Oh yeah, I had one of those guys in one of my writers' groups. He hated everything, except of course his own writing. He would even take a portion of what you had submitted and rewrite it in the "right" way. But when I first encountered him I was in my MFA program and I came back the next session fully armed with advice from well-known writers. I think it was the first time anybody had ever faced him down. After that we actually became good friends, although he never completely broke his bad habit. As for me, I always approach critiques by trying to minimize my own stylistic preferences. The key to critiquing someone else's work is to approach it from what that person was trying to accomplish, and how well they accomplished it.
Oh yeah, I had one of those guys in one of my writers' groups. He hated everything, except of course his own writing. He would even take a portion of what you had submitted and rewrite it in the "right" way. But when I first encountered him I was in my MFA program and I came back the next session fully armed with advice from well-known writers. I think it was the first time anybody had ever faced him down. After that we actually became good friends, although he never completely broke his bad habit. As for me, I always approach critiques by trying to minimize my own stylistic preferences. The key to critiquing someone else's work is to approach it from what that person was trying to accomplish, and how well they accomplished it.
That’s a great way to put it, Joe. See what they’re aiming for and comment on that.