (And that's not a challenge, guys! *ducks*)

Have a great week! ♥

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Illustrative screenshots feature my Aion assassin. If you're going to geek out, you might as well do it right.

P.S. Rachel Bean tagged me, and I know you guys aren't ready to hear ten more facts about me yet, so I'm going to do something different. Ask anything you want in the comments, and I will answer as best I can.

P.P.S. It's not too late to enter the blog button/sticker giveaway. You have until the end of the month. Oh, and if none of this makes sense, it's because I wrote it at 3:25 AM. Mmm, idle musings of the sleepless mind. ;) Later