CRITIQUE
GROUPS AND MORE
Hi Everyone:
When you make up your
mind to write something, be it short story, novel, or essay, how do you know if
it is any good? When one is both author
and critic, it is only natural to favor a positive outcome.
Sometimes, I read material
several times while it is still on my computer screen, looking for errors that
I can quickly correct, but I find that it is not until I have printed it out
that I find some of its more obvious flaws. Just reading it a-loud helps me to
locate other mistakes. I often read to my dog, but Pumpkin isn’t much of a
critic, she yawns at my attempts at humor and sleeps through suspense scenes.
Some writers read their
drafts to close friends and relatives. Unfortunately, many of these merely tell
the author what they think he wants
to hear, instead of those things he really needs
to hear.
i.e. “I loved it!”
Or, “That’s very nice.”
I’m very fortunate, my
wife, who is my first reader, has a great eye for mistakes, and often takes me
to task when she thinks that something I’ve written is not realistic, or is too
wordy.
I’m also fortunate in that I am a member of an
excellent critique group, The Writer’s Studio. I have been attending its weekly
sessions for over ten years. Meetings last for about two and a half hours,
during that time, writers read a portion of their material and listen as the
members offer suggestions as to how it might be improved. The comments typically include:
Plot-- (It isn’t plausible);
Setting-- (Are you sure
people in that time behaved that way?)
Characters-- (Your protagonist sounds
one-dimensional),
Dialogue-- (Your characters need to
have different rhythms and vocabularies), and Action-- (Where is the
conflict?)
After the meeting, I
come home and review my notes. Do I take all of the suggestions? No. I’m still
the author; it’s still my work. I have to decide if the suggestions will make
my work better. In truth, I consider
them all, and usually find a way to include most of them.
While the large
Publishing Houses and some of the smaller Independent Presses employ editors to
review accepted submissions during the pre-publication process, some writers employ
a professional editor to help polish their manuscripts in hopes of attracting a
Literary Agent (the publisher’s gatekeeper) and ultimately a publishing
contract.
There are no
professional requirements for advertising as an Editor (and Editors need to
charge for their services) so the writer should be careful. In addition, not
everyone can afford to pay for the service, making critique groups such as The
Writer’s Studio all the more helpful.
You
can read Cocoa Baby, a vignette written
by Janet Kleinman, a member of The Writer’s Studio and a published author, by
going to my website, joshswritingroom.com
and clicking on the Short Story tab.
Janet recently published Flirting with
Disaster, a romantic thriller that includes love, adventure, and enough sex
to make it exciting. She is busy working on a family saga. You can learn more
about Janet and her novel at livingtheliterarylife.blogspot.com