C is For Critique

And Crime + The City Solution

I was talking to my friend Jackie the other day and she asked me how my critique group was going. When I told her it was great, I don't think she completely believed me. Granted, I sometimes don't believe me either, especially since I'm not great at 'not taking it personally' and am really terrible at seeing the constructive in the criticism. I've always been this way. When I think about how, in art school, we'd all wait next to our artwork on crit day, lined up against the wall like we were facing a firing squad, I still get queasy.

But my writing group is amazing. It's all the positive stuff I've heard about groups for years, but never really believed. We're supportive, insightful, smart as hell and encouraging. I started the group after meeting some cool people at a NaNoWriMo write-in. Personally, I can't believe I got so lucky. I have fun at these things, even though I still get butterflies when my work's under the microscope. We have intellectually stimulating conversations for the love of mike - do you know how rare that is with the Caillou watching crowd?

Here are some of the reasons why I think this group works:

1) Everyone has skin in the game. Almost every time we meet, we're giving feedback to everyone in the group. If there is ever an impulse to be less than kind, or less than thoughtful, it's squashed by this fact - you next. You want a well thought out, insightful crit that you can build upon? No problem, just make sure you give one too.

2) It's a small group, only three of us. I think it could grow, but it also works at this size. We all get the chance to know each other and know each other's work/style, strengths and weaknesses. It just makes the feedback richer.

3) We 'kill' the author. Usually, I bring baked goods so that the person being critiqued can shove his/her mouth full of cookie and keep quiet. Only when everyone's had a turn at pros/cons can the author talk.

4) We give an annotated copy of the submission back to the author. Having all that feedback thrown at you is disorientating and, while you take notes, it's hard to keep up.

5) Everyone's got a great sense of humor. That is HUGE. It makes the social aspect of the group possible and welcome. It's absolutely imperative to not take yourself too seriously, and goofing off is a great way to make this happen.

Do you belong to a writing group? What is the best and worst part of being in a writing group?

Writing Tip Thursday #2 - What to do with Criticism.

Nothing. Don't do anything.
When I get feedback from anyone who has read my WIP, whether positive or negative, I don't act on it - at least not for a while.

During our first crit group meeting, while I was shoving cookies in my mouth to keep myself from talking and/or bursting into tears, I was taking it all in. Listening and automatically sorting the feedback into categories: a) WHAT? That's not what I meant! b) OH! that makes it sound better than I meant, followed quickly by c) UGH! That's much worse than I meant. and finally d) I don't agree with that at all.

So, suggestions are made, places highlighted where I should revise. I take notes, Greg and Laura give me notes and I think about it all on the drive home while listening to Ultra Vivid Scene.

Then I put all the notes and annotated handouts in my drawer and stop thinking about it.

This is a riff on what Stephen King, in On Writing, says to do once you finish the first draft of a novel - put it in a drawer and leave it the eff alone. Let it marinate, let it simmer, let it percolate - whatever Food Network-ism you want to use. Just don't DO ANYTHING. Because at this point (either after a crit or after you finish your first draft ) you are vulnerable. And you don't want to make changes from a place of weakness, when you're sore from hearing things you don't want to hear or exhausted from finally finishing the effing thing.

After I finish my first draft, in about 20K words, I'll go back and consider the feedback. In fact, since I probably won't finish it before our next crit in three weeks, the next submission Greg and Laura get will have all the lovely and unlovely things (and some new ones) that they encountered in the first 4k words. But I'll be looking forward to their insights all the same. Soon they'll help me make my book better.