Malaysia Ho!

We fly out to the tropics tomorrow, me, my husband, and the kids--the whole family minus the cats. (I couldn't find any swim fins small enough for them.) We'll be gone for five weeks to Singapore, Malaysia, and Bali. Good-bye long, snowy winter and cold, windy spring, hello sarong and snorkel!

I don't want the new blog to go dark, so I wrote a few posts in advance, and with any luck can access blogger from jungle and beach front internet cafes en route.

My lovely editor will finish my letter today, and is sending it half across the world to meet me in Singapore! This is a good thing, because my mind always searches for something to chew on, even when I'm relaxing. And five weeks is a long time to be away from writing, which tends to make me cranky.

I won't be having any fun, so no need to feel jealous.

Critiques and critique groups - part III

Getting a critique by and editor or agent at a conference is a great opportunity to meet people with experience in the world of publishing. The critiques can be HELPFUL even (but not always).

My first professional critique happened at an SCBWI conference in Honolulu. The editor, Michael Stearn, was with Harcourt at the time.  He told me to get into my main character's head more, and explained about the POV third-person close. After that, I read other books with POV in mind and learned a lot.

Sadly, sometimes writers leave their conference critiques near tears, and have to take refuge in a bathroom stall. (This has only happened to me two times, three at the most.)

So before your critique, enjoy the fantasy of the editor handing you a book contract, But lower your expectations at tad for the actual event. After all...

Editors are real people, and like other real people, their tastes vary considerably.

Editors at conferences critique MANY writers in a single day.

Editors have only the first few pages of your mss, and for many writers, those are the HARDEST pages to write.

At a conference not so long ago, an editor told me that I had NO VOICE. I was devastated. Luckily Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down. This was her opinion about My Invented Life. Yes, the very same YA novel that will soon be published. The same novel my agent said she found so funny, she slowed herself down to savor every word.

Uh oh.  Did I just toot my own horn? Pretend you didn't read the last part.

And the point is...trust that someone will recognize the quality of your writing. Keep putting it out there.

Critiques and critique groups part II

So you're in a critique group. Hooray!

But what do you do about the person who spends a half an hour lecturing you on how you position the word "said" in a sentence.  For example: "Kith me," said Pierced-tongue girl  vs.  "Kith me," Pierced-tongue girl said?

How do you respond to the person who says, "I'm sure there is some way WE can salvage your story."

(These examples are based on incidents that may have actually occurred, but let's pretend they are made up.) 

Answer: 

When person A begins repeating himself, interrupt (politely, of course) and say, "Thank you for the information. I will think about it."

When person B drops her bomb, ask for the specific things that bother her about your manuscript. Listen politely while mentally reviewing everything that sucks about HER mss. Just joking (sort of).

If there are two people in your group that give useful feedback, listen to them and ignore the others!

You can set ground rules so that no one dominates the critique session. You can create a reminder sheet about how to give critiques, eg. make SPECIFIC instead of GENERAL comments.

Note: I still remember the time person C called my main character shrill. (BTW, that is a general comment.)  So, I asked for specifics. The specifics showed me that person C found my MCs thoughts overly dramatic, which clarified the issue for me.

Over the years, I've received helpful feedback by the truckload...but for some reason the negative feedback resonates in the echo chamber for a long time.

So...phrase your comments on other people's manuscripts very carefully.

The SCBWI website has a comprehensive how-to on critique groups. 

Critiques and critique groups part I

When the author of two award winning picture books agreed to critique my middle-grade novel, Vanessa the Contessa, I was thrilled. Sure, my audience was 10-13 year old girls, not middle-aged men. But ANY critique is good, especially one from a PUBLISHED author, right?

Hint: the correct answer starts with a W.

When I got my manuscript back, I scanned through, ready to learn from the master. His comments were sparse, but he'd scrawled a few words at the end, and they made an impression on me. I quote. "Shallow people dumping on shallow people = enlightenment?"

After the "critique" sunk in, I stomped around for a good hour, muttering to myself as I cleaned the house.

*Warning: cute toddler story ahead*

Later that day, my two year old son shared his feelings about the critique. "Shallow people dumping on shallow people makes Mommy mad."

I laughed, and eventually recovered from the critique. Maybe it thickened my thin skin just a little (but I doubt it).

Do you really need to hear the moral to that story?

More thoughts on critiques to follow.