The Art of Milking a Critique
A good critique group can take your writing to the next level. How can you assure your critique group is “good”?
- Practice your timed read. Choose a passage you can finish in your allotted time. Practice reading in a conversational tone and measured pace. It is difficult for listeners to give feedback if they cannot understand the monotone and rushed passage being mumbled from the other end of the table. Bonus- Hearing your own words makes errors and awkward passages more obvious. You can fix some of the problems before you even make it to the reading table.
- “Previously on Downton Abbey…” Provide a brief introduction that condenses the important info and gets you ready to pick up the action. You don’t have to review the previous 127 chapters, just genre, main character and recent action. This is also a great time to let listeners know if you are about to read erotica or potentially offensive material.
- Ask for what you need. Are you particularly worried that your vocabulary may be too advanced for a middle grade novel? Concerned that the dialogue is stilted? Don’t be afraid to let your listeners know if you are looking for specific feedback.
- Put on your big girl/big boy panties. Actively listen and take notes when listeners give their critiques. Do not argue, make faces or silently stew over their lack of literary genius. Comments are intended to help you, so take them in the spirit they are offered. Carefully consider all of the critiques and decide what is applicable to your writing. You may think that your character’s repeated use of “ya think!” is endearing, but if 9 out of 10 critique partners say it is annoying…maybe you should listen. Bonus- Listen to the comments given to other readers. You can learn from their mistakes and successes.
- Participate. The critique group only works if people critique. When you are not reading, listen carefully and offer constructive criticism and encouragement. If you never offer anything in critique group, don’t be surprised if the day comes that no one has a comment for you. No one likes a taker. The same principle applies to serving as moderator, timer, board member, cookie baker, etc… Find a way that you can give back to your group.
You may do all of these things and still find yourself in a horrible critique group. It happens; they are out there. In that case, take what you know and move along. Don’t poison yourself in a group that allows personal attacks, untimed reads/critiques or unprofessional behavior.
- Jodi Thompson, DFWWW Member since 2012
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pupilasgustativas/2742294138/
Enough is not Enough
If you didn't get your fill of eachother at our amazing DFW Writers' Conference, then look no further than around town for some more excuses to hang out in the name of writing.
Coming up this summer...the LexiCon Writer's Conference in Denton, TX.
This conference has a nice list of classes and speakers, but none more exciting than DFWWW member Harry Hall. He'll be talking about researching historical fiction and non-fiction, and we suspect he might tell a joke or two along the way. That alone makes it worth the trip.
The conference is scheduled for July 12-14, 2013 and offers group rates. Any other information you're craving can be found by clicking here.
Coming up this summer...the LexiCon Writer's Conference in Denton, TX.
This conference has a nice list of classes and speakers, but none more exciting than DFWWW member Harry Hall. He'll be talking about researching historical fiction and non-fiction, and we suspect he might tell a joke or two along the way. That alone makes it worth the trip.
The conference is scheduled for July 12-14, 2013 and offers group rates. Any other information you're craving can be found by clicking here.
Mayday, Mayday...
Mark your calendars.DFWWW member Rosemary Clement-Moore's latest YA novel, Spirit and Dust, will hit the bookshelves on May 14th. The novel already has a glowing Kirkus review, which reads, in part:
"A CGI-ready climax pulls together all the metaphysical building blocks laid down in this mystery's tight worldbuilding (not to mention mummies, ghosts, animated tattoos and a bonus dinosaur). This likable, uber-competent heroine's adventure combines elements of paranormal romance and fast-paced thriller, while Daisy herself resembles a Southern teen version of supernatural PI Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher's best-selling adult series. Another smart Goodnight caper."
Of course it's smart! It's Rosemary's.
Click here to pre-order. Click here to add it to your want-to-read Goodreads list. Click here to visit Rosemary's website and see what else you've been missing.
See Jane Write Good
Here’s the fine print: I’m not an English savant; I don’t have an MFA. I know just enough to be dangerous, and that’s…well, dangerous.
Despite this, I’ve recently found myself dwelling on the nuances of sentence structure. I know what you’re thinking: boring. But stay with me. If you’re awake at the end of class, it means you’ve read my story about men and bras. (I’m nothing if not desperate for your attention.) In the meantime, let's talk about sentences.
Here it goes.
There are a million ways to arrange your subject and predicate, another million ways to splice and compound. It’s overwhelming, really. As authors, we’re on the hook to understand at least a modest portion of this mind-numbing subject in order to build our books. Personally, I hate writing crappy sentences. Out of context, that last one might qualify.
But anyway, how do we construct our 50,000+ word towers if, on the English-knowledge-scale, we merely qualify as dangerous? How can we appear to know more, from a literary perspective, than we actually do?
Here’s my trick: Don’t start every sentence the same way. Get away from what I like to call the “See Jane” syndrome. The moment you start your sentence with a new and different word is the moment you’ve begun to build a tiny literary masterpiece.
To illustrate this, I’ve written a story. Each sentence of this yarn starts in a distinctive way, and that’s important. An unabridged dictionary offers you 600,000 words to choose from, so it would be silly to always begin with “See”. Just saying. And for those who are interested in the scientific names for these syntaxes, they’re included. Perhaps you’ll be able to stomach that portion of the lesson if you consider the subject...
Bras! Men! Men! Bras!
Without further ado, here are eleven unique ways to start a sentence.
At the entrance to the mall’s brassiere shop stood a man with his hands jammed into his pockets. (A Prepositional Phrase)
He walked inside looking for his wife, but instead ran directly into a faceless mannequin who wore a leopard print teddy. (A pronoun)
Excusing himself, even though it was hardly necessary, he made his way to the counter. (A Participle Phrase)
As he did so, his cable knit sweater caught the clasp of a bra hanging from the nearest rack. (A Conjunction)
Panicked, he stepped away, but the bra stretched and followed him. (An Adjectival Participle)
Undergarments of all types began pointing to him as the rack tipped. (A Noun)
Swearing seemed reasonable enough, though he didn’t mean to yell quite so loud. (A Gerund)
To avoid any more unnecessary commotion, he righted the rack and gave it a well-meaning hug to ensure its stability. (An Infinite Phrase)
Meanwhile, his amused wife looked on from the entrance where she had been waiting all along. (A Transition Word and/or an Adverb)
Alas, he had proven her longstanding argument: Men are unnecessarily hung up on women’s unmentionables. (An Interjection)
The end. (An Article)
For real…the end. Wake up. Class dismissed. Go forth and put this little nugget into practice.
Let’s go write something not crappy!
- Brooke Fossey, DFWWW Member since 2010
Despite this, I’ve recently found myself dwelling on the nuances of sentence structure. I know what you’re thinking: boring. But stay with me. If you’re awake at the end of class, it means you’ve read my story about men and bras. (I’m nothing if not desperate for your attention.) In the meantime, let's talk about sentences.
Here it goes.
There are a million ways to arrange your subject and predicate, another million ways to splice and compound. It’s overwhelming, really. As authors, we’re on the hook to understand at least a modest portion of this mind-numbing subject in order to build our books. Personally, I hate writing crappy sentences. Out of context, that last one might qualify.
But anyway, how do we construct our 50,000+ word towers if, on the English-knowledge-scale, we merely qualify as dangerous? How can we appear to know more, from a literary perspective, than we actually do?
Here’s my trick: Don’t start every sentence the same way. Get away from what I like to call the “See Jane” syndrome. The moment you start your sentence with a new and different word is the moment you’ve begun to build a tiny literary masterpiece.
To illustrate this, I’ve written a story. Each sentence of this yarn starts in a distinctive way, and that’s important. An unabridged dictionary offers you 600,000 words to choose from, so it would be silly to always begin with “See”. Just saying. And for those who are interested in the scientific names for these syntaxes, they’re included. Perhaps you’ll be able to stomach that portion of the lesson if you consider the subject...
Bras! Men! Men! Bras!
Without further ado, here are eleven unique ways to start a sentence.
At the entrance to the mall’s brassiere shop stood a man with his hands jammed into his pockets. (A Prepositional Phrase)
He walked inside looking for his wife, but instead ran directly into a faceless mannequin who wore a leopard print teddy. (A pronoun)
Excusing himself, even though it was hardly necessary, he made his way to the counter. (A Participle Phrase)
As he did so, his cable knit sweater caught the clasp of a bra hanging from the nearest rack. (A Conjunction)
Panicked, he stepped away, but the bra stretched and followed him. (An Adjectival Participle)
Undergarments of all types began pointing to him as the rack tipped. (A Noun)
Swearing seemed reasonable enough, though he didn’t mean to yell quite so loud. (A Gerund)
To avoid any more unnecessary commotion, he righted the rack and gave it a well-meaning hug to ensure its stability. (An Infinite Phrase)
Meanwhile, his amused wife looked on from the entrance where she had been waiting all along. (A Transition Word and/or an Adverb)
Alas, he had proven her longstanding argument: Men are unnecessarily hung up on women’s unmentionables. (An Interjection)
The end. (An Article)
For real…the end. Wake up. Class dismissed. Go forth and put this little nugget into practice.
Let’s go write something not crappy!
- Brooke Fossey, DFWWW Member since 2010
Right On Track
DFWWW member Jenny Martin is pounding the pavement ahead of her debut book's release. Dial/Penguin will bless the masses with Tracked during the summer of 2014. In the mean time, catch her and a handful of other up-and-coming YA authors at the Grand Prairie public library.
There will be a panel discussion hosted by award-winning author John Corey Whaley. The authors will talk about their journey from blank page to their first print run, and share the inside scoop on their upcoming books. Others joining Jenny include:
- Lindsay Cummings, author of The Murder Complex
- Mary Gray, author of The Dollhouse Asylum
- Julie Murphy, author of Side Effects May Vary
- Heather L. Reid, author of Pretty Dark Nothing
- Victoria Scott, author of The Collector series
WHEN: Thursday, 5/9/2013, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
COST: FREE