Critiquing, An Art

As a writer I look for assurance that my writing is of high quality. I want everyone to love, or at least really enjoy what I write. So when I hand over my books to someone else to read I'm hoping they will tell me they loved it and can't wait for another one to be printed.

Four years ago this month, I went to a writing conference, my first, walked into a 15 minute interview with an agent, and walked out with the woman wanting to represent me. Talk about an ego boost, wow! The agent had read the one book I had gotten published in July of that same year and loved it. I flew on a cloud for weeks. It was validation that my writing partner and I were good.

But was that true? Four years have passed without another contract. The agent? Well, she is a sweet woman but didn't manage to sell anything for us. About six months ago she asked to be released as our agent because she hadn't done us any good. Thus I became a free agent again.

Was the agent a good judge of my writing? I don't know. But I have been seeking a good critique group to join. I had been in a group with five other ETWA members. It was good for as long as it lasted. One problem with the group I had joined was that we were too diverse, I think. Members started dropping out until only two of us remained, so we disbanded.

It might have been too early for me to be part of a critique group. Again I don't know. I do know that sharing my writing with others is fine as long as I'm not in the room at the time. I am, after all, a shy person. Hush, those of you laughing right now, I am shy, introverted and insecure. Unbelievable, some of you are saying. It's true, but that's another story.

I have grown as a writer and person in the past four years. I find it easier to read sections of my books aloud to other people now, although marginally. What I do know is that I want honest appraisal of my wips, works in progress. If I am to improve them I require an honest critique. A simple, "That's great!" doesn't work. To give a good critique takes an analytical person with a good ear or eye. Critiquing is an art. There are several ETWA members who fit that role, but one of them performs a critique well consistently. Gay Ingram hones in on exactly what is wrong or missing from any writing I share with her every time.

She started her own business, Line By Line, several months ago. This business is an editing and reviewing service for manuscripts. I haven't spoken with her about how well it is doing, but I hope she is being successful. Take my word, she's good. If you have a book that needs work but are unsure of what needs changing, you might consider hiring Ms. Ingram to help you out. From the price listed in her advertising brochure, she is in line with other such services. You can contact her at gayingram@att.net if you need to discuss hiring her.

Handing over a manuscript and having someone else read it then giving suggestions is so much more attractive a proposition to me than sitting with a group and reading it out loud, and it might be to you as well. It feels safer somehow. Since you pay for such a service I feel that the feedback would be honest. An editor is not concerned with being your friend only in giving you a quality critique.

But I need to work on getting more comfortable with sharing my writing in front of others. So I have joined another critique group recently. I go to my second meeting with them next week. There are seven members in this group. Two of them are temporarily unable to be there physically, but we are emailing our sections to one another each month as well as meeting physically to present our critiques. That's going to work out well I think. The first time we met it took 3 1/2 hours to finish. We not only had to each tell what we noticed, but we had to read the section presented by each member first. Even with a six page limit that takes time. Having the section ahead of time to read and make notes will cut down on the amount of time it takes.

I left the first meeting invigorated and excited. Five women and two men make up the group. Most of us write in a different genre from the rest. One is writing science fiction, another fantasy (dragons), one writes non-fiction, while another one is writing an adventure set in the middle east, there is a romance, and I'm writing a contemporary inspirational suspense. Though we were careful to be as positive as possible, honesty in what we noticed that needed work ranked high during each person's response to what was read. I noticed that each person also made sure to point out the strengths of the piece of writing.

Most of us are new to one another. I foresee that this group will be successful as we grow to be more comfortable with one another. I hope so. It's what I need at this point in my journey to become published many more times.

kmparis