I was recently invited to be a guest blogger on Poes Deadly Daughters and I decided to write about the one thing that turned my writing around--a constructive critique.
The day I decided to write fiction, I embarked on a journey that took me to a whole new learning experience. I bought every "how-to" book I could get my hands on--read them cover to cover, read other author's works -- examined their styles, and participated in hundreds of fiction writing discussions in various author forums. All well and good, but none of those activities compare to the valuable lessons I learned after I submitted my manuscript to my critique group.
If you're interested in reading about my experience as a new author and how a critique pushed my skills to the next level, please visit, http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/ :) I look forward to reading your comments both in Poes Deadly Daughters and here!
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Comments: 10
I will look at your links in the next day.
By the time we get done, the author has a wealth of informtion to consider.
Great question Janine. I would certainly hope so.
The minute we post our work, we open ourselves up to criticism and should be ready for it. An author who is serious about improving his/her craft will consider any and all comments. Even the harshest comments often have a ring of truth to them. If we look beyond what is said and "listen" to what is really bothering the reader, we will often find the solution (i.e.: the example I gave in my article).
Keep in mind that authors do have the final say in accepting or rejecting the suggestions. The author who knows his/her characters and the plot will know if a suggestion makes sense or not. As an example, earlier in the year, I posted the first chapter of the second book in my series (soon to go to my publisher, yah!) for my critique group's comments. A new member wrote in that he thought my male protag (a city detective) should have some sort of habit to "show" more characterization. He suggested I describe him as having his shirt hang out over a pot belly, chewing gum excessively, or smoking a cigar. I knew this member hadn't read any of my previous works so he couldn't have known that Sam Harper is young, slender and doesn't do any of those things.
From a reader's perspective, patting someone on the back when the work clearly needs more work is not going to help the author improve his/her work. An honest or even a harsh critique shouldn't be confused with a negative one. A critique can be honest and harsh and still be constructive if the author walks away feeling that his/her writing has improved in the process.
It's often not what we say but how we say it. Telling someone, "I'm confused by this sentence. You might consider ..." and then giving an example of how the sentence might be improved is far more constructive than to say a section of text is boring and should be cut without giving the writer an explanation.
Personally, I'd rather have a harsh critique before the book is published than a harsh review later. ;)
just finished your blog entry and find it very helpful. You offer suggestions we should know but don't always remember. Thanks for the reminder!