Bad Critiques Vs. Good Critiques

Speaking of what fills a writer’s bathtub, how about critiques? A good critique can add a few litres of water to a writer’s bathub whereas a bad critique can instantly evaporate a few litres and continue to do so for some time.

As I get busier and more comfortable critiquing other people’s work, I find that I am less inclined to cushion what I say with compliments or to take a slow, gentle approach. And I think that is not exactly good. When meeting a writer online, it can be difficult to gauge where they are in the their writing. Are you the first person to see their work? I.e. are you likely to crush their poor little writer’s spirit if you aren’t careful? Or, are they a veteran writer who wants you to go hard and slice and dice their work and going easy will serve as unhelpful? How do you know? I say, you have to ask them.

Here are some possible questions to ask: What kind of critique do you want? Is there something you are working on at the moment that you would like me to read for? For example, dialogue, pacing, or grammar. Have you had a critique before? (It is always best to get a couple varying opinions before changing anything as well as to make sure that any changes feel right and work for your story and your characters. It can also help to have people within your genre critique your work–although some critiquers from other genres can help pick out things people within your genre might not be able to.) Also ask how much feedback they want. For example, do they want you to highlight the one thing that you feel could improve their work in the biggest way?  Hint: NEVER rewrite another writer’s work. That is a BIG no-no. However, giving examples of what you mean can be okay when done right.

Lately, I’ve been chatting with a writer via email and we’ve both been reflecting on where we’ve been as a writer and where we are now. We’ve both had crushing experiences in terms of critiques. I had one a year ago that was difficult to take. Nary a compliment in the whole critique. The other day, I looked back at some of the notes. They really aren’t that bad. In fact, they are much more helpful now, a year later (and me being a year better in terms of my writing and understanding of what makes good writing) than they were at that time. At that time, it was too much, too soon. It was so negative. What I think happened, was the critiquer assumed I was further along in my writing confidence and slammed me (trying to give me the biggest bang for my buck) and critiqued me as I would want to be slammed today. However, I was still at the point where I wanted to hear good things as well as receive a hand to help me improve. Pointing out everything that was wrong left me stumped. Okay, so I suck, but what can I do to make my writing better? It would be wonderful to have that same critique again now. Now, I’m ready. I’ve got by back pushed up against the wall so the blasts won’t knock me over. Give me your best shot.

Where Do You Write?

So, where do you write? (Assuming you write.)

I write pretty much anywhere. All I need is my laptop. Lately, I have been editing at the dining room table. But I used to sit on the couch and I have written many a words there. I used to work at a desk. One story I wrote in the public library.

However, these authors have shared pictures taken by Kyle Cassidy of their writing spaces. By looking at these published writers, here’s what you need. Lots of books in your bookshelves and a pet. Cat or dog preferred.

In an older post, I talked about where I write, and here is a repost of the image I used to show my work area. I now work on the table behind here. And naturally, there is more clutter.The laptop is different, the cup the same, cat the same, couch a little rougher and threadbare.

So, again, where do you write?

How Writing a Novel is Like Building a Garage

Some folks say writing a novel is like building a house. I’ve never built a house before, but I am in the process of building a garage, so let’s go with a garage. Plus, with a house, you have to live in it afterwards. You don’t live in a novel (or a garage). Plus, if your novel doesn’t work out, you can shove it under the bed and ignore it. Sort of the same with a garage. Big deal if your garage doesn’t work out perfectly and has flaws–it just hangs out in the backyard anyway. It’s not like your company routinely takes a tour of the ‘car house’. But wait, if you have major structural flaws, then it isn’t like a novel where you can shove it aside because you have this big falling down box in your yard. Then your garage is like a really HUGE headache and will take huge amounts of time and effort to fix. Hey, it IS just like a novel with structural issues.

So, you ask, how are these two things similar? Really, and truly. Well, before you get started on either project, you need supplies and you need a bit of a plan or idea on what you plan to accomplish. Is this a romance? Is it a two car deal? Approximately how long is this novel going to be? How big is the garage going to be? Where is this story going to take place? Where are you going to place this building?

Once you have a few of the main ideas in mind, you can get started. If you are a panster builder, you get moving right away, letting details sort themselves out as you go. You start with the cement pad. Move on to walls… Figuring it out as you go. (Sometimes, you have to go back and change things as you figure out what is going to look or work best.) If you are a plotster writer, you have detailed plans before you even lift your hammer, er, apply fingers to the keyboard. You have your characters sorted out, the main conflict, the ending. Pretty much everything. Everything is ordered up and ready to be used as you need it. More front end work, less on the back end.

When it comes to materials, your cement pad is like your plot outline/story idea. Once that is down, everything builds on it. If you change that–it is a lot of work and basically, you don’t have the same story or garage if you make changes to this. It is your ‘foundation’ of sorts.

Things that make your characters distinct are the touches that make the garage distinct. Eyes/lights, skin colour/siding colour, hair colour/shingle colour. On the inside, what do you have and what do they say? Neat freak/lots of perfect shelves, ome as you are personality/uncovered or unfinished walls. Chipped teeth/chipped concrete.

And of course there are edits. Maybe that chapter is missing driving conflict. Maybe that wall isn’t quite level.

What about pacing and order? Your story needs structure. Things need to happen and flow in a way the reader can follow. Same with building a garage. You can’t turn on the lights before they are hooked up.

And finally, like any form of work, there is always a sign that it is time to take a break. If you don’t, you might nail that sheet of OSB on the wrong way and have to redo it all. DOH!
Happy building!

Focus, Focus…Theme!

When I wrote one of my stories, I didn’t know what the theme was while I wrote it. Or rewrote it. Or rewrote it again. It lacked focus and it was incredibly frustrating writing my query letter. What the heck was my story about anyway? I had all these great events, but where did they go and why were they there? What was I trying to illustrate? How come I could get it all to pull together?At some point I kind of figured out my theme, but then I had more rewriting to do to make sure I illustrated it. It was a loooong haul. And I had the wrong theme. Yeah, I know. The things we learn on the journey to writing a cohesive story, right?

And then, bang. I got it. I had been looking at each scene in a new way and how they related to each other and suddenly I knew what my theme was. Everything instantly became clearer. I could focus. I could see where things were flawed, not holding up their part of the bargain, where they were right on. And was my query letter ever easier to write after that!

So, if you are looking for a way to focus a manuscript you are editing, or working on a new story, don’t underestimate the power of knowing your theme to pull everything into focus.

Inspiration?

You’re the meaning in my life, you’re the inspiration…Oops sorry. Got that song stuck in my head now.

So, I was reading my horrorscope today and look what it said:
“The Moon’s entry into your 12th House of Imagination can jump-start a fantasy today. But you’ll need to suspend disbelief in order for the dream to take hold. Don’t waste energy now trying to clarify the fiction and flush out the facts. Just appreciate the whole story for the creative masterpiece it is; you can always come back and analyze it on another day.”

It’s interesting as my online critique group and I were discussing this sort of thing just yesterday. Do you just let it flow? Do you tweak as you go? Some of us are tweakers and agonize how long it takes to get a first draft down. Some of us are flow types and agonize over how long it takes us to edit. Looking over my horoscope, I guess it means I should just write down whatever comes to mind during my writing session this afternoon and worry about editing and fixing and adding to it some other time.

Sweet. I can handle that.