START YOUR NOVEL
Six Winning Steps Toward a Compelling Opening Line, Scene and Chapter
- 29 Plot Templates
- 2 Essential Writing Skills
- 100 Examples of Opening Lines
- 7 Weak Openings to Avoid
- 4 Strong Openings to Use
- 3 Assignments to Get Unstuck
- 7 Problems to Resolve
The Math adds up to one thing: a publishable manuscript.
Download a sample chapter on your Kindle.
When you finish your draft, do you look for a manuscript critique or a first reader? They are different and serve different purposes.
Manuscript Critique. The reader puts on his/her critical glasses and looks at your manuscript through that lenses. How does this story match up with the ideal novel? Of course, that assumes that you have common concepts about the ideal novel and that your concepts will match up with the editor’s understanding of ideal novels.
For beginning to intermediate writers, or for those particularly difficult stories, a manuscript critique can be helpful. It shows you where the story fails to touch a reader. It points out weaknesses and strengths. For example, you may find out that you failed to write the climax of the story; instead, you skipped over that chapter and wrote the aftermath of the climax. That’s a common problem and a critique can remind you why you need to actually write it.
A disadvantage of the critique is that it is by nature a process of tearing apart your novel and matching up the parts to the ideal novel. It is destructive in many ways. The intent is to help you reconstruct, but it can be devastating. Editors, by and large, are manuscript critiquers and a ten-page revision letter is normal.
First Reader. On the other hand, a first reader has one task: to monitor his/her impressions as s/he reads and report those impressions to you. Some suggest a structured approach and ask readers to write in the margins something like this. B=bored. C=confused. E=emotional.
You can make up some sort of code like that, or you can just let the reader report as they wish.
The advantage of this is that it gives you feedback on what you actually put on the page. I often think that I’ve communicated anger, but the reader is merely confused. Especially after a revision, I need a first reader–and a naive one who hasn’t read the story before–to find out if I inadvertently added or subtracted something in the process of revising.
I am ALWAYS surprised by what a first reader will say. They are confused, bored, angry, or emotional in ways that surprise me–both good and bad. In other words, I need to fine-tune the story to the needs of a reader.
The disadvantage of a first reader is that you don’t always know the structural and technical problems that a manuscript critique might point out. A first reader might report that s/he was bored with the ending and then you’ll have to figure out why. The manuscript critique will tell you that you left out the climax. You get to the same revision, but by different routes.
Which do you prefer? A manuscript critique or a first reader?
Have you noticed the fancy new tab on the navigation bar above? It’s the one between “Contact” and “Who’s Ingrid?”
Yup, I’m happy to announce that I am now offering manuscript critique services!
Do you have a novel, screenplay, short story, or a work-in-progress that you would like a professional opinion on? Are you struggling with finding the heart of your story, perfecting your plot, or moving forward with your novel? Do you need a fresh set of eyes to do a careful line-by-line read of your project? I’m here to help!
As you can tell from this blog, I love talking craft, exploring story, and delving into the nuts ‘n bolts of writing. I’m a teacher at heart and my goal is to help all of you to succeed with your projects, so the marketplace can be filled with as many great books as possible! (Yup, I’m selfish like that. I want to read more great books, not just mediocre ones.)
I’m a content editor (not a proofreader), and I’ll approach your work as a writer, teacher, and reader. A manuscript critique from me is an in-depth analysis of the big-picture elements of your story (plot, character, tension, narrative arc, etc.), as well as the small picture (word-choice, motivation, scene building, etc.). I think deeply about your work, provide a multi-page editorial letter, and page-by-page manuscript comments that will help you think critically about your story choices and empower you to revise with a clear vision.
Click on the manuscript critique services tab above for all the nitty-gritty details on my critique style, experience, and included services.
Feel free to contact me at: [email protected] to tell me about your project and how I might be of service. I look forward to helping you take the next steps in your writing journey!
Two exciting goings on from Vermont College of Fine Arts! The first from Miciah Gault, the editor of our literary magazine, Hunger Mountain:
Please join us for the Hunger Mountain Spring Fundraising Auction, featuring manuscript critiques with notable authors and agents, and limited edition letterpress broadsides. All items will be available at: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/thehungermountainstore beginning at noon EST on May 2nd. Bidding ends at noon EST on Saturday, May 9th. One-on-one critiques in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, writing for children, and writing for the stage will be conducted by phone, email or mail. This is a great way to study with a writer you admire and support non-profit literary publishing!
Not only are we offering an opportunity to work with authors such as Michael Martone, David Jauss, David Wojahn, Donna Jo Napoli and Tim Wynne-Jones, we also have a full-length children’s/YA fiction critique donated by literary agent Mark McVeigh, founding member of the McVeigh Agency, as well as a middle grade/YA critique offered by Tracy Marchini, agent assistant at Curtis Brown, Ltd. Picture book authors and illustrators Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Marion Dane Bauer will also be offering their expertise. Been toiling away on a script or stage production? Bid on a full-length play critique with playwright Gary Moore. Sue William Silverman is offering a full-length creative nonfiction manuscript critique, complete with a complimentary signed copy of her latest book Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir.
Other authors offering critiques in the auction include Philip Graham, Jess Row, Thomas Christopher Greene, Natasha Saje, Xu Xi, along with children’s and young adult authors Sarah Ellis, Martine Leavitt, and more. Also available are signed broadsides from the Stinehour Broadside Award Series including work by authors Alice Hoffman, Neil Shepard, and David Rivard and Lucia Perillo. These letterpress broadsides are all signed and numbered, limited edition, and frame worthy, making them the perfect gift for anyone who appreciates the artistry of literature! All purchases are charitable in support of Hunger Mountain's non-profit mission to cultivate engagement with and conversation about the arts by publishing high-quality, innovative literary and visual art by both established and emerging artists, and by offering opportunities for interactivity and discourse.
The link is: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/thehungermountainstore
The second announcement is from author and faculty member Ellen Lesser about the Post-Graduate Writers Conference coming up this August. And of particularly interest to me, for the first time there is a track for young adult authors led by award-winning authors An Na and Kathi Appelt.
Postgraduate Writers' Conference
Fourteenth Annual EventAugust 11-17, 2009
Vermont College of Fine Arts, home of the nationally acclaimed MFA in Writing and Writing for Children and Young Adult Programs, has since 1996 offered a summer conference dedicated to advanced writers seeking to recharge, reconnect, and nourish their creative development.
The Postgraduate Conference is open to all experienced writers, with graduate degrees or equivalent backgrounds. We emphasize process and craft through our unique structure based on intimate workshops limited to 5-7 participants, and including individual consultations with faculty, readings by faculty and participants, issues forums and master classes—all in a lively, supportive community of writers who share meals, ideas, and social activities in scenic Vermont.
The historic campus of Vermont College of Fine Arts is host to the annual gathering. Along with the rich menu of Conference events, participants enjoy the amenities of downtown Montpelier—the nation’s smallest and arguably most charming state capitol—just a few minutes’ walk from the College, as well as the beauty and recreational opportunities of the surrounding countryside and Green Mountains.
The Conference features prose workshops in novel, short story and creative nonfiction. In poetry, we offer regular workshops as well as ones focusing on book manuscripts. New for 2009, we have added two workshops in writing for young adults, and look forward to an exciting cross-fertilization with the other genres.
Our award-winning faculty for summer, 2009 are: Carol Anshaw and Clint McCown in Novel; Ellen Lesser and Michael Martone in Short Story; Lee Martin and Sue William Silverman in Creative Nonfiction; Nancy Eimers, Cleopatra Mathis and William Olsen in Poetry; Robin Behn, Major Jackson and Charles Harper Webb in Poetry Manuscript; and Kathi Appelt and An Na in Young Adult. Click “Faculty” below for biographical notes on these outstanding author-teachers.
Contact Ellen Lesser, Conference Director, with any questions, and to chat about how our program can serve you, at (802) 828-8835 or
mailto:[email protected]
Good to know, Ingrid. Wow. You have a wide breadth of experience! That’s wonderful. And you remind me how much I miss those packet letters I used to receive from advisors.
Reblogged this on Wild About Words and commented:
I would totally recommend Ingrid if you are looking for someone.