Micro Editing Cheat Sheet

by Deb McLeod

A lot of the writer’s craft time is spent on the macro side of things – does the story follow an arc? Does the character change from beginning to end? Do my scenes have conflict? Move the story forward? Are all of them necessary? But the macro edit is only step one in the editing process.

Next comes the Micro Edit.

There are many ways you can go about your micro edit. In taking a class with Pam Houston one time, she told us how she micro edits. She reads the first sentence, makes changes, rereads and tweaks until she’s happy with it. Then she reads the first sentence and the second sentence together and any changes she makes are based on the relationship between the two. Then, she moves on to the first, second and third sentences together – and so on. For the whole piece! If you’ve ever read her work, you know her writing is smooth, vivid, and so, so tight.

I wonder if one of the things she’s reading for is rhythm. Not only do the words need to make sense, and make sense in context, but they also have a rhythm the reader hears. You might read for rhythm by reading out loud. If you can hear the music of the words, you can hear where it jars.

Micro Edit Cheat Sheet

One of my favorite clients developed what she calls her cheat sheet to track recurring issues I would point out in her work. Because she used this cheat sheet before she sent me anything, her writing improved dramatically and soon she didn’t need the cheat sheet. She had changed her habits and her writing was smoother, cleaner, and far more powerful.

If the sheer pleasure of micro editing doesn’t get you excited to create a cheat sheet of your own habits, then think about this:

If you are pursuing traditional publishing, there are lots of ways to get rejected by editors and agents. Not mastering the micro edit should not be one of them. Then new trend at conferences is for an agent or editor to read an anonymous submission and stop where they would if they received it in their office. Then they tell the audience what made them stop and why they would reject it.

• Dialogue tags can get you rejected. 
• Too many adjectives or adverbs can get you rejected. 
• A prologue can get you rejected. 
• Telling rather than showing can get you rejected. 
• Just plain weak writing will get you rejected. 

There are many more issues that can land you in the No pile, but so many of the above reasons are avoidable. So let’s look at some of the micro issues you can include on your cheat sheet.

WARNING – Some of what you’re about to read will rankle the grammarians. But remember, I’m talking about fiction. In fiction, in my world, grammar serves the story. Not the other way around. But also know that I’m the writer who had an agent pursue me, express that she really wanted to represent me, but she couldn’t until I rewrote my entire manuscript. She said I couldn’t write the way I do. “It’s fine,” she said, “to write this way when you’re established.” (Sentence fragments! Paragraphing with impunity! Established writers write this way. Is that a compliment? Or did she just call me lazy?) “But until you are established, you have to prove you can write, so if I represent you, you’ll have to rewrite the whole book using the accepted tenets of grammar.”

Yeah. No. Compliment or not… Who’s next?

Micro editing cheat sheet or pick your grammar fight

Paragraphing – I have a friend who has her PhD in Linguistics. She told me once that you never bury an image or a powerful sentence in the middle of the paragraph. Lead with it or better yet, break the paragraph just after the powerhouse sentence or image. In the nanosecond the reader’s eyes take to move from the end of the paragraph to the beginning of the next paragraph, your image or powerful sentence is resonating in the brain before any new information is brought in. So toss out all those old grammar lessons from elementary school and break your paragraphs where they have the most effect. Even if it’s in the middle of things. The grammarians will hate that, but the readers will respond. And this is fiction right? Grammar serves the fiction not the other way around. Are you with me?

Dialogue Tags – I’ve written about this before and in a Facebook discussion just today I learned that dialogue tags other than ‘said’ or ‘asked’ can get you rejected by some editors or agents. For them it is a signal that the writer isn’t seasoned and it’s likely that the rest of the manuscript will show that. So why risk it? Use ‘said’ or ‘asked’ and save the creative tagging for a just few times during the novel when you can really use the punch. But too many times writers rely on the tag to tell the reader how to read the line. Notice the phrase ‘tell the reader.’ Telling, rather than showing. Rewrite without the creative tag, add an action to clarify and paint the picture for the reader. Your dialogue will be better for it.

Tenses – check your tenses. I don’t have anything creative to say about these. Just make sure they agree throughout. Are you writing in past tense, present tense or in some pluperfect time warp? Whatever. Write the thing the same way all the way through.

Point of view - avoid head hopping, unless it’s intentional. And if it is intentional, it must have a solid reason to be there. Every time you break point of view you risk losing the reader. So be sure you really have to do it, before you do. But do break point of view if it serves the story and ignore all the POV police in your critique group. Just do what I do… I say, yes I know it’s head hopping. Then I tell them why I’m doing it, what effect I’m going for. I quote a few of the greats who use it for effect, like Hemingway and Jennifer Egan and say my favorite critique group phrase: “Yes, it breaks the rules, and writer that you are, you caught it, thank you. But would it make you close the book?”

The trick to point of view changes is to be absolutely sure you have anchored the reader in the point of view. The best way to do that is through a sense. If you switch from Dick to Jane and you want that to be clear, simply give Jane a sense right in the opening of the point of view change. Ex: Jane heard the key rattle in the lock. That can’t be in anyone’s point of view besides Jane’s, right? She heard it. So the reader is anchored.

The second trick to changing point of view is not to do it too often. Head hopping implies that it changes too much. Unless you have a great reason to head hop, keep the point of view in one person for a while, then switch, or create a pattern. Your readers will thank you, though they won’t know why. Unless they’re writers and then they’ll tell you that you can’t do that.

Ing the wishy washy – one of my favorites. I could write a book on –ing the wishy washy. How many times have you read or written a sentence just like this: “I don’t have to go,” she said, picking up her book, plopping into the chair, and putting up her feet. I’m exaggerating with the clauses. But that rhythm of dialogue + tag + -ing verb (“I don’t have to go,” she said, picking up her book.) is so overused there needs to be another word to describe it – like trite, tired, worn, banal, weak!

There are rules about gerunds and past progressives which make my eyes cross. Suffice it to say two things about –ing verbs. Many times they force the sentence to use the ‘to be’ verbs (is, was, etc.) which are the weakest verbs in the vast collection. And secondly, listen to the rhythm of a paragraph with too many –ings. Read it out loud. Soon all you can hear is the sing-song -ing.

Power verbs – So let’s talk about verbs. Power verbs. Pull a paragraph and highlight all the verbs you used. All of them. Then rewrite the paragraph using more powerful “showy” verbs. Read aloud. Did you go over the top with too many from your thesaurus, or is your writing more vivid now? Power verbs add punch to the sentence. Make sure the verb fits the emotion you’re trying to evoke in the reader.

Adjectives and adverbs – I agree that, in general, adjectives and adverbs should be avoided. They, too, weaken the writing if used too often and too many will get you rejected. Use a few, now and then. Use the right one, in the right place and your sentence will pop. John Gardner said: “Wilson rocks slowly and conscientiously – a startling word that makes the scene spring to life (adverbs are either the dullest tools or the sharpest in the novelist’s toolbox).” I think that’s the correct quote from Gardner to Raymond Carver.

So, until you’ve gone through the micro edit, your work isn’t done. Even if you’re going to send it off to an editor, like me, do the nitpicky, it gives your editor more time to focus on other issues they may find. And, if you’re sending to an agent, you’ll be less likely to be rejected for something besides the story. If they’re going to reject you, shouldn’t it be because the story isn’t right for them? Not because they jumped to a conclusion that you were an unseasoned or undisciplined writer?

Pillow Talk in Public: Is it Worth It?

By Karen Albright Lin




When we assess how our writing affects our families, we usually think of time spent locked away from the rascal kids and the deprived spouse who is left to kiss the boo-boos, clean the crusted dishes, and run the errands. We weigh the money spent on printer ink, research trips and conferences against the statistically low chance of the book being blessed with a publishing contract.

If we write memoirs, we may face the veritas challenge. Should we offer the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Or do we censor to keep the peace at home or protect the guilty? When I teach Writing Your Life workshops (as I will on the Thursday before PPWC in April), I suggest writing all the warts and determining later whether to pull back—for legal or personal reasons. No matter how we look at it, family relationships are important considerations.

I’ve just run into another family versus writing conundrum. I’ve written a lot of erotica short stories and flash erotica (the latter sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?). I was preparing to make a collection of them available for purchase online. My husband asked me not to. I assured him I’d use a pseudonym. He still didn’t feel comfortable about it. He worried our sons might find them. Or others could trace the stories to me. In our private lives my husband is far from being a prude, but the subject is so personal to him, a modesty button was pushed. His comfort is important to me, so I won’t sell them.

Before you frown with empathy or cringe with peer indignation, you should know I have no regrets. I had a blast writing them and I believe no writing is time wasted. Special skills come from writing erotica: splatting down the truth with courage, avoiding stereotypes and clichéd euphemisms, and most fun—delaying the payoff. Wink, wink, suggestive smile.

About the Writer:  Karen is an editor, ghostwriter, pitch coach, speaker and award-winning author of novels, cookbooks, and screenplays. She’s written over a dozen solo and collaborative scripts (with Janet Fogg, Christian Lyons and director Erich Toll); each has garnered international, national and regional recognition: Moondance Film Festival, BlueCat, All She Wrote, Lighthouse Writers, Boulder Asian Film Festival, SouthWest Writers Contest, and PPW Contest. Find out more at www.karenalbrightlin.com.

Voice Lessons for Writers

By
Deb McLeod

 
As a writing coach, I have had the privilege of being there more than once when a writer finds her voice. It often happens in my writing circles – my group coaching practice. There’s a reason it happens there, which I’ll explain later when I try to illustrate what you can do to find or improve your own voice.

Here’s what it looks like in the circle: The writer has a particularly good writing day. (We write and read our raw material for the juice it holds.) The good day came because they got lost in the writing and were able to express a unique take on whatever the prompt was. Or they’ve reached a depth in the scene that goes beyond the plot on the page but makes the world of words come alive.

When they read it’s clear to one and all that in some way they’ve linked with the material and with that part of themselves that has permission to speak. There’s a mastery of craft that marries with a passion about what they’re writing and it’s almost as if a writer is born. While it may not be that dramatic, what has happened is that the writer has taken her work to a new level.

What’s particularly interesting to me is that once I’ve heard that change of voice, and once it’s been validated and supported within the group, it continues to grow.

But I’ve begun to notice a pattern. We meet weekly and the writers who’ve had this sort of breakthrough usually have a few more hits and then a rather large miss. Almost as if they’ve come up against some sort of line of mastery. Perhaps they reached too far out of their own comfort zone. Perhaps they’ve gotten slightly comfortable and so a little lazy. What’s needed when that happens is an infusion of craft to challenge them and/or a slight change to the process. A longer or shorter session time. A new craft element to master. Something to keep the process fresh.

The following week they dig back in and once again I hear the difference in their work from when they started.

So what is happening in these classes and what about that process can be duplicated for other writers? I’ve been studying that question for a few months now.

Here is what I’ve come up with so far:

Step One: Mastering the free-writing process is essential to connecting with your unique way of expression.

Free-writing is pen to paper for a timed exercise. Don’t lift your pen off the paper even if you’re writing “I don’t know what to write.” Keep writing until your timer goes off. Begin short – 10 minutes or so, but don’t let yourself get comfortable with any one time. Switch it up.

Free-writing works because, with pen to paper for a timed writing, it is possible to get your editor to quiet down. If you really don’t care about the grammar, the run-on sentences, the changing tenses and any other editing horrors; if you just let your pen (your soul? your characters? your story?) tell you what it wants to say, you will surprise yourself. You will get beyond your insecurity and connect with the muse in a way you don’t when you peck out one word at a time and fuss over commas and what your critique group said was wrong with your piece last time.

Free-writing is the cornerstone of how many of my clients have found their voice. We all have internal editors grown from school, from critique groups and writing rules. So we need a way to get past that critical voice inside ourselves. Growing your internal editor is absolutely essential to the entire process. But in growing your editor you might be drowning out the voice of the creator inside.

By free-writing, you are developing a practice that gets the words on the page before the internal editor can slice and dice. Consider free-writing like practicing your writing scales. The more you practice the better you will be. It will be easier to slip into the material and see what it is you have to say.

As an aside, the NaNoWriMo contest is a great tool to get past your editor. The pressure is on to produce and get words on the page so the rules are tossed in order to compete. After completing NaNoWriMo one of my clients read her work in the writing circle. She had that shift in voice because NaNo forced her editor to get out of the way. If you haven’t competed, check it out. It’s only 11 months away.

Step Two: Develop your eye for potential. Before you start hacking at your raw work and editing in the traditional sense, take a step to notice what’s working. Begin to train your eye to the potential in what you’ve produced. Be generous. If you develop this skill you will become a writer who can let the words tell you what needs to be said. You will discover and develop a depth within your work that will define your voice. I had a mentor once who told me that writers have to become the best readers of their own work. I take that to mean that I must be able to see what it is I want to say. And then say it.

In this step you challenge your internal editor to look for the possibilities and not the defects. When you’re working with a piece of raw writing, what you’re looking to identify are the images, the expressions, the plot twists, the symbols, the themes, the character revelations and anything else that makes a work come alive.

Step Three: Free-write for depth. Once you’ve taken the time to look for the possibilities in your work, don’t step into traditional editing quite yet. Give yourself permission to free-write again. Focus on developing the potential you identified.

• What about that image haunts the page? Why that image? What other forms of that might you use?
• Now that you know something new about your character, how might it show up in a different way? In a different scene?
• How does the dialogue your character uses reflect what you now know about him?

Feel free to write in actual scenes or rewrite the scene you just wrote with your new knowledge. Or sometimes just address your creative self directly. Do a free-write where you tell yourself what you’ve discovered and what you’re trying to achieve. How you can use that image or how that scene fits the theme of the story, etc. You’ll be surprised again when ideas start flowing right onto the page.

Step Four: Let your internal editor loose on the page. Once you’ve taken your free-writes and developed the scene as far as you can, give it over to that wonderful internal editor to fix.

Step Five: When you butt up against that line of mastery what you must do next is immerse yourself in craft. Studying craft is essential. Forever.

Move up the scale of craft instruction. Learn how to create tension in subtext. Learn how to show, don’t tell. Learn about conflict and scene structure. Learn all there is to learn and then find another perspective.

Find a book, a class or a mentor to challenge what you know about craft. Experiment with your new knowledge in a free-write. Stretch and challenge your writing self.

If you practice, you will wake the artist in you and free your voice to the page.

Here's another blog on voice you might be interested in. 

About the Author: Deb McLeod, is a writer, creative writing coach and founder of The Writing Ranch. She has both an MFA and a BA in creative writing. She has been teaching and coaching for over ten years. Deb has published short fiction in anthologies and journals. She has written articles and creative nonfiction. Deb has been a professional blogger, tech writer, graphic artist and Internet marketing specialist.  

I'm on a Boat!

By Shannon Baker

There’s a chance I might not be crazy. The evidence, however, suggests otherwise.

Most of the time I can compartmentalize the worst of the fruitcake behavior and hopefully people don’t know how nuts I am.

I usually keep it secret that I have a constant soundtrack going on inside my head. My husband calls it the ShannonPod. A good day is when there is only one song looping. Not every day is good.

I’ve learned to anticipate and warn those around me when an outbreak of lunacy is likely. It’s sort of like a good-hearted werewolf locking himself up on a full moon.

For instance, when I send a manuscript out for review I can turn off the anxiety for a time. But I know when that manuscript is returned there will be fallout. It’s predictable.

I stand with the manuscript in hand.

There is a deep inhalation in preparation. As I read the comments I burn with embarrassment that I could be that stupid. How could I have sent this off when I know better than to make those kinds of mistakes? Then despair sinks in. This manuscript cannot be salvaged. Repair is impossible. My deadline looms and I have to create a completely different story. I’m doomed.

This stage lasts exactly two days.

On the third day I start to understand how to change the plot to make it better. I get a clear idea where to cut, where to add, and how to make that device work. The literary worm turns and I get excited because when I make these changes, this book is going to be brilliant!

For the next two to three weeks I am possessed, obsessed and whatever other ‘ssed writers get when they go so deeply into their story the only time they surface is to 1) eat and 2) go to that pesky day job that supports this bat-shit habit.  The only conversation I’m capable of is raving about the new insight into my character. My checkbook will not get balanced and I’ll survive on pickles and saltines before going to the grocery store.  I have plenty of underwear to last this manic phase, so I do no laundry.

And then it’s done. You’d think I’d feel relief. Elation! Pride of accomplishment.

Maybe I would… if I weren’t crackers.

Instead, I have Manuscript Withdrawal. After having made all those changes I knew would make the story sing, I’m convinced I’ve failed. It’s drivel and my editor will reject it and I’ll end up in the gutter, my roots will grow out gray, and I’ll have chronic halitosis.

But, wonder of wonders, my editor likes it. It goes into the publishing assembly line and I feel good about it for the next several months. I anticipate the book release. It’s gonna be great! Friends and family will hold it aloft and the champagne will flow.

Except I’m bonkers.

Tainted Mountain (Midnight Ink) is here as of today. By the time this blog is aired it will be available. Since this is my first book with a really great publisher, I have no experience with this part of the publishing process. I don’t know what to expect from my unstable, insecure self. I already feel the draw to the dark side of the anxiety landscape but I’m determined to enjoy this.

It’s a good book. You’ll like it. 

So, crazy or not, my ShannonPod is on a constant loop to “I’ve Got a Book,” sung to “I’m On A Boat,” the expletive version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM

About the Writer: Shannon Baker has a right brain/left brain conflict. While the left brain focuses on her career as an accountant, her right brain concocts thrillers, including her 2010 release, Ashes of the Red Heifer. A lover of mountains, plains, oceans and rivers, she can often be found traipsing around the great outdoors. The first book in the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, Tainted Mountain, released March 2013 from Midnight Ink publishers.

My Six Rules of Editing

Deb McLeod

During my writing career I have workshopped short stories with authors like Pam Houston, Ron Carlson, Barbara Kingsolver and many others. They all emphasized the need for me to become the best reader of my own work that I could be.

Over the years I have developed my reading skills through my writer’s book club, through critique groups and by editing for my clients. In the process, I’ve come up with some editing rules that I ask my clients to apply to their work. These rules apply to novel or memoir editing. Short stories require a little different focus and I will write on that some other time.

In this age of beta readers, reviewers and critique groups it feels ok to get lazy and let someone else do the work. Having readers polish your work is an absolute must. But if you’re not able to edit your own work, you’re not growing as a writer. And you’re not pushing the potential of your work to its fullest.

I am reading a popular and well-selling indie author right now on my new iPad. On the first page I caught some things. Yes, there was a typo but there were also some habits that as a coach I would challenge this writer to eradicate in order to improve her writing. You can always get better.

Here are some rules to consider when you’re editing (before you engage anyone else to read):

Rule #1: When you’re done with the draft, clean it up and put it away. Only you can decide how long it takes to see it with fresh eyes. For me, it’s a few weeks.

Rule #2: While you’re waiting to distance yourself from the piece, write a logline or revisit the one you wrote when you started. Make it short and sweet. Sum up your work in one sentence.

Blake Snyder’s suggestion for movie loglines translates fairly well to novel and memoir writing. This is one example of a logline for Jaws. You can find others for Jaws, but this one succinctly sums the movie into one line, contains irony and gives the reader an indication of the time period of the movie.

        •     The logline should contain a vivid adjective about the protagonist and the antagonist. (Ex: A water-fearing police chief. A man-eating great white shark.).

        •     It should contain some sort of irony so we can get a sense of the story. (Ex: A water-fearing police chief embarks on a deep-sea mission to fight a man-eating great white shark…)

        •    There should be some sense of the time period in which they story takes place. (Ex: A water-fearing sheriff embarks on deep-sea mission to fight a man-eating great white shark attacking beaches in his resort town before the Fourth of July weekend.)

Rule #3: Break your work into manageable chunks. You don’t have to edit your whole book at once. I use Act 1, Act 2 (Part 1), Act 2 (Part 2) and Act 3. I rely on Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet to verify that the work has an arc and that it is the best story these characters can tell. As a note: I offer this service as a deep or content editor and I teach others how to do it for themselves.

Rule #4: Once the story is set, you can break it into chapters. Use chapter breaks to control pacing. Make use of cliffhangers so you can keep the reader reading just one more chapter. But don’t do that forecasting thing some novice writers do. (Ex: At the end of the chapter it might say something like this: She tried hard to control her tears. Little did she know….)

Rule #5: Verify. This rule covers a lot of ground. Here, you are working with the book first in its entirety and then on nitpicky items.

Overview: These are the larger issues to verify.

        •     Verify the character/story arc.

        •     Identify that your protagonist changed or at least had the possibility to change.

        •     Is your villain believable? Remember villains don’t know they’re villains.

        •     Is your protagonist passive? If plot = character choice, and your character is passive then does it follow that your plot is weak?

Nitpicky: I have clients that keep “cheat sheets” by their computers that contain a list of the habits we’ve identified. The overused words, the clichés they rely on, the weak verbs, etc. This is by no means an exhaustive list of what to look for. For that, you’ll need to create your own cheat sheet.

        •     Look at your dialogue tags – I only allow “said” or “asked.” If you have to tell me how to read the words that were spoken, the dialogue is weak. Rewrite so the reader understands how to read the words. You can use actions or words of the dialogue to show me, not tell me.

        •     Weak verbs – eradicate these.

        •     Tense consistency

        •     POV consistency

        •     Filters – especially in first person. You don’t have to put everything through your character’s sensibility. Just say it.

Examples:

        o     First draft: I got up late on Saturday morning so I got kitchen duty. I saw the cup on the table. I walked over and picked it up. When I sniffed it, my suspicions were confirmed. He was drinking again. (See how the author is putting everything through the “I” sensibility?)

        o     Better? Up later on Saturday than everyone else, the dishes were my job. The cup on the table smelled like bourbon. He was drinking again.

        o     Best? Last one up does the breakfast dishes. Today, that’s me. The cup he left smells like Bourbon. I knew it.

The last filter (I knew it) is effective since it adds a punch to the paragraph in a way that the filtering in the first example weakens the paragraph.

Rule #6: Read aloud. This is the best way to hear your work like your reader hears it in their head. I have one client who writes at night when everyone else is asleep because she reads aloud as she’s writing. Her work is clean.

That author I mentioned who is popular and selling well? I contend that if she was writing better, she’d be more popular and selling better. So hone your skills on your own work. It really makes a difference.

About the Writer:  Deb McLeod, is a writer, creative writing coach, co-founder and executive director of The Writing School. She has both an MFA and a BA in creative writing. She has been teaching and coaching for over ten years. Deb has published short fiction in anthologies and journals. She has written articles and creative nonfiction. Deb has been a professional blogger, tech writer, graphic artist and Internet marketing specialist.

NaNoWriMo's Done...Now What?

By Debbie Maxwell Allen

November 30th. The last day of NaNoWriMo. You may have a complete book in your hands, or a good start on one.

What do you do next?

Do you send it off to an agent or editor and sit back to wait for a contract? Do you start the sequel? Or set up a fan page on Facebook?

Typing "the end" is really just the beginning. When I began writing several years ago, I mistakenly thought that finishing my novel gave me the right to look for an agent immediately. These days, agents want to see work that is polished, not a first draft. And seasoned writers will tell you that the real writing happens in revision. It's when words are finally out of your head and on the page that you can actually do something with them.

Photo Courtesy of stock.xchng

There are many things you can do once you finish your novel, but I've boiled them down to three essentials.

Rest. Set your manuscript aside for a month before you begin. You need a little distance from it. Start brainstorming a new novel, or take the time to flesh out some of the short story ideas that may have popped into your head during NaNoWriMo.

Revise. Now it’s time to open that file. Writing teacher and author James Scott Bell suggests printing a manuscript out and reading it like you would someone else's book. It's surprising how much I miss when I edit on the computer. Keep a pad of sticky notes handy to mark passages that need work. For more tips on revisions, check this NaNoWriMo page.

Books like Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Manuscript Makeover, and Revision and Self-Editing can help you know what to look for in your manuscript. Once you've combed your manuscript several times, and have improved it to the best of your ability, it's time for the next step.

Other Eyes. This is where you step out (perhaps with fear and trembling) and let other people read your novel. Family and friends do not count. It's important to get honest feedback from people who already know how to write. Your friends will only be impressed that you actually wrote a novel, and most will think it's great, no matter how many problems there are with your plot.

No, what you need are people who are strangers. People who will share the truth about what works and what needs changing. People who aren't worried about hurting their relationship with you. You'll win in two ways: your manuscript will become stronger, and you'll develop the thick skin you need for the road ahead. If you're looking for a critique group, Pikes Peak Writers has some excellent ones to choose from.

Where are you at with your novel? Resting, revising, or revealing?

About the Author:  Debbie Maxwell Allen writes young adult historical fantasy in the Rocky Mountains. She blogs about free resources for writers at http://writingwhilethericeboils.blogspot.com/. 

Critique Group Bloodshed

By Aaron Michael Ritchey

January, 2006, that’s the first time I submitted my fiction to a critique group.  My very first session, I got lambasted and it took me literally two months to recover.  I was a sensitive child.  Too sensitive.  Part of being a writer is thickening the callous on your soul.

Here we are, nearly seven years later, and I took my brand new first chapter to my brand new critique group and wham, I got hit with bricks, bats, and bombshells.  At least that’s what it felt like.  I left distraught.  Had I learned anything in seven years?  Did my debut novel not teach me anything?  Would I ever improve?

I spent the night shaking my fist at heaven when I wasn’t wringing my hands in the basement.

I think the number one problem with being a human being is our faulty memories.  At least my memory is faulty.  I had forgotten that 10% of the critique is listening to comments at the critique session.  90% of the work is done by myself, with what I call the committee.

The committee is my innate genius (um, I’m using that word liberally) that knows when a critique is right on and when I can skip it.  Even in my critique group of extremely successful writers, every comment is not gold.  Some are brass.  Some are porcelain.  And some are what goes into the porcelain.

Now, after my first chapter shellacking, it didn’t take me two months to recover.  The very next day, after a hard night of fist-shaking and nightmares about red pens, I took the comments from my critique group, sat down, and got to work.

On the pages, no one had written, “Aaron, you suck!”  See, my memory was bad.  I could have sworn the night before, someone had said those very words.  But they didn’t.  It was a normal critique.  Some good.  Some bad.  Most just normal stuff.  My emotional reaction was completely unwarranted.  Yes, my first chapter had serious problems, but problems can be fixed.  Always.  With an open mind and a few drops of innate genius.

And do you know what the final solution was to my poor opening?  I went back to my original first chapter, the one that I wrote but thought was too literary.  Since my current work in progress is epic, I opened with a call to the muse, disguised as the Virgin Mary.  Hail Mary, full of luck, give me a chapter that doesn’t suck.

            

My friend Mario just says thank you during critique.  We love his stuff.  Thank you.  We hate his stuff.  Thank you.  Just thank you.  And that’s the best thing to say because I won’t know what’s true or what’s false until I get with the committee.  Then I’ll know. 

            

Like most of writing, 90% of the work is done by myself.  The other 10%?  Well, I just have to remember to say thank you.  And then not take myself or my emotions so seriously.

            

The committee, in the end, will be the final word.

About the Writer:  YA Paranormal author Aaron Michael Ritchey has penned a dozen manuscripts in his 20 years as a writer.  When he isn’t slapping around his muse, Aaron cycles to look fabulous, works in medical technologies, and keeps his family in silks and furs.  His first novel, The Never Prayer, hit the streets on March 29, 2012.