I remember fondly sitting at the dentist's office with my mom and flipping through the latest Highlights for Children magazine. I loved the Hidden Pictures and the comic strip stories. I loved the poems and arts and crafts. I also remember getting my Jack and Jill magazines in the mail and sending in my own poems and drawings. These were some exciting days as a child.
When I decided to write for children, I wanted to publish a book, of course. But all the advice I read and heard at writing conferences was that while I was working on my book, I needed to build a publishing history. I needed to submit to magazines. This was one way I could work on my craft and learn the business at the same time.
So, I started on fiction stories, as most writers do. I thought back to those doctor's office waiting rooms and reading stories with my mom and dad. I remembered using my Jack and Jill magazines to play school, and reading with great expression the stories out loud to my stuffed animals.
This nostalgia got me rejection after rejection--and only one acceptance to a small, independent magazine because I placed in their fiction contest.
What I soon learned was that I needed a critique group. I needed to try my hand at nonfiction, too. I needed to learn about fillers and editors and query letters and more. So, through my correspondence classes at the Institute of Children's Literature and the wonderful members of my critique group (as well as all the conferences they dragged me to), I soon realized there was no place for nostalgia if I wanted a career as a writer. I needed to put away those memories of Highlights and Jack and Jill and face reality.
I see this SO OFTEN with new writers and/or people who have been trying to get a children's book published for years. They want to write a book like they remember from their childhood. They don't want to hear about e-zines or Walter, the Farting Dog or picture book apps. They don't want to hear that nonfiction sells easier than fiction, and that magazine editors are dying for boy stories with humor. They don't want to hear that they have to go study the market and figure out how it is always changing.
As the saying goes, "This is not your grandma's" publishing business any more. If you find yourself receiving rejection after rejection on your picture book or middle grade novel manuscript, take some time t
Take Your Clothes Off and Other Critique Group Advice by Donna Volkenannt For more than fifteen years I’ve belonged to critique groups. Over the years I’ve learned to discern good advice from feel-good advice and constructive critique from destructive criticism.
I’ve also received some sweet—and strange—advice.
My first experience was in a feel-good group. Feedback consisted of “I like it,” “I really like it,” or “I really, really like it.”
The leader encouraged us to call ourselves writers, yet he referred to publishing “the P word.” According to him, writers shouldn’t be concerned with publication; probably because he’d written several books—all of them unpublished.
The benefit from that group was I became confident enough to call myself a writer. I also made several friends who, like me, wanted to learn about the business of writing. One friend and I both had grown children and husbands who supported our writing dreams. She and I traveled to conferences, met agents and editors, and used “the P word” freely. Oh, and we both got published.
Eventually we helped form a group which was focused on publishing. Some in that group were were overly critical and not open to new writers. After much soul searching, my friend and I started a group of our own, which welcomed writers of all experience levels.
For the past several years, our critique group has met each Tuesday morning. Some mornings as many as 15 writers join us. We are serious about writing and publishing but don’t take ourselves too seriously. Our motto is: "Be candid, but kind."
The following are words of advice I’ve learned over the years:
1. Check your ego at the door. Your work is being critiqued, not you.
2. Everyone’s opinion counts. Sometimes the best suggestions come from surprising sources.
3. Don’t monopolize reading or critique time. Join the discussion, but don’t interrupt.
4. Follow the rule of three. If one person makes a suggestion, consider it. If two people point out the same problem, take a careful look. If three or more make the same suggestion--take a serious look.
5. In the end, the work is yours. Use what helps and ignore the rest.
6. Don’t argue, explain, or defend during critique. It wastes time and energy.
7. Be gracious. Being critiqued is a gift. Smile and say thanks, even when you don’t agree with what's said.
8. Never quit. Be persistent. If one group doesn’t work, find another or start one yourself.
9. Write legibly. After I read a personal essay, one critiquer told me I needed to be more open. When I got home I read his comment on my first page. “Take your clothes off.” I was shocked. Then I re-read, “Take your gloves off.” Whew! Since then I’ve reminded our members to please write their comments clearly.
10. Have fun. Write because you love to—oh, and keep your clothes on.
* * *
Donna Volkenannt is a Pushcart Prize and Spur Award nominated fiction writer, a book reviewer, and an essayist who was recently awarded First Place in the 2012 Humor – Global Category of the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. Her works have appeared in more than 100 publications. She lives and writes in St. Peters, Missouri, with her husband, two grandchildren, and one knuckleheaded, but lovable, black Lab. When not carpooling, running to the pet store, or trying to meet deadlines, she blogs about books, writing, and the mysteries of lif
By:
Angela Ackerman,
on 9/4/2012
Blog:
The Bookshelf Muse
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When I found out the awesome and talented
Melinda Collins was headed off to Colorado to attend
Margie Lawson's Immersion Master Class, I absolutely
had to convince her to swing by and tell us about the experience afterward. Of course, Writing Superhero
Jami Gold had the same idea, so rather than stage an EPIC,
lightning-sword-and-killer-unicorn BATTLE TO THE DEATH as to who got Melinda, we decided to share her. Isn't that nice? *beams*
As someone who purchased a
Margie Lawson Lesson Packet on Body Language (thanks for the heads up,
Stina Lindenblatt!) in the past, I can only imagine the value of a ML Intensive. So please, read on dear Musers. It's a long-ish post, but oh-so-worth it.
AND, the talented Margie Lawson is going to award a lucky commenter with a FREE Lecture Packet! Trust me, YOU WANT THIS.
Immersion Master Class with Margie Lawson: The Experience, The Takeaways, The Lessons – Part Two
Thank you, Angela, for inviting me over today to talk about my recent experience in Colorado with the wonderful, talented, writerly genius,
Margie Lawson, and her
Immersion Master Class!
Because I have so much to share, this is actually a two-part blog post. Which means I’m also over at
Jami Gold’s blog today as well with part one! *grin* And, as an added bonus, Margie Lawson will be over at my blog today,
Muse, Rant, Rave, sharing even more writing technique goodies! *booty dance* Okay, enough dancin’ and let’s get to learnin’, shall we?
The Experience
Over on Jami’s blog I talked about the kinship and sisterhood that developed in our group. Here I’d like to share with you two additional elements of the class that made this a one-of-a-kind experience.
The first would be location, location, location! We were about two miles above sea level, and being that high meant cell service was practically nonexistent, which in turn meant we got to enjoy the peace and quiet tranquility of the Rocky Mountains. What more inspiration do you need if you look outside the window, or go on a short hike and see this?
 |
| The view from our 1st hiking trip |
Pretty unreal, right? But this is
exactly what every day was like for us. It wasn’t
all work and no play. In fact, we went hiking twice during our time on the mountain. The first short hike gave us the beautiful view in the picture above, and the second, longer hike, gave us this gorgeous view:
 |
| The view from our 2nd hiking trip |
So the experience was deeper than just learning more about yourself and your writing craft. It was about taking the time to enjoy your surroundings and find inspiration in nature.
 |
| The view from Margie's writing loft |
The second element I wanted to share about the experience is the one on one time each of us got to spend with Margie. Every day, with pages in hand, we walked into a quiet, cozy room and worked one on one with Margie – an experience that will stay with me forever. By sitting down with her, one on one, you gain a certain understanding and perspective of your writing. You learn how to channel the genius editing that is her mind, and you see your writing in a whole new light. Every sentence, every word is purposefully chosen to pack a maximum punch for your reader, and during your one on one time, you learn more about how you choose those words and how you organize your sentences.
I can’t begin to imagine how I was editing before this class because now I feel as though I’m walking away with a particular sense of how to attack edits, how to look for the minor nuances, how to portray action scenes in a new and exciting way for the reader, and how to make my prose sing a beautifully cadenced tune.
The Takeaways
In part one I talk about what I learned about my style and where I want to be a year from now. Here I’d like to talk about group settings: why it’s important to work within a group where each person has the same purpose in their writing, and why it’s important to encourage and help other writers make their writing the best it can possibly be.
 |
| It's always important to take a break when editing to hike! ;) |
When you’re in a group setting and everyone has the same purpose of making their MS NYT Bestselling-worthy, you’re sitting in a gold mine. This is why it’s so incredibly important to join a writing group where everyone is dedicated and everyone pushes you to strive, work, and think harder. Sure, writing’s a singular experience (unless you’re co-writing), but without that group of writers who share your struggles, your doubts, and your triumphs, you may not get too far. This particular experience brought that fact home for me. When I struggled in making a phrase powerful and pitch-perfect, there were four other writers there tossing ideas back and forth until we got it. I’m sure without them there I might’ve gotten 85% of what I wanted in the phrase, but that’s not enough. I want 100%. I want it to pack a punch. And I want the help of other writers who fill in the gaps of my weaknesses.
This is another reason why it’s important to not only be in a group setting with a common purpose, but also to encourage other writers and their craft. We thrive on the encouragement and the kudos we get from others like us. We hear of another writer who’s just finaled
Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. -- Ryunosuke Satoro
 |
| I got the honor of silly-stringing Amanda! Sooo much fun!!! :) |
Quick note: While we were there, one of our Immersion Sisters, Amanda, actually
did find out that she finaled in a writing contest with three scores of 99 out of 100!!!!! WOO HOO! How AWESOME is that?!? So what did we do to celebrate when we found out? We silly-stringed her of course!!!
The Lessons
Without giving away too much, here’s the back half of the top ten lessons I learned while in Colorado (as I said in the first post, there are many, many, many more):
1. Description: Description shouldn’t be on the page simply just to be there. Description should be on the page as it affects the character. When you’re writing description, think of how it affects your character in terms of their attitude and thoughts. If you had a character pull up to their childhood home, don’t just describe it as having paint-chipped shutters and a bright red door. Attach that description to your character. What does she remember about those shutters and that red door? Does she recall the many summers she spent helping her mother repaint the shutters? Does she recall being caught kissing a boy in front of the bright red door? If so, then why don’t you attach that description to those memories and make it a stronger, more powerful read?
Example from my MS:
I took a breath and walked out to the edge of the street. This house would represent the beginning of the rest of my life. I hadn’t seen the midnight blue, oceanfront home in so long, and it was now my home.
Because a home is a sense of trust, safety and love for my MC, I attached those feelings to the description of a place that is now
her home. There’s more description of the house that follows this, but this is the one place where I purposefully showed how arriving to this setting affected my character.
2. Breaking Tension: Margie has an EDITS system that uses different colored highlighters to track story elements. One is tension. When you’re tracking tension and you notice a small – or big – area where you’ve broken the tension, you’d better go back to check the following:
a.
Check to ensure you intended to break the tension. b.
Check to ensure the break in tension is not only needed, but that it works c.
Check to ensure it doesn’t entice the reader to skimI’m willing to bet there may be several areas where you didn’t intend to break the tension, you didn’t intend to invite the reader to skim, you didn’t intend to put a humor hit in the middle of a serious scene that shouldn’t be broken.
So if you break tension, make sure it’s intentional, it works, it flows, and it doesn’t bore the reader in skipping ahead to where the tension picks back up.
3. NO ‘ITs’ or ‘THATs’: I now have yet another new item to add to my editing toolbox/checklist: NO ‘ITs’ or ‘THATs’!! Okay, so obviously I don’t mean you can’t have ‘it’ or ‘that’ in your MS as at all. But what I do mean is don’t end a sentence with ‘it’ or ‘that.’
Example:
Oh yeah, I’d considered that. See what I mean? When I take this sentence out of context, you have absolutely no clue what the character meant by ‘that.’
Example without ‘that’:
Oh yeah, I’d considered Nick to be nothing more than an ant.A-ha! So when I removed ‘that,’ I made the sentence
stronger and
more powerful! So the lesson here is: do a find for ‘IT’ and ‘THAT’ and restructure/reword each sentence/phrase that just so happens to end with one of those UNLESS having one of those two words 100%, unequivocally works!
4. Throw-Away Words (Tightening): Another important item to add to your editing checklist: throw-away words. This goes beyond the usual crutch words such as saw, felt, was, etc. Once of the techniques Margie teaches is taking a printed copy of your MS and reading through, line by line, and checking each line off to ensure it has a strong cadence. This ensures you don’t have any words in there that might trip the reader or the flow of the passage. As we all know, there are many other types of throw-away words that can tongue-tie the reader – which is another reason why it’s incredibly important that we get used to the sound of our voice, read
everything aloud, and tighten, tighten, tighten.
Examples with Throw-Away Words:
After all, it wasn’t my fault their stories weren’t being told anymore. I looked back at where he stood and touched my cheek. Did I really need all those words? Nope.
Examples without Throw-Away Words:
It wasn’t my fault their stories weren’t being told anymore.I touched my cheek. See? I didn’t need
after all and
looked. Those were just two sentences! And between the two, I cut a total of
nine words! By reading through my MS, line by line by line, and checking each one off once I’ve determined it’s a TEN, I will have a MS that’s tight, tight, tight! *booty dance*
5. Backloading: Ah… this is a fun one! But because there’s so much I could say about it and so little space in today’s post, I’m going to make it short and sweet. Backloading is where you take the most powerful word in a sentence, and you rework the phrase to pack that power at the
end of the sentence so it resonates with the reader.
Example before Backloading:
And when we did see him, we never took a moment for granted, but that was before he abandoned us. The most powerful word in this particular phrase is
abandoned. When you hear it, you instantly feel for the character because you may know what it’s like to feel abandoned. So why not make it the last word the reader processes before they move to the next paragraph?
Example after Backloading:
And when we did see him, we never took a moment for granted. But that was before we were abandoned. Not only did I ensure my power word was there to backload the phrase, I also split that large phrase into one semi-big sentence then followed it up with a shorter, powerful sentence.
Backloading forces you to look at the structure of your sentences and paragraph breaks. By examining each sentence with a finely-tuned, analytical eye, you’ll not only catch the instances where backloading will pack a punch, but you’ll also catch the areas where one larger sentence can be broken into two, shorter, more powerful sentences. Ha! I got two lessons into one on that one! *giggle*
Once again, I really, really, really want to encourage everyone to visit
Margie’s site, purchase and read and
absorb the lecture packets and/or enroll in an online course. After you’ve done that, I really recommend attending an
Immersion Master Class yourself to fully learn not only these techniques/lessons, but waaaaay more! In all her courses, you’ll learn ways to add psychological power to your writing and how to write a page-turner that will keep your readers up until their spouse finally says, “Pleeeease come to bed!” *giggle*
Before I go, I just want to say thank you again to Angela for having me over today and allowing me to share a small percentage of what I learned!
If this was your first stop, then before you pop over to either Jami’s site for
more on the experience, the takeaways and the lessons, or
stop by my blog for a quick lesson from Margie, think about the following: Do you have a place you can get away to? One that’s quiet, calm and inspiring? What about a writing group – do you have a group of writers that you can learn from, give kudos to, and share your triumphs with? Do you have areas in your MS that could benefit from tying description to emotion? Or what about areas where you’ve broken the tension unintentionally? Do you run through each of your lines and ensure they work 100% before moving onto the next?
Wow! Thank you
Melinda for being so generous and sharing your amazing experience with Margie! I am a life-long learner, and I absolutely love to absorb as much as I can about the writing craft. Margie's lecture packets are packed with great information and I am
thrilled to be able to give one away.
So, if you would like to win, just comment below and leave some contact information. THEN, visit
Jami for
another chance to win a
lecture packet and
Melinda's for a crack at an
online course with Margie! This is the
BERMUDA TRIANGLE OF WIN,
people!Good luck & happy writing!
My critique group is fantastic.
We’ve only been meeting for sixth months or so but we clicked at the outset. Our schedule is ideal – often enough though, not overwhelming. We deal with something regularly, sending 2000 words one week, meeting live to discuss them the next. It keeps us on task and with only four of us, time is very manageable.
It’s a drive for all of us, arriving from Brigham City to Salt Lake and points in between. But they’re worth the trip. We’re dedicated writers, committed to craft. We all attended WIFYR this summer. We view the world from differing time frames, with one each in our 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s (until one of us messed that up by advancing to the next decade). We vary in culture and lifestyle as well. Each brings to the table a unique perspective. And they are sharp.
After WIFYR, we dispersed. Summer family plans made critiquing hard to arrange. We’re back now and these people are just as good as they were last June. I was ready for a beta read to which they readily agreed. Explicit instructions were for them to take their time, a full MS more than our 2000 word limit. That would give me time to spend on a new endeavor.
Those little over-achievers didn’t listen. They returned it the next session. And they’ve forced me back into the old project. I’m really tired of that timeworn thing, but their counsel is amazing, advancing it toward completion.
Yet, at times their guidance is discomforting. They tell me things I disagree with or don’t want to hear, things that chip away at the story’s foundation. A few days later I come around to see they are right. Or I figure out a way to ignore them or work around their ideas. But mostly they’re right.
I’m revising now, as per their suggestions. The rougher edges are being smoothed out, the wholes getting plugged. I’m free to disregard their suggestions or be impressed by their insight. I hope I contribute as much as I take.
Thanks, people.
Writing is a solitary art.
Paul Hoecker, 1888
But if you're writing for submission, fresh eyes are invaluable. Critical readers who aren't as close to (or as invested in) a work often have an easier time spotting its weaknesses. This is a GOOD thing. But take care; nobody likes to have her work ripped apart. If you're new to critiquing, here are a few tips on giving feedback to other writers.
Let it simmer. Read a manuscript soon after receiving it. Make a few notes, then, if time allows, put it away for a few days. When you give it another look, you'll notice things you missed in the first go-round and have a better understanding of it as a whole.
Take note of: characterization, setting details, dialogue (realistic?) & dialogue beats, sensory images, consistent point of view, voice, showing vs. telling, overall story arc, openings & endings.
Give as good as you get. Spend the same time and energy on others' manuscripts as you expect them to give yours.
The Critique Sandwich. Always begin and end a critique on a positive note. It's awfully easy, after a period of time together, for group members to jump right to the "this isn't working" part of the process. That's a dangerous practice. Members feel ganged up on, resentments build, and your ship's sunk before anybody has even sighted the iceberg.
Avoid putting a writer on the defensive. Never begin a crit with anything like "You shouldn't have..." or "You didn't..." or "Why didn't you..." Not everybody's skin is rhino tough, and those phrases feel like personal attacks. Instead, talk about the piece itself, using non-threatening language like:
"I wondered why the main character chose to_______"
"I wasn't sure of__________"
"A reader might need a bit more___________"
When in doubt, channel Aretha: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
May all of your critiques leave you feeling challenged and inspired, and have you dancing off to revisionland.
Antoine Pesne, 1745
Or at least put a little spring in your step.
Jill Esbaum
Remember to enter our
book giveaway to win a copy of the 2013 Children's Writers & Illustrator's Market (Writer's Digest)!
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 11/5/2012
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I spent fourteen years as an author in training, and while I learned many things in that time, I'm finding there are a slew of different lessons on the other side of publication. This spring, I examined the
public,
private, and
writing life I want to cultivate. Right now, I'm trying to learn just how to protect my creativity -- how to let it grow and expand with a new project, how to feed it, how to keep it from being destroyed during the fragile moments a story is unfolding and finding its way. I've yet to figure this out, but here are a few things I'm pondering:
- It's not the mind but the emotional self that gives us confidence or causes doubt. We are directly and indirectly taught the mind is a truer compass than the heart. And this is right oftentimes, especially for highly emotional people like me (and I would suspect most other writers, who tend to connect deeply and passionately with people, ideas, stories, and universal truths). The thing is, we writers know in our heads plenty of things that never penetrate our hearts. Whether we realize it or not, the emotional "truths" that occupy our lives influence our creative selves far more than we realize. How can we protect the vulnerable place stories spring from?
- Surround yourself with supportive people. Obvious, right? Find a friend or group of people who support and understand you. While non-writing friends and family are wonderful, they don't always understand the writing world. Form a critique group. Become a part of a professional organization like SCBWI. Find people in the same phase of the journey you can encourage and commiserate with. Find people farther along who can show you the way.
- Step away from the constant noise of the Internet. Never before have authors been asked to live the writing life so publicly. As soon as a book sells, the solitary falls away. We've got to find ways to protect our creativity in the midst of it all. There are too many ways to lose confidence -- reviews written by professional organizations as well as book bloggers or Goodreads account holders, articles in accessible publications like Publisher's Weekly or GalleyCat that praise our peers or their books and leave us feeling left out, or publications that praise us but leave us feeling like we'll never measure up again.
What are ways authors can protect their creativity?
I have used this space many times to lament the fact that I am a writer on an island -- critique group-less, feedback-less, buddy-less. But as I'm sure most of us know, one thing worse than having no input is having input that sends us astray.
We've all been there, right? We've seen critique groups whose members are too intense, too lax, too hoggish; they are too vague; they are too nitpicky; they don't "get" your stuff, or you don't get theirs. They have more time to devote to their writing than you do, or perhaps they have less. They live too far away; they meet too frequently or infrequently.
Even worse is the damning critique experience: the editor at a conference who treats you like a clueless newbie; the teacher who gives you a bad grade for trying something a little different. My friend, an actress, says at least when someone is critiquing your writing, he or she is not critiquing YOU. But still, when we write, we are exposing our souls to the world. And our writer psyches must be treated with care. (The cardinal rule of critiquing -- always start and end with something specific and positive to say!)
With my community college students, I introduce a vocabulary word in each class. The first word we discuss is "subjective." I want them to understand that as a teacher, the worst thing I could ever do would be to crush their creativity or confidence. In a required class, many students do not come to learn, and they do not care to revise. For those who do, individual feedback is the most important component of our coursework. But students must learn that I am not the final authority; they have to be the chief arbiters of what is right for their work and what is not.
When it comes to peer review, some student writers are terrific critiquers. On the other hand, some do not take the job seriously. Some are just dead wrong. As a teacher, I may often myself be dead wrong. Thus I try to approach first draft revision on a mostly global level. I find myself constantly asking my students, "Why did you choose to write about this topic?" The answer is often the key to a successful essay.
In TV writing, we are advised to distill our pitch into a one-sentence "log line." Fiction writers should be able to do the same. In expository writing, of course, this summary is called the thesis statement.
My classes are currently working on research essays and developing working theses for an essay that is supposed to propose a solution to a societal problem. One of my students, a Navy veteran, read his to the class this week: "Military body armor is responsible for a vast number of injuries to personnel." I found this quite a startling statement. In search of more detail and a proposed solution, I probed further. HOW was military body armor inadequate? My student stated that in fact, it was overly adequate; that many soldiers who would have died in previous wars were surviving attacks with grievous, lifelong injuries. "So," I asked, "Are you saying it would be better if they died?" He looked me in the eye and said, "Sometimes." It was easier to talk about body armor, of course, than it was to talk about traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
I asked him what he proposed as the solution, and he said more drone strikes and less hand-to-hand combat. In short, his essay was not really about body armor at all. What he really wanted to say was, "Please send fewer men and women into harm's way."
As writers, we often lose sight of the main thread of our story; as critiquers, we often get hung up on details that should be dealt with later. A good first draft critique is about distilling a story to its essence -- nothing more, nothing less. --Jeanne Marie
A big "thank you" to all who entered our latest giveaway. We enjoyed learning about your favorite chocolate treats. :-) The winner of the
2013 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market is:
Sandy Brehl
Sandy blogs at
Unpacking the POWER of Picture Books. Congratulations, Sandy! And thanks again to
Mary Kole for her guest interview.
And now to wrap-up our current
TeachingAuthors' topic: critique groups, and critiquing in general. Last Friday,
Jill opened the discussion with some excellent tips for when you're critiquing a manuscript in a group setting. Mary Ann focused on
advice for one-on-one critiquing. Jeanne Marie
emphasized the importance of looking at first drafts at the "global level," instead of nitpicking them. And both Mary Ann and Jeanne Marie talked about the value of asking a writer: What made you decide to write this particular story?/Why did you choose to write about this topic? Today I'd like to share a bit about what to do when you receive conflicting feedback.
In the facilitated critique workshops that I teach, we follow the critiquing model I learned at Vermont College. The format is described in this
guest post by Lyn Miller-Lachmann. There are two unique aspects to this format that are specifically designed to help keep the writer from getting defensive:
1) The author remains silent while others discuss his or her work. When you think about it, this makes sense. When you submit a manuscript to an editor or agent, you're not there to explain the choices you made. The manuscript must succeed on its own. Also, an author who remains silent is more likely to really
hear the feedback because he or she isn't sitting there thinking about how to respond to what's being said.
2) After a round of sharing positive feedback regarding what's working well, instead of telling an author what's "wrong" with the piece or what needs "fixing," critiquers share questions about the manuscript. I've found it takes some practice for my students to learn how to express their comments in question form, but here are a few examples:
“Is the narrator a boy or a girl?”
“What time of day is it? What season?”
“What happened to the dog?”
“How did the narrator feel when that happened?”
“Why did the mother react so strongly to such a minor accident?”
“Why didn’t the mother react more strongly?
I do allow my students to preface their questions with an “I” statement to indicate points in the story where they were confused or found something unclear. For example:
I was confused here. I thought the narrator was a boy. Is the narrator a boy or a girl?
I couldn’t picture this scene. Is the main character sitting or standing here?
I didn’t understand exactly what this sentence means. Could you clarify?
However, not all questions are appropriate. I discourage critiquers from trying to tell the author how to "fix" the story via their questions. As critiquers, we may not see or understand the author's goals. Therefore, I believe questions like "Why don't you get rid of the mother character?" aren't as helpful as "What purpose does the mother character serve?" The first question puts the author on the defensive. The second question leads the author to think more deeply about the story. It may be that the mother
is important, but the author hasn't shown why clearly enough yet.
When I facilitate critique workshops, I remind students that all feedback is subjective, including mine. Just because I'm the "teacher," that doesn't necessarily mean my comments are "better" or more valuable than anyone else's. I also encourage students to share their opinions even if they disagree with me and/or with their fellow students--it's important for a writer to know different readers may react differently to the manuscript.
So, when you're the author, how should you handle contradictory feedback? My advice is to latch on to the feedback that feels "right" or "true" first. For example, let's say that while drafting your piece you wonder if a section of dialogue sounds too mature for the character's age, but you leave it as is. Then, when you bring the piece to critique group someone asks: "How old is this character? I think his dialogue sounds old for a 9-year-old." Even if another critiquer responds, "I disagree. His dialogue sounds just right to me," I'd go back and revise the dialogue.
On the other hand, if you're not sure which feedback feels "right," you can go one of several ways. You may decide to go with "majority rules"--what do most critiquers agree on? OR, if there's someone in the group whose opinion you particularly respect or tend to agree with, then you might go with that one individual's response, even it it's the minority opinion. In the above example, if the person saying the dialogue sounds "just right" is a third-grade teacher who works with 9-year-olds on a daily basis, I wouldn't revise. OR, you may decide that the contradictory feedback is a symptom of a deeper problem that requires you to go back and revise something earlier in the story. Perhaps your character is precocious, and mature dialogue is part of his personality. In that case, you may want to go back and check whether his dialogue has been mature for his age from the very beginning. If his precociousness is important to the story, you might want to include other signs of it, besides his dialogue.
Keep in mind that the more critiquers you have, the more likely you are to get contradictory feedback. Sometimes, that's a good thing, but not always. I've seen writers revise over and over again thinking they will eventually satisfy all their critiquers. The problem is:
You can't please all your readers all the time. If you don't believe me, go to
Goodreads and look at the reviews for
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Alongside this bestseller's many 4- and 5-star ratings, you'll see reviews with only 1-3 stars.
As I said earlier, reading is subjective. While critique feedback can be invaluable, in the end it's
your story, and yours alone.
Happy writing, and Happy Poetry Friday! Today's Poetry Friday round-up is at hosted by
Ed DeCaria at ThinkKidThink.
Carmela
I took a break today from doing final revisions on a novel and picked up a little writing book called Some Writers Deserve to Starve! (31 Brutal Truths About the Publishing Industry) by Elaura Niles. I don’t find the chapters very brutal–just honest. And I agree with nearly all of them.
If you’ve been writing any length of time at all, chapters like “Putting Words on a Page Does Not Obligate Anyone to Read Them,” “All Publishers Are Not Created Equal,” and “Writing Conferences Cost Bucks” will resonate with you! Frankly, I expect there is a great deal of truth in all 31 of Ms. Niles’ chapters, but I have been spared a lot of it.
What About This One?
Two of the author’s brutal truth chapters are “Writers Rarely Help Other Writers” and “Not All Critique Groups Are Critique Groups.” Because I’ve seen what she described over the years in various groups [that didn't work for me], I believe she is right much of the time. But it also reminded me how wonderfully blessed I am to have a writer friend who DOES help me.
From time to time, I trade manuscripts with a writer friend in Australia. Her thoughtful responses in the detailed critiques have been very helpful in many areas: strengthening endings, picking up loose plot threads I had inadvertently dropped, telling me which chapters dragged, etc. I’m grateful for her honesty–which is NOT brutal.
How About You?
What has been YOUR experience with critiques and critique groups? Have they been helpful–or not so much? Is the advice good–or in such conflict that you don’t know what to believe? Give me your thoughts.
Yep, using the right tools for planning a writing group can make it a whole lot easier. In my on-going attempts to set up and continue the regional writing group (a three-county section of the larger state organization), I had done all the "right" things: I had a list of members from the area; I had a list I collected at the first meeting; I had agreement from a used bookstore to use their backspace on a regular basis.
I started looking at e-newsletter programs, convinced that was the direction I should be going. I needed those tools to help build my writers' group. After all, this was going to be a expanding group. Even if I was volunteering for it, being around writers and creatives the cost would be worth it. But I couldn't decided on a program to use. Email would have to be my right tool. A week before the meeting, I rushed to send out an email to re-cap our first meeting and setup the second meeting. I asked the folks what they wanted to do and figured our second meeting would be spent hashing out the details about who was branching off into critique groups and who wanted to attend our programs presented by local writers.
I arrived at the meeting place and time. The bookstore had written in wobbly chalky penmanship "Writing Group Tonight" on its sandwich board outside. Passers-by, I was told, were expressing interest. It all seemed like it was coming together, I thought as I waited for the group to appear.
(The suspense is building!)
How exciting that this was actually happening, I thought during my second half-hour of waiting.
I started calling my husband at that time and was willing to sit it out longer, I would just double-check what I wrote in my email. Maybe I'd put the wrong time? The wrong place?
The more I searched my email folders, the more I realized: I hadn't sent it out, at all? Could that have really been the case?
Without getting into details, I drafted another email. This time, I hit send (cc-ing myself as a guarantee) and the responses started floating in.
Now, if I can make sure that I have a speaker for next time, we'll be doing well and, hopefully, growing our little group. And getting back to writing.
What tools do you recommend for keep in touch with a group? What tools have worked for you? And has it every happened to you...when you thought you'd sent an email and you hadn't?
Elizabeth King Humphrey, who is in the midst of a month-long blogathon at The Write Elizabeth, is a writer in North Carolina.
Sometimes when you write a story, it seems like all the pieces just fit together perfectly. You’ve nailed the voice, pacing, plot, setting, characters, tone, and so on. You think, there’s no way you can make it any better. It’s perfect. But a funny thing happens when someone else reads it; they don’t get it or they think it’s okay, but not great, or they just don’t like it. What happened?
Well first off, everyone has different tastes. What you like, might not be liked by everyone else. As the old saying goes, you can’t make everybody happy all the time— or something like that.
But there’s something else going on that makes your perfect story not so perfect to other people. When you write something, there’s a personal connection between you and the piece. The words you frame take on a personal meaning to you that often go beyond the printed page. While you might be reading the exact same words as someone else, you’re interpretation of them is far different due to your personal or unique understanding of those words. That unique insight or understanding often bridges gaps or overrides problems that others will see in the story who do not share that same insight or interpretation. That’s why critique groups are so essential.
A good critique group helps you see problems or solutions that you often are unable to see on your own. From lifetimes built on different experiences and circumstances than your own, they can see the imperfections in what you once believed to be the perfect story. By bringing those imperfections to light, you have the opportunity to make your story even better.
However, taking advice from a critique group can be tricky. What if you don’t agree with what they say? Well, the choice is always yours as to whether or not you act on that advice. The truth is that sometimes critique group members might give you bad advice. But if you find that multiple critiquers are giving you the same or similar suggestions, even if you don’t agree with it, it pays to try to understand why they are saying what they’re saying. Ultimately, that usually points to a problem that needs fixing one way or another.
The point is that to make your story the best it can be you need the help of others. You need readers that can look at your story from a perspective different and removed from your own. You need readers that will point out problems that you don’t want to admit or believe are there. You need readers who will be honest in their assessment, and can give you constructive suggestions on how to address them. But perhaps the hardest things is that you need to be able to hear those problems and receive those suggestions without taking them personal, and with an attitude that they present an opportunity to make a good story great.
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 5/27/2011
Blog:
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This week's Poetry Friday is hosted by the delicious poet
Heidi Mordhorst over at
My Juicy Little UniverseSo...rewriting. Can't we just skip it? Can't we just write something brilliant and then jump to that thick-carpeted Hollywood office where we're signing the movie contract based on our book?
I've been feeling discouraged this week, so here's a poem about my work-in-progress, another novel-in-poems which I'd hoped would be finished when I turned in the April 14th draft in my novel writing class.
Finished? Heaven's no! Now that I have notes on this draft, I'm messing with it again. My book clearly needs a little more curry or cumin or molasses or heaven-knows-what. *Sigh*
NOVEL THOUGHT
by April Halprin Wayland
I'm walking quickly on this path
I edit words I see are chaff
I'm making characters three-dimensional
I've integrated the high school staff
(the stereotypes were unintentional)
I've cut the zoo scene and giraffe
though it was beautifully unconventional
I'm trying not to be inflexible—
and keeping it was indefensible
(though parts of it were quite exceptional)
If only I can reach that raft
and climb aboard, untie the rope—
I'll sail off with the final draft...
at least I hope!
x
The TeachingAuthors are proud to be part of the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) Summer Blog Initiative. We're especially pleased to be the first blog to feature these inspiring and practical posts by students and graduates of the MFA programs because four of the TeachingAuthors (Carmela Martino, Mary Ann Rodman, JoAnn Early Macken, and I) hold MFAs from Vermont College. Last Monday, our series began with Jodi Paloni's entry, "The Point of Point of View." In Wednesday's guest post, "Decide vs. Discover," Cynthia Newberry Martin shared a technique for letting the characters tell you what happens next in your story. On Friday, Sion Dayson gave us another method for moving forward with "What Happens Next?" Today we hear from Lyn Miller-Lachmann on the art of critiquing. --Jeanne Marie
Critiquing Others: The Constructive Critique by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Before entering the Vermont College of Fine Arts program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, I had extensive experience in critique groups and workshops. Some of these were helpful, but others left me with more hard feelings than ideas for improving my work.
Like unhappy families, unsupportive critique groups can be unsupportive in many different ways. Some function as cheerleading squads, leaving the writer unprepared for the highly competitive and often cruel world of publishing. Others spend more time tearing down the work and the abilities of the writer, leading to discouragement and disengagement from the critique process. Some members consistently fail to pull their own weight, refusing to read and comment on other people’s work or else to share their own. Others see the group or workshop as a competition, an attitude that some workshop leaders encourage.
Enough of the negative. The workshops at VCFA offer a model for the constructive critique that enables all participants to share their work in a safe, supportive environment and to learn from their own and others’ writing. At each residency, students take part in daily workshops, two hours long, with 10 fellow students and two faculty workshop leaders. At each workshop, two student pieces from 10 to 20 pages long are critiqued, giving each student an hour to hear feedback on the work and to ask questions. The workshop members are at different levels in the program, from nervous first semester students to workshop veterans about to graduate, and the types of works presented range from picture book texts to novels in verse to short stories, from early readers to edgy young adult.
On the first day, faculty advisers set the tone and the ground rules. The student with work to be critiqued reads a paragraph from that work. Then we go around the table, each person stating one thing he or she likes about the work. Faculty advisers take their turn. No one’s comments are more privileged than anyone else’s. After fifteen minutes of what we like about the piece, workshop participants discuss questions, which may be problems with the piece, or confusing parts, or aspects that touch on general writing topics. This part occupies thirty minutes of the discussion. For the final fifteen minutes, the writer, whose work is being discussed, finally has a chance to respond. Until that final fifteen minutes, the writer remains silent—unless there’s a factual question that requires a quick answer.
The silence of the writer for nearly an hour requires a level of
The TeachingAuthors are proud to be part of the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) Summer Blog Initiative. We're especially pleased to be the first blog to feature these inspiring and practical posts by students and graduates of the MFA programs because four of the TeachingAuthors (Carmela Martino, Mary Ann Rodman, JoAnn Early Macken, and I) hold MFAs from Vermont College. Last Monday, our series began with Jodi Paloni's entry, "The Point of Point of View." In Wednesday's guest post, "Decide vs. Discover," Cynthia Newberry Martin shared a technique for letting the characters tell you what happens next in your story. On Friday, Sion Dayson gave us another method for moving forward with "What Happens Next?" Today we hear from Lyn Miller-Lachmann on the art of critiquing. --Jeanne Marie
Critiquing Others: The Constructive Critique by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Before entering the Vermont College of Fine Arts program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, I had extensive experience in critique groups and workshops. Some of these were helpful, but others left me with more hard feelings than ideas for improving my work.
Like unhappy families, unsupportive critique groups can be unsupportive in many different ways. Some function as cheerleading squads, leaving the writer unprepared for the highly competitive and often cruel world of publishing. Others spend more time tearing down the work and the abilities of the writer, leading to discouragement and disengagement from the critique process. Some members consistently fail to pull their own weight, refusing to read and comment on other people’s work or else to share their own. Others see the group or workshop as a competition, an attitude that some workshop leaders encourage.
Enough of the negative. The workshops at VCFA offer a model for the constructive critique that enables all participants to share their work in a safe, supportive environment and to learn from their own and others’ writing. At each residency, students take part in daily workshops, two hours long, with 10 fellow students and two faculty workshop leaders. At each workshop, two student pieces from 10 to 20 pages long are critiqued, giving each student an hour to hear feedback on the work and to ask questions. The workshop members are at different levels in the program, from nervous first semester students to workshop veterans about to graduate, and the types of works presented range from picture book texts to novels in verse to short stories, from early readers to edgy young adult.
On the first day, faculty advisers set the tone and the ground rules. The student with work to be critiqued reads a paragraph from that work. Then we go around the table, each person stating one thing he or she likes about the work. Faculty advisers take their turn. No one’s comments are more privileged than anyone else’s. After fifteen minutes of what we like about the piece, workshop participants discuss questions, which may be problems with the piece, or confusing parts, or aspects that touch on general writing topics. This part occupies thirty minutes of the discussion. For the final fifteen minutes, the writer, whose work is being discussed, finally has a chance to respond. Until that final fifteen minutes, the writer remains silent—unless there’s a factual question that requires a quick answer.
The silence of the writer for nearly an hour requires a lev
Last Friday night I was excited to attend a book launch party for one of my dear writer friends Vicky Alvear Shecter who is the author of the Cleopatra’s Moon, a fabulous YA historical fiction novel.
Here is a picture from the party at the Little Shop of Stories bookstore where Vicky is holding the infamous Drag-Queen Cleo.
The novel focuses on Cleopatra Selene, the only daughter of the renowned queen of Egypt. Being a lover of all things historical, I loved the way that Vicky revealed facts within the prose. Where I really think she shines is how she fills in the blanks of history with her own take on what happened to Cleopatra Selene after the deaths of her parents and her turbulent stay in Rome. I also loved the theme of free will in the novel since this is one of the themes in my own novel project.
Vicky has been a writer friend for several years. We originally met as part of a critique/writing workshop. I always loved when it was Vicky’s turn to read because she always put interesting historical details in her writing — I still remember a piece about the domestication of cats in ancient Egypt. Vicky has always had a penchant for ancient history. She has also written two non-fiction books, Alexander The Great Rocks the World and Cleopatra Rules!
I still remember a day when we met at a coffee shop and talked about what we wanted to happen for our writing. For me, she is an writing inspiration. It is very inspiring to see a work go from idea to revision to sale to editorial revision and then on to publication. There is a LOT of work involved as we writers already know.
To see it happen for a writer friend is even better because there is a personal connection. So Vicky if you’re reading this post just know how proud that I am of you and I can’t wait for you to share more of your writing with the world! :)
How do you celebrate your writer friend success stories? How do your writer friends support you in your accomplishments?
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Critiques are very valuable, but in the end, you have to be the judge of your own stories. You have to believe in your own writing. And trust me, negative critiques come to everyone.
Keep adding rejections till you get to 100 or more-- fold them in to the batter slowly but steadily (and don't get discouraged every time you add a rejection to the bowl... every rejection gets you one step closer to an acceptance-- and if you think rejections are a good thing, you'll keep submitting, which is the only way you can get published anyway! :o) )
P.S. Love this post, Sharon! Can't wait to see what ingredients everybody adds!
50 lbs. of patience and perseverance.
After baking, let cool for one month.
A heaping cup of imagination!
A heaping cup of imagination!
Great ingredients everyone! Now all we have to do is try and follow the recipe...