Find the Critique Group You Can’t Do Without

I searched high-and-low for a group to join, coming to the realization I should just start one of my own. Five years later and we’re still going strong, still growing, still learning from each other.

The first thing you’ll want to find is people that will give you the straight (yet kind) feedback. You deserve that. And so do your readers. You also need people who are serious about the craft and are actively learning, writing and reading. English majors and grammar buffs are a plus, but not required.  If you get enough willing eyes on your manuscript, the grammatical and spelling errors will be found.

Writing can be a lonely venture, so a critique group can routinely help you surround yourself with people who are moving forward, setting goals, and encouraging one another. This can only help your writing improve—becoming stronger and more polished—and help keep you in-the-know with social, political, and writing events. In our group we bounce ideas off each other and discuss the world of publishing.

We are loosely based on The Inklings—the critique group to which J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis belonged. We go late, we aren’t afraid to say it like it is, and we munch on and drink whatever keeps us awake till after midnight. That’s why we decided on Friday night…with the hope of sleeping in the next day. (Yeah right. Like that ever happens!)

We meet every week. The every-other-week thing was just too far apart. I found myself drifting off-course. Meeting every week pushes me to keep writing. I have to squeeze-in the writing time everyday (or at least several days) or I’ll have nothing to present on Friday. We hold each other accountable to our goals. And the feedback I receive is invaluable. Some I use, some I don’t. But at least the story has been in front of others. More eyes than mine have searched for continuity problems, character issues, plot problems, grammatical errors, etc.

If you don’t have a group, GET ONE!!!! (Especially if you are self-publishing without an editor’s help!)

Ready for number 8?

WRITE, PLOT, PEOPLE WATCH…WHEREVER YOU ARE!

My husband, Jeff, and I were having dinner out–yes, they do let me out from time-to-time–and I asked him what he thought the couple at the next table’s story was. He gave me a blank look. I asked, “Don’t you think about people’s stories; imagine what they’re like; what they fought about; how long they’ve been together; where they came from, etc?” A simple ‘no’ told me not everyone thinks like a writer. I’m not a stalker or eavesdropper, just creatively borrowing from the lives of real strangers.

If you’ve been called to write, then you won’t be able to stop. Even if you don’t get the words on paper, your mind is still writing; still creating scenarios. I can’t help but create worlds, dialogue, and imaginary private lives of many strangers I see. Little things about them are logged for future characters and plots. So beware…if you cross my path you may end up in one of my books…your name changed, of course!

There’s great material out there. Just open your eyes and keep a notebook handy. Jot these bits of inspiration down because when life gets in the way, you will most likely forget.

Not in the habit of imagining? Pick up a book of writing prompts. Give yourself five minutes and see where you go. Better yet, do prompts in a group and share your stories. You’ll be amazed at the variety. A writing friend introduced me to this and it really helped me to see the sky’s the limit in writing.

The blank page (or screen) doesn’t taunt me because I’ve trained myself to find one of the millions of stories lurking on that ominous white page.  That isn’t to say I don’t have blank moments. I just know if I dive deep enough, wait long enough, I’ll find the story, the buried treasure. Or if that buried treasure ends up more like the old boot at the bottom of the pond, I’ll chase another story! The challenge then is to make it worthy of the reader’s time. Some stories are. Some…not as much. But the next one may be, so keep at it!

Happy writing!

Reading something that’s confusing, ill-ordered, or poorly described ranks high on my list of pet peeves–especially when I find I’ve penned it myself! Writing is like painting. The reader should see a work of art, not something sloppy or distorted.

While writing at our local 24-hour coffee shop, I was reminded of a good point to add to my TOP TEN WRITING ESSENTIALS list. The background music in the restaurant came in particularly loud at this table and I was struggling to block it out. The volume wasn’t the only issue I had with the music. Its  repetitive lyrics were really getting on my nerves until I realized what the musician was singing: “Say what you mean to say.”

It felt like a subliminal reminder from a class I’d taken or a blog I’d read. I needed to clarify things, simplify, and restructure in order to communicate the story. I actually laughed out loud because even the piped-in music was teaching me the writing basics.

My favorite English teacher in high school demonstrated this point to my class by making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of the class. Yes, a P.B.J. As crazy as that sounds, it was actually a good lesson in ‘saying what you mean to say’ because the students had to dictate every step of making the sandwich. If we said, “Spread the peanut butter on the bread,” he would spread it on the outer edge of the crust instead of on the flat side where you would usually put it. He was making the point that your reader–or in this case ‘sandwich maker’– may not understand what you mean unless you really spell it out.

The omission of important words can change meaning in a sentence as well. A dear friend of mine brought over a meal for my family after I had come home from the hospital. The meal’s main course was lasagne. It was so good, I had to ask her what brand it was. “Stouffer’s,” came her reply. I said, “That’s funny. I make that brand all the time, but this tasted better than Stouffer’s.” She said, “That’s because you didn’t make it.” She wasn’t the type of person to make wise-cracks, so I slowly ascertained that she meant, “That’s because you didn’t ‘HAVE TO’ make it.” Two little missing words changed the meaning of the sentence drastically. They give me a chuckle every time I think of them.

So, NUMBER NINE on the TOP TEN WRITING ESSENTIALS list is SAY WHAT YOU MEAN TO SAY.

I’d like to share my TOP TEN WRITING ESSENTIALS list with you. Mainly because, in doing this, maybe I’ll remember to do them myself!

If I were kind, I would give you all ten today, right here in this post, but as I’m feeling like sort of a tease, I will give you only one at a time for the next ten posts.

The upside to this is that I’ll take the time to illustrate memorable stories with messages of utmost importance for each ‘essential’.  (Okay… maybe they will just be interesting and helpful.) You may have heard some or all of these before, but you never know what gem you’ll take away from the list this time, so it’s worth a quick look-see. And pay attention…There may be a quiz!

I try to follow these TOP TEN WRITING ESSENTIALS , but sometimes it feels like I’m juggling tenpins. Some drop, some land on my head, others sail effortlessly into beautiful tosses and catches.

In any case…

Here’s  NUMBER TEN:

REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE!

Writing is at least 50% editing. Don’t be afraid to cut sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and even characters! It may have taken you precious time and effort to create, but if it takes away from your story, just shake it off.

When it comes to physical ‘stuff’, I’m sort of a hord-a-saurus. I have a hard time throwing things out. Same thing with my writing. It’s hard to work diligently on something and then delete it. So instead of trashing it, I just file the unwanted section. I don’t throw it out completely. That helps the pack rat in me to relax. It’s not ‘goodbye’, just a reorganization. I can visit these ‘re-filed’ things anytime I want. Truth is, I never do. But it’s comforting to know I could.

The take-away point here is: ONLY THE VERY BEST SHOULD BE IN YOUR WORK. Be brutal. Your readers deserve and demand it. There are millions of other things they could be reading. Your story must be worthy of their attention.

My critique group friends actually cheered when I removed a character, named BobbyJo, from a story I’d been working on. (Nothing against the name BobbyJo. It’s a great name!) She was stealing the focus away from the main character, and, quite frankly, was annoying the readers. It was liberating when I deleted (or rather ‘re-filed’) her scenes. It was a much stronger story because poor BobbyJo wasn’t in it.

Case and point: I deleted well over 200 words from this post. Now aren’t you glad you didn’t have to read that drivel?

Rewriting is good.

Love your story.

Love your readers.

REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE!

” ‘Commissioned’ is too difficult a word for young adults,” I was told by an editor at a writers’ conference a few years back. Really? Commissioned?

In fact the entire theme of this particular conference seemed to be ‘Dumb Down Your Writing’. I was so discouraged by this, I left early and went directly to Barnes and Noble. I grabbed a couple of unforgettable stories that people love. Here’s what I found:

This excerpt is from Eragon by Christopher Paolini…

Between these two rode a raven-haired elvin lady who surveyed her surroundings with poise. Framed by long black locks, her deep eyes shone with a driving force. Her clothes were unadorned, yet her beauty was undiminished.

And these words were gleaned from the first chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings:

inexhaustible, reminiscences, outlandish, commodity, scintillating, impromptu.

‘Commissioned’ would feel right at home among these words. People want to read good stories. If the story is good, they will read it even if there are a few words they don’t know.

My six-year-old loves watching Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibilities. She doesn’t understand every word, but she still enjoys the stories! And, funny thing, her vocabulary includes words like ‘perhaps’ –not that this is a particularly difficult word, but not many six-year-olds use it.

Knights of the Angel Realm is a book that only dreams of being as amazing as Lord of the Rings. It won’t need a companion dictionary. But it was written by an author (me!) that wanted to tell a good story. It was written by an author who didn’t have to consult an ‘approved vocabulary’ list first.